Purged by Fire

Purged by Fire

Imran writes about life during the turbulent nine months of the 1971 liberation war, when all was set ablaze and yet the indomitable people and

The golden land of Bengal yielded a golden harvest.

So much of the story is driven by confusion that I will begin simply. The concept of Pakistan-a nation defined by religion-flawed right from the beginning. Jinnah was not welcomed with his misplaced sense of devotion for Urdu in 1948 and the wayward military regimes ruling our nation for a land more than 700 km away were never really accepted. The spoke out clearly in ’52,’66,’69 and in countless other occasions; there never was an East Pakistan, it had always been Bangladesh.

Escape from under the nose of the devil

It was early March. The situation was utterly bizarre for, Lt S I M Nurunnobi, a Bengali officer, at Quetta School of infantry and Tactics in West Pakistan. All the regiments were disappearing overnight; all of a sudden, all flights of Pakistan International air lines to Dacca were occupied for the coming days. Unknown enthusiastic groups of ‘Civilians’, with their hair neatly trimmed, were flying to Tejgoan international Airport every day.