Blaming the Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto regime for the 1971 dismemberment ofPakistan, Musharraf says he along with his fellow soldiers wept when EastPakistan was separated to become Bangladesh and the capture of 90,000 Pakistanitroops by the Indian Army.
1971. Bangladesh carved out of Pakistan. "All my brave soldiers cried with me. It remains most sad and most painful day of my life. My anger at the General who had taken charge of government and at some of the politicians of the time, still makes me
Blaming the Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto regime for the 1971 dismemberment ofPakistan, Musharraf says he along with his fellow soldiers wept when EastPakistan was separated to become Bangladesh and the capture of 90,000 Pakistanitroops by the Indian Army.
I broke down and cried. All my brave soldiers cried with me. It remainsmost sad and most painful day of my life. My anger at the General who had takencharge of government and at some of the politicians of the time, still makes mesee red.
It was nexus between Bhutto and small coterie of rulers that destroyedPakistan. The myopic rigid attitude of (Bangladeshi leader) Sheikh MujiburRehman did not help matters and he played into Bhutto's (Gen) Yahya (Khan's)hand by remaining rooted in East Pakistan.
Musharraf said he along with a company of Special Security Group (SSG)commandoes were tasked to go East Pakistan before it fell.
My troops were brimming with confidence and we were all set to go whenthe ceasefire was announced and East Pakistan was forcibly torn away from us toform the separate state of Bangladesh. It was terrible day.
When I was telling my troops about the ceasefire the surrender of our90,000 personnel, (military and civilian) came about.
What happened in East Pakistan is the saddest episode inPakistan"s history.
Blame ultimately fell on the Army. As events developed, the Army wasconfronted with an impossible situation -- mass popular uprising within and aninvasion from without by India supposedly non-aligned but now being overtlyhelped by the Soviet Union under a treaty of peace and friendship. It was actuallyan alliance of war.
Blaming the US of failing to help Pakistan, he said:
On the other hand our long time ally, USA, apart from making sympathetic noises and winging itshands was nowhere to be seen".
No army in the world can sustain such a multidimensional threat. Nonetheless, the operational handling of the troops by the army's seniorleadership was simply incompetent. It brought avoidable disgrace to the army.Pakistan was cut into half."
Musharraf accuses India and Bhutto for the .creation of Bangladesh:
With the Aarmy completely bogged down in quelling the insurgency in (East Pakistan),India stabbed Pakistan in the back by blatantly attacking it across its borderon several fronts in East Pakistan on Nov 21, 1971
Excerpts by PTI