Pak quietly buries report on GHQ genocide in Bangladesh

The Hamoodur Rahman Commission, constituted 50 years ago, had accused several Pak Army officers of creating a situation that led to civil disobedience in the then East Pakistan.

Next month will see the completion of 50 years of the constitution of the Hamoodur Rahman Commission that was formed by the Pakistan government in December 1971, immediately after Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto succeeded General Yahya as the President of Pakistan.

The Commission was formed to investigate causes of the defeat of Pakistan, in erstwhile East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, during the 1971 war and the atrocities that were committed in the region by the Pakistan Army at the time. The Commission, which was constituted by then President of Pakistan Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, was headed by Hamoodur Rahman, the then Chief Justice of Supreme Court of Pakistan and had two other Supreme Court judges, Justice S. Anwarul Haq and Justice Tufaif Ali Abdur Rahman as members, apart from other members.

The report quoted statements of serving officers and bureaucrats apart from technical evidence to reveal the barbarism that was put on display by the Pakistan Army in Bangladesh.

The main report of the Commission—which has more than five parts, is 250 pages long and divided into multiple chapters—was never made public as it contained details, findings, and evidence that would have caused irreparable damage to the image of the Pakistan Army, both in Pakistan and outside. Only 12 copies of the findings were prepared, which were submitted to the Pakistan President on 12 July 1972. All but one copy of the same were destroyed. Later, the Commission submitted what was called a “supplementary report”, which was based on the details shared with it by the Pakistani Prisoners of War (Pows) who were released by the Indian