Radio diplomacy in Bangladesh’s Liberation War

Psychological warfare, also called psywar, the use of propaganda against an enemy, supported by our freedom fighters, our armed forces, economic, or political measures as required were launched against the brutal Pakistani Army and their savage local mango-twigs in 1971 to attain Bangladesh. Both the Bangladesh government in exile and Indian authorities felt a radio station was needed to carry on psychological warfare over the airwaves and to keep up the morale of comrades in Bangladesh. "This Kolkata station was obviously the result of that belief," said retired IPS officer Shantanu Mukherjee, former National Security Advisor to Mauritius and an analyst on South Asian affairs. Sole transmitting radio station for Swadhin Bangla Betar (Free Bangladesh Radio), broadcasting news bulletins, plays, songs, and "above all, hope" for a beleaguered people in our land. Songs like Purbo digante, shurjo utheche (On the eastern sky, a new sun has arisen), Shono ekti Mujjiburer theke (Hear from one Mujibur), and Mora ekti phool ke bachabo bole juddho kori (We fight to save one flower) were written, composed, and recorded at Kolkata's Ballygunge studio at Swadhin Bangla Betar. It was joined by a large number of Bangladesh's radio programmers, newscasters, poets, singers, and journalists. Akashvani Kolkata radio station helped with technical support to Swadhin Bangla Betar. Indian broadcasters like Debdulal Bandopodhyay and newscaster Neelima Sanyyal already made history by recording tales of atrocities from survivours who made it to the border. "News broadcasts, radio shows like Chorompotro (the ultimate letter) by MR Akhtar Mukul which lampooned the Pakistani army and politics and Jallader Darbar (the hangman's court), a series of satires on Pakistan's military dictator General Yahya Khan by Kallyan Mitra, and of course, the songs Swadhin Bangla Betar recorded were our staples," said Professor Arup Ratan Chowdhury, who worked and slept at the station in a dormitory since his escape from the-then East Pakistan. "Some of the best names in Bangladesh's cultural world, from Syedul Islam to Nasir Ahmed to Rathin Roy, bunked together in that house as we worked non-stop there," said Chowdhury. While Bangladesh's top-notch poets and music directors, including Govinda Halder, Apel Mahmud, and Gazi Mazharul Anwar -- who were staying elsewhere as refugees -- were recording their songs here, most of these people worked gratis or for a pittance which barely allowed them to survive, he said. "The legacy of these radio stations, which I feel should be turned into a museum by the Indian and Bangladesh government, is that it gave hope to a whole nation going through a long, dark night," said Chowdhury. All India Radio's (AIR) Kolkata station launched Akashvani Maitree -- a service in Bengali aimed primarily at Bangladeshis -- as New Delhi looked to strengthen diplomatic ties with Dhaka. This initiative had “tremendous success" in 1971 during Bangladesh's war of independence, recalls veteran broadcaster Upen Tarafdar. Sangbad Bichitra, a programme he produced for AIR Kolkata and beamed across the border, helped “neutralize" Pakistani propaganda. It used to be banned in Bangladesh, Radio Pakistan being the only legitimate service on air, but people used to follow Sangbad Bichitra secretly, he says. AIR continued to run a truncated service of six-and-a-half hours a day then. “It's an outreach programme," said Jawhar Sircar, chief executive officer of Prasar Bharati, India's public service broadcaster. “No radio channel has ever taken an initiative to strengthen relations with neighbouring countries." He added that Bangladesh officials were excited about the initiative. During the 1971 Bangladesh war, AIR played an important role in informing people of Bangladesh (then East Pakistan) about all that was happening across the country. In East Pakistan, the news was heavily doctored in favour of the Pakistan army. The real picture was broadcast from India. AIR's external affairs division introduced a special Bengali service on April 26, 1971, in the wake of the Bangladesh liberation movement. To mark 50 years of Bangladesh's independence, the Indian Council of World Affairs has come out with a new book. It comprises AIR broadcasts and commentaries by late UL Baruah when he was director of the AIR external service during the Bangladesh war of independence. The book gives readers a flavour of not just what happened in 1971, but the background and developments that led to the military crackdown by the Pakistan army. The blood bath, including the killing of intellectuals, was recorded, and the commentary gave the context of the genocide as it unfolded. Baruah gives an insight into not just what was happening in former East Pakistan, but how the international (Western) press projected it. Though Richard Nixon backed Pakistan, and most of America's allies remained silent, the Western press reported the horrors of the carnage. AIR translated these reports and broadcast them to Bengali listeners. Baruah also quotes Pakistani journalists who questioned the military junta as well as politicians like Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. The AIR broadcasts go much beyond reporting daily events. They provide insights into the debate in Pakistan after Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman won the 1970 parliamentary elections; quotes from the Pakistan press to show internal divisions within the country; manipulation by the army under Yahya Khan; the role played by ambitious political leaders like Bhutto, who was used by military leaders to demand postponement of the National Assembly; and the entire machinations that finally led to the breaking up of Pakistan. Here is an example of Baruah's incisive commentary, in a talk about Pakistan's Defence Day celebrations on September 6, 1971. Taking this as the peg, Baruah went on to analyze the role of the military in Pakistan, “While the Pakistani soldiers are undoubtedly good fighting men, they have unfortunately got involved in the political life of Pakistan in a manner which has posed a serious threat to the revival of democracy in Pakistan. The power structure is such that vested interests of the military-bureaucratic elite, backed by the newly rich, industrial tycoons, would make any genuine transfer of power to the people more and more difficult as the time passed.” In a special commentary on November 19, 1971, weeks before India and Pakistan went to war over Bangladesh, Baruah noted, “What is Pakistan's claim to represent the interests of the Muslims after it killed lakhs of Muslim men, women, and children in the-then East Pakistan? Muslim women have been raped, houses of Muslims have been set on fire in Dhaka and other towns and villages of the-then East Pakistan. Civilian killings have been going on even in this month of Ramzan.” The Bangladesh commentaries are divided into four neat chapters. The first was on "Reporting a Genocide." The second dealt with "Opinions in West Pakistan." The next was "Debate in Pakistan after Bangladesh was born," and the last was on the "Emergence of Bangladesh." All four chapters gave a vivid picture of the times, including the national questions that arose in Pakistan after the army's humiliating defeat, and recreates the world as it was in the 1970s, placing the birth of Bangladesh in a historical context. Officials said that Akashvani , especially the Kolkata station, had played a critical role in the cause of Bangladesh liberation. Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra (Free Bengal Radio Centre) was the radio broadcasting centre of Bengali nationalist forces during the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971. This station played an important role in the liberation struggle, broadcasting the Declaration of Independence, and increasing the morale of Bangladeshis during the war. In 1971, radio was the only media reaching to the far ends of Bangladesh. The station ran a propaganda campaign throughout the war. Sufi Barkat-e-Khoda was one of the personalities of the show. In those very horrific days of 1971 -- on most days, nature gleefully played its own rhythm, and then there were days when the skies vociferously reached down to us, in tiny frozen pellets beating down on roof tops. I swear by that old expression, "One monkey don't stop no show!" The reality is, we had some good people out there, and we should hail those people as the kings they were. We should hail the spirit of radio diplomacy in Bangladesh's Liberation War in 1971. Anwar A Khan is a frontline freedom fighter of the 1971 war field and an independent political analyst who writes on politics, political and human-centred figures, and current and international affairs.
Published on: 2023-03-02 09:55:15.469141 +0100 CET