National interests are not served by the advancement of personal amour proper. I have always tried to serve the supreme national interest. I took pains to uphold the prestige and reputation of the armed forces. Even now, ray open commentary upon the Hamoodur Rehman Report would irreparably damage the name of the armed forces. Therefore, despite the gravest provocation and inhuman treatment, I will refrain. There are two significant references to the Hamoodur Report in the White Paper, which show how another effort is being made to turn virtue into vice.
All the senior military officers who had access to the Hamoodur Rehman Report were of the unanimous view that the report should not be published. Whenever I held a meeting to consider the publication of the report, each one of the senior officers of the armed forces vehemently opposed the idea. In deference to their wishes, and out of respect for the army, I did not release the report despite the enormous pressure from the public and the opposition parties. I took the cruel and unkind brunt of the vicious attacks to protect the honour and the name of the armed forces and this is how I am being repaid for it. The military regime has been in power for a year and a month. It has released all sorts of filth and lies to malign me with the object of turning the people against me. The regime would have jumped the gun to release the Hamoodur Rehman Report if its nefarious purpose of maligning me had been served by it.
The military regime is not releasing the report because it is a severe indictment of the armed forces and the military hierarchy. In a press conference in Lahore about four months ago, the Chief Martial Law Administrator tried to play down the substance of the Report. He said that he had read it and there was nothing important in it. According to his yardstick, only those things are important which might damage me. Nothing else is important to him. The report is important. It is a story of rape, plunder and loot. If, in those days, lashing were a punishment for rape and cutting off hands for theft, I would shudder to think of the number of handless persons. Since "purifying the blood of Bengalis" is not rape, the President of Pakistan could have exercised his powers of mercy.
The report exposes the macabre conspiracy of Yahya Khan and his clique. The map of Bengal had to be painted What a colourful directive from a General whose skin I saved with honour but who nevertheless went to London to influence Jam Sadiq Ali to become an Approver in false murder case against me! The passage in the White Paper on page 106 shows that, due to the clamour, I was reflecting on the demand but that I was requested to consider further the tentative decision to release the item. The passage in the White Paper is in italics and it reads.
In the discussion, it was concluded that any formal exposition of the 1971 War, and events preceding it outside Hamoodur Rehman's report, would raise new issues, accelerate and encourage the demand for the publication of Hamoodur Rehman's report and would be counter productive. It was decided to request the Prime Minister to reconsider this item.
On page 107, the White Paper states: "Mr. Bhutto agreed with the line of action suggested with a cryptic 'It can be omitted'". This clearly shows that in a conflict of interest, I chose to sacrifice our political interests to safeguard the reputation and honour of the armed forces. I am receiving a wonderful token of gratitude. Instead of being beholden to me, a sadistic effort has been made to turn the tables on me. This is the meaning of "Idhar Hum Udhar tum," an expression I did not use in that distorted form; but it has come out to be true. There, the Bengalis were given hell and here we are being given hell. Over there the Bengali politicians were not fit to rule. Over here we are not fit to rule. Democracy was unworkable in Bengal. Democracy is unworkable here. Over there, the masses had to be exploited by Big Business and over here our masses have to be exploited by Big Business. Over there, the Bengalis had to get the danda and over here we have to get the danda. "Idhar hum udhar tum."
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