Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures
- List of Tables
- Foreword: Ora Fire Elo – Unsteady Return to an Imagined Community
- Preface and Acknowledgements
- Note on Transliteration
- List of Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 Making of a Traitor: Being Bengali in (West) Pakistan
- 2 Military Encampment
- 3 Civilian Internment
- 4 ‘General Repatriation Centres’
- 5 Stranded Bengalis Outside the Camps
- 6 Escape or Die: Heroic Stories
- 7 The Politics of Triangular Repatriation
- Conclusion: Legacies, Meanings and Memoirs
- Glossary
- Bibliography
- Index
4 - ‘General Repatriation Centres’
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 July 2025
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures
- List of Tables
- Foreword: Ora Fire Elo – Unsteady Return to an Imagined Community
- Preface and Acknowledgements
- Note on Transliteration
- List of Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 Making of a Traitor: Being Bengali in (West) Pakistan
- 2 Military Encampment
- 3 Civilian Internment
- 4 ‘General Repatriation Centres’
- 5 Stranded Bengalis Outside the Camps
- 6 Escape or Die: Heroic Stories
- 7 The Politics of Triangular Repatriation
- Conclusion: Legacies, Meanings and Memoirs
- Glossary
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Following the 6 May 1973 rounding-up of Bengali civil servants in Pakistan, the Bhutto government issued a press release from Pakistan's New York Consulate, captioned ‘Bengalis in Pakistan are receiving Human and Generous Treatment’ (Figure 4.1):
The Government of Pakistan decided a few days ago to relocate senior Bengali ex-officials. This action became necessary because many of them have continued to indulge in fragrant abuse of the facilities allowed…. It is well-known that [many] of them have left Pakistan illegally during the past ten months via unauthorised routes. Pursuant to this decision, 211 Bengali ex-officers were moved pending their repatriation to Bangladesh, to the townships of Warsak [near Peshawar in the NWFP], Qadirabad [near Gujranwala, in Punjab] and Landhi [near Karachi, in Sindh], where many of them have already been provided accommodation commensurate with their status. For the rest also similar arrangements are being made. Families will not be separated [and] Bengali military personnel and ex-officials have been and are still being paid generous maintenance allowance.
Pakistan's internment scheme for the Bengalis underwent transformations over its three-year existence, 1971–1974. When the Pakistani army's crackdown operations commenced in March 1971, the regime did not expect to undertake protracted internment involving thousands of Bengali soldiers and civil servants. The regime had made no real plans for the challenges arising from the Bengali soldiers’ defections. In the first place, the only option available was to house them in temporary holding areas, such as different barracks and cantonments.
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- Citizens to TraitorsBengali Internment in Pakistan, 1971–1974, pp. 148 - 191Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2025
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