Every war has its casualties but mostly those who die and
suffer have little or no say in the matters. Decisions that change the face of
earth are not made in the battlefield but behind protected walls. History has
also witnessed that the worst of atrocities ever imaginable to human mind are
often committed in wars, where man has demonstrated the extreme lengths to
which he can go when it comes to cruelty. But there are always those side by
side the innocent victims who benefit from these wars.
Every war is orchestrated for a larger but hardly
conspicuous game of interests. The 1971 secession of East/West Pakistan is also
an example of such a surreptitious underplay by the Indian government. Where
both Bangladesh and Pakistan has numerously accused each other of committing
crimes against humanity, there is hardly any mention of the benefits that India
is still capitalising as a result of the secession.
Where it is true that inciting the “who was actually
responsible for the secession debate” is nothing short of waking up a sleeping
dragon, the Bengalis have been portrayed as nothing but victims whereas the
evidence suggests otherwise. It is also no secret that the political turmoil of
East Pakistan was exploited by India to further its own ulterior motives. Had
it not been for Indian propaganda, the political tension might not have sprung
so violently in the form of civil war in 1971. Both Pakistan and Bangladesh
have paid dearly for the 1971 fall, but there is only one player that has
benefited — India.
It has been argued by political analysts that the separation
of erstwhile East Pakistan would have been impossible without the instigation
of “Operation Jackpot” by Indian army. Operation Jackpot was the code assigned
to the secret operation of Indian army to assist and support the Mukti Bahini
group. This operation was aimed to achieve the diversion of Gages River through
Farakka Barrage which had already been completed by 1968; three years before
the separation. But the Farakka barrage was not operational at that time
because the diversion was not sanctioned by the Pakistani government of that
time.
It is worth mentioning here that the Bengalis fought for
their freedom in 1971 but they also fought for Indian interests whether
inadvertently or not. And there are callous truths to support this claim.
In 1963, India used to export just 2.34 thousand tons of
rice whereas erstwhile East Pakistan’s exports of rice amounted to 430 thousand
tons. Erstwhile East Pakistan’s jute exports at that time were around 1043
thousand tons while India imported 29 thousand tons of jute that same year from
Pakistan. However, the picture after 38 years has totally changed. Now, Indian
exports of rice and jute are around 2777 million dollars and 250 dollars
respectively.
Pakistan saw a booming economic growth in the 1960s, a fact
which India could never tolerate let alone accept. India had prompted many
plans to divert the water of Ganges River to West Bengal to irrigate the jute
crops in the 60s. Jute is also called the ‘golden fiber’ in the subcontinent
both because of its golden brown colour and its extensive utilisation in making
sacks, handicrafts, bags, furnishing, and carpets amongst other profitable
products.
Farakka barrage is one of the largest barrages in the world but
the detrimental impact of the diversion is also the worst example of tempering
with environment.
Due to its jute exports, India has been able to tremendously
increase its trade in the international market. Jute has been the ladder
through which India has gained a strong foothold in the world market. And, this
has been possible only due to the diverted water of the Ganges River. India is
now second in world’s top exporters of rice and tops the list in jute exports.
India now supplies more than half of world’s raw jute and 40 per cent of the
processed jute products. Jute cultivation has provided livelihood for forty
million farmers and 0.2 million industry workers in India. There are around 73
mills in Indian, 59 out of which are located in West Bengal — the largest jute
producing state in the country.
Farakka barrage diverts the water of Ganges River into
Hoogly River in the West Bengal during dry spells. Farakka barrage is one of
the largest barrages in the world but the severe and detrimental impact of the
diversion is also the worst example of huge impact of tempering with
environment. Cautious estimates state that the barrage is responsible for
damages amounting to two billion US dollars alone in the agriculture sector.
The diversion of water through the Farakka barrage has had a large part in
causing the rise in sea-level and unusual flooding in the area. Thirty million
lives are affected by this diversion.
Yet, the worst is the case of Arsenic contamination in
Bangladesh after the Farakka barrage went into operation in 1975. Before that
various attempts by the Pakistani side to negotiate a plan for sharing the
water of Ganges water were hampered by the unwillingness of Indian government
to cooperate and provide information about its projects for diverting waters.
Particularly in 1968 when the Indian experts argued in favour of the Farakka
barrage on the grounds that the River Ganges has plentiful water and India only
wanted to draw 20,000 cusec of water from the river whereas the river has an
accumulative flow of 86,000 cusecs during the dry season. Thus, Farakka barrage
was championed by the Indian government as having no serious impact on the
water flow in Pakistani territory (then East Pakistan).
However, the picture usually presented for the general public
shows only one side of the story. Many researches and studies on the Pakistani
side claimed that the operation of Farakka barrage will be injurious for
groundwater.
One of the reports titled “Gain and losses in the Ganges
River between Farakka and Harding Bridge” by East Pakistan WAPDA, available
with the author, gives an elaborate detail of the technical specification of
the barrage and the subsequent impact of the diversion of water on the ecology,
river flow etc. This was presented in the same year as the Indian feasibility
report for the Farakka barrage. Yet, the impacts of the Farakka barrage
construction anticipated in the report by the Pakistani analysts has proved to
be true whereas it is evident that India has been also proven right. It should
also be taken into account that the figures quoted in the Indian feasibility
report for the Farakka barrage were from the period 1955-61. Whereas, Pakistani
analysts used the data from the period 1948-1966 which gave a more holistic
pattern picture of the river flow and variations.
Regardless of the Indian claims, the diversion of the Ganges
River water is the major cause of arsenic contamination in the Bangladeshi
waters. In the report presented in 1968, WAPDA claimed that as opposed to the
Indian assertion Ganges River was not affluent but influent. The boreholes made
by the Pakistani scientists in the northeastern districts where the river flows
demonstrated that being an influent river, the water is expelled into the
groundwater system from its bed. However, India went ahead with the project,
poisoning the Bangladeshi part of the river.
The diversion of the river water caused a lowering of the
water table due to which the zone of aeration was exposed to air resulting in
the oxidation of arsenic minerals that were present at a lower level in the
water table of Bengali sediments before the diversion.
The completion of the Farakka barrage in the 1969 was a
serious violation of the Helsinki Rule singed in 1966 and the international
river laws. India would not have been able to go ahead with the completion of
Farakka barrage if East Pakistan had not been separated from West Pakistan.
|
