As internationul preisure is mounting day by day for the releuse of Bangla Desh's militunt peasant leader, 92-year-old Maulana Abdul Humid Khan Bhashani, who hus been held in the custody of the Indiun authorities since last April (reported in Red Mole, August 1971) when he crossed into Indio following the army crackdown in BanglaDesh, Indira Ghandi's gonentment is finding it difficult to suppress the news of Bhashani's arrest any longer.
Maulana Bhasani, who is reporledly kept in a secluded house at a place 60 miles north of Calcutta, has not been allowed to see any of his party officials or relations who have travelled to Calcutta in search of the Bangli Desh leader. Masihir Rahman, the general secretary of the Maulana's party, the National Awami Party, had followed him to India some time ugo. Rahman wanted lo have consultations regarding the conduct of struggle inside Bangia Desh. Not only was Rabman unable to see his chief, but it is now strongly feared that the NAP secretary himself was put under arrest by the Indian police for legally entering India.
Calcutta's popular left-wing Bengali language weekly Darpern in its recent issue alleged that a sinister plot had been jointly hatched by the Indira government and a section of Calcutta's right wing press to suppress all news concerning Maulana Bhashani's whereabouls. No independent correspondent or foreign observer has so far succeeded in meeting Maulana Blashani.
Darpan suys in its report, "The left-wing leaders of West Bengal have now openly accused the Indirn government of holdiny the aged popular leader of Bangh Desh, Maulana Bhashani, under arrest."
"As soon as this accusation is made public." the Bengali weekly states, "the two reactionary West Bengal dailies. Ananda Bazer Patrile and Windasthan Standard-jointly published reports of an exclusive interview with the Maulana."
Darpan furtber points out, The type of information one logically expects from such an interview was not in the least available in those two reports."
The Calcutta weekly goes on to say. "It is widely believed the whole interview has been faked in collahoration with the police to deny the charge brought aguinst the Endira government."
According to this paper, "To add an aura of truthfulness these reports were published under bogus by-lines as if the interview had taken place somewhere in Bangla Desh."
Darpan concluded by writing, "The day after the publication of the mock interview, Maulana Bhashani's son, Abu Naser, arrives in Calcutta in search of his father, Abu Naser has told our roporter that despite his repeated efforts he has so far failed to meet his father.
The Indira government has adopted yet another tactic to create confusion antong Maulana Bhashani's followers who are now fighting inside Bangla Desh. When all major leftwing partics of BanglaDesh have successfully formed a broad-based leadership to direct the present independence struggle unitedly, Akashbani, the government-controlled Indian radio, took to broadcasting statements purporting to have been from Maulana Bhushani, deprecating any move towards collective leadership in the conduct of the present stroggle. This stratagem of deception reflects the Indian bourgeoisie's desperation to maintain the Awami League's single party bold, which is today visibly slipping away as the war assumes the nature of a protracted struggle. THE RIFT IN THE AWAMI LEAGUE In Calcutta's informed political circles rumour is rife that a split may occur soon between the East Hengul Regiment High Conmand, the hard core of the Liberation guerrillas, are gradually becoming sceptical of the efficiency of the Awami League government.
45 charges of corruption against some important Awani alleged that last Aprila large sum of Pakistuni money to the tune of some 750 million rupees was broughr by the Awami Leaguers across the border into India. In many cases a saxeable portion of this money, instead of being deposited with a central coffer, is still held by individuuls who have visibly acguired a taste for the many luxuries that Calcutta oners to its princely residents.
One less lucky refugee from Dacca remarked, "We know money talks, But in Calcutia it does not talk, it's screaming." The alleged culprits have chosen for themselses expensive abodes in Calcutta's fashionable quarters and are seen moving about in style. Obviously these elements are causing a great deal of embarrassment to the sincerest and determined in the camp, who are already hard put justifying their role in the face of mounting criticism. The left-wing weekly Pronsier, in one of its recent attacks on the Calcutta-based Awami League leadership, said, "This heing the situation, it is clear which direction the political lendership of the movement will take in future... As for the gentlemen in Calcutta and Mujibnagar, for all practical purposes they seem to have done their bit."
The possible split between the fighing section and the Awami League leadership is likely to occur over the Awami League's reluctance to broaden the present liberation strugale to include other parties forining a united front, whereas the need for expanding is felt more and more by the East Bengal Regiment sector commanders in the battleof things. The Laheration Force Field Command sees the recent guerrilla swoops on Dacca and Chirtagong as necessary concomitants for bringing Yaliya's army to its knees, This shift in thinking by the military leaders of BanglaDesh, whose allegiance to Awami League aspirations so far was Taken for granted by the gentlemen of the Provisional Government, toward a firm cooperation with all units fighting inside BanglaDesh is bound to add a third dimension to the struggle for liberation In the present situation India will be unwilling to release Maulara Bhashani who with his dynamic personality and militant background could provide the rallying point for the militants ready to forsake a moribund leadership for a better one.
-Khaled Yousouf, writing from Calcutta, 15.8.71.
INTRODUCTION The attirude of The Workers Press towards the struggle in Bengal has been quite clear: they have on the whole concentrated on supporting the Awami League and projecting its lenders in Britain to the extent of totally ignoring the revolutionary left groupings, their evolution and the derelopment of an VLF. So witen they boost right-wing Awami Leaguers one is not surprised. It is in the good old tradition of supporting the reactionary Mesali Hadj in the Algorian war and opposing the FNL Howerer, when the I.5. group does something similar one attributes this more to ignorance than ill-will or consciously formulated policy. The interview by Stephen Marks with Abdul Mannan (Socialist Worker, 31 July 7971) is an excellent example of this. Mannen is a notorious rightwing Awami Leaguer, and to boost aim as a working class militant interested in building "armed workers" militias" is extremely imesponsible, to pur it mildly. We would not normally raise these matters in our columns, but when we wrote in a brief letter to Socialist Worker pointing out these facts, so that 1.S. comrades in fouch with Bengali workers would not confuse them, our letter was not puhlished As a result we publish the piece below in order to demystify the myths built by the Workers Prews and abo, sadly, Socialist Worker.
One day during the week before the Pakistan army's cruckdowo on Bangla Desb on 25th Mareh 1971, the workers of a match factory near Dacca were as usual busy at their work benches in the late aflernoon. These factory workers were active members of a left-wing labour front, Sramik Federation, By nightfall returning villagers spotted a dozen bodies floating among the flotsams in the muddy water of the Buriganga, the river that rowed past the factory shed. A gang of thugs, believed to be members of the rival Sramik League, Awami League's shock-brigade, had gained entry into the factory in daylight and set upon the unarmed workers with knives and iron rods.
This was presumably the part of Sramik League's cactic to cope with the unwilling industrial workers and curb the Influence of the country's important trade union. When the thugs left the bloody scene, already 23 men were dead and another half a dozen kidnapped as hostages. The whole Incident occurred when BanglaDesh was passing through the much heralded "non-violent movement launched by the Awami League to protest against Yahya's machinations ABDUL MANNAN Except for a brief mention in the local press, the news of Ibe murders was carefully suppressed.
Al chat time the Awami Lengue's industrial front, Sramik League, was led by Abdul Mannan and his cronies; who belleved in the gospel of the big stick to keep the restive workers in order. Mannan's men were particularly acthe at Aditjeenagar, the world's biggest centre of jute industry, and at Tejpaon on the outskirts of Dacca, where exhortation mixed with warning of dire consequences was skillully used to persuade the workers to join the League. Mr. Mannan's ascendancy to his party hierarchy was largely due to his mastery in the role of a "Communist-buiter". His anti-Commuaist activities made him extremely popular with the employers of Dacca and Narayanganj. To them be wus the genuine defender of free enterprise. In 1970, over a hundred Bengali workers were shot down by the Bengali police and in retalintion a Bengali police superintendant was killed at the hands of the enraged workers at Shyampur, on Dacca Narayangan) highway, This was the result of a dispute when its Bengali owners tried unlawfully to remove some machine-parts from a factory which was under lockout for some time. Mannan's sympathy went with the Bengall millowner, who was reportedly a stalwart of the Awami League. But, for the workers who died at Shyumpur, tbe lesson came too late that the Bengali-capitalist "brother" was oo better than the hated best Pakistani mill-owner.
By early 1970 Awami League, with its arowed pettybourgeols idenlogy, found itself inenpable of lending Bangla Desh's 750,000 industrial workers in the forthcoming general elections. Its Achilles heel was its labour front. East Bengal's comparatively small labour force was already dis. satisfied with the Pakistan Government for its repressive laws and police actions. Up and down the country, bad p'orking conditions in the factorles, subsistence level wages, denial of fundamental rights of trade unions, wide and arbitrary posers of the employers, made the angry workers ready for radical actions. Class antagonism of workers of Khulna and Chittagong jute mills led to the violent labour unrest of 1969-70, brutally put down by the police But one fact in the whole industrial panorama which was taken advantage of by the Awami League was that over 90% of Bangia Desh's private enterprises were controlled by West Pakistan capital. Awami League used this to defuse the class struggle by stressing that once the non-Bengali capitalists were uprooted, all the workers' problems would be oner the implication being that Bengali capitalists would not be as oppressive. The Issue whether the Bengali bourgeoise will be a bunch of good boys may be settled later, the workers were told at pre-election mass rallies organised by Awami League. Awami League's electoral victory indicaled the weakness of the left-wing labour fronts who falled to offer any viable alternatives in order to channelise militancy of the industrial proletariat into a revolutionary LOUES!.
However, the subsequent events leading to the Pakistan army attack on BanglaDesh proved the inadequacy of Awami League leadership. Mr. Mannan and his lieutenants promptly forsook the workers inside Bangla Desh to flee to India where his old patrons were willing and resdy to promote him to the rank of "emissary" and send him off to Europe to build up Arami League's image as "the saviour of the proletariat of Bangla Desb* Mr. Mannan is reportedly now visiting Britain, conveniently passing himself off as a left leaning revolutionary activist"
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who have set before them the goat of complete independeno at whatever cost, and the Provisional Government of Awami Leugue politicos who have been uneasy over the trends of the protracted war. The barefooted guerrillas who are bravely facing the wellequipped Pakistani troops in bitter battles
League leaders are publicly spoken about in Calcatta, the growing resentment against them is hecoming common. It is