IR-Bangladesh
By Ilyas Chattha
In West Pakistan, the Bengali officers were neither declared ‘enemy’ nor POWs but were treated as ‘war necessities’ while harsher treatment was reserved for the soldiers (p. 63). Details of internees and their interaction with their fellow Punjabi course mates and friends given by Chattha reveal how affinity for fellow officers overtook the impending division of the country. Documentation of individual correspondence reveals the humane side of the relationship. Pakistan struggled to arrange the safe upkeep of the Bengali detainees to prevent them escaping
Reviewed by: Smruti S Pattanaik