Siraj Sikder Works: Open Letter of the Proletarian Party of East Bengal to the Government of Bangladesh

Siraj Sikder

Siraj Sikder


The Proletarian Party of East Bengal produced and published the original Bengali document on January 1972

The Communist Party Marxist-Leninist-Maoist Bangladesh translated the document in English and published online via www.sarbaharapath.com on 22 September 2013. The party edited the translation on 25 November 2016 with a few corrections


 

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Tens of thousands of people of East Bengal have sacrificed their life for the sake of real independence of East Bengal. Their aspired beloved freedom can only be materialized through the following minimum demands being met:

1) Unconditionally send back all the Indian troops, military and civil advisers immediately from the soil of East Bengal to India.

Do not appoint military or civil personnel of India or any other country as adviser or at any other post for security maintenance, stabilization, reconstruction, rehabilitation or assisting any other work. If appointed, immediately sent them back to own countries.

End the influence, intervention and control by the Indian military force and civilians over the political, military, administrative, cultural, business, trade, industry and all other spheres of East Bengal. Take tough measure so that Indian army, before returning back to home, may not torture masses.

2) Solely depend on the resources and the hardy, arduous, sacrifice-minded, brave and patriotic people of East Bengal for the stabilization, law maintenance, rehabilitation and reconstruction of East Bengal.

3) For the defense of East Bengal, build regular army, navy and air force from the people of East Bengal, and build local force by arming people through providing military training to them. Depend on this military force and people for the defense of East Bengal.

Do not depend on India or any other country for the defense of East Bengal. It is the Liberation Force which is able to build regular and local force of East Bengal.  Stop Indian force from disarming Liberation Force. Stop atrocities over people by the reactionaries within the Liberation Force.

Do not sign any open or secret defense treaty, military treaty or military treaty disguised as friendship treaty with India or any other foreign country.

4) Dismiss the right of Jamat, PDB, Muslim League (three factions), Nijam-e-Islami and these types of other political parties, groups, factions who collaborated with Pak military fascists, to be elected, vote, meeting, procession, organize or any other political activities. Freely distribute their lands to the landless peasants. Excluding land, their industry, business and other properties should be nationalized without any compensation. To put into justice and punish the ultra anti-people elements among them.

5) Nationalize big industries, business and trade, banks and insurances of Adamjee, Daud, Ispahani, Bawani, Gandhara, Karim, Habib and other non-Bengalis in East Bengal without any compensation. Defend and help developing the national capital that are under private ownership.

6) Freely distribute the lands of those feudal, zamindars (Big feudal lords – English Translator), jotedars (Small feudal lords – English Translator) who haven’t collaborated with Pak military fascists, to landless peasants with compensation. Terminate mahajani (Feudal Usury – English Translator), usury and mortgage system and return those lands to the peasants without any compensation that were lost consequently. Do not establish rule of zamindars, jotedars, mahajans, evil elements, tyrants and oppressors through village Panchayat (Village Administrative Unit – English Translator) and Village Defense Force, and do not defend them. Give compensation to the peasants who were killed and suffered in the hands of Pak military fascists in the war.

7) Return back to home those refugees who took shelter in India from East Bengal after 25th March and rehabilitate them. Rehabilitate those who suffered from the activities of Pak military fascists. Give compensation to the families of those who were killed in the war and by the Pak military fascists. Help to start functioning of all those private owned industries, business and trading companies that suffered.

Free all the political prisoners arrested by the Pak military fascists.

8) Take unconditional or low interest loan for establishing heavy industry. Do not sign any short or long term open or secret unequal agreement or commodity exchange treaty with India or any other country. Publicize all the secretly signed treaties for the consideration of people. Stop exporting Rice, Dal, Fish, Meat, Eggs, and Vegetables etc daily goods to India.

Revoke the right of India to directly buy Jute, Tea, Leather etc. from East Bengal. Otherwise East Bengal people will lose millions of foreign currency.

9) Resist infiltration, control and influence of capital of India or any other country in industry, trade, banking, agricultural, natural resources, transport, communication and other fields. Stop illegal capital transfer to India or other countries from East Bengal.

Establish customs system in border areas of East Bengal. Resist smuggling of goods between India and East Bengal.

10) Develop heavy industry, light industry and cottage industry in East Bengal. Preserve them from foreign competition. For that reason, take step to resist the capture of East Bengal market by India or any other country.

11) Rehabilitate all those employees in work who were dismissed, retrenched from employment and got leave from work by the Pak military fascists and those who took shelter in India. Provide work to unemployed.

Provide pension and other compensation to those who died as servicemen. Do not permanently or temporarily employ citizens of India or any other foreign countries to government or any other institutions. If employed, send back them to own countries.

In giving promotion and employment cut in government, private, military or all other services, oppose religious, party, factional or personal partiality. Take qualification as the measure of employment, promotion and employment cut.

12) Start functioning of the educational institutions. Establish secular, patriotic, national and country constructive democratic education system.

13) Provide free development of patriotic and democratic art, cinema, literature and other spheres of culture of East Bengal. Preserve domestic literature, cinema, art and culture from the competition with India or any other country.

14) Oppose the using of Radio, Cinema, and Newspapers as single party propaganda machine or foreign propaganda machine.

15) Oppose religious oppression in any field in the country. Provide freedom of prayer and religious ceremonies. Preserve Mosque, Temple, Church and Pagoda. Provide religious equality.

16) Assure free political activities and civil right to patriotic political parties, groups and individuals of different views. Provide freedom of speech, of newspapers and printing Medias, of organizing, mobilizing and agitating. Oppose open or secret arrest, killing and detention and imprisonment without trial.

The cadres of the Proletarian Party of East Bengal, without going to India, by depending on own and people’s strength carried guerrilla war in different districts of East Bengal against the Pak military fascists, built liberated zones. The fascists inside Liberation Force, other than welcoming it, attacked and seized those areas, and killed many patriotic cadres, guerrillas, sympathizers and people of Sarbahara Party by branding them as Naxal.

Stop open or secret annihilation campaign of patriotic revolutionary freedom fighters of East Bengal who are different than Awami League, by branding them as Naxal. Put in trial and seriously punish those fascist murderers who have committed such types of hated crimes. Expose the real incident in public. Compensate the martyr families. Free the prisoners.

Give serious punishment to the proven Al Badar, Razakar and other collaborators of Pak military bandits. But oppose hated activities of killing regardless of Bengali or non-Bengali patriots who are different than Awami League by branding them as Al Badar, Razakar or collaborator of Pak military gangs.

17) Establish foreign relation on the basis of  Panchashila (Five Principles of Peaceful-Coexistence – English Translator)  i.e., Mutual respect for each other’s territorial integrity and sovereignty, Mutual non-aggression, Mutual non-interference in each other’s internal affairs, Equality and mutual benefit, and Peaceful co-existence. Do not take part in other countries’ military activities. Follow non-aligned, progressive and anti-imperialist foreign policy.

18) Pay gratitude to the people of India and different countries of world for their help to the refugee people of East Bengal. Take measure to pay back their help with interest.

19) Establish international system for transfer from India or any other countries to Bangladesh and vice versa. Stop free movement.

20) Deny all the agreement signed by the Pakistan with US and other imperialism. Do not pay back the debt that falls on East Bengal as part of Pakistan.

Confiscate all the properties and capitals of US and other imperialists in East Bengal.

21) Establish equal right to women in all spheres. Provide rehabilitation and employment to women who suffered by the Pak military fascists.

22) Fix Eight Hour Working Day to all kinds of workers and make progressive labor law. Compensate the families of workers killed in war by the Pak military fascists. Provide work to the unemployed workers.

23) Provide medical treatment to those who were injured in war by the Pak military fascists. Provide the way to survive their livelihood to the disables and their family dependents.

24) Use the arms and other materials of the surrendered Pak military bandits in building armed force of East Bengal. Stop seizure and transfer of these materials by India.

25) Bring back the Bengalis living in West Pakistan to East Bengal and rehabilitate them.

26) India is gaining from value depreciation of currency of East Bengal, and she is gaining huge amount of East Bengal currency, which has to be stopped and currency value should be increased to the previous level and Indian currency should be banned in market. Illegal passing of gold and silver to India from East Bengal has to be stopped.

27) Make just solution of Farraka dam created problems.

The meaning of not materializing the above demands is that no real independence of East Bengal has been achieved. Under the cover of independence, new chain of subservience has been established.

People of East Bengal hope that Bangladesh government will prove their patriotism and nationalism by materializing the above demands. Otherwise this government will be a puppet government of India, and East Bengal will be a colony of India. ■