Dead Reckoning: Memories of the 1971 Bangladesh War

Dead Reckoning: Memories of the 1971 Bangladesh War
Author Sarmila Bose
Country United States
Language English
Genre History
Publisher C. Hurst & Co.
Publication date
 April 1, 2011
Media type Print (hardcover and paperback)
Pages 288
ISBN 978-1849040495

Dead Reckoning: Memories of the 1971 Bangladesh War is a controversial book on the Bangladesh Liberation War written by Sarmila Bose.[1]

Bose claims that allegations of genocide and rape by the Pakistan Army were exaggerated by Bangladesh and India.[2][3][4] She presents interviews of some selected[5][6] witnesses in favor of her opinion. She also accuses Bangladeshi liberation accounts of ignoring atrocities against Urdu-speaking people in East Pakistan. Bose's book implies a claim to being the 'first' to dissect the death toll of 3 million in 1971, but it has been termed as 'hollow' and 'self-promotional' as researchers like Zunaid Kazi had already documented 12 different media estimates of death tolls.[1] Some of the books on Pakistan Army's atrocity during 1971, written by Pakistanis were termed as 'limited' by Bose.[7] Sarmila Bose has responded to three of her most notable critics – Naeem Mohaiemen, Urvashi Butalia, and Srinath Raghavan – in an academic publication.[8]

Controversies

Criticism

Bose's study has been criticized by various historians and academics for numerous inaccuracies and excessive reliance on Pakistani military and government sources, thereby giving a low estimate of the 1971 Bangladesh genocide.[9] Researchers have accused her of flawed and biased methodology, historical revisionism[10] and downplaying[11] war crimes.[5][12][13][14] In several cases, she misquoted her interviewees and other academics that she cites as reference.[15] Bose has been criticized for her bias towards Pakistani Army in the language she deploys — Bangladeshi accounts are labelled “claims”, Pakistani officers’ accounts are straightforward accounts.[16] Bose's impartiality has also been questioned due to her role as an advocate of US arms sales to Pakistan.[17][18][19][20][6][21]

Bose has been criticized long before publishing the book for her research methodologies. She accepts the statement of Pakistani Brigadier Taj that no women were tortured in Rajarbag to be true even though Taj was not present during the operation. But she invalidates the testimony of an eye witness of the incidents of rape done by Pakistani Army as the witness is illiterate. In another case, she asserted that since one rape victim feared for her life, she must have consented to having sex with Pakistani soldiers.[22]

References

  1. 1 2 Lawson, Alastair (16 June 2011). "Controversial book accuses Bengalis of 1971 war crimes". BBC. Retrieved 30 December 2013.
  2. ↑ Woodrow Wilson Center Woodrow Wilson Center Book Launch event
  3. ↑ Anatomy of Violence: Analysis of Civil War in East Pakistan in 1971 by Sarmila Bose in the Economic and Political Weekly, October 8, 2005
  4. ↑ Losing the Victims: Problems of Using Women as Weapons in Recounting the Bangladesh War by Sarmila Bose in the Economic and Political Weekly, September 22, 2007
  5. 1 2 Sahgal, Gita (18 December 2011). "Dead Reckoning: Disappearing stories and evidence". The Daily Star. Retrieved 19 December 2013.
  6. 1 2 Nasir, ABM (14 March 2011). "Return of Sarmila Bose". bdnews24. Retrieved 20 December 2013.
  7. ↑ Bose, Sarmila (2011). Dead Reckoning. Columbia University Press. p. 195.
  8. ↑ Bose, Sarmila (2011-12-31). "'Dead Reckoning': A Response". Economic & Political Weekly. 46 (53): 76–70. Retrieved 2015-03-19.
  9. ↑ Bergman, David (24 April 2014). "Questioning an iconic number" (1). The Hindu. The Hindu. Retrieved 28 September 2016.
  10. ↑ Ahsan, Syed Badrul (13 July 2011). "Sarmila Bose and bad arithmetic". The Daily Star. Retrieved 21 December 2013.
  11. ↑ Bhaumik, Subir (29 April 2011). "Book, film greeted with fury among Bengalis". aljazeera. Retrieved 21 December 2013.
  12. ↑ Naeem Mohaiemen, "Flying Blind: Waiting for a real Reckoning on 1971", Economic & Political Weekly, vol xlvi no 36, September 3, 2011
  13. ↑ Sarmila Bose, "‘Dead Reckoning’: A Response"; Naeem Mohaiemen, "Another Reckoning"; Economic & Political Weekly, vol xlvi no 53, December 31, 2011.
  14. ↑ Zeitlin, Arnold (November 17, 2013). "Thoughts on Dead Reckoning". The Daily Star. Retrieved 16 December 2013.
  15. ↑ Mohaimen, Naeem (3 October 2011). "Flying Blind: Waiting for a Real Reckoning on 1971". The Daily Star. Retrieved 20 December 2013.
  16. ↑ Butalia, Urvashi (13 August 2011). "She Does Not Know Best". Tehelka. Retrieved 21 December 2013.
  17. ↑ Sobhan, Zafar. "Bose is more Pakistani than Jinnah the Quaid". The Sunday Guardian. Retrieved 16 December 2013.
  18. ↑ Mookherjee, Nayanika (7 Jun 2011). "This account of the Bangladesh war should not be seen as unbiased". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 Dec 2013.
  19. ↑ Raghavan, Srinath (Jul 30, 2011). "A Dhaka Debacle". The Indian Express. Retrieved Dec 19, 2013.
  20. ↑ Zia, Afia (12 January 2012). "Reading and writing 1971". The Express Tribune. Retrieved 20 December 2013.
  21. ↑ Milam, William (April 11, 2005). "The right stuff: F-16s to Pakistan is wise decision". The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 16 December 2013.
  22. ↑ Rahman, Mashuqur (December 2007). "The continuing rape of our history". The Daily Star. Retrieved 21 December 2013.

Further reading

External links

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