When President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan took power through a coup in October 1999 most people were suspicious of his intentions and motivations. Over the years, however, he has shown himself to be an intelligent and courageous man. It was therefore a great disappointment to read some of the excerpts from his memoirs described in The Daily Star's news item on September 28.

In talking about the birth of Bangladesh, and ascribing most of the blame to Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and a “small coterie of leaders”, he also points at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, describing his position as “myopic and rigid”. Bangabandhu and the Awami League had been voted to power in Pakistan in the elections of 1970, usually considered one of the fairest held. He was the prime minister-elect of Pakistan, and yet the military government of General Yahya Khan chose to withhold power from him, and postpone the sitting of the Constituent Assembly. Demanding that the right of the voters who elected his party to power be respected may be rigid, but where is the room for flexibility? The voters of the nation of Pakistan had made their

wishes known; asking that their wishes be carried out is myopic?

Further, President Musharraf describes the surrender of 90,000 Pakistani troops on December 16, 1971 as the saddest day of his life. I find it very sad that he does not consider that the day he realised what those troops had done, with such ferocious brutality, to fellow citizens of the same country, was really the saddest day, and he appears not to shed a single tear for the real victims. That is the real myopia. That such a war took place, that surrender occurred, is simply a testament to the nature of that occupying force and its bestial treatment of civilians.

Lastly, I must state that most Heads of State wait until they leave office before publishing their memoirs. It is the proper and gracious thing to do. That way, the opinions and memories of a former leader may be taken for what they are, and not mistaken for the attitudes of the government and the nation it represents.

Syed Hamde Ali, The Nawab Palace, Bogra