The Famous Brutal Pakistani Soldier Photo from 1971

This is the most misunderstood photo in the history of Bangladesh which has become one of many tools for the propaganda related to our Independence war in 1971. We all know that the history is written by the victors. Well, after we won the war, many ultra-nationalist and secularist intellectuals started propagating about the independence war. This photo was one of the many things that are still very well known and widely circulated in Bangladesh to exaggerate the erstwhile situation and fuel the propaganda machine a lot more. This photo has been circulated all over Bangladesh to show the inhuman nature of the then Pakistani army by implying that the Pakistani army was so ruthless and racist that they didn’t even hesitate to check the circumcision of the common people as a way to identify and separate the Hindu people from the general mass. It shows a Pakistani soldier checking inside the lungi of a man to see whether he is Hindu or Muslim, and if he is Hindu, he will probably be taken away to be killed. This very picture must be very familiar to all Bangladeshis. It was also indicated that the picture was taken while the war was still going on. Its a very common image, and quite successfully it was burned into the minds of Bangladeshis as an example of typical Pakistani/Islamic brutality, intolerance and backwardness.

Actually, it is a photo taken by Mr. Kishore Parekh, a famous Indian photographer and the photo was taken after we won the war and became an independent country- Bangladesh. The picture is from a book by the photographer called “Bangladesh- A Brutal Birth”. The soldier in the photo was actually an Indian soldier who was checking the arrested Rajakar members (local collaborator of the Pakistani army) whether they had any arms hidden inside their lungi. However, the fact is that the picture ISN’T of a Pakistani soldier at all, but an Indian soldier “checking for weapons”.