Hamoodur Rahman Commission
[2] The commission was set up on 26 December 1971[1] by Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto the then President of Pakistan and chaired under Chief Justice Hamoodur Rahman.
[5] Upon consolidating the power, President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto announced to form the Commission under the Supreme Court's senior justices in December 1971.
[9] In 1974, the Commission again resumed its work and interviewed 300 freed POWs and recorded 73 more bureaucrats' testimonies that served on government assignments in East Pakistan.
In July 1972, President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto reviewed the First report submitted by Chief Justice Hamoodur Rahman.
[2] The first report recognized the atrocities and systematic massacre at the Dhaka University which eventually led to recommendations of holding public trials for civilian bureaucrats and field courts-martial for the senior staff officers.
[11] The first report also made many insightful recommendations for reorganizing the military physicals, tradition, and their syllabus and training agenda as well as promoting the sense of democratization environment in the political system of the country.
[10] The first report is never published and kept as highly classified documents because of its potentially adverse effects on the military's (at that time) low-institutional morale and fear of a backlash.
[12] Commission held an informal meeting at Lahore on 3 June 1974 to consider various preliminary matters and then decided to resume proceedings at Abbottabad from 16 July 1974.
[citation needed] After the investigation resumed in 1974 the commission interviewed with seventy–three more East Pakistani bureaucrats and high-ranked military personnel.
[12][9] The Commission examined nearly 300 witnesses in total, hundreds of classified documents and military signals between East and West Pakistan.
The supplementary report is heavily based on testimonies provided by the returning POWs and their families but held the military responsible for the atrocities committed in East Pakistan in 1971.
[citation needed] The commission also held that the families of West Pakistani service members in East Pakistan were subjected to inhumane treatment by Bengalis.
[13] Returning western Pakistanis and the Biharis told the commission of awful tales of the atrocities committed at the hands of the Awami League militants– the Mukti Bahini.
[2] The report accused the army generals of what it called a "premature surrender" and said the military's continued involvement in running the government after 1958 was one reason for the corruption and ineffectiveness of senior officers.
[3] According to the report "Firm and proper action would not only satisfy the nation's demand for punishment where it is deserved but would also ensure against any recurrence of the kind of shameful conduct displayed during the 1971 war".
[19] In the end, the commission opined in the report that the nation would learn the necessary lessons from these tragic events and that effective and early action will be taken in the light of the conclusions reached.
[2] The supplementary report was submitted by Chief Justice Hamoodur Rahman to Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto on 23 October 1974.
[3] Former Pakistan Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa blamed the 1971 Bangladesh war debacle on the country's politicians.
