Agha Mohammad Yahya Khan

Agha Mohammad Yahya Khan
Country: Pakistan.
Kill tally: 200,000 to three million during the 1971 conflict in East Pakistan (Bangladesh).
Background: British occupation of India begins at the start of the 17th Century, with the 'Raj' reaching its zenith at the end of the 19th Century. Indian opposition to colonial rule gains focus in the early 20th Century as the nation unites to expel the British.
The Indian National Congress is formed in Bombay in 1885 as a debating society and lobby group composed of concerned Indian professionals and British citizens. The Hindu-dominated Congress becomes radicalised after 1900 and is soon the leading organisation within a broad-based freedom struggle to expel the British and obtain Indian self-rule.
However, the Congress fails to gain the support of Muslim Indians, who found the All-India Muslim League in 1906 as the voice of a "nation within a nation". More background.
Mini biography: Born on 4 February 1917 in Chakwal, in Hindustan in the north of Pakistan. His family has a long history of military service. After receiving a grammar school education and graduating from Punjab University he enrols in the Indian Military Academy at Dehra Dun, in the foothills of the Himalayas.
1933 - The name Pakistan is coined by a group of university students who are opposed to the idea of a federated India and support the partitioning of the country into national states. In a pamphlet titled 'Now or Never' they write, "Pakistan ... is ... composed of letters taken from the names of our homelands: that is, Punjab, Afghania (Northwest Frontier Province), Kashmir, Iran, Sindh, Tukharistan, Afghanistan, and Baluchistan. It means the land of the Paks, the spiritually pure and clean."
The pamphlet makes no reference to the state of Bengal in the east of India. Bengal has a large population of Muslims.
1934 - Mohammed Ali Jinnah takes over the leadership of the Muslim League. Jinnah believes that India is composed of "two nations", one Hindu the other Islamic.
1935 - Limited self-rule is achieved when the British Parliament passes the Government of India Act. The Act gives Indian provinces a system of democratic, autonomous government.
1937 - In February, after elections under the Government of India Act bring the Congress to power in a majority of the provinces, the party is faced with a dilemma. Jinnah asks for the formation of coalition Congress-Muslim League governments in some of the provinces. His request is denied.
The subsequent clash between the Congress and the Muslim League hardens into a conflict between Hindus and Muslims that will ultimately lead to the partition of India and the creation of Pakistan.
1938 - Yahya Khan is commissioned as an officer into the Indian Army and posted to the Northwest Frontier Province. During the Second World War he serves as an officer in the British Indian 4th Division, seeing action in Iraq, Italy and North Africa.
1939 - When the Second World War breaks out in September Britain unilaterally declares India's participation on the side of the Allies. In response the Congress withdraws from government and decides it will not to support the British war effort unless India is granted complete and immediate independence. The Muslim League, however, supports the British during the war.
1940 - On 23 March, at its annual session in Lahore, the Muslim League adopts the 'Pakistan Resolution'. The resolution calls for areas with a Muslim majority in India's northwest and northeast to be partitioned from the Hindu core into separate "constituent states to be autonomous and sovereign."
The League states that any independence plan without this provision would be unacceptable to Muslims. Congress rejects the proposition.
In 1946 the League modifies the resolution to call for a "unified Pakistan" with east and west wings.
1942 - In June Yahya Khan is captured by the Axis forces in North Africa and sent to a prisoner of war camp in Italy. After three attempts he escapes from the camp.
1944 - The British Government agrees to independence for India on condition that the two contending nationalist groups, the Muslim League and the Congress Party, resolve their differences. In September Congress leader Mahatma Gandhi discusses the possibility of partition with Jinnah. The talks fail to resolve the issue.
1946 - Congress Party President Jawaharlal Nehru is invited by the British to form an interim government to organise the transition to independence. Fearing it will be excluded from power, the Muslim League declares 16 August 'Direct Action Day'. When communal rioting breaks out in the north, partition comes to be seen as a valid alternative to the possibility of civil war.
1947 - On 3 June British Prime Minister Clement Attlee introduces a bill to the House of Commons calling for the independence and partition of the British Indian Empire into the separate nations of India and Pakistan. On 14 July the House of Commons passes the India Independence Act.
Under the Act Pakistan is to be comprised of a West Wing and an East Wing focused on the Muslim population centres of the Punjab (West Pakistan) and Bengal (East Pakistan) on either side of India.
The two wings are separated by a distance of 1,600 kilometres. They are climatically, geographically, culturally and linguistically distinct.
The East is wet and flat. The population is ethnically homogeneous. Their principal language and culture is Bangla (Bengali). Their staple crop is rice. They make up about 54% of Pakistan's entire population.
The West is dry and rugged. Its population consists of four major ethnic groups (Punjabis, Pakhtuns, Sindhis and Baluchis). Its principal language is Urdu. Its staple crop is wheat.
On 14 August Pakistan is declared to be independent. India formally attains its sovereignty at midnight on the same day.
Amid the celebrations sectarian riots erupt as Muslims in India flee to Pakistan while Hindus in the Pakistan flee the opposite way. As many as two million die in north India, at least 12 million become refugees, and a limited war over the incorporation of Kashmir into India breaks out between the two nation states.
Jinnah becomes head of state of the Dominion of Pakistan when he is appointed as the country's first governor general. He is also leader of the Muslim League and president of the Constituent Assembly. He has no formal limitations on his constitutional powers. His prime minister is Liaquat Ali Khan.
Soon after partition inequalities begin to develop between Pakistan's East and West wings. Urdu is declared the official language, causing resentment among the Bangla-speakers of the East.
The central government and military are based in West Pakistan. The banking and finance sectors of the East come to be controlled by West Pakistanis. East Pakistanis are under-represented in the civil and military services.
Urdu speakers from the West dominate management positions and the skilled labour force in the East. They in turn favour Urdu-speaking Biharis (refugees from the northern Indian state of Bihar living in East Pakistan) for general workforce positions.
The East receives less than half of the country's development funds and less than a quarter of its foreign aid, even though it earns a greater amount of foreign exchange than the West.
Meanwhile, Yahya Khan helps to establish the Pakistani Staff College at Quetta in Baluchistan.
1948 - In September Jinnah dies. Liaquat Ali Khan now takes full leadership of Pakistan.
1949 - The Awami League is founded by Bengali leaders in the East. The aim of the League is to promote Bengali interests and secure autonomy for the East.
1951 - On 16 October Liaquat Ali Khan is assassinated by fanatics opposed to his refusal to wage war against India. He is replaced as prime minister by Khwaja Nazimuddin, a Bengali and the then governor general. Ghulam Mohammad is appointed as governor general.
Meanwhile, Yahya Khan is promoted to the rank of brigadier-general and placed in command of the 106 Infantry Brigade, which is deployed on the line-of-control in Kashmir. He is later promoted to deputy chief-of-staff of the army.
1952 - Attempts to impose Urdu as the second language in East Pakistan provoke riots. On 22 February during a language demonstration in Dhaka, the capital of the East, police fire on the crowd and kill two students. Two years later the Constituent Assembly designates "Urdu and Bengali and such other languages as may be declared" as the official languages of Pakistan.
1953 - Prime Minister Nazimuddin is dismissed by Governor General Ghulam Mohammad in April.
1954 - In general elections the Muslim League is defeated in the East by the United Front, a coalition campaigning for autonomy for the East. However, the United Front is prevented from taking office by Ghulam Mohammad, who imposes governor's rule on the East under Major General Iskander Mirza.
Ghulam Mohammad also dismisses the Pakistan Constituent Assembly and appoints his own "cabinet of talents", including a number of senior officers from the military.
Yahya Khan is chosen to head a planning board set up to modernise the Pakistan Army.
1955 - The Constituent Assembly is reconvened, with the United Front taking its seats in the house. Ghulam Mohammad resigns as governor general. He dies the following year. Mirza replaces him.
1956 - Pakistan's first constitution is finally accepted on 2 March, nine years after independence. The constitution proclaims Pakistan an Islamic republic and renames the Constituent Assembly the Legislative Assembly. The office of governor general is renamed president.
The constitution decrees that each wing of Pakistan will have the same number of representatives in the parliament, meaning that the East, with its larger population, is under-represented.
Though the United Front does form a coalition government no party in the Assembly is able to maintain a stable majority or withstand the meddling of Mirza.
The country begins to fracture, with different regions pushing for autonomy.
1957 - Yahya Khan is appointed as army chief-of-staff and is promoted to a full general.
1958 - On 7 October President Mirza, with the support of Army Commander-in-chief General Mohammad Ayub Khan, suspends the 1956 constitution, imposes martial law, abolishes political parties and cancels the elections scheduled for January 1959.
On 27 October Mirza swears in a 12-member cabinet that includes Ayub Khan as prime minister and three other generals in ministerial positions.
The same day Mirza is ousted by Ayub Khan and sent into lifetime exile in London. Ayub Khan assumes control of a military government. Yahya Khan is one of the military figures who have supported Ayub Khan's coup.
Although an autocrat Ayub Khan introduces various reforms. He isolates the military from the government decision-making process, relying instead on senior civil servants and a few conservative politicians, and also takes steps to accommodate the grievances of the East.
Bengali members of the civil service are preferred for posts in the East; Dhaka is designated the legislative capital of Pakistan, and Islamabad the administrative capital; and public investment in the East Pakistan is increased.
1962 - A new constitution ending martial law and creating a political system with all executive power vested in the president is introduced in March. Pakistan is declared a republic and the National Assembly is established as the federal legislature, with sessions to be held alternately in Dhaka and Islamabad. Late in the year political parties are again legalised. Factions from the Muslim League are remoulded into the Pakistan Muslim League (PML), the official government party.
1963 - Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (Mujib) assumes the leadership of the Awami League, which is now East Pakistan's dominant political party. Mujib emerges as leader of the Bengali autonomy movement.
1965 - Skirmishes break out between Pakistani and Indian forces along the border at the Rann of Kutch in the southeast in April. They spread to Kashmir. The skirmishes at the Rann of Kutch are soon resolved but the conflict in Kashmir proves more intractable and develops into the Second Indo-Pakistani War.
On 23 September a cease-fire is arranged through the UN Security Council.
During the war Yahya Khan commands an infantry division.
1966 - In March Yahya Khan is appointed as commander-in-chief of the Pakistan Army and promoted from major-general to lieutenant-general. He is instrumental in reorganising and modernising the Pakistan Army. He works to improve communications, decentralise decision making, increase the strength of the infantry and create an independent command structure in the East.
In February, at a meeting of Pakistani opposition parties held in Lahore, Mujib presents a six-point political and economic program for achieving autonomy for the East.
The program calls for a federal parliament elected by universal suffrage, with seats allocated on the basis of population distribution and with the parliament to be responsible for foreign affairs and defence only. Under the plan each wing of Pakistan would have its own currency and paramilitary forces.
Meanwhile, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, the Minister of Foreign Affairs in Ayub Khan's government, resigns and forms the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), becoming a vocal opposition figure.
1969 - Rioting against the Ayub Khan regime breaks out across the nation. The rioters believe that the regime is corrupt, has failed the country economically and is responsible for Pakistan's defeat in the 1965 war over Kashmir.
On 25 March Ayub Khan announces his resignation and hands over the government to Yahya Khan. Martial law is reimposed, with Yahya Khan becoming the chief martial law administrator. On 31 March Yahya Khan assumes the presidency.
The constitution is suspended and the National Assembly dissolved. However, Yahya Khan makes a commitment to the return of government under a redrafted constitution and agrees that representation in the Assembly should be determined by population distribution, ensuring that the majority of seats will be based in the East. He promises open elections with a universal "one man, one vote" adult franchise.
He also enters into discussions with leaders of political parties, dismisses almost 300 senior civil servants and attempts to curb the power of 32 families said to control about half of Pakistan's gross national product.
At the end of July Yahya Khan announces that he will double the number of Bengalis serving in the defence forces.
1970 - At the end of March Yahya Khan unveils a new interim constitution.
Pakistan's first nationwide direct elections are held on 7 December. The Awami League campaigns for almost total autonomy for the East. When it wins 160 of the 162 seats allotted to the East it becomes the majority party in the 313 seat National Assembly.
Mujib claims the prime ministership and asserts that his six-point program will be used as the basis of a new constitution.
However, the election result is not honoured, with West Pakistani politicians, led by Bhutto and supported by senior army officers, pressuring Yahya Khan to cancel the inaugural sitting of the National Assembly, making the establishment of civilian government impossible.
1971 - On 21 February Yahya Khan dissolves his civilian cabinet. The army takes full control of the government.
On 28 February Bhutto states that if the National Assembly opens as planned there will be a general strike throughout West Pakistan.
The next day Yahya Khan announces that the Assembly has been postponed indefinitely.
On 2 March Mujib calls a five-day general strike in East Pakistan. "In this critical hour it is the sacred duty of each and every Bengali in every walk of life, including government employees, not to cooperate with anti-people forces and instead to do everything in their power to foil the conspiracy against Bangladesh," he says.
The strike takes effect across the whole of the East and is followed up by a campaign of noncooperation.
On 6 March Yahya Khan announces that the National Assembly will meet on 25 March. However, the announcement is accompanied by a warning.
"Let me make it absolutely clear that no matter what happens, as long as I am in command of the Pakistan Armed Forces and Head of the State, I will ensure complete and absolute integrity of Pakistan.
"Let there be no mistake on this point. I have a duty towards millions of people of East and West Pakistan to preserve this country. They expect this from me and I shall not fail them," he says.
On 7 March Mujib states that the Awami League will only attend the Assembly if martial law is immediately revoked and power transferred to the representatives elected at the 7 December poll.
The Awami League now becomes the de facto government in the East.
On 15 March Yahya Khan flies to Dhaka for talks with Mujib. By 20 March he has provisionally agreed to the drafting of a new constitution and the introduction of an interim constitution that would end martial law. However, Bhutto rejects the proposal.
On 20 March, on the order of Yahya Khan, armed forces in East Pakistan under the command of Lieutenant-general Tikka Khan begin to prepare for a military takeover.
On 23 March Mujib issues a "declaration of emancipation" for the East. At the same time, the Awami League issues an expanded list of demands that essentially call for complete autonomy for the East within a loose confederation.
At 10 p.m. on 25 March, after talks held in Dhaka between Yahya Khan, Mujib and Bhutto break down, and after Yahya Khan has secretly left the capital, the plan for a military takeover goes into operation.
What has been described as a "wholesale slaughter" of the civilian population of the East by the Pakistan Army begins in Dhaka, centring on the university precinct and spreading to the old parts of the city and scattered shanty towns. Several hundred Bengalis are killed within hours. Many of those killed are named on death lists that have been prepared in advance.
The Awami League is outlawed and Mujib is arrested and flown to the West Wing to stand trial for treason. He is found guilty and sentenced to death.
All political activity is banned. Foreign journalists are expelled from the East and the media is censored in both the East and West wings.
Additional troops are airlifted in from West Pakistan. The violence escalates and, when the Bengalis start to fight back, tips into civil war.
By 28 March an estimated 15,000 Bengalis have been killed. By the end of August as many as 300,000 are dead.
According to an eyewitness account recorded in a report by the International Commission of Jurists, the conflict has three phases: first a general repression of all Bengalis; second the persecution of the Hindu population; and third a "Collective Punitive Reprisal Program" that comes into effect once the Bengalis begin to retaliate.
Rebel army officer Major Ziaur Rahman proclaims the "independent, sovereign republic of Bangladesh" in Chittagong on 26 March. The same day Yahya Khan declares that he has ordered the armed forces "to do their duty and fully restore the authority of the government".
Lieutenant-general A.A.K. Niazi replaces Tikka Khan on 7 April.
In April a Bangladesh government-in-exile is formed in Calcutta by a number of leading Awami League members who have escaped from East Pakistan. On 17 April the government-in-exile formally proclaims independence and names Mujib as its president.
Back in the conflict zone, rebel Bengali fighters are organised into the Mukti Bahini (Liberation Force). The East Pakistan Rifles join them. However, the Pakistan Army presses its advantage and by the middle of May controls most of the East.
Across the border, the Indian parliament passes a resolution in support of the "people of Bengal" on 31 March. India also provides the Mukti Bahini with equipment, training and other assistance.
India's actions raise tensions with Pakistan. Yahya Khan threatens war if India attempts to seize any part of Pakistan, asserting that Pakistan could count on its American and Chinese friends. (Behind the scenes Yahya Khan is acting as an intermediary in the secret negotiations between the United States and China that enable the historic visit by US President Richard M. Nixon to China in 1972.)
On 28 June Yahya Khan announces plans for the drafting of a new constitution, saying that the task should be completed in about four months. At the end of July he claims that normality has returned to the East.
At the end of August a moderate Bengali, Abdul Malik, is installed as the civilian governor of East Pakistan. On 5 September Yahya Khan declares a general amnesty. However, guerrilla activities by the Mukti Bahini increase.
On 25 October Yahya Khan invites the secretary general of the United Nations (UN) to visit India and Pakistan in order to discuss an UN-supervised withdrawal of troops from both sides of the frontier.
On 21 November the Mukti Bahini launches an offensive on Jessore, southwest of Dhaka.
Two days later Yahya Khan declares a state of emergency in all of Pakistan and asks his people to prepare for war with India. At 4:30 p.m. on 3 December he declares war on India and launches air attacks on military targets in India's northwest. At midnight Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declares war on Pakistan.
The next day, on 4 December, India begins an integrated ground, sea and air invasion of East Pakistan. Attacks are also launched against West Pakistan.
The Indian forces in the East quickly converge on Dhaka. On 6 December India recognises Bangladesh as an independent state. The next day Yahya Khan announces he has formed a coalition government with an elderly East Pakistani at its head and with Bhutto as its deputy.
On 16 December the Pakistani forces in the East surrender unconditionally to the Indians. Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi proclaims a unilateral cease-fire on December 17.
The conflict in the East is over but it has left a dreadful toll. Media reports at the time estimate the number of Bengalis killed by the Pakistan Army at between 200,000 and three million. Between six and 12 million have taken refuge in the Indian state of West Bengal. Around 20 million have been internally displaced. There has been extensive raping (200,000 to 400,000 women raped), looting and gratuitous brutality. Thousands of Hindu villages have been destroyed. About 9,000 Pakistani troops have been killed.
Yahya Khan resigns on 20 December. Mujib is released the same day. Bhutto replaces Yahya Khan as president and chief martial law administrator. Bhutto revokes martial law and purges the military of about 1,400 officers.
East Pakistan becomes the new nation state of Bangladesh, meaning "Bengal country".
More than 90,000 prisoners of war are repatriated to Pakistan. None have been put to trial for war crimes.
1972 - At the start of January Mujib returns to Bangladesh and is sworn in as prime minister.
Meanwhile, Yahya Khan is placed under arrest. At first he is held incommunicado in an isolated forest bungalow. Later he is moved to his own house. While under house arrest he is paralysed by a stroke.
In July the Hamoodur Rahman Commission set up by Bhutto to inquire into the causes of Pakistan's surrender in the war hands down its report. The report is never released to the public. However, a supplementary report completed by the commission in 1974 is leaked to 'India Today' in July 2000.
According to the supplementary report, the commission finds:
"3. (i) That General Yahya Khan, General Abdul Hamid Khan, Lt. Gen. S.G.M.M. Pirzada, Lt. Gen. Gul Hasan, Maj. Gen. Umar and Maj. Gen. Mitha should be publicly tried for being party to a criminal conspiracy to illegally usurp power from F.M. Mohammad Ayub Khan, if necessary by the use of force. In furtherance of their common purpose they did actually try to influence political parties by threats, inducements and even bribes to support their designs both for bringing about a particular kind of result during the elections of 1970, and later persuading some of the political parties and the elected members of the National Assembly to refuse to attend the session of the National Assembly scheduled to be held at Dhaka on the 3rd of March, 1971. They, furthermore, in agreement with each other brought about a situation in East Pakistan which led to a civil disobedience movement, armed revolt by the Awami League and subsequently to the surrender of our troops in East Pakistan and the dismemberment of Pakistan:
"(ii) That the Officers mentioned in No. (i) above should also be tried for criminal neglect of duty in the conduct of war both in East Pakistan and West Pakistan. ...
"5. (i) That allegations of personal immorality, drunkenness and indulgence in corrupt practices against General Yahya Khan, General Abdul Hamid Khan and Maj. Gen. Khuda Dad Khan be properly investigated as there is prima facie evidence to show that their moral degeneration resulted in indecision, cowardice and professional incompetence. In the light of the result of this inquiry suitable charges may be added against these Officers, during the trials we have already recommended earlier."
1973 - At elections held in Bangladesh the Awami League wins 282 out of 289 directly contested seats. However, corruption and mismanagement are turning popular opinion away from Mujib.
1974 - On 22 February Pakistan recognises Bangladesh. On 17 September Bangladesh is admitted to UN.
1975 - In January the Bangladesh's constitution is amended to make Mujib president for five years and to give him full executive powers. The next month Mujib proclaims Bangladesh a one-party state. He renames the Awami League the Bangladesh Krishak Sramik Awami League (Bangladesh Peasants, Workers, and People's League) and requires all parliamentarians along with all senior civil and military personnel to join the party. To all intents and purposes Bangladesh has been transformed into a dictatorship.
On 15 August Mujib and several members of his family are assassinated in a coup engineered by a group of young army officers. Martial law is introduced.
1976 - Formal relations between Pakistan and Bangladesh are established.
In Pakistan, Bhutto appoints General Mohammad Zia ul-Haq as chief-of-staff of the army.
1977 - On 21 April, following a period of instability, Major-general Ziaur Rahman becomes the president of Bangladesh. In June 1978 he wins a five-year term as president, with 76% of the vote. He demilitarises the government, reestablishes public order, lifts the ban on political parties and revokes martial law.
In Pakistan, Bhutto is overthrown by Zia ul-Haq on 5 July 1977. Martial law is reimposed and Bhutto is taken into custody. He is subsequently found guilty of complicity in the murder of a political opponent. He is hanged on 4 April 1979.
Yahya Khan is freed from house arrest by Zia ul-Haq.
1980 - Yahya Khan dies on 10 August in Rawalpindi. He is given a full military burial.
Postscript
Bangladesh
Ziaur Rahman is assassinated on 30 May 1981 in a plot organised by a disaffected military officer. After a brief period of civilian rule another military government, headed by General Hussain Muhammad Ershad, takes power through a coup in March 1982. Martial law is introduced, although some limited political activity is allowed.
Ershad is forced from power in December 1990. Democracy returns to Bangladesh with general elections held February 1991.
Pakistan
Zia remains in power until 17 August 1988 when he is killed when a plane he is travelling in explodes under suspicious circumstances.
Democracy now returns to Pakistan, with Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto's daughter Benazir winning enough seats at elections held in November 1988 to form a coalition government. Two years later, in August 1990, she is dismissed by President Ghulam Ishaq Khan for alleged corruption and her inability to maintain law and order.
New elections bring Mian Nawaz Sharif to power. In July 1993 both Nawaz Sharif and Ishaq Khan step down. Elections in October 1993 see the return of Benazir Bhutto to power.
In November 1996 President Farooq Leghari dismisses the Bhutto government for its alleged corruption and mismanagement of the economy. At elections in February 1997 Nawaz Sharif is returned to power. In March 1997, with the unanimous support of the National Assembly, Sharif amends the constitution to remove the president's power to dismiss the government. Further amendments make presidential appointments of military service chiefs and provincial governors contingent on the "advice" of the prime minister.
President Leghari resigns in December 1997. Rafiq Tarar replaces him. On 12 October 1999 Sharif is ousted in a military coup after attempting to replace Army Chief-of-staff General Pervez Musharraf with a crony. Two days later Musharraf declares a state of emergency and suspends the constitution along with the federal and provincial parliaments.
On 12 May 2000 Pakistan's Supreme Court unanimously validates the October 1999 coup and grants Musharraf executive and legislative authority for three years from the coup date. On 20 June 2001 Musharraf names himself as president. In a referendum held on 30 April 2002 his presidency is extended by five more years.
In November 2002 the parliament is returned to civilian control. The constitution is restored the following month.
Comment: Yahya Khan did not act alone in organising and executing the genocide in Bangladesh. Other culpable Pakistani military officers include General Tikka Khan, Chief-of-staff General Pirzada, security chief General Umar Khan and intelligence chief General Akbar Khan.
Nor does responsibility rest solely with the military. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto also played a key role, something that the Hamoodur Rahman Commission set up by him to investigate the fiasco in East Pakistan later tried to cover up by placing all the blame on Yahya Khan and his cohorts.
There is also doubt about Yahya Khan's ability to plan and manage a large-scale military exercise. According to some accounts he was not the brightest spark to ever put on a general's uniform. The disintegration of the Pakistan Army once India intervened directly in the war in the East appears to bear this out. It is possible that Yahya Khan was promoted beyond his ability. His predecessor, Ayub Khan, seems to have considered him a safe bet who would do what was required without posing a threat.
When the killing went out of control in the East Yahya Khan may not have had the capacity to stop it. But that is if he wanted to in the first place. One quote attributed to him reads, "Kill three million of them (the Bengalis) and the rest will eat out of our hands."
More information
Links are to external sites.
Reference.com/Encyclopedia/Yahya Khan
Gen. Agha Mohammad Yahya Khan. By Ardeshir Cowasje - Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4
Pakistan - A Country Study (Library of Congress Country Studies Series)
Bangladesh - A Country Study (Library of Congress Country Studies Series)
[Genocide/1971] The Events in East Pakistan
Virtual Bangladesh : History : The Bangali Genocide, 1971
The Bangladesh Liberation War Museum's e-book
Gendercide Watch: Genocide in Bangladesh, 1971
A.I.D. Deputy Administrator's Report on Pakistan
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Ne Win
Agha Mohammad Yahya Khan

Ne Win

Ne Win
AKA 'Big Father', AKA 'The Old Man', AKA 'Number One'. Ne Win means 'Brilliant as the Sun' or 'Sun of Glory'.
Country: Burma (now Myanmar).
Kill tally: No reliable figures, but 3,000-10,000 killed in the 'Rangoon Spring' uprising of 1988. Tens to possibly hundreds of thousands killed since the 1962 military coup d'état.
Background: The influence of Europe begins to be felt in the Irrawaddy delta in the 16th Century. British intrusion mounts at the start of the 19th Century, culminating in 1886 when Britain takes full control of the country, naming it Burma.
The British are temporarily forced out by the Japanese during the Second World War and leave for good on 4 January 1948 when Burma is declared independent. The destabilisation of the country begins almost immediately, as the many tribal minorities revolt. More background.
Mini biography: Born Shu Maung (Apple of One's Eye) on 24 May 1911 at Paungdale, in central Burma, to middle-class parents. His father is a minor public servant.
He studies at University College, Rangoon (now Yangon), from 1929 to 1931, when he leaves after failing a biology exam.
In the mid-1930s he becomes involved in the struggle by Burmese nationalists for independence from the British, joining the Dobama Asiayone (Our Burma Association), where meets nationalist leader Aung San.
Win will marry seven times. His second wife, Khin May Than, bears him three children: Sandar Win, Kyemon Win and Phyoe Wai Win.
1941 - He is one of the 'Thirty Comrades' who secretly travel to Tokyo to receive military training from the Japanese. When the Burma Independence Army (BIA) is formed on 26 December he changes his name to Ne Win (Brilliant as the Sun, or Sun of Glory). When the British retreat ahead of the imperial Japanese forces Ne Win leads the BIA into Rangoon.
1942 - The Japanese occupation of Burma during the Second World War is initially supported by the Burmese nationalists, including Aung San, who is made minister of war, and Ne Win, who is given the rank of general and, in 1943, made chief-of-staff of the pro-Japanese Burmese National Army (BMA).
1945 - In March, with the defeat of the Japanese imminent, Aung San forms the Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League (AFPFL) and switches the BMA's allegiance to the Allies. British authority over Burma is restored in August, though the push by the nationalists for independence continues. Ne Win remains in the army, taking command of the 4th Burmese Rifles.
1947 - The AFPFL, led by Aung San, wins an overwhelming majority of Constitutional Assembly seats in elections held in April. However, Aung San is assassinated in Rangoon on 19 July, along with eight other members of the new Cabinet.
1948 - Following the declaration of independence on 4 January Burma is plagued by a series of tribal revolts and incursions by communist insurgents. Both the Karen and Shan tribes agitate for independence. The Karen, Burma's largest ethnic minority, are centred on the Irrawaddy delta and near the border with Thailand. The Shan are based on the Shan plateau bound by the borders with China and Thailand.
1949 - On 1 February Ne Win is made commander-in-chief of the Tatmadaw (armed forces). On 1 April he becomes deputy prime minister, home minister and minister for defence in the new government. He exploits the ethnic conflicts to strengthen his position and extend the influence of the army, which is purged of Karen soldiers and officers.
1950s - Under Ne Win's command, the army is able to contain both the Karen revolt and the insurgency by the Chinese-backed Burmese Communist Party. The AFPFL wins elections in 1951-52 and 1956 but internal tensions develop and the party splits in 1958, with the army supporting Ne Win's Burmese Socialist Party faction. Despite the political instability, the economy prospers, with growth averaging more than 6% during the 1950s.
1958 - With the AFPFL unable to govern and civil unrest increasing, the prime minister is forced on 26 September to ask Ne Win to form a temporary military government. Ne Win rules in caretaker mode for 18 months. During this time he attempts to modernise the bureaucracy and control separatist elements in the Shan states.
1960 - Democracy is restored with the running of a general election, however, the new government's promotion of Buddhism as the state religion and accommodation of tribal separatist movements alarms the military.
1962 - On 1 March, following rebellions by the Shan and Kachin tribes, the military acts. Ne Win returns to power in a bloodless coup d'état. His Marxist military regime will attempt to create a one-party socialist state but instead will ruin the country's economy.
The prime minister, politicians and representatives of the ethnic minorities are arrested. The constitution is suspended and parliament is dissolved. The civil rights of Chinese and Indian minorities are curtailed.
A 'Revolutionary Council' is established to oversee government. Opposition political parties and independent newspapers are abolished. The Burma Socialist Program Party (BSPP) is formed.
Ne Win is given full executive, legislative and judicial powers, ruling by decree. The country is isolated from the outside world as the new government pursues its 'Burmese Way to Socialism'.
All private enterprises are nationalised as the regime introduces a state-controlled, centralised economic system. Foreign businesses are forced to leave the country.
The program results in economic breakdown, the emergence of a black-market, a rise in corruption, and the impoverishment of a rich and fertile agrarian state that was once the largest exporter of rice in the world.
Demonstrations and protests against the regime are brutally put down, though the military is unable to completely curtail the tribal separatists and communist insurgents.
1971 - Ne Wins visits China, where he not only manages to convince his hosts to stop supporting insurgents from the Communist Party of Burma but also restores relations between the two countries after they had been damaged by anti-Chinese riots in Burma that had been partly inspired by Ne Win himself.
1972 - On 20 April Ne Win and 20 of his army colleagues resign their military posts and form a civilian government.
1974 - On 3 January a new constitution transfers power from the Revolutionary Council to a single-party 'People's Assembly' composed of Ne Win and the other former military leaders within the BSPP. The country's name is changed from Burma to the Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma. Ne Win becomes president and prime minister. On 11 December, after food shortages have provoked riots, the regime declares martial law.
1976 - Following an unsuccessful coup attempt, Ne Win dismisses the army's increasingly popular commander-in-chief and has him imprisoned for his alleged involvement in the plot.
1977 - Ne Win visits Phom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, on 26 November, becoming the first foreign head of state to visit the country since its takeover by the Khmer Rouge in April 1975.
1981 - Towards the end of the year, Ne Win unexpectedly relinquishes the presidency to San Yu, a retired general, but continues to wield power as the chairman of the BSPP.
1983 - Ne Win orders another purge of the armed forces, with all senior intelligence officers being dismissed. The new chief of military intelligence, Khin Nyunt, is hand-picked by Ne Win.
Over the following years Ne Win will continue to oversee the promotion of key military officers. In 1985 Saw Maung is made commander-in-chief of the armed forces and Than Shwe is promoted to deputy commander-in-chief and deputy defence minister.
1987 - The United Nations (UN) designates Burma a 'Least Developed Nation', officially recognising the once prosperous country as one of the 10 poorest nations in the world. On 10 August Ne Win admits in a televised broadcast that mistakes have been made during his 25-year dictatorship and suggests that the constitution may be changed "in order to keep abreast with the times."
1988 - In March Aung San Suu Kyi, Aung San's daughter, returns to Burma from an extended period overseas to nurse her dying mother.
Meanwhile, student-led protests against the military regime break out in Rangoon in March and June. The protests are triggered by Ne Win's decision to reissue bank notes in denominations divisible by the number nine.
Ne Win, who is obsessed with mysticism and numerology, considers nine to be a particularly auspicious number. His decision wipes out the value of most people's savings without warning or compensation.
The regime responds to the protests with force but looses its grip on power when Ne Win steps down as BSPP chairman on 23 July.
Ominously, in his last public address before leaving office, Ne Win warns, "If in the future there are mob disturbances, if the army shoots, it hits."
Sein Lwin, the head of the riot police and a close associate of Ne Win, is put in control of the government. He quickly orders the imposition of martial law.
The movement for democracy gains momentum during the so-called 'Democracy Summer' or 'Rangoon Spring', culminating in a mass uprising on 8 August that spreads from Rangoon across the entire country. The uprising is squashed when the military fires on the demonstrators, killing thousands. (Sources estimate between 3,000 and 10,000 die). The bloodshed comes to an end on 12 August when it is announced that Sein Lwin, the so-called 'Butcher of Burma', has resigned.
Meanwhile, Aung San Suu Kyi, as the daughter of Burma's most famous independence hero, is drawn into the democracy movement. On 26 August she addresses a rally of 500,000 gathered in front of the Shwedagon Pagoda in Rangoon, proposing the establishment of a People's Consultative Committee to help resolve the crisis.
However, on 18 September, following a bloody power struggle within the government, it is announced that there has been a military coup. The State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC), a junta composed of 21 senior military officers led by Saw Maung, the military commander-in-chief, now rules Burma. It is later reported that Maung had been instructed to stage the coup by Ne Win.
SLORC claims it will turn over power after free and fair elections but political gatherings of more than four persons are banned and force is again used to suppress demonstrators.
The opposition is formally organised into the National League for Democracy (NLD) on 24 September, with Suu Kyi as secretary-general. She advocates nonviolent protest, urges the UN to intervene and accuses Ne Win of controlling SLORC behind the scenes.
1989 - In June the country's name is officially changed to the Union of Myanmar, and the name of the capital from Rangoon to Yangon. Suu Kyi is placed under house arrest in Rangoon on 20 July for "endangering the state". Under the laws of the military regime she can be held without charge or trial for three years. In 1991 the period for detention without charge or trial is extended to five years.
SLORC, meanwhile, introduces a "four cuts" policy to control the country's ethnic minorities. Tribal provinces are declared military zones and their ethnic populations are forcibly relocated to fenced compounds and brutally suppressed. It is estimated that civilian fatalities in the zones average around 10,000 a year.
In an effort to prop-up the ailing economy, hundreds of thousands of peasants are forced into slave labour, either for construction projects or for the army. The practice is euphemistically described by the regime as "people's contributions".
The country's forests and natural resources are plundered and drug production (principally the growth of opium poppies and manufacture of heroin) is allowed to flourish. At the same time, the size of the army is doubled, from 175,000 soldiers in 1989 to 325,000 in 1995. By the end of the century the army numbers 400,000 troops. Expenditure on the armed forces increases proportionally, with over US$2 billion dollars worth of military equipment being procured from China.
1990 - When SLORC allows multiparty general elections on 27 May the NLD wins 82% of the seats contested. The military regime ignores the results, refuses to allow the parliament to convene, and jails the NLD's elected candidates. The regime says it cannot accept the establishment of a civilian government based on an interim constitution and that it will not hand over power until a new constitution is passed by a national convention.
In July the regime revokes Suu Kyi's right to visits from her immediate family. All outside contact is forbidden, including by post. Suu Kyi's plight comes to world attention. She is described as 'Burma's Gandhi'. The secretary-general of the UN repeatedly calls for her release, and governments around the world urge SLORC to respect the election results.
1991 - Suu Kyi is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on 14 October for "her nonviolent struggle for democracy and human rights."
"She became the leader of a democratic opposition which employs nonviolent means to resist a regime characterised by brutality," the Nobel Committee says.
"She also emphasises the need for conciliation between the sharply divided regions and ethnic groups in her country."
Towards the end of the year, Ne Win summons Than Shwe, Khin Nyunt and the military commander of Rangoon and tells them to get rid of the increasingly erratic Saw Maung.
1992 - In April Saw Maung falls. He is replaced as chairman of SLORC, prime minister and military commander-in-chief by Than Shwe. On 24 April the junta announces that it will organise a National Convention to draft a new constitution.
Meanwhile, the regime cracks down on a Muslim minority in the north of the country. About 270,000 Muslims flee to neighbouring Bangladesh.
1993 - The first session of SLORC's national constitutional convention is held on 9 January. Over 80% of the 702 delegates are directly appointed by the junta. They represent political parties, workers, peasants and technocrats. The NLD is represented by 86 delegates.
1994 - The junta now says it can detain Suu Kyi for up to six years without charge or trial. During a meeting with representatives from the UN, the United States Congress and 'The New York Times', Suu Kyi calls for a dialogue with SLORC. She subsequently meets with Than Shwe and Khin Nyunt on 20 September, their first meeting since her arrest. She meets with Khin Nyunt again on 28 October.
During the year the UN Commission on Human Rights reports that torture, summary executions and forced labour are commonplace in Burma, along with "abuse of women, politically motivated arrests and detention, forced replacement, important restrictions on the freedom of expression and association, and oppression of ethnic and religious minorities."
The report has no affect on the junta, which continues its campaign against the Karen separatists, reportedly with the assistance of drug warlord Khun Sa.
1995 - Suu Kyi is freed from house arrest on 10 July but is not allowed to travel outside Rangoon. She continues her calls for dialogue with SLORC and a peaceful transition to a democratic government.
In November the NLD walks out of the national constitutional convention, arguing that the convention is undemocratic and that the draft constitution would entrench military control of the government. On 29 November the junta formally expels all of the NLD delegates. The convention is completely suspended on 31 March the following year.
In December the UN General Assembly condemns the junta for human rights violations.
1996 - In May over 256 members of the NLD are arrested or detained. In June the junta forbids the unauthorised writing of a state constitution. The penalty for violation is 20 years imprisonment.
In July, despite the NLD's calls on the international community to isolate the regime, Burma is allowed to join a meeting of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). ASEAN argues that the admission will enable it counterbalance the considerable influence of China on the junta.
On 26 September 159 NLD delegates and 414 supporters around the country are arrested ahead of an NLD congress. Suu Kyi's Rangoon residence is blockaded.
Large-scale student demonstrations against the regime break out in October, continuing until the end of the year. SLORC detains over 200 NLD activists and confines Suu Kyi to her residence.
Meanwhile, the European Union (EU) introduces limited sanctions against the regime, banning visas for senior military officers and their families and suspending high-level government visits to Burma.
1997 - Military actions against Karen separatists stationed near the Thai border continue during the first quarter of the year. About 20,000 Karens flee into Thailand.
In February Indonesian President Suharto visits Burma to finalise a deal on the construction of toll roads by a company run by his eldest daughter. Most of the cars imported into Burma are manufactured by a company controlled by Suharto, whose second and youngest sons are also involved in business ventures in the country.
In April the US agrees to place economic sanctions on Burma in protest against the junta's human rights abuses. The sanctions, which are implemented on 21 May, ban investment, actions to facilitate investment, and attempts to evade the prohibitions. The US Government also stops its foreign aid to Burma and blocks aid through international organisations. However, on 23 July Burma is admitted as a full member of ASEAN. Saw Maung, the former leader of SLORC, dies from natural causes the same month.
In September Ne Win travels to Indonesia for talks with President Suharto, who complains that the level of corruption in Burma is affecting his investments.
On his return to Burma, Ne Win summons his "private cabinet" (Than Shwe, Khin Nyunt, Maung Aye and Tin Oo) and orders change, including the arrest of some of the more corrupt members of SLORC. On 15 November SLORC dissolves itself, reforming as the 19-member State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), chaired by Than Shwe. Maung Aye is deputy chairman and Khin Nyunt is first secretary.
1998 - During the year the International Labour Organisation (ILO) reports that forced labour is "widespread and systematic" in Burma.
1999 - Suu Kyi's husband is diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer. The regime refuses to grant him a visa to visit his wife before he dies but says it will allow Suu Kyi to leave the country to visit him. She refuses, fearing she will not be allowed back into the country if she leaves. Her husband dies on 27 March.
In December the regime allows Suu Kyi's son to travel to Burma to visit her.
2000 - In September, after a series of unsuccessful attempts to travel to the countryside to meet with NLD officials, Suu Kyi is again placed under house arrest. Ninety two members of the NLD are detained.
Undeterred, the NLD announces plans to draw up a new constitution in contravention of the law forbidding such action without approval from the junta.
Meanwhile, the ILO recommends that trade sanctions and other restrictions be applied against Burma to pressure for an end to the use of forced labour. The threat is withdrawn when the junta agrees to discuss the issue and allow the ILO to open an office in Rangoon.
2001 - Suu Kyi remains under virtual house arrest, although it is revealed in January that UN-brokered talks between her and the regime recommenced in October 2000. The talks are reported to have been initiated by Khin Nyunt, with the backing of the now 90-year-old Ne Win.
The military is said to be prepared to allow a return to democracy provided there is a transitional power-sharing arrangement between themselves and the NLD. They also want guaranteed immunity from prosecution for past human rights abuses, and a commitment from Suu Kyi that she will give up any personal political ambition.
Ne Win suffers a heart attack in September and is subsequently fitted with a pacemaker.
2002 - Following a secret meeting between Suu Kyi and Than Shwe in January the regime steps up the release of political prisoners and the NLD is allowed to reopen 35 of its branches in Rangoon.
On 7 March Ne Win and his favourite daughter Sandar are placed under house arrest in Rangoon after Sandar's husband and three sons (Ne Win's son-in-law and three grandsons) are taken into custody for allegedly plotting a coup with dissident military commanders. The son-in-law and grandsons are subsequently charged with high treason. They face death if convicted.
Ne Win and Sandar are also accused of being involved in the coup plot. However, Ne Win will never face court.
At the trail of Ne Win's son-in-law and grandsons it is alleged that the four planned to kidnap Khin Nyunt, Maung Aye and Than Shwe on 27 March then hold them at Ne Win's home until they agreed to reorganise the government.
The trial concludes on 26 September with the four defendants being found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging. The verdict comes 44 years to the day after Ne Win first took power in Burma. Ne Win and his daughter Sandar Win remain under house arrest.
The trail and sentencing signals the end of Ne Win's influence in Burmese politics.
Later the death sentences imposed on Ne Win's son-in-law and three grandsons are commuted to life imprisonment. It is also announced that the four have lodged an appeal against the verdict.
Meanwhile, Suu Kyi is released from her 19-month detention on 6 May . The restrictions on her political activity are lifted. She is free to travel around the country and to lead the NLD, although her activities will be closely monitored by the junta.
To coincide with Suu Kyi's release the regime issues a statement titled 'Turning of a New Page'. "As we look forward to a better future we will work toward greater international stability and improving the social welfare of our diverse people," the statement says.
At the end of July more political prisoners are released from detention. Further releases follow in August. However, the junta refuses to be drawn on when talks with Suu Kyi will commence, despite the continuing efforts of the UN to bring the parties together and the adoption by Suu Kyi of a more conciliatory stance towards the lifting of sanctions against the regime.
By 19 August the prospect of talks appears remote, with Khin Nyunt stating that a transition to democracy cannot be "done in haste and in a haphazard manner."
"The world is full of examples where a hasty transition from one system to another (has) led to unrest, instability and even failed states," he says. "No one should try to impose their will or attempt to mould Myanmar in their image ... We will not be swayed by sweet words or bowed by threats."
The era of Ne Win comes to a final conclusion at the end of the year.
Win dies at 7:30 a.m. on 5 December at his home in Rangoon. He is cremated just hours later at a small ceremony attended by his daughter, Sandar, and about 25 others.
No senior members of the military are present and there is no official announcement of the passing of the former dictator, who was still under house arrest when he died. The Burmese press publishes only a simple obituary submitted by Win's family. The obituary does not mention Win's rule or his military titles.
Most of Win's assets are confiscated by the junta, and the Win family's bodyguards are purged from the military.
Postscript
2003 - Suu Kyi is taken into "protective custody" by security forces on the evening of 30 May after a pro-junta crowd attacks her motorcade near the village of Depayin, about 100 km northwest of Mandalay.
Nineteen other leaders of the NLD are also held in "protective custody". NLD offices throughout Burma are closed in the renewed crackdown.
On 12 June the 'Wall Street Journal' publishes an opinion piece by US Secretary of State Colin Powell titled 'It's Time to Turn the Tables on Burma's Thugs'.
"It is time to reassess our policy toward a military dictatorship that has repeatedly attacked democracy and jailed its heroes," the article states.
"The junta that oppresses democracy in Burma must find that its actions will not be allowed to stand. ... Their refusal of the ... rights of Aung San Suu Kyi and her supporters could not be clearer. Our response must be equally clear if the thugs who now rule Burma are to understand that their failure to restore democracy will only bring more and more pressure against them and their supporters."
China, however, advises nonintervention and in September loans the Burmese Government US$200 million to buy Chinese goods, including military equipment.
On 29 July Amnesty International issues a report, Myanmar: Justice on Trial, based on the findings of Amnesty's first ever visit to the country at the start of the year.
The report calls for the immediate and unconditional release of Suu Kyi and other NLD members.
At the end of August the leadership of the SPDC is reorganised, with hardliners being brought into top positions while the relatively pragmatic Khin Nyunt is shifted into the largely ceremonial post of prime minister. Several days later, on 30 August, Khin Nyunt unveils the regime's "road map to democracy", a plan to restart the constitutional convention suspended in 1996 as a first step towards "free and fair" elections.
However, the plan lacks a specific timetable and makes no reference to the role of Suu Kyi and the NLD.
Representatives from Amnesty International return to Burma for a second visit on 2 December. At the end of the three-week mission Amnesty reports that there has been a "a slide in the human rights situation" within the country since the rearrest of Suu Kyi, with an increase in the number of political activists being arbitrarily detained.
2004 - On 30 March the junta announces that the constitutional convention will be reconvened on 17 May. All the delegates to the previous convention, including those from the NLD, are later invited to attend the meeting, which is to be held at Nyaung Hnapin, Hmawbi township, 32 km north of Rangoon. However, Suu Kyi is left off the list, on the grounds that she did not attend the first convention (she was in detention at the time).
On 14 May the NLD announces that it will not attend the convention, throwing the meeting's legitimacy into question.
The convention proceeds nevertheless. Held under strict security and with limited press coverage, it is attended by 1,076 delegates, including representatives from 17 former ethnic insurgent groups. It is subsequently described by Professor Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, the UN Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights to Burma, as a "meaningless and undemocratic exercise."
"In all the transitions that I know ... I don't know a single transition that has operated under these constraints," Pinheiro says. "I don't understand the purpose of this surrealistic exercise. ... It will not work. It will not work because it has not worked in Brazil, in Uruguay, in Argentina, in Portugal, in Spain, in the Philippines, in Indonesia. This way of political transition will not work; will not work on the moon, will not work on Mars."
The convention goes into recess on 9 July. It will reconvene periodically over the coming years. The NLD will continue its boycott.
The prospects for political reform in Burma and the release of Suu Kyi are further dimmed on 18 October when Khin Nyunt is charged with corruption by the junta, removed from office, and put under house arrest. He is replaced as prime minister by Lieutenant-general Soe Win, a hard-line protégé of Than Shwe.
Soe Win is believed to have been involved in the planning of the attack on Suu Kyi on 30 May 2003. The international humanitarian organisation Human Rights Watch reports that he has stated publicly that "the SPDC not only will not talk to the NLD but also would never hand over power to the NLD."
On 27 November the junta informs Suu Kyi that she will remain under house arrest for at least another year.
2005 - The Human Rights Watch World Report 2005 describes Burma as "one of the most repressive countries in Asia."
"Burma has more child soldiers than any other country in the world, and its forces have used extrajudicial execution, rape, torture, forced relocation of villages, and forced labour in campaigns against rebel groups," the report says.
During her Senate confirmation hearing on 18 January the incoming US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice names Burma as an "outpost of tyranny", along with Belarus, Cuba, Iran, North Korea and Zimbabwe.
On 21 April the human rights group Christian Solidarity Worldwide releases a report that claims there is "strong circumstantial evidence" that the junta has used chemical weapons against Karen rebels in the country's northwest.
According to the report, on 15 February 2005 a shell fired by the Burmese Army into a Karen camp emitted "a very distinctive yellow smoke" with a "highly irritating odour."
"Within minutes those (Karen) soldiers near enough to inhale vapours from this device became extremely distressed with irritation to the eyes, throat, lungs and skin," the report says.
The following month, British researcher Guy Horton publishes his report 'Dying Alive: A Legal Assessment of Human Rights Violations in Burma'. Based on intensive research, including a secret four-month excursion from Thailand into Burma, the 600-page report alleges that the junta is committing genocide in the Shan, Karen and Karenni provinces.
On 5 August the executive director of the World Food Program, James Morris, reports that humanitarian issues in Burma are "serious and getting worse."
According to Morris, one third of Burmese children are chronically malnourished or physically stunted, with malnutrition rates rising to 60% in some border areas.
Other health problems ravaging the population include HIV-AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. It is estimated that more than 600,000 people in Burma are infected with HIV-AIDS. Almost 100,000 new cases of tuberculosis are detected in the country each year. Malaria is the leading cause of death, with about 600,000 cases and 3,000 deaths reported annually.
In September former Czech President Vaclav Havel and South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu release a report detailing reasons why the UN Security Council should pressure the junta to implement political reforms.
"Based on our review of this report and its recommendations, we strongly urge the UN Security Council to take up the situation of Burma immediately," the two leaders jointly state in the foreword to the 70-page report, titled 'Threat to the Peace - A Call for the UN Security Council to Act in Burma'.
Towards the end of the year the UN begins to increase pressure on the junta. On 18 November the UN General Assembly's Social and Humanitarian Committee calls on Burma to end its "systematic violations of human rights" and to release all political prisoners.
On 16 December the UN Security Council receives a briefing on Burma from the UN Undersecretary-general for Political Affairs, Ibrahim Gambari. The council hears that 240 villages have been destroyed since 2002, that there is forced labour in the country and that there are 1,147 political prisoners.
According to Gambari, the situation in Burma had deteriorated since Khin Nyunt was ousted in October 2004.
"Deep-rooted chronic and accelerating poverty, growing insecurity and increasing political tension appear to be moving Myanmar towards a humanitarian crisis," he says.
Back in Burma the junta launches its biggest military campaign against the Karen and Karenni in 10 years, targeting settlements near the Thai-Burma border.
2006 - At the end of January the US magazine 'Parade' names Than Shwe as the third worst dictator in the world.
On 18 May Ibrahim Gambari is allowed entry to Burma for a three day visit. He meets with Than Shwe and with Suu Kyi. It is the first time Suu Kyi has been allowed a visit from a foreigner in over two years.
Eight days later, on 26 May, Suu Kyi's detention under house arrest is extended for another year.
Gambari briefs the UN Security Council on his trip on 31 May. On 15 September the Security Council formally adds Burma to its agenda, listing it as a country that represents a threat to regional and international peace and security. Gambari again briefs the Council on 30 September, saying "the overall picture remains serious."
In October Professor Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, the UN Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights to Burma, reports to the UN General Assembly that the junta's military campaign against the Karen and Karenni is forcing thousands to flee their homes and may lead to a humanitarian crisis. Pinheiro also reports that at the end of August there were 1,185 political prisoners in Burma.
According to 'The Washington Post', "Burmese forces have burned down more than 200 civilian villages ... in Karen state, destroyed crops and placed land mines along key jungle passages to prevent refugees from returning to their home villages. Dozens of people have died, and at least 20,000 civilians have been displaced over the past eight to 10 months."
The campaign is thought to have been launched to secure the eastern approaches to the new purpose-built capital at Nay Pyi Taw (Royal City) and to clear sites for hydroelectric dams planned for the Salween River.
The Thailand Burma Border Consortium, an aid agency caring for refugees along the Thai-Burma border, estimates that since 1996 more than 3,000 villages have been destroyed or abandoned in eastern Burma and more than one million people have been displaced.
The 'Sydney Morning Herald' reports that, despite the junta's ongoing human rights abuses, foreign investment into Burma has "shot up to US$6 billion in the 12 months to March this year (2006), from only US$158 million a year before. Trade grew 27% to $5.5 billion, yielding the generals a $1.6 billion surplus."
Ibrahim Gambari returns to Burma on 9 November and again meets with Suu Kyi.
On 22 December the UN General Assembly adopts a resolution calling on the junta to "end the systematic violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms" and "to take urgent measures to put an end to the military operations targeting civilians in the ethnic areas."
2007 - An attempt by the US to get the UN Security Council to adopt a resolution calling for an end to political repression in Burma fails when the move is vetoed by China and Russia on 12 January. The resolution is also rejected by South Africa.
In March the US Department of State concludes that the junta's human rights record worsened during 2006. According to the department's annual report on human rights, the regime's "cruel and destructive misrule" made it one of the top violators of human rights during the year.
On 25 May Suu Kyi's detention is extended for yet another year.
In August protesters begin to take to Burma's streets after the junta raises the price of cooking gas by 500% and doubles the cost of transport fuels. The protest movement gains momentum when Buddhist monks join in then take the lead.
Demonstrations continue for six weeks, growing in size and spreading throughout the country. They are the largest protests seen in Burma since the 'Democracy Summer' of 1988.
On 22 September the monks symbolically link Suu Kyi to the movement when hundreds of them are allowed to march past her house in Rangoon. A weeping Suu Kyi appears briefly to greet them as they pass. It is her first public appearance in four years. Two days later as many as 100,000 protestors led by thousands of monks march in Rangoon.
The junta cracks down on 26 September. At least 15 people are killed, including a Japanese journalist, when the military resorts to violence to disperse the crowds, using tear gas and truncheons then opening fire with rubber bullets and live rounds. It is reported that Than Shwe has ordered the soldiers to shoot to kill. Opposition groups claim that hundreds are killed. Close to 3,000 people are arrested, including hundreds of monks. The protests come to an end.
Ibrahim Gambari arrives in Burma on 29 September to meet with the junta leaders and Suu Kyi. He returns on 3 November. A week later the UN Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights to Burma, Professor Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, is also allowed to visit the country for the first time in four years. He estimates that at least 31 were killed in the crackdown. His report lists a further 74 persons who have disappeared and 653 who remain in custody.
Meanwhile, the constitutional convention concludes on 3 September with the release of a set of guidelines that entrench the power of the military and bar Suu Kyi from holding political office. A junta-appointed panel begins to draft the constitution in December.
On 11 October the UN Security Council issues a statement strongly deploring the crackdown on the protestors and calling for the release of all political prisoners and the opening of "genuine dialogue" with Suu Kyi and other concerned parties. An earlier, stronger version of the statement had been watered-down at the instance of China and Russia.
The EU widens its limited sanctions on Burma on 15 October. The next day Japan cancels a proposed US$4.8 million grant for a business education centre at Rangoon's university. The US extends its sanctions on 19 October, freezing the assets of 11 senior Burmese officials and tightening export restrictions. In September the US had frozen the assets of 14 top Burmese officials. In December the importation of gemstones from Burma is banned.
2008 - In a surprise move, the junta announces on 9 February that a referendum on the new constitution will be held in May, to be followed by a multiparty, democratic election in 2010.
The constitution, which is finalised on 19 February, gives ultimate power to the army commander-in-chief, allocates 25% of the seats in parliament to military appointees and excludes Suu Kyi and others with marital links to foreign countries from standing for office.
Public servants and military personnel are ordered to vote in favour of the constitution. Opponents are threatened and arrested. The poll is to be administered by the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Association. The junta forbids foreign observers.
On the evening of 2 May, eight days before the constitution referendum is scheduled to take place, a powerful cyclone blasts in from the Andaman Sea, crosses the Irrawaddy delta and heads for Rangoon. Burma's southwest, the country's most populous and productive region, is devastated by winds that reach 190 kilometres per hour and by the 3.5 metre tidal surge and torrential rain that follows.
By 24 June the official death toll is 84,537. Another 53,836 are listed as missing. The Red Cross estimates that the final death toll could be as high as 128,000. Over two million are estimated to be homeless.
The junta is slow to respond to the situation and reluctant to accept foreign assistance or allow foreign aid workers to travel to affected areas.
According to reports in 'The New York Times' and 'The Independent', part of the aid that does trickle in is either seized by the army or replaced with inferior, locally produced substitutes. The country also continues to export rice. However, aid agencies, including the Red Cross, say they have seen no evidence of pilfering or hording of goods.
Four weeks after the cyclone the UN estimates that more than one million Burmese remain in need of food, clean water, adequate shelter and medical care. US Secretary of Defence Robert Gates says that the junta's reluctance to accept foreign aid has cost "tens of thousands of lives" and is akin to "criminal neglect."
Amnesty International reports that the junta is forcing cyclone victims out of emergency shelters and back to their villages. The organisation also confirms reports that local government officials are confiscating, diverting or otherwise misusing aid.
On 13 June 'The Washington Post' reports that just days after the cyclone the junta began handing contracts for the "reconstruction and relief" of affected areas to favoured business people and companies.
Despite the crisis, the junta insists that the constitution referendum go ahead on 10 May as scheduled in all but the hardest-hit areas (where the vote is held two weeks later). The result is a foregone conclusion. According to the junta, 92% of eligible voters approve the document.
The NLD rejects the vote, saying the junta has used "coercion, intimidation, deception, misinformation and undue influence, abuse of power to get the affirmative vote."
According to the Public International Law and Policy Group, "the referendum was not free or fair, as it was not conducted in accordance with international law or basic democratic standards."
On 27 May, Suu Kyi's detention is extended for another year. It will be her sixth consecutive year under house arrest, despite a Burmese law requiring those held for five years to be either tried or set free.
In September Burma is listed as the second most corrupt nation in the world by the independent anti-corruption organisation Transparency International. Burma was ranked as the most corrupt country in 2007, the second most corrupt in 2006, the third most corrupt in 2005, the fourth most corrupt in 2004 and the fifth most corrupt in 2003.
In October and November the junta tries and sentences more than 70 activists, including many involved in the September 2007 demonstrations. Fourteen are sentenced to terms of 65 years.
Comment: While SLORC then the SPDC may have taken over the day-to-day administration of Burma's military dictatorship when Ne Win "stepped down" in 1988, most observers believe that Ne Win continued on as the ultimate power behind the scenes, ably assisted by his enthusiastic if somewhat factious lieutenants. The processes he set in place have continued and perhaps even been amplified since his death.
The nature of the regime, where personal patronage is a more critical guarantor of success than talent or ability, supports this view.
The result is corruption, mediocrity, social ruin, state-sponsored drug pedalling, self-enrichment, a complete disregard for civil and human rights, and a cynical manipulation of Burma's complex ethnic mix.
Ne Win learnt well from the British colonialists, applying their tried and tested policy of divide and rule to engineer his ascendancy and then subjugate and exploit those whose legitimate claims were used as the pretext for his rise.
In Ne Win's socialist state everyone was equally abused and equally suspicious. Nothing has changed under Than Shwe and his protégés. If anything the situation has only gotten worse. While the Burmese are squeezed ever more tightly the international community, and the UN in particular, are made to look like fools by the junta's shadow plays.
The only hope for Burma appears to be the development of a fracture within the junta that leads to its collapse. This is unlikely while Burma's neighbours - China, India and ASEAN - continue to either support Than Shwe and his cronies or condone them by their silence.
More information
Links are to external sites.
World History Archives - History of Myanmar (Burma)
Free Burma Coalition
The Irrawaddy News Magazine - Interactive Edition
Burmatoday News and Media for Myanmar-Burmese Community
Guardian Unlimited | Special Report: Burma
washingtonpost.com: Myanmar
Amnesty International Report - Lack of Security in Counterinsurgency Areas
The Films and Journalism of John Pilger - Burma: Land of Fear
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Jorge Rafaél Videla
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Jorge Rafael Videla and the Argentine junta

Jorge Rafaél Videla and the Argentine junta
AKA 'The Bone', AKA 'Pink Panther'.
Country: Argentina.
Kill tally: Up to 30,000 murdered or "disappeared" during the 'Dirty War'.
Background: Spanish adventurers begin to explore what is now Argentina at the start of the 16th Century, establishing a permanent colony on the site of Buenos Aires in 1580. Buenos Aires formally declares independence from Spain on 9 July 1816, though Argentina is not completely united until 1862.
In the last quarter of the 19th Century Argentina experiences an era of growth and prosperity based on the expansion and development of its vast agricultural potential. At the start of the 20th Century Argentina is the richest nation in Latin America and one of world's 10 wealthiest countries.
In politics conservative forces dominate the parliament until 1916, when the Unión Cívica Radical (UCR), popularly known as the Radical Party, wins a majority. However, as Argentina's social and political landscape becomes more complex and unstable, the military become more enmeshed in government. On 6 September 1930 the increasingly dysfunctional UCR is removed from power in the country's first military coup d'état against a constitutional government. In 1943 a nationalist military junta ousts another civilian the government. More background.
Mini biography: Born on 2 August 1925 in Mercedes, Argentina. He is the son of an army colonel.
1944 - Videla graduates from the National Military College. During his long military career Videla will rise to the rank of lieutenant-general and be appointed as commander-in-chief of the army.
1945 - The Second World War starts on 1 September when German troops invade Poland. Argentina remains neutral for almost the entire duration of the war, balancing economic ties with the Allies against its political sympathies with the Axis block and the fascist dictatorship of Spain's Francisco Franco. After the war ends in 1945 Argentina will become a haven for Nazi fugitives.
1946 - Juan Domingo Perón is elected president of Argentina as the candidate of the Argentine Labour Party, later to become the Peronist Party. His policies favour the working classes and are reminiscent of Adolf Hitler's National Socialism, aiming for the nationalisation of infrastructure, businesses and institutions, and the industrial development of the economy. Perón is also an admirer of Italy's former fascist dictator, Benito Mussolini. His charismatic wife Eva Duarte de Perón, known as Evita, further boosts his growing popularity.
However, when the economy begins to stall and the president starts to loose some of his appeal, Perón's government begins to use repressive measures to maintain control, including censorship of the media, restrictions on freedom of speech, and the imprisonment of dissidents.
1948 - The fugitive Croatian fascist dictator Ante Pavelic seeks and is granted asylum in Buenos Aires. Pavelic will spend the next eight years in Argentina. He acts as a security adviser to Perón and attempts to revive his Ustase movement. About 7,250 other members of the Ustase find refuge in Argentina between 1946 and 1948.
1949 - Josef Mengele, the Nazi 'Angel of Death', also finds asylum in Buenos Aires. Mengele will remain in the country for 10 years. He joins many other former Nazis, including Adolf Eichman, who have found refuge from justice in Argentina during Perón's rule.
1952 - Riots against Perón break out in Argentina's cities. Among those demonstrating is the young and idealistic Ernesto 'Che' Guevara.
Despite the protests, Perón is reelected president and his party wins a large majority in the Chamber of Deputies.
1955 - On 16 September the military stages a rebellion. Perón resigns and goes into exile. His supporters, the Peronistas, will be politically marginalised by the military for the next 20 years.
The following decades are ones of confusion, with military and civilian administrations trading power while trying to deal with economic and social problems caused by a downturn in the country's growth and the effects of political instability.
Meanwhile, dissatisfaction among the community grows, with both leftist and rightist groups resorting to violence.
1958 - Civilian government is restored following the 1955 coup. However, it will only last until 1962, when the military again intervene.
Between 1958 and 1960 Videla takes a position in the office of the minister for defence.
1962 - Videla is appointed as director of the military academy.
1963 - Once again civilian government is restored, this time lasting until 1966, when the military again take control.
1969 - Out on the streets the level of instability and violence continues to rise, with leftists, Peronistas, and rightists all engaging in terrorism. Among the guerrilla groups caught up in the violence are the 'Montoneros' (the left's youth arm), the rightist Argentine Anticommunist Alliance (Alianza Anticomunista Argentina), and the leftist People's Revolutionary Army (Ejército Revolucionario del Pueblo, or ERP).
Demonstrations against the military government break out in the inland city of Córdoba and spread to other towns.
1970 - The Montoneros kidnap and murder General Pedro Aramburu, who had headed the military government in power from 1955 to 1958.
1971 - Videla is promoted to the rank of general.
1973 - On 11 March general elections are held for the first time in 10 years. While the Peronistas are allowed to stand, Perón himself is prevented from running. However, his stand-in, Dr Hector Campora, wins the presidential vote, while his supporters gain strong majorities in both houses of parliament.
In June Perón returns to Buenos Aires. His arrival at Ezeiza international airport sparks a riot that results in 400 deaths. Campora resigns the following month.
After Campora resigns a new election for the presidency is held. Perón wins this election with more than 60% of the vote, returning as president in October. His third wife, Maria Estela Isabel Martinez de Perón, is vice president.
Meanwhile, Videla is appointed as army chief-of-staff.
1974 - Perón dies on 1 July. His wife succeeds him. The political situation quickly goes from bad to worse as Isabel Perón sets the armed forces on the Marxist guerrillas, ordering the "annihilation" of subversion and terrorism.
1975 - Videla is promoted to commander-in-chief of the Argentine Army.
Acts of terrorism by leftists and rightists escalate, claiming the lives of more than 700 people. Inflation jumps to over 300%. Strikes and demonstrations by students and workers are widespread and continuous.
Videla leads an army campaign against the People's Revolutionary Army in the country's northern Tucumán province. Hundreds of the leftist guerrillas are killed.
"As many people as necessary must die in Argentina so that the country will again be secure," Videla states during the year.
In November the intelligence services of Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay launch 'Operation Condor', an information gathering and sharing alliance designed to eliminate Marxist terrorist activities in South America.
According to a United States Federal Bureau of Investigation officer working in Argentina at the time, "Chile is the centre for 'Operation Condor'". The officer also reports that "a ... most secret phase of 'Operation Condor' involves the formation of special teams from member countries who are to travel anywhere in the world to non-member countries to carry out sanctions up to assassination against terrorists or supporters of terrorist organisations from 'Operation Condor' member countries."
1976 - On 24 March the military led by Videla stage a coup d'état and seize power. A junta composed of the commanders of the army, navy and air force will rule the country until 10 December 1983. It will be the most repressive regime ever seen in Argentina.
Videla heads the junta and acts as president of the military government. He claims that the coup was necessary to end "misrule, corruption and the scourge of subversion". The military's rule will be "imbued with a profound national spirit and will only respond to the most sacred interests of the nation and of its inhabitants," he says.
Along with Videla the members of this first junta are Brigadier-general Orlando Ramón Agosti, commander of the air force, and Admiral Emilio E. Massera, commander of the navy.
Massera will later be replaced as commander-in-chief of the nay by Admiral Armando Lambruschini, who will in turn be replaced by Admiral Jorge I. Anaya.
Agosti will be succeeded as commander-in-chief of the air force by Brigadier-general Omar D. Graffigna, who will in turn be succeeded by Brigadier-general Basilio A.I. Lami Dozo.
Under the so-called 'Proceso de Reorganización Nacional' (Process of National Reorganisation) the junta imposes brutal and often indiscriminate measures to bring the country under control in what it considers is a counter-revolutionary war. The junta believes that the "subversivos" (subversives) number 25,000 recruits, of whom 15,000 are "technically able and ideologically trained to kill."
According to Videla, "A terrorist is not just someone with a gun or a bomb, but also someone who spreads ideas that are contrary to Western and Christian civilisation." He also states that "the aim of the Process (of National Reorganisation) is the profound transformation of consciousness."
The junta dissolves the parliament, proclaims martial law, places all legislative power in a nine-member military commission, fills all important government posts with military personnel, and begins to rule by decree. The civil courts are closed, political parties are outlawed, and the right to form trade unions is suspended. Strikes are banned, and union leaders and their supporters labelled subversivos.
During the so-called 'Dirty War' between 10,000 and 30,000 people identified as opponents of the regime will be hunted down by the armed forces or the police and murdered or "disappeared". About 500,000 will flee into exile.
A cable sent to the headquarters of Chile's secret police from Buenos Aires in July 1978 says that according to the records of Argentina's Army Intelligence Battalion 601 "the tally of those killed and disappeared from 1975 up to date is 22,000."
Suspected terrorists, especially from the People's Revolutionary Army and the Montoneros, and their sympathisers (also labelled subversivos) become the junta's prime targets, although the net will quickly widen to include unionists, students, professionals, teachers, housewives, nonconformist members of the military and security forces, journalists, academics, actors, nuns and priests, the friends of the subversivos, and the friends of their friends.
Thousands will be illegally abducted then subjected to weeks or months of torture in one of about 340 secret prisons scattered throughout the country before they "disappear". One of the most notorious secret detention centres is the Naval Mechanics School (Escuela Mechanica de la Armada - ESMA) on Avenida Libertador in the centre of Buenos Aires.
Those who vanish without a trace come to be known as the "desaparecidos" (disappeared ones). After being executed their bodies are burnt then buried in mass graves. Others are thrown (sometimes while still alive) from aircraft into the Atlantic Ocean during so-called "vuelos de la muerte" (flights of death). No trace or record is left of their fate.
The disappearances prompt the formation of the 'Madres de la Plaza de Mayo' (Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo), a group of women who begin protesting outside the presidential palace every Wednesday, demanding information about their missing children.
"Dónde están? (Where are they?)," the mothers ask. In a television interview Videla eventually answers, "They are neither alive or dead. They are disappeared."
Many of the mothers will in turn also disappear.
At a US State Department staff meeting held on 26 March, two days after the coup, Secretary of State Henry Kissinger is told by William Rogers, his assistant secretary for Latin America, that "we've got to expect a fair amount of repression, probably a good deal of blood, in Argentina before too long. I think they're going to have to come down very hard not only on the terrorists but on the dissidents of trade unions and their parties. ... The point is that we ought not at this moment to rush out and embrace this new regime."
"But we shouldn't do the opposite either," Kissinger replies. "Whatever chance they have, they will need a little encouragement from us. ... Because I do want to encourage them. I don't want to give the sense that they're harassed by the United States."
In April the US Congress approves a grant of US$50 million in military aid to the junta.
On 10 June Kissinger meets with Argentine Foreign Minister Admiral César Augusto Guzzetti in Santiago. According to a transcript of the meeting, Kissinger says, "Let me say, as a friend, that I have noticed that military governments are not always the most effective in dealing with these problems. ...
"So after a while, many people who don't understand the situation begin to oppose the military and the problem is compounded.
"The Chileans, for example, have not succeeded in getting across their initial problem and are increasingly isolated.
"You will have to make an international effort to have your problems understood. Otherwise, you, too, will come under increasing attack. If there are things that have to be done, you should do them quickly. But you must get back quickly to normal procedures."
The junta interprets Kissinger's comments as a green light for their repressive tactics, and a US public relations company is hired to improve its image overseas.
Another meeting between Kissinger and Guzzetti in New York on 7 October further convinces the junta that they have Kissinger's blessing.
"Look, our basic attitude is that we would like you to succeed. I have an old-fashioned view that friends ought to be supported. What is not understood in the United States is that you have a civil war. We read about human rights problems but not the context," Kissinger tells Guzzetti.
"The quicker you succeed the better. ... The human rights problem is a growing one. ... We want a stable situation. We won't cause you unnecessary difficulties. If you can finish before Congress gets back, the better. Whatever freedoms you could restore would help."
1977 - Speaking to British journalists, Videla states, "I emphatically deny that there are concentration camps in Argentina, or military establishments in which people are held longer than is absolutely necessary in this ... fight against subversion."
Meanwhile, tensions with Chile build over the sovereignty of three small islands off the southern-most tip of South America. Following the intervention of Pope John Paul II, a potential war between the two states is averted and the islands are ceded to Chile.
1979 - While the Dirty War has effectively been won and the terrorist threat removed, the junta has little success in alleviating Argentina's ongoing economic problems. The budget deficit soars as the country is flooded with foreign imports. When the value of the peso collapses the economy goes into depression.
Charges of corruption further undermine the junta's position. One scam involves the use of forged documents to appropriate the businesses and property of the disappeared. A more sinister practice is the abduction of as many as 500 babies borne to women detained in the secret prisons. The babies are fostered out to senior officers in the military and security forces or sent to orphanages. Their mothers are executed.
1981 - Videla retires as leader of the junta. On 29 March the "soft-liner" General Roberto Eduardo Viola takes charge of a new military government but has even less success in reviving the economy, despite trying to introduce greater civilian input. Viola also has to deal with a resurgence in demonstrations and strikes.
In May General Leopoldo Fortunato Galtieri, a "hard-liner", becomes commander-in-chief of the army.
Meanwhile, Viola falls ill. Major-general Horacio Tomás Liendo replaces him on 21 November.
On 21 December Galtieri stages a palace coup and takes over as president. Rocked by internal conflicts between the soft and hard liners and between senior and junior officers, the junta is in its last throws.
1982 - Protestors against the junta take to the streets in late March. Attempting to deflect attention away from the renewed opposition, Galtieri authorises the seizing of the disputed Falklands Islands (Islas Malvinas), which Britain has occupied since 1833. On 2 April Argentine troops take possession of the islands.
However, the plan backfires when British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher dispatches a large military and naval force to recapture the islands. The turning point of the 'Falklands War' comes on 2 May when the British submarine HMS Conqueror torpedoes and sinks the Argentine battleship General Belgrano, killing 323 Argentine sailors.
The Argentine occupation force on the Falklands surrenders unconditionally to the British on 14 June. Argentina's humiliation during the 10-week conflict is the final nail in the junta's coffin. Galtieri resigns on 17 June. He will be convicted of negligence and imprisoned from 1986 to 1989.
General Alfredo Oscar Saint Jean takes interim control of the government. He is soon replaced by General Reynaldo Benito Bignone, who announces that elections will be held. The junta is dissolved. Bans on political parties are lifted and basic political liberties restored, including the right to form trade unions.
Meanwhile, on Bignone's orders, the military destroys its records of the detained and disappeared. Bignone also introduces a general amnesty for all members of the military implicated in crimes against humanity.
The junta also enacts the 'Law of National Pacification', granting immunity from prosecution to suspected terrorists and to every member of the armed forces for crimes committed between 25 May 1973 and 17 June 1982.
1983 - The junta steps down. Democracy is restored on 30 October when Raúl Alfonsín of the Radical Party is elected president with 52% of the vote. Alfonsín is inaugurated on 10 December, formally ending the military's rule.
The new president quickly issues an executive decree ordering the arrest of the members of the first three juntas for crimes committed under the laws in place during their rule. The Law of National Pacification is repealed in December, allowing the prosecutions to proceed.
Meanwhile, a National Commission on the Disappeared (CONADEP) is established to examine the fate of the desaparecidos.
The commission officially documents 8,960 cases of disappearance. A further 2,000 to 3,000 disappearances are reported to the ministry of the interior after the commission concludes. The official figure for the number of desaparecidos now stands at nearly 12,000.
The commission's report, titled 'Nunca Mas' (Never Again), finds that "the armed forces responded to the terrorists' crimes with a terrorism far worse than the one they were combating, and after 24 March 1976 they could count on the power and impunity of an absolute state, which they misused to abduct, torture and kill thousands of human beings. ...
"After collecting several thousand statements and testimonies, verifying or establishing the existence of hundreds of secret detention centres, and compiling over 50,000 pages of documentation, we are convinced that the recent military dictatorship brought about the greatest and most savage tragedy in the history of Argentina. ...
"This went far beyond what might be considered criminal offences, and takes us into the shadowy realm of crimes against humanity. Through the technique of disappearance and its consequences, all the ethical principles which the great religions and the noblest philosophies have evolved through centuries of suffering and calamity have been trampled underfoot, barbarously ignored.
The report finds that the secret detention centres "were under the command of high-ranking officers in the military and security services. The prisoners were kept in inhuman conditions and subjected to all kinds of torture and humiliation. ...
"Some of the methods used have no precedent elsewhere in the world. Some depositions referred to the torture of children and old people in front of their families to obtain information. ...
"We can state categorically - contrary to what the executors of this sinister plan maintain - that they did not pursue only the members of political organisations who carried out acts of terrorism. Among the victims are thousands who never had any links with such activity but were nevertheless subjected to horrific torture because they opposed the military dictatorship, took part in union or student activities, were well-known intellectuals who questioned state terrorism, or simply because they were relatives, friends, or names included in the address book of someone considered subversive. ...
"Certain terrorist organisations were wiped out, but in their stead a system of institutionalised terror was implemented which undermined the most basic human, ethical and moral principles and was backed by a doctrine which was also foreign to our national identity."
The commission recommends a judicial investigation of its findings along with the provision of economic and social assistance to the relatives of the disappeared. The commission also recommends that laws be passed which declare forced abduction a crime against humanity, make the teaching of the human rights obligatory in all state schools, strengthen the ability of the courts to investigate human rights violations, and repeal any repressive legislation still in force.
1984 - The Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo human rights group set up a genetic database to trace babies abducted from the secret detention centres. The database is run by 30 doctors, biochemists and molecular biologists at the Durand Hospital in Buenos Aires and will help identify 59 of the 256 missing babies documented by the group.
1985 - The trial of the junta leaders begins on 22 April. On 9 December the leaders are convicted and sentenced to jail. However, due to pressure from the military and the threat of more violence, they will all be released before serving their full terms.
Orlando Ramón Agosti is sentenced to 4 1/2 years in jail. He will be released before serving his full sentence.
Jorge I. Anaya is acquitted.
Reynaldo Benito Bignone is sentenced to jail but receives early release.
Leopoldo Fortunato Galtieri is acquitted on charges of committing crimes against the Argentine people. In 1986 he is convicted on charges relating to the Falklands War and sentenced to 12 years jail. He too receives early release.
Omar D. Graffigna is acquitted.
Armando Lambruschini is sentenced to eight years in prison but released after four.
Basilio A.I. Lami Dozo is acquitted.
Emilio E. Massera is convicted of multiple cases of homicide, aggravated false arrests, torture, torture resulting in death, and robbery, and sentenced to life imprisonment. He is released after serving only four years.
Jorge Rafaél Videla is convicted of multiple cases of homicide, aggravated false arrests, torture, torture resulting in death, and robbery, and sentenced to life imprisonment at the military prison of Magdalena. He too is released after serving only four years.
Roberto Eduardo Viola is sentenced to 17 years in prison but released after serving only four years.
1986 - In December the 'El Punto Final' (The Final Point, or Full Stop) law is introduced. The law sets a 60-day deadline for victims of the Dirty War to file complaints against members of the military and police suspected of human rights abuses.
1987 - Rebel military personnel (the so-called Carapintadas - The Painted Faces) stage a series of barrack uprisings against the Alfonsín government, demanding that the trials of those not exempted under the Final Point law be aborted.
Thought the uprising is squashed the rebels achieve their aim, with the government introducing a 'Obediencia Debida' (Due Obedience) law granting automatic immunity from prosecution to all members of the military ranked lower than colonel on the principle that they were just following orders.
Up to 2,000 military officials are spared from prosecution, although the law does expressly exclude the crimes of rape, illegal appropriation of minors, and the falsification of civil status and appropriation of real estate by extortion.
1988 - In mid-January the Carapintadas rebel again. After the uprising is put down by troops loyal to the government, the rebel leaders and about 300 of their followers are arrested and sentenced to prison.
In December about 1,000 Carapintadas from several army, navy and air force units rebel for third time. The rebels have many of their demands met and suffer few repercussions.
1989 - On 5 October, as part of a sweeping military appeasement policy, the newly elected president, Carlos Saúl Menem, pardons 39 of those convicted for Dirty War abuses, those convicted for negligence in the Falklands War, and most of those involved in the Carapintadas uprisings.
1990 - On 3 December the Carapintadas rebel for a fourth time. The rebellion is again put down, but not before several troops loyal to the government are killed in the fighting. About 600 of the rebels are arrested.
Menem pardons about 280 members of the military who still faced trial for human rights abuses.
On 29 December Menem grants amnesty to the leaders of the junta convicted and jailed at the end of 1985.
Videla, Massera, Agosti, Viola, Bignone, Galtieri, Lambruschini, and Viola are all set free.
1995 - Adolfo Scilingo becomes the first Argentine military officer to speak publicly about the abuses of the junta. According to Scilingo, up to 2,000 people were thrown 15 or 20 at a time into the sea during "flights of death" run every Wednesday for two years.
Scilingo will later become the subject of the first trial held in Spain of a foreign national charged with crimes against humanity committed outside of the country. He will be accused of 30 assassinations, 93 charges of beating, 255 acts of terrorism, and 286 acts of torture.
On 19 April 2005, Scilingo is found guilty by the Spanish court and sentenced to 21 years in prison for each of the 30 assassinations, along with a further 10 years for torture and illegal detention. The cumulative sentence is 640 years.
1998 - On 9 June, in a case brought by the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, Videla is arrested for permitting and concealing the abduction of five babies born to women held in the secret detention centres during the Dirty War. After being held in the Caseros prison for serious offenders he is placed under house arrest.
2001 - In March Federal Judge Gabriel Cavallo rules that the Final Point and Due Obedience laws are unconstitutional and void.
In the middle of the year a federal judge issues three judicial decisions indicting and requesting the arrest of a number of former members of the armed forces of Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay for their involvement Operation Condor.
Among those indicted is Videla, who remains under house arrest in connection with the case involving the abduction of babies. The judge also requests the provisional arrest, pending requests for extradition, of former Chilean President Augusto Pinochet.
In September the Argentine government publicly acknowledges that 15,000 people had "disappeared" during the Dirty War.
2002 - In July the Federal Appeals Court upholds the ruling that the Final Point and Due Obedience laws are unconstitutional and void. Twenty-nine high-ranking officers from the junta again face human rights prosecutions relating to the Dirty War.
2003 - Leopoldo Fortunato Galtieri dies on 12 January.
On May 25, Néstor Kirchner is inaugurated as president of Argentina. Kirchner supports the complete overturn of the laws granting amnesty to the military. "There were 30,000 people who went missing in Argentina only because they thought differently," he says during a trip to Washington in July.
On 24 July an Argentine judge orders the arrest of one civilian and 45 military officials, including Videla and Massera, on the request of a Spanish judge who has charged them with the murders of Spanish citizens during the Dirty War. (The arrests are rescinded five weeks later when the Spanish Government decides not to request the extradition of the detainees, although Videla and Massera remain in custody on other charges.)
The following day, on 25 July, Kirchner annuls a decree blocking the extradition of military officers to face criminal charges brought against them by foreign states.
On 21 August the Argentine Senate votes 43-to-7 to repeal the amnesty laws, clearing the way for as many as 2,400 former military officers to be tried on charges of torture and murder.
The decision is then taken to the Supreme Court to test its constitutional validity. The Supreme Court refers the case to the Criminal Causation Panel.
On 1 September Argentine judges reopen human rights cases against about 80 former military officers. The same day the newspaper 'Pagina 12' publishes an interview with Reynaldo Benito Bignone in which the former junta leader admits that 8,000 people were abducted and killed during the Dirty War.
According to Bignone, French instructors schooled the Argentine military in torture techniques, while leaders of the Roman Catholic Church gave blessing to its use "as long as the man speaks while in his right mind".
At the start of December German prosecutors issue arrest warrants for Videla, Massero and three others for the "indirect murder" of two German students, Elisabeth Kaesemann and Klaus Zieschank, during the Dirty War.
Kaesemann was allegedly killed at a secret detention centre in May 1977. Zieschank disappeared in March 1976. His body was found in 1983.
2004 - On 9 February President Kirchner announces that the Naval Mechanics School in Buenos Aires will be converted into a 'Museum of Memory' to commemorate the disappeared of the Dirty War. The school operated as a notorious torture centre during the conflict.
A month later, the current head of the Argentine Navy, Admiral Jorge Godoy, admits that the school "was used to commit acts aberrant and offensive to human dignity, ethics and law, and ended up becoming a symbol of barbarism and irrationality."
Meanwhile, on 3 March Germany requests the extradition of Videla and Massero to face the charges relating to the murders of Elisabeth Kaesemann and Klaus Zieschank.
On 19 March a federal judge declares that pardons issued to six army officers in 1989 were unconstitutional.
On 29 March two police officials are sentenced to seven years each for abducting babies from political detainees who disappeared during the Dirty War. They are the first senior officials from the military regime to be jailed for the offence.
At the start of September Federal Judge Jorge Urso indicts Videla and 17 others for further abductions during the Dirty War. Videla is accused of being the chief of a "criminal plan" and charged with 34 abductions.
2005 - The Argentine Supreme Court finally revokes the amnesty laws on 14 June. Hundreds of former and serving military officers could now be subject to prosecution for their involvement in the Dirty War.
2006 - In March President Kirchner announces that the anniversary of the coup, 24 March, will become a national holiday, to be called the 'National Day of Memory for Truth and Justice'. At a ceremony to mark the 30th anniversary of the coup Kirchner calls for the pardons granted to members of the military by former President Menem in 1990 to be revoked.
"Perhaps the time has come to disarticulate the network of impunity that comes with those pardons," he says. "The justice system has already declared them unconstitutional in some concrete cases. ... And now it is the judiciary that must determine whether the pardons are valid or constitutional."
The first trial since the revocation of the amnesty laws begins on 20 June when Miguel Etchecolatz, former chief of police detectives in La Plata, capital of Buenos Aires province, faces charges of illegal arrest, torture and six counts of homicide.
Etchecolatz had been sentenced to 23 years in prison in 1986 on charges of illegal arrests but was released the following year after the introduction of the Due Obedience laws. In 2004 he was one of the two former senior police officials sentenced for abducting babies.
On 19 September Etchecolatz is found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment.
Another trial of a former police officer begins on 28 June. The accused, Julio Simon, is charged with human rights abuses in connection with the 1978 disappearance of Jose Poblete and his wife Gertrudis Hlaczik and abducting their baby daughter.
The trial ends on 4 August. Simon is found guilty of torture and "illegal privation" and sentenced to 25 years in jail. It is the first conviction of a former member of the security forces since the amnesty laws were revoked.
According to the Centre for Legal and Social Studies, there are 222 former police, military and intelligence officials in custody and awaiting trial for crimes committed during the Dirty War. Another 96 have died and 46 have fled the country or gone into hiding.
On 5 September Federal Court Judge Norberto Oyarbide rules that the presidential pardon granted to Videla in 1990 was unconstitutional, opening up the possibility that the former junta leader may face further charges for crimes committed while he was in power.
2007 - On 25 April a federal court finds that the pardons granted to Videla and Emilio Massera were unconstitutional and rules that the life sentences originally handed down to the pair must be reinstated. The ruling is largely symbolic as both men are already under house arrest and Massera is said to be mentally unfit after suffering a stroke in 2002.
Also in April, a criminal court rejects a request for Videla to be extradited to Germany to face charges for the 1977 abduction and murder of Elisabeth Kaesemann. The court argues that as the crime took place in Argentina the case should be prosecuted in an Argentine court.
At the same time, a federal judge rules that Reynaldo Bignone, the last head of the junta, must stand trial for the kidnapping of babies borne to women who were detained and executed by the regime.
Meanwhile, another investigation into human rights abuses committed during the Dirty War focuses on the tacit approval given by many within the Roman Catholic Church. On 9 October Christian von Wernich, a former Catholic police chaplin, is found guilty of collaborating in torture, kidnapping and murder and sentenced to life imprisonment.
According to witnesses, Wernich was not only present at torture sessions but also passed on information from the religious confessions of detainees.
On 7 November the focus shifts to the victims of the Dirty War when outgoing President Kirchner unveils a memorial bearing the names of thousands who were killed or disappeared. The memorial is located on the banks of the River Plate in Buenos Aires.
Comment: There can be few comments more revealing of the depravity of the Argentine military regime than those attributed to the killers themselves:
"In a dirty war the innocent pay for the guilty" - General Reynaldo Benito Bignone.
"First, we must kill all subversives, then their sympathisers; then those who are indifferent; and finally, we must kill all those who are timid" - General Ibérico Saint Jean.
"One becomes a terrorist not only by killing with a weapon or setting a bomb but also by encouraging others through ideas that go against our Western and Christian civilisation" - Lieutenant-general Jorge Rafael Videla, 1977.
"We waged this war with our doctrine in our hands, with the written orders of each high command" - General Santiago Omar Riveros, 24 January 1980.
"It's easier to find a green dog than an honest Jew" - Colonel Mohamed Alí Seineldín, 1988.
"The continuous weeping, the very odour of adrenaline that comes from those who can feel their end coming, their desperate cries begging us that if we were really Christians we would swear we weren't going to kill them, was the most pathetic, agonising and saddest thing I ever felt in my life and I will never forget it" - Lieutenant-colonel Guillermo Bruno Laborda writing in May 2004 of his experiences with political detainees during the Dirty War.
More information
Links are to external sites.
'Nunca Más' (Never Again) - Report of Conadep (National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons) - 1984
The Vanished Gallery: The Desaparecidos of Argentina
Project Disappeared
Argentina - Human Rights
Argentina: Resisting Impunity
National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Books
Guardian Unlimited | Special Report: Argentina
washingtonpost.com: Argentina
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