Al-Badr and Ashams were tied to Jamaat Islami and Jamaat Islami was in turn tied to Yahya Khan, who used them to suppress the opposition in Bangladesh in 1971. There is plenty of information available on that from various sources, here are just two;

1. “In 1971 the Pakistan occupation army plus their collaborators like the Jamaat-e-Islam, the Islami Chattra Sangha (currently renamed Islami Chattra Shibir) and their militant killing squads; the Al-Badr and the Al-Shams tried their utmost to apprehend and kill those that demand an ‘independent Bangladesh’.” http://bangladeshwatchdog.blogspot.com/2007/10/war-criminals-of-1971-time-to-take.html

2. “Jamaat-i-Islami has been involved in murder, terrorism, intimidation and bigotry from it’s direct participation in war crimes during the 1971 War of Liberation to it’s involvement in pursuing sectarian violence against the Ahmadi sect in Pakistan and Bangladesh . Recently the Jamaat has been threatening the lives of journalists in Bangladesh if they continue to report and uncover the Jamaat and Shibir’s ties to militancy .” http://www.secularvoiceofbangladesh.org/Jamaat%20i%20Islami%20%20A%20threat%20to%20Bangladesh%20by%20Chris%20Blackburn.htm

When Mian Tufail Muhammad, a one time Ameer of Jamaat Islami, was asked of his Jamaat’s relations with Yahya Kahn despite Yahya Khan’s moral corruption he replied, rather hypocritically – as you would expect from someone from Jamaat; “I did not personally see him do anything wrong”.

As for Yahya Khan not being religious, there is hardly a general who was religious. If it were not sexually corrupt Yahya Khan then it was liar, cheater, traitor, brutal Zia ul Haq. Religion was used by all, irrespective of how much of it they followed in their own lives. This distinction between ‘being religious’ and ‘using religion’ needs to be understood.

In 1956 there were many minority officers in the army. Cecil Chaudary is one example and there were others too. By 1971 such names had greatly reduced. A coincidence? No. Rather a consequence of growing “Islamization” (read politicising of Islam) in Pakistan, a side effect of the support by US for the “Islamic” right against the nationalist left in 50s, 60s and 70s.

This is another matter that even Jamaatis now recite Faiz’s and Jalib’s verses.

The support of Jamaat Islami and other religious parties to the dictators and vice versa still continuous, and incidentally both in Pakistan and Bangladesh but that is a subject for another occasion.

ابو: شمس اور بدر کے تو اپنے کرتوت ہی خراب تھے ان کی مدد کیا کی جاتی؟

می: پلیز بات 1971 کے واقعات اور مشرقی پاکستان کی علیحدگی پر ہی کریں۔ مذہب کا اس میں کوئی دخل نہ تھا۔ ہاں فوج کو ضرور کافی الزام دیا جا سکتا ہے مگر اس زمانے کے جنرل بالکل بھی مذہبی نہ تھے۔

ps
i told u soon we will have “mulla” & “mazhab” behind melting of permafrost, oil prices hitting $100 a barrel, hurricanes coming next year, the storms just hit mid west, latest labor party’ scandel, french presidnt being a single
i wonder will we ever b able to hear somethin worthwhile? n when will he get a life

Ajmal sahib, all these examples you have given are from distant past and from pre-Islamic fanaticism period. This is exactly the point; why despite all of them serving the country well when given chance, they are now being treated as untouchables for many decades and are not given chance anymore? If anything it’s the general and politicians from the majority religion who have destroyed the country and not minorities. General Zia, Yahya Khan, Tikka Khan, Bhutto and Musharaf are all Sunnis, so what is the grudge with minorities?

“…and a Hindu, being second in seniority only to the Chief Justice of Pakistan, was removed by General Pervez Musharraf by clamping Marshal Law. At present a Sikh is under training at PMA for becoming an Army Officer.”

The Sikh boy you mentioned is a show example and a rarity that is why so much fuss was made over it in the media. Please don’t insult reader’s intelligence. Hindu CJ is also a more recent and rare example that is why so much fuss is made over that too. If anything, Musharaf is to be credited for trying to turn the tide back, even though on external pressure. No thanks to Mullahs.

In India it is normal for minorities to rise to almost any position and is not considered anything special to even mention. There are also no discriminatory laws in Indian constitution such as the one below from Pakistani constitution;

“1. ORDINANCE NO. XX OF 1984

PART II – AMENDMENT OF THE PAKISTAN PENAL CODE (ACT XLV OF 1860)

(3) 298C. Person of Quadiani group etc., calling himself a Muslim or preaching or propagating his faith. Any person of the Quadiani group or the Lahori group (who call themselves ‘Ahmadis’ or by any other name), who, directly or indirectly, poses himself as Muslim, or calls, or refers to, his faith as Islam, or preaches or propagates his faith, or invites others to accept his faith, by words, either spoken or written, or by visible representations, or in any manner whatsoever outrages the religious feelings of Muslims, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three years and shall also be liable to fine.”

Pakistan’s constitution and laws and its policies specially those based on Shariah are a joke and remind us of dark ages. Really a shameful situation for any sensible Pakistani. Among other things it takes away the right from a Pakistani to complain about atrocities in Kashmir, Palestine and other places as Pakistanis don’t fare well in situation of human rights either. Let’s have a law in India sending Muslims to prison for “outraging the religious feelings of Hindus” and see Muslims especially from Pakistan supporting it as a matter of principal. What is good for Pakistanis should be good for Indians and rest of the world too. But I have a feeling you would be the first one complaining about such a law in India if enacted.