Military ruler General Pervez Mushrraf has decided to publish the long-shelved report of a top inquiry into Pakistan's debacle in the 1971 Bangladesh independence war.

"What happened in 1971 was a disgrace but I have decided to make the report public," Musharraf said late Monday, while speaking at a function organised by the All Pakistan Newspapers Society.

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Bangladesh, former East Pakistan, won independence after a war that ended with around 90,000 Pakistani troops surrendering before the Indian army in Dhaka on December 16, 1971.

Then Prime Ministers of the two countries, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Indira Gandhi repatriated the Pakistani POWs from India under the bilateral Simla agreement signed in July 1972.

Butto appointed a commission under Pakistani Supreme Court Chief Justice Hamoodur Rehman, which completed the inquiry in 1974. But successive governments, citing national interests, did not make the report public.

Musharraf, facing a public demand for disclosure of the findings after an Indian magazine printed portions of the report recently, said an official committee would examine the report before making it public.

Interior Minister Moninuddin Haider, a retired army lieutenant general, will head the committee. “The section in the report dealing with international relations will however be kept secret,” he said.

Musharraf, criticised those demanding action against military highups responsible for the 1971 Dhaka surrender. "Why the hue and cry now when most of the people are not alive?" he asked.

What happened in the former eastern wing was a political-military debacle, Musharraf observed.

"It is a good decision to publish the report as people have a right to know about the most tragic events of Pakistan's history," said a prominent Pakistani analyst, M.B.Naqvi.

Bureau Report