Lala Moin

Lala Moin is the batman attached to Brigadier Iskandar’s CUTIA unit, a supporting figure whose practical duties place him at the hinge between military routine and covert violence. He first appears teasing the newly recruited Ayooba Baloch, Farooq Rashid, and Shaheed Dar about their assignment; later, he helps strip away their military identities and then restores them as armed soldiers bound for Dacca.

Introduction and Role

When Brigadier Iskandar announces that Ayooba Baloch, Farooq Rashid, and Shaheed Dar are now a CUTIA unit, Lala Moin supplies the recruits’ first deflating commentary. He calls them the poor fellows who will get the man-dog, puncturing the official language of tracking and intelligence with the suggestion that the assignment is less glamorous than the men imagine.

His role is modest but concrete: as the Brigadier’s batman, he handles the unit’s equipment and accompanies its orders. The recruits boast of spies and impending combat, while Lala Moin’s presence keeps the scene grounded in the ordinary hierarchy and logistics of military life.

Disguise and Deployment

On March 15, 1971, CUTIA personnel assemble in a hut and are ordered to remove uniforms; the dogs, too, have their identifying collars taken off. After the men undress, Lala Moin issues them Army-approved civilian clothing. The operation turns a military unit into a group of apparent civilians without inviting protest: the men obey, and the trained dogs remain silent.

The CUTIA units are then flown to Dacca by way of Ceylon, alongside troops from the West Wing traveling in mufti. Lala Moin’s work is part of the practical machinery of that concealment. His handling of the clothing does not explain the operation’s purpose to the recruits, who initially imagine that they are being sent to target Indian vegetarians.

The Return to Uniform

The unit’s purpose becomes explicit on March 25, after Yahya Khan and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto break off talks with Sheikh Mujib-ur-Rahman and return to the West Wing. At night, Brigadier Iskandar enters the CUTIA barracks with Najmuddin, while Lala Moin staggers under the weight of sixty-one uniforms and nineteen dog-collars. The reversal is immediate: the men who had been made to look like ordinary passengers are ordered to dress, take up arms, and join the operation.

Lala Moin’s burden makes the change visible in objects. The uniforms and collars, removed to conceal the force, now restore its military identity. His service connects the earlier disguise to the armed deployment, while the recruits’ ignorance gives way to the unit’s stated mission against Mujib.

Narrative Function

Lala Moin is characterized through brief speech and material tasks rather than an extended personal history. His teasing remark at the unit’s formation contrasts with the seriousness of the later operation, and his repeated work with clothes and collars gives him a small but clear place in the sequence by which soldiers are disguised and then reassembled as soldiers.

The account’s irony rests partly on this administrative normality: the men obey orders without complaint, and the preparations for military action arrive as changes of clothing and equipment. Lala Moin does not determine the operation, but his batman’s duties make its transformation tangible.