Adil Najam
Today is December 16.
Today Bangladesh will mark its 35th ‘Victory Day.’
Most Pakistanis will go about their lives, not remembering or not wanting to remember. We should remember - and learn - from the significance of this date.
Not because it marks a ‘defeat’ but because it marks the end of a dream, 24 years of mistakes, horrible bloodshed, traumatic agony, and shameful atrocities. The constructed mythologies of what happened, why, and who is to be blamed need to be questioned. Tough questions have to be asked. And unpleasant answers have to be braced for. We need to honestly confront our own history, for our own sake.
But right now, the goal of this post is differnet. We at ATP just wish to extend a hand of freindship to our Bangladeshi friends. May the memories we make in our future be very different (and more pleasant) than the scars we carry from our past.
There is much - too much - that I wish to say; but cannot find words for. So let me do what I always do when I am at a loss of words. Let me quote Faiz Ahmad Faiz, who in his memorable 1974 poem ‘Dhaka say wapsi par’ (On Return from Dhaka) expressed what I wish to say so much better than I ever could.
We share with you here the original poem in Urdu, a version in ‘Roman Urdu,’ a wonderful English translation of the poem by the late Agha Shahid Ali in his book The Rebel’s Silhouette
ham ke Thehre ajnabi itni mulaaqaatoN ke baad
phir baneiN ge aashna kitni madaaraatoN ke baadkab nazar meiN aaye gi be daaGh sabze ki bahaar
khoon ke dhabe dhuleiN ge kitni barsaatoN ke baadthe bahut bedard lamhe khat’m-e-dard-e-ishq ke
theiN bahut bemeh’r subheiN meh’rbaaN raatoN ke baaddil to chaaha par shikast-e-dil ne moh’lat hi na di
kuchh gile shikwe bhi kar lete manaajaatoN ke baadun se jo kehne gaye the “Faiz” jaaN sadqe kiye
an kahi hi reh gayi woh baat sab baatoN ke baad
After those many encounters, that easy intimacy,
. we are strangers now –
After how many meetings will we be that close again?When will we again see a spring of unstained green?
After how many monsoons will the blood be washed
. from the branches?So relentless was the end of love, so heartless –
After the nights of tenderness, the dawns were pitiless,
. so pitiless.And so crushed was the heart that though it wished
. it found no chance –
after the entreaties, after the despair — for us to
. quarrel once again as old friends.Faiz, what you’d gone to say, ready to offer everything,
. even your life –
those healing words remained unspoken after all else had
. been said.
salam
i agree with Aamir H. the fault we have is that we never accepted our faults!everyone wanted to be a dynasty from field marshals till the Generals that had “Rani’s” escorting them.We are all to blame!!accept it we cant say india did it or Mujib coz we gave them every loose delivery an they just hit us outta the park!if we had gud bowlers along with the best batsman then things wud hv been diff!i give credit to Bhutto (who i guess was wrongly implicated in the events) but he did rebuild the country after the fall of dhaka!constitution steel mills nuke program an makin pakistans name in islamic world by calling islamic summit of 1974.But again our army pounced back yet by our own islamic leaders more concerned abt callin Ahmadis non muslim an all!was that the issue facing pakistan?no but it was a religious issue much like the ethnic issue on which Mujib capitalised along with india!again not to blame but ourselves!today Musharaf is doing the same as Bhutto was doing an again we are crying but at the cost of Pakistan!whos losing? our youth us the ppl not Mush not Mullahs not any one its Pakistan thats losing!we can blame 100 Ayubs Yahyas Zias Mushs but wats the remedy!we have to think about that!is it PML N or PML Q PPP or MMA!yet have to find ppl that have some vision an policy like Bhutto(dun get me wrong im not supporting PPP) but i admitt he had something that ppl lacked an was uprooted by us as we just want to be slaves and chant abt the system corruptions an dun dare enuff to take the bull by horns!
Bangladesh is our failure but the sad tale is we never accepted it an put blame on Mujib and India!
Keep ur friends close and enemies even closer is said fer the right reasons!
First, I really do NOT want to make this about Mohajir or Punjabi or Pathan. Remember, it was exactly that type of thinking that got us where we got on Bangladesh. My point only is that there is plenty of blame to go around and everyone - I mean EVERYONE - had a hand in this.
Adnan, you are exactly right. None of those people were Muhajirs. But by the time they came on the scene, East Pakistan had already been lost for at least 10 years or more. Both Ayub and Yahya, and some extent Bhutto (two Pathans and a Sindhi) hastened the processes. Personally, I think if one person has more of the blame than anyone else it is Ayub, who sealed the case (which is why I find it funny when people think he was good for Pakistan).
What I was referring to with Karachi as capital and the Mohajir (not ordinary people but the early govt. and bureaucracy in Pakistan which was nearly entirely immigrants post-partition), was the events of the late 40s and early 50s. Which is when the national language issue was fought and which is when the disenchantment of the East Pakistanis set in because of (a) the way they language was ridiculed in the debate, and (b) how Bengali politicians (especially Suhrawardhy) were side-lined by Liaquat Ali and others (even called traitors).
As I said, you cannot understand Bangladesh as a simple 1971 event. You have to go back at least to 1947 and you find that certainly by 1954-55 (when the United Front wins and then is removed) Bangladesh had become inevitable. Then it was a matter of time and it took Ayub and Yahya to put the final nails on it.
I tend to agree with Aamir H’s analysis.
Breakup of Pakistan was a complex issue. One single event, individual or institution cannot be held responsible for it. There were several events, many individuals and several institutions that contributed to the ultimate demise.
It’s like a bonfire. You set up several logs, large and small, twigs and whatever and then you show it spark. Boom! Up goes the fire. 1971 was a huge bonfire.
AAmir Sahib, guys like Ayub Khan,Yahya Khan and Bhutto,Niazi were NOT mohajirs and these guys are main culprit of Dhakkka Fall. Karachi was the capitol but it doesn’t mean Karachi was being run by Mohajirs.
Two interesting things about history. One, single causes for anything is nearly never correct. Two, it cannot be understood only by looking at one moment, it was to be understood full.
Looking at Mujib’s six points is important in understanding the events of 1971 but if we want to understand the separation of East Pakistan we have to look much deeper and the six-points tell only a small part of the story. The story had already ended by then, at least for 15 years. We find it easy to look only at six-points and 1971 because it is convenient for us and we can pass the blame to the ‘usual suspects’… i.e., it was the Army, or it was the Punjabis or it was Mujeeb (it was anyone, except us!).
The fact is that the language issue is what ‘created’ Bangladesh. After that it was just a question of time and leaders (especially Liaquat and later Ayub only kept making things worse and hastening the process). The imposition of Urdu (I say this as a ‘Urdu speaking Mohajir’) was the defining issue that convinced Bengalis that this was not going to work and the West Pakistanis (at that point the leadership was Karachi-based mostly ‘Mohajirs’) was not going to accept them as equals. It was to East Pakistan was the 1937 elections were to Muslims in India (which convinced Muslims that their rights were not going to be respected in an India-wide system).
One can argue whether the decision was ‘right’ or ‘wrong’, but that is irrelevant. The important point is that early on Pakistan had to make a decision and it made a decision that sent a message to the majority of its people that their interests were not going to be accepted. Also, lets be honest, Urdu was a NEW and UNKNOWN language to MORE Pakistanis in the 1950s than, say, Bengali would have been (not only Bengalis, but most of what became Pakistan did not speak Urdu). IT is too late now, but the experience suggests that just like people who did not speak Urdu took it up, so people could also have taken up Bengali. More importantly, if you go back to the documents of the time you find that the options were NOT Urdu v. Bengali only. There were other ways (like, truly, joint national languages; which was tried later, but it was too late). For example, had English or even Urdu been made national language and all local languages given much more serious attention and respect (instead of forcefully trying to suppress them) things could have been different.
We turned the battle into a war between the language of Ghalib and the language of Tagore. It was a tragic and useless battle, made worse because we believed the two could not prosper together. Had we given each a chance, maybe the West Pakistanis would not have developed the sense of superiority and arrogance that eventually led to the horrific inhumanities.
Looking at Mujeeb’s six points I very much doubt that language was the main factor. It seems economics were more at play.
Urdu was the uniting factor for all the muslims and it was fair to say that none of the regional languages were made into national language to avoid regional differences… however, another way to go about this could have been to make east pakistan bilingual….. just like the provice of quebec in canada
Thnak you from a Bangladeshi on this nice essay. I cannot understand the Urdu in the poem but the translation was good.
One thing to think about is more trade between Bangladesh and Pakistan. This could benefit both countries and improve relations.