36 years ago, on December 16, 1971, then East Pakistan became Bangladesh.
Last year Adil Najam had a very touching post on the same topic and I’ll strongly recommend a revisit to it here. Raza Rumi had also written a post after revisiting Dhaka recently.
I belong to a generation which did not see those times. My knowledge about this significant event of our history comes from the books I’ve read, things I have heard on the media and from elders, and from Pakistani and Bengali friends I’ve talked to.
A lot of water has passed under the bridges since then. Both nations have gone through a lot in these 36 tumultuous years. Whatever the past may have been - the good times and the bad - we at ATP pray for a bright future for both Pakistan and Bangladesh. We want to wish good luck to Bangladesh and its citizens for a bright future.
This December 16 is also time to seriously think about those Pakistanis who remain stranded in Bangladesh living in camps.
These are people who consider themselves Pakistanis, want to live in Pakistan, and whom we have ignored and forgotten. It is time to welcome them. If Pakistan can give refuge to millions of people from its western bordering country, we can welcome the few thousand who are our own, who remain stranded and stateless in Bangladesh, and who want to return to Pakistan.
Its time to bring them home!
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Note: Although my following post is not directly related to the artilce under discussion, but i posted as i could not find any article related to the subject in my post. May be moderators can write article on this subject. My apologies.
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Shaikh Rashid: We are a crowd not a nation.
Today on Geo program Meray Mutabiq I heard garbage bag of past, politician Shaikh Rashid of Rawalpindi. Defining Pakistan he said: We are a crowd not a nation.
Unfortunately he is right. Where as Immigrant citizens of ‘Nation of Immigrants’ i.e. USA, feel they are part of nation i.e. American Nation. I thought for a moment why is that. An answer came to my mind through my personal experience. In 1997 I was in Virginia and went to see the house of famous founding father of the USA and its third president Thomas Jefferson. Near the house is his family graveyard. President Jefferson is buried there. On his kutba (epitaph) nowhere it’s mentioned that he was the president of US. Actually, he himself wrote his epitaph. It says: Author of proclamation of independence. Author of ARTICLE OF FREEDOM OF RELIGION in constitution. Founder of University of Virginia. I stood there for few moments and thought: Because of the article authored by this gentleman, I have full freedom to practice my religion Islam in the country founded by Christians. Even the Jews who killed the God of Christians (i.e. Jesus) have full freedom to practice their religion. People who live in this country and believe and/or preach Jesus Christ (i.e. God of founding fathers of this country) is physically dead and won’t return back in this world, have full freedom to believe and preach that. With this thought my hands raise and I offered Sura-Fatiah for his soul. In my opinion that one article authored by President Jefferson made this land of immigrants a nation. And this is true despite the fact that if you look at the ethnic background of people who call it their home, no one group comes with clear majority. Caucasian Americans are from different countries of Europe, same is the case with Black Americans who, unfortunately were brought against their will, are from different countries of Africa. Same is the case of Muslims. I guess majority of people in this country from one country are from Mexico, who entered this country hopping the fences and crawling through the drainpipes. But we all very proudly call it our country. And count us as member of American nation. Listening to Shaikh Rashid, I think it is not the case with Pakistan. Unfortunately.
As I Read this article, many thoughts come to my mind, given the situation of our country. Have we learned any lessons ? or are we still on the same road, which led to 1971 disaster.
Gen Zia and his rule, left many long-term problems for Pakistan. Since he lacked vision and legitimacy to rule effectively, he divided people of Pakistan, into factions. This not only prolonged his rule but left permanent scars on our society. Zia fanned ethnic nationalism into Pakistani society.
Today Pakistan is highly polar society, which maybe divided into seven or eight groups. Most members of these groups do not trust other groups, anymore. I believe this is big and very basic challenge facing today’s Pakistan. How can we think as Pakistanis, not as Sindhis, Mohajirs, Punjabis, Balochis, Pathans, Kashmiris, ………, ……….,………
Today, I think, most Pakistanis think and act on basis of ethnicity instead of being Pakistani. We must not do that. Our political leaders should be on merit, instead of ethnicity; a good candidate should be able to get votes on being good Pakistani, instead of being representative of an ethnic group.
Our political parties should be national, rather than regional, only then we will have a strong system, harmonious society and a prosperous Pakistan. We must unite !!!!
what all these fuss are all abt’??,,,,,, Don’t you guys know that those “unpriviledged”, “forgotten” people had given the citizenship of Bangladesh few months back??,,, and not only that ,they will also vote for the next parliamentiary election in ‘2008. . ….. how much lesson has been taught from the past that’s should be the main concern I think,,,, to build better place and better future for next generation. as a Bangladeshi I can assure everybody we never had the feelings that they are any different than us. as a matter of fact I spent all my life as “in campus” student of “Dhaka Residential Model school and College” which happened to be next to those “Bihari Camp”( ..that’s what we used to call it and I think still ppl do.),,,, I think it’s too late to think abt’ them now,,,, as there are third generation has come who loves to get soaked in moonsoon rain and whos want to be called only ,,,” BANGLADESHI”.
Stranded Pakistanis are bearing all revenge of bengalis. Their biggest crime is that they supported Pakistan in time of amry operation. I think they should have been brought back in 70’s but now we should not give them false hope.
We should help them in settling in Bangal and should press Bangali government to give them citizenship. We have more 1 million illegal Banglais in Karachi and we can use these people as lever to press Bangali government. I think India should also play a part in it and should offer some of these ppl citizenships.
I think the real question to ask is whether Bengali people are in any better situation than they were pre-71 era. Does a common person get justice in Bangladesh now. Is a common person better off and have a better living conditions than one had pre-71 era. If the answer is no. Then what was their struggle for - just to get another country where instead of West Pakistani elite now Bengali elite would loot them.
If they would have been after the real thing that is Equality and Justice for all then I guess both Bengalis and West Pakistanis would have been in a better condition today. Same mistake is being carried away by Balochi’s now, instead of demanding justice from the Governments of Pakistan and from their Baloch triabla leaders they are wasting their energies in a separatist movement. And in the end even if they will “win”, they will also soon realize that nothing really has changed.
I think the best way to go is to join Lawyers and Tehreek-e-Insaaf movement. This seems like a long term solution for all Pakistanis.
Shahran you have singled me out for no good reason. Bihari and Assami Muslims are rotting in concentration camps in ‘land of Bengali language’. They are citizens of Bangladesh. Their last three generations are born there. Their children speak Bengali language. Then why successive Bangladeshi governments have refused to restore their citizen rights. What is the problem. How far to carry revenge. Human suffering is same no matter what your skin color and what language you speak. If Pakistan could absorb millions of Muslims from India then why Bangladesh refuses to absorb few hundred thousands. I ask my Bengali brothers, “remove the barbed wires surrounding these concentration camps and set your Muslims brothers free. Their grand or great grand parents may have come to your land from the neighboring states of Bihar and Assam, but they are citizens of Bangladesh. Let your sense of justice prevail”.
On 16 december we invited a guest on urdu talk radio (www.abnchicago.org)chicago who joined us on phone from a camp in chitagong. He told us his agony where he and his family remain in constant mental torture as 16 december approaches. They are being called traitor and even their children who were born in bangladesh were called as children of traitors. It gets worse as the victory day approaches.
When asked if there is any organization from pakistan helping them he said not a single one is helping them and infact orgs from us and around the world are helping but it is a shame that none of them originate from pakistan.
They are living in such inhuman situations that no one can imagine. Devoid of any bathrooms for taking shower, the women have to a partition of clothes with the help of their relatives so that they can take shower.
I am surprised by the comment of pma on how can we move people from one place to another.I am not sure if he is aware of the sort of everyday torture these people are facing.
We are all sitting comfortably in our drawing rooms discussing.just imagine if similar hatred starts happens in usa, what would you do ?
Day 1, Advani, Singh, etal, were at the bottom of the rung. They got measly few thousand rupees per family. **No property**. Take the first 10 years of India and see how many of their leaders were born on this side Ravi?
It took three of four of them 40+ yrs to get to what on:
Day 1, Pakistan had Governor Generals, Prime Ministers, etal. And all got property worth millions for mere show of papers.
We got numbers in thousands, hundreds on Day 1!
Mall, Road, Hall Road, Anarkali, etal, prime property was allocated, no some thing in Toba Tek Singh (nothing against the fine folks of Toba Tek Singh). Agri land by mega-acres in Sind. Hyderabad, Sind was virtually handed to them. Allocations in Karachi, Rawalpindi, Peshawar, Quetta.
And as far as Mr. Singh is concerned, I am sure his family settled and **assimilated**. Spoke Punjabi or whatever were the local customs. Does that sound like a problem solved or problem created where they migrated? Over language?
As for the muhajir of Pakistan, well, others have written enough about them. Both in East and in West.
Show the gratitude to the ansars. Show the gratitude to the muhajirs. Everyone contributed to the success of Pakistan (whatever it is, and from whatever stripe we come from).
As for the struggle, it was joint, but then enough (and no one stopped them) decided Pakistan was not worth the gamble. They bought into the argument of ‘90 days of Pakistan’. Look where they are compared to their cousins to rolled the dice (and we are all grateful for them)?
Take the current President of Pakistan. Explore where is his cousin? Lost somewhere in the valleys of Congress Party as a minor wanabe and migrated to some Southern city of India.
Should we not walk away from the slogans that ‘we were deprived’? And close this chapter? The post was about BD!
We should all be grateful for the joint contribution and success of muhajirs and the ansars. I am. About time everyone should be too.