Today it has been 39 years since East Pakistan became Bangladesh. It has been longer that Bangladeshis have been politcially separate from Pakistan (39y) than they were together (24y). A new generation has grown up without seeing the time when the two countries were together. A lot of water has flown under the bridge since then and this is a good time for both countries to forgive and forget about the past. I would go as far as to say it should be okay to seek forgiveness from each other and say sorry for the war of 39 years ago. Nobody becomes smaller in stature by saying sorry except for inflated egos. It can only heal and make friends. And Pakistan needs friends.
We want to wish Bangladesh prosperity and good luck in their future.
Also see earlier posts at ATP:
2007: A Pakistani in Bangladesh
2007: Bangladesh Turns 36: Bringing Stranded Pakistanis Home
2008: History’s Ghetto: Stranded Pakistanis in Bangladesh
2008: Sahabzada Yaqub Khan
2009: 1971: A Blot of Shame
2009: 1971: The Lessons We Did Not Learn
2009: 1971: The Forgotten Silence
2009: 1971: Hum kay thehray ajnabi…
2010: Remembering Lt. Gen. Azam Khan
@banjara286
Former Prime Minsiter Benazir Bhutto on her visit to Bangladesh paid a tribute to Sheikh Mujeeb Ur Rahman’s burial site and laid a floral wreath to the war dead in Bangladesh’s independence.
In July 2002 President Musharraf visited Bangladesh and regretted for the atrocities committed and apologized to Begum Khalida Zia for the same.This from no less than a person than the Pakistani Chief of the Army Staff.
Numerous delegations from Pakistan comprising eminent journalists and media persons have also expressed the same feelings on various visits.
Every year on Dec 16,Pakistan mourns and expresses regrets and remorse for the military action of March 1971 in which thousands of innocents were killed.
What more is expected from us?
sad to break it to you owais sahib, magar dhabbey to kabhi bhi nahin dhulen ge. reason being that the establishment and the elite of pakistan have niether repented (and apologized) for the atrocities of 1971, nor – and this is far more damning – have they learnt any lessons from that shameful episode in pakistan’s history. as a result, a whole lot of new dhabbas have been callously added on to the pile of 1971, in other parts of what little remains of pakistan.
ab aap kaun kaun se dhabbe dhona (ya dhulvana) chahetay haen?
My best wishes also to the people of Bangladesh.
My best wishes for the people of Bangladesh. May your futures be bright.
Thank you for the good wishes to Bangladesh. Much time has passed and both our countries should now look to our futures.
Separation of East Pakistan was the greatest disaster.
Prasad: what is so ‘telling’ about when Kayani was commissioned? BTW, he is just about the only serving officer who saw action in 1971; rest are all too junior to have served.
Not to whitewash the PA’s indiscriminate and often very brutal use of force in E. Pakistan, but there were also massive atrocities committed by the Awami League thugs against the Biharis and loyalist Bengalis. And when the EBR and EPR troops mutinied, they killed all their West Pakistani officers, JCOs, NCOs and their families–often in a vicious manner.
I’ll reproduce an old post of mine from Chowk since very few Indians and virtually no Pakistanis (even PA officers) know anything about the actual fighting in East Pakistan after Operation Searchlight.
The number of Pakistani soldiers killed in actual fighting with the Bengali insurgents and Indian BSF troops (and by end October actual IA troops) was very high. The actual figure from the Indian Official History of the 1971 War is 5,409 killed (both regular Army and paramiltary, but doesn`t say who is included in this category) but only 4,674 wounded between 27 March to 3 December. This is very strange since I would expec there to be about 2-3x as many wounded as killed but I`ll assume the Indians aren`t making up these numbers. Its possible, given the abysmal medical facilities available in E. Pakistan in the middle of a civil war, many of the wounded could have died. But this is a very surprising figure. Alternatively, the insurgents could have killed all prisoners or the very high number of deaths came from W. Pakistanis murdered by mutinying Bengali troops in the early stages of the insurgency.
In contrast, between 4-16 December, the Pakistani Army and paramilitary units suffered 2,980 killed and 4,314 wounded. This should give you some idea of the scale of the fighting involved and the intensity of the insurgency. To give you a comparison, in about 11 years of fighting in S. Vietnam, the US suffered about 58,000 battle deaths in 11 years, or averaging just over 5,000/year. The worst year for the US in Vietnam was 1968, with about 16,869 battle deaths. Annualizing the Pakistani insurgency experience gives us 8,114 deaths, just about half of the worst year for the US and much higher than the average. Please note, however, that in 1968 the US had about 550,000 troops in Vietnam and the total Pakistani troop strength in E. Pakistan never exceeded 75,000 (again, Indian figures). So you can compare the intensity of the fighting considering that (proportionatel y), for Pakistan, about 14% of US troop strength incurred almost 50% of the US casualty numbers.
The official war began on Dec. 3rd but Pakistan was fighting both insurgents and Indian commandos from the very beginning (end March 1971). The Indian Official History, in noting the invaluable contribution of the BSF to the victory, commends the special BSF Commando Force operating in E. Pakistan from end-March onwards. Brigade level actions were being fought between Indian and Pakistani troops by November 1971.
Just because the “official“ fighting did not start until December doesn`t mean that Pakistan Army wasn`t fighting hard for the eight months before that. The presence of upwards of a hundred thousand Mukhti Bahini (plus BSF troops) meant that the enemy was well trained, well equipped and clearly not a “civilian“ population being buthchered by the Army.
90,000 soldiers returned to Pakistan. What were their stories? Has it been recorded? Apparently the soldiers from the Falklands returned to Argentina a forgotten lot. With a growing number of suicides amongst them, the government has finally initatied some form of recognition for them and organised meeting places for them.
It is a telling fact that Gen Kayani and current crop of top generals were commissioned around 1971.