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!
Learning from the past and shaping the future is what required of us at this moment and with regards to that I want to forward this link of article South Asia :’united we stand’ in todays News by Navaid Hussain
http://thenews.jang.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=867 80. Please read it , it may serve food for thought for all of us.
Thanks
Mudassar
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
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,
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.