By Sikander Hayat
December is the month when Pakistan lost its eastern half of East Pakistan which became Bangladesh in 1971. The cold chilly nights of December send shivers down the spine of Pakistanis forcing them to contemplate about what went wrong. Why our brothers who created Muslim League, who suffered partition of Bengal, who were at the forefront of the movement for the independence of Pakistan felt so angry that they decided to part their ways from the rest of Pakistan.
I do not want to blame our brothers from Bengal (East Pakistan) for wanting to secede as they gave us 24 years to correct our wrongs but leaders of West Pakistan, the intelligentsia, the elite and the general public attitude never considered East Pakistan as their integral part. There was a hint of racial, intellectual and martial prejudice and then there was a feeling in Eastern Pakistan that West Pakistan considered them the insignificant other.
It has been 37 years but the wounds are still not anywhere near healed. There is not much anguish about the succession itself as it was always going to be difficult for two parts of country to function as one when divided by thousand miles of hostile territory, but the way the separation took place make us Pakistanis anxious. If there was a referendum and had resulted in the creation of Bangladesh, it would have been fine but the birth of Bangladesh happened through a caesarean. A lot of bloodletting happened and a lot of innocent people lost everything they had.
West Pakistanis became foreigners in there on land with in a matter of hours. On 16th December 1971, Bangladesh was born, wounded, crying and dripping with blood.
Army operation which started on 25th of March and ended in a defeat on 16th December 1971 was an episode in the history of Pakistan which I as a Pakistani cannot justify.
A lot of West Pakistanis living in East Pakistan were killed by the Mukti Bahni but that still not justified the indiscriminately ruthless action by the Army. So here I am thinking what should be my reaction to all that misery and I have come to the conclusion that I must apologise whole heartedly, without any reservations.
I apologise as a Pakistani to all those mothers who lost their sons
I apologise to all sisters who lost their brothers
I apologise to all those sons and daughters who lost their parents
I apologise to all those daughters of East Pakistan who were humiliated &
I apologise for not keeping the promise we Pakistanis made to East Pakistan in 1947
These are the sins of our fathers, I cannot disown them, I cannot make them go away, I cannot forget them but I ask for forgiveness. I ask people of Bangladesh to forgive Pakistan (not forget the torment that you went through). Pakistan is not same Pakistan; Bangladesh is not the same Bangladesh. I hope that when history lessons are taught in Bangladeshi schools, they end with a plea from Pakistanis for forgiveness and compassion.
December is the month when Pakistan lost its eastern half of East Pakistan which became Bangladesh in 1971. The cold chilly nights of December send shivers down the spine of Pakistanis forcing them to contemplate about what went wrong. Why our brothers who created Muslim League, who suffered partition of Bengal, who were at the forefront of the movement for the independence of Pakistan felt so angry that they decided to part their ways from the rest of Pakistan.
I do not want to blame our brothers from Bengal (East Pakistan) for wanting to secede as they gave us 24 years to correct our wrongs but leaders of West Pakistan, the intelligentsia, the elite and the general public attitude never considered East Pakistan as their integral part. There was a hint of racial, intellectual and martial prejudice and then there was a feeling in Eastern Pakistan that West Pakistan considered them the insignificant other.
It has been 37 years but the wounds are still not anywhere near healed. There is not much anguish about the succession itself as it was always going to be difficult for two parts of country to function as one when divided by thousand miles of hostile territory, but the way the separation took place make us Pakistanis anxious. If there was a referendum and had resulted in the creation of Bangladesh, it would have been fine but the birth of Bangladesh happened through a caesarean. A lot of bloodletting happened and a lot of innocent people lost everything they had.
West Pakistanis became foreigners in there on land with in a matter of hours. On 16th December 1971, Bangladesh was born, wounded, crying and dripping with blood.
Army operation which started on 25th of March and ended in a defeat on 16th December 1971 was an episode in the history of Pakistan which I as a Pakistani cannot justify.
A lot of West Pakistanis living in East Pakistan were killed by the Mukti Bahni but that still not justified the indiscriminately ruthless action by the Army. So here I am thinking what should be my reaction to all that misery and I have come to the conclusion that I must apologise whole heartedly, without any reservations.
I apologise as a Pakistani to all those mothers who lost their sons
I apologise to all sisters who lost their brothers
I apologise to all those sons and daughters who lost their parents
I apologise to all those daughters of East Pakistan who were humiliated &
I apologise for not keeping the promise we Pakistanis made to East Pakistan in 1947
These are the sins of our fathers, I cannot disown them, I cannot make them go away, I cannot forget them but I ask for forgiveness. I ask people of Bangladesh to forgive Pakistan (not forget the torment that you went through). Pakistan is not same Pakistan; Bangladesh is not the same Bangladesh. I hope that when history lessons are taught in Bangladeshi schools, they end with a plea from Pakistanis for forgiveness and compassion.
Thanks for your apology, and as a Bangladeshi I was touched by it as it truly seemed heartfelt. But the problem remains that your ruling establishment still does not owe up to the genocide they conducted in Bangladesh and I believe the responsibility lies to concious people like you to create the positive pressure on them to owe up to their past misdeeds. Because it is them who are to blame for what happened in 1971 and not the people of Pakistan. Therefore, they should be pressured by the people of Pakistan to apologize for their past misdeeds.
ReplyDeleteour army will not opology this is the way to treat the traitor like shekh mujeeb ..u people dosent knw that indian army were inter in bangal in the dress of pak army and starting killings
DeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment. Much appreciated.
As I mentioned in my article, bad deeds were done in the heat of the battle. I know that some Bangladeshi’s want this to be declared a genocide but what would that achieve. In 1992, Pakistan’s then prime minister Nawaz Sharif came to Bangladesh, he went to the monument for the Bangladeshi martyrs and laid a wreath.
That was to draw a line under the most tragic episode in our shared history.
Now that we are not even neighbours, let alone part of the same country, it does not really matter in the long run for either Bangladesh or Pakistan to either accept or not accept something which happened 37 years ago.
I hope that union with Pakistan and eventual parting of ways is considered a bad dream in Bangladesh and forgiven by the people of Bangladesh. I know that every 16th December, Bangladeshi children are taught about their war of independence but that only perpetuates hatred for an enemy that they will never come in contact with but will definitely scar the young minds for their lives.
I hope that this is not considered as a rebuff as that is not my intention.
Once again thanks for visiting this site and I hope that you will keep commenting.
i loved this article :) I was born many years after the independence of bangladesh and has always read about the history of bangladesh and pakistan and learnt about the liberation war from the books and online articles. i always used to think when i was in school, reading the history books that had those events not taken place the scenario today would have been much different. i dont know why still when i watch cricket matches of Pakistan i cannot help supporting Pakistan.probably bcoz of having the sense that we were together some day and they r the muslim brothers. but then again i've got some bitter experiences about the pakistanis. many of the pakistanis hate us, the bangladeshis, since we have parted our ways and also saw some of the pakistani students using the term BANGLADESHI while abusing or insulting each other! but i m sure if they get to know the real history it would not seem reasonable to them to hold such opinion about the bangladeshis. so when we get to read this sort of articles our grief surely gets lessened. really appreciate your thoughts and honesty and wish all the best to the Pakistani brothers. at the end just wish with a deep sigh that those events had not taken place.....
ReplyDeleteDear Sumaiya,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your kind insight. Lets look to the future and learn from our past. I shall look forward to any further visits that you make to this blog.
hi. my friend sumaiya recommended this articel to me..and what you have said in this articel is very true ..
ReplyDeleteI wish all the people ( East and west Pakistan ) will realise this soon or later. I pray to Allah for what ever is best for us all.
And last but not the least, we shouldn't regret about what happened before but take lessons from it, because everything happens for a reason.
Hi Zahina,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments.
Bangladesh is one of the major Muslim populated areas of the world and being your old fellow countrymen, Pakistanis wish you all the best and we hope that you will pray for us also so that we can get out of current mess created by the fundamentalist terrorists who are supported by the outside powers like India.
In any case, as you have mentioned regret, the only regret is that the separation should have happened without bloodshed. Hopefully all the Bangladeshis and Pakistanis living anywhere in the world can live like good friends.
Dear Sikander,
ReplyDeleteIt's a sad fact that without our Khilafah, we will be divided like this and at worse kill each other. Shame on West Pakistan for declaring war on the East and Shame on East Pakistan for seeking India's help. May we be united again under the shade of Islam.
ITS PAST THEY WANTED THERE OWN COUNTRY THEY HAVE IT . EVERY THING IS FAIR IN WAR . THEY KILLED INNOCENT WEST PAKISTANIS IN BANGLADESH IT WAS ALL DONE BY THE ( Mukti Bahni )group . The Bangladesh people were slaves in INDIA before .1947 they never wanted to be part of Pakistan they never appreciate what Pakistani people did for them . AS YOU SOW SO SHELL YOU REAP
ReplyDeleteDear Mans,
ReplyDeleteYou Pakis only cry for Islam when you abuse other Muslims. Pakistan was proved failed unity where you just used our resouces. That unity will never come.Bangladesh will be Independent as we know we have our own Identity not Pakistan or India. We made Mukti Bahini from our all the Common People. We hate Pakis here and don't like Indians also. You arogent Pakis your better save your own country from your US Master who dont bother to Bomb in your own land. For you Pakis, Muslims are known as Terrorists.
Dear All,
ReplyDeleteGod bless the Bnagladeshis and give them what they want. I am a Pakistani Punjabi Muslim born in Pakistan but raised in UK. I visited chittagong for work reasons and the Bengali Officers of the Navy gave me the warmest reception possible. We talked about 1971 and clarified some misunderstandings but it is true that we as Pakistanis are not the best people around even for our own self. Some serious soul searching and implementation of basic humane laws are a must for acceptance at normal international standards.
MOHAMMED AZHAR (Holland)
Daniel & Mohammed Azhar, Thanks for your comments.
ReplyDeleteYou forgot to apologise for the mothers who were raped in front of their children and to all those children who were burnt in front of their mothers. The birth of Pakistan is itself a worthless concept, tht based on religion. For you a person is a hindu/muslim before a human being. You will never realise the pain of a bangladeshi (maybe u can only feel for a bangladeshi muslim, not a hindu/christian or other minority. Pakis were animals and will remain so forever. Human nature and dog's tail behave in the same way.
ReplyDeleteHi Shuvro,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment. It does seem that after so many years you still feel hatred towards Pakistan which is by the way is your right. The way today's Pakistan think is to move forward by acknowledging our mistakes and by asking for forgiveness for what went wrong. I hope that somewhere in future you will see the difference between 1971 & 2011 and beyond.
Dear Sikander,
ReplyDeleteI totally respect ur personal feelings though I wouldn't say this is the general feeling of most Pakistani masses . I have seen instances personally when a Pakistani guy told me that we are brothers. I told him that I appreciate his feeling but if he cud elaborate the reason for such a feeling. He said we belong to the same country plus we are muslims. I told him that Bangladesh is a separate country now and he shudnt say tht. A huge number have this superiority complex because of fairer complexion and the fact that Pakistan ruled the Bengalis for a good period (I have read those in several forums). I dont have anything against Pakistanis. Many of them are gem of human beings but deep in mind most have this superiority complex and the brotherly feeling which has a double meaning to it. If Pakistan has to develop friedly relations with neighbors, it should get rid of the inhuman terrorists that demonize Islam and emphasize more on humanity rather than mixing religion into every single issue in this world. It is rather shocking to have read recently that Pakistan is planning to demolish the temples of the hindu minority in the country. Aren't those people human beings? Don't they deserve to celebrate their religion? They are treated like Aliens just because they are hindus. U wud never find people of different religions finding alien treatment in Bangladesh or India. When the basic concept of respect for humanity still doesn't exist in Pakistan, how can we believe that u think in a forgiving manner towards Bangladeshis?
Pls dont take it personally. I'm pretty sure u belong to the category of the SPECIAL Pakistanis which is a small percentage of the Pakistani Population and for whom we have special respect as good human beings.
Hi Shuvro,
ReplyDeleteOnce again thanks for sharing your views.
I agree with the core of your argument about the respect for humanity and decency that every human being should show for other human beings. The only thing which I can assure is wrong is your perception that there is some scheme going on to demolish Hindu temples. There is no such thing going on.
Dear Sikander,
ReplyDeleteMany thanks for understanding my feelings. And please accept my apologies for using harsh statements. Though there is a dark history between our nations, however, we must look forward from hereon to develop a good relationship and ensure we Indians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis live in harmony with each other and contribute to each others development in addition to our own. As far as demolishing of hindu temples is concerned the following websites should give a clearer picture.
http://www.chakranews.com/87-year-old-hindu-temple-facing-demolition-in-pakistan/812
http://www.rediff.com/news/slide-show/slide-show-1-durga-temple-faces-destruction-in-sindh/20110311.htm
http://www.binditalk.com/archive/index.php?t-264.html
http://lahore.metblogs.com/2006/06/14/temple-demolished-in-lahore-minority-rights/
http://www.defence.pk/forums/current-events-social-issues/97828-durga-temple-faces-destruction-pakistan.html
Hi Shuvro,
ReplyDeletethanks for your comments and contribution to the debate. Please keep visiting and sharing your views on Bangladesh, Pakistan and general subcontinental issues.
Regards
Sikander Hayat