From fall of Dhaka to today’s Pakistan

Today we have a great opportunity to review our mistakes committed in the past. The corridors of power accept their mistakes.

December 16, 1971, General Jagjit Singh Arora from India and General Niazi from Pakistan signed the surrender Agreement. Since then, a lot has been changed. Pakistan and Bangladesh are now separate countries and have a good relationship with each other. But even today, we have not learned any lessons from the East Pakistan debacle.

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the leader of  Awami League, presented the controversial program with 6 points agenda in December 1970 election. His party Awami League cleaned sweep in the East Wing and win the majority in the Federal Parliament, he was not given the right to government to rule the country. Bengali people were having strong sense of deprivation (1958-1969), one unit and martial law government alienated the Bengalis and they had lost all hopes in the federation of Pakistan. Instead, a ruthless military operation had started on 26th March 1971. The Indian invasion in East Pakistan and the unjust political behavior of West Pakistan caused the fall of Dhaka on 16^th December 1971.

Former chief justice of Pakistan, Justice Munir Ahmad has written in his book “From Jinnah to Zia” that as a Law Minister in 1962 he negotiated with Bengali members of assembly on behalf of Ayub Government about “How east Pakistan should be separated from west Pakistan.” He further writes that Bengali legislators rejected the proposal. This gives an hint that establishment of Pakistan wanted to get rid of Bengalis much before 1971. The establishment of military actions to achieve freedom no choice but put in a position where they were loyal to Pakistan shows that a Bengal.

Motherland was divided into two parts only 24 years after its creation, it was a tragedy. Pakistan’s military establishment and Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto blamed India and Mujib-ur-Rehman for that disaster. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto formed Hamood-ur-Rehman commission which was headed by then Chief Justice of Pakistan, Hamood-ur-Rehman. This commission was given the mandate to investigate all circumstances and events which led to the disintegration of Eastern wing. The commission submitted its report to Bhutto in October 1974 but the report was not made public. In august 2000 parts of this report were leaked out and published in India Today and Dawn. After that in December 2000 this report was declassified and made public by Musharraf government.  The report held Military elite of Yahya’s regime responsible for separation of East Pakistan and recommended action against Yahya and his deputies. Unfortunately, no action was taken against anyone until now.

Main factors which resulted in creation of Bangladesh were sense of deprivation and Usurp of their rights in East Pakistan. Today no lesson has been learnt. There is sense of deprivation among people of Balochistan, Hazarawall, Seraiki, and peoples of Karachi and also some urban areas of sindh. Government has started a so-called operation against the innocent people of Karachi as they previously started the same operation in 1992 in Karachi against. The excuses for the operation are same as they were in 1971 i.e. Indian conspiracies in these areas. People of West Pakistan were unaware of atrocities carried out by military in eastern wing and same situation exists today, as the rest of Pakistan doesn’t know how their countrymen are being treated by their own forces.

 East Pakistan debacle was a big blow to the dreams of a prosperous Pakistan but somehow country managed to survive. If God forbid, history will repeat in the future, one can expect worse consequence, the situation is worse. So we have to learn from history and should avoid repeating the mistakes.  Internal issues should be addressed intelligently and all citizens should be considered equal to all citizens of Pakistan; many problems will be solved automatically. If the current course of actions is followed then we will go deep down in an endless pit from where there is no hope of return. Hope for the best and prevent from the previous mistakes which were ended in separation of East Pakistan. Every Individual should play their role preventing any other separation in Pakistan.

Written by

Dr.Syed Hamood Ur Rehman

Jinnah’s Pakistan.

Jinnah’s Pakistan.

“You are free; you are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or to any other place or worship in this State of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or caste or creed that has nothing to do with the business of the State”

According to these words Jinnah wanted Pakistan to be an egalitarian state.

Many people like Justice Mohammad Munir said that these are not Jinnah’s words. But this speech is presented in all the history books written inside as well as outside Pakistan. Second reason that also nullifies their claim is that if Jinnah wanted a Pakistan according to their wishes then why did they called him “Kafir- e-Azam” and opposed the creation of Pakistan.

In 1953, after the birth of few years, Anti Ahmediya riots broke out in Lahore, in which 200 Ahmadis were dead and martial law was declared in Lahore.  In 1974 the state declared Ahmadis to be non-Muslims and during Zia’s era, we witnessed a massive increase in radicalization. A new breed of “Muslims” was prepared, it was in this era that an ordinary mullah from Jhang, who according to the people of Jhang used to roam on a cycle with an axe on the backseat made a career out of slogans like “Kaafir Kaafir Qadiani Kaafir”.  “Mushrik Mushrikh, Barelvi Mushrik” and then finally stuck with “Kaafir Kaafir Shia Kaafir. ,

Then 1980s witnessed a new tide of killings and persecution, the Ahmadis were already being persecuted by the state, but then came the Shias for whom it has been open season since the 80s, they today call it “Shia Genocide”, hardly a day passes by in this country when a Shia is not shot dead for being a Shia.

 State has shown no concern about the Shias killings , nobody cares , if they are killed in a bomb blast. All we have seen is the message of condemnation to the media channels.

Hindus and Christians have the same story, they are also disadvantaged people, they are prosecuted under the blasphemy laws.  The case of Ramsha Masih is still fresh in our memories, we all remember how a mullah used the blasphemy law to accuse a Christian girl who was 11 years old and suffered from down’s syndrome.  According to the law of Pakistan, a child under the age of 12 years can’t be held responsible for a crime that he committed. The reason is that he or she is not wise enough to understand the fact that what he or she did is a crime. Some said that she was 14 or 16 and some even alleged that she was 21, well even if we ignore her age, the girl suffered from down’s syndrome which again means the girl was not mentally sound to understand what she did.  But the reality is that she did nothing, the mullah in order to get the Christians driven out of that area in Islamabad, put a few burnt pages of Noorani Qaida (a small booklet to learn to understand Arabic alphabets) in her bag.

Joseph 's Colony , Lahore is not a function of the past , the area belonging to poor Christian and Muslim communities. A fight between two drunken men made many lost their homes. In Sindh, Sindhi Hindus are considered the original inhabitants, who lived here from time immemorial, but today, they're leaving the country and most of them are moving to India and seeking political asylum there. Their concern is that their daughters are kidnapped and forcibly converted and married to Muslim men. They are not receiving police protection and forced conversions of Hindus have become a routine on ground.

 Some extreme elements are creating lot of confusions among the masses of Pakistan by distorting the true interpretation and spirit of Quranic verses. Even recently they have issued a decree of proclaiming terrorists of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Taliban TTP killings as “Martyrdom” and undermined the services of Pakistani soldiers  by declaring them terrorists who are protecting the lives of millions of Pakistan on our fronts . Mullahs in Pakistan have divided people in different sectarian groups due to their negative approach. This has thorough a very negative image of Muslims and Islam across the world.  A true Islamic ideology does not promote extremism, it firmly believes in respecting other religions and their worship places.

Written By

Dr.Syed Hamood Ur Reman