Of all the sins perpetrated by the Pakistani state to fulfil its desire to centralise power and enforce ‘uniformity’ and ‘unity’ across the land, the atrocities committed in Bangladesh, then Pakistan’s discontinuous eastern half, in the run up to its independence are arguably the most gruesome and least talked about today. The movement for Bangladesh was the result of decades of being economically exploited and discriminated against on political, economic, cultural and ethnic grounds by the establishment in West Pakistan, and it only kicked into full gear when the legitimate electoral victory of the Awami League was voided by an establishment panicked about the prospect of the Bengalis being in power. After moving in to arrest the party’s leader Sheikh Mujibur Rehman, an ill advised and ghastly military operation was launched to brutally suppress the people of East Pakistan. The military was aided in this endeavour by ‘loyalists’, which included the East Pakistan wing of Jamaat-i-Islami (JI), who created their own militia bands and hunted down Bengali intellectuals, political workers and leaders. Over a period of months, the resistance became more focused and organised due to the ferocity of the West Pakistani attack acting as a catalyst and due to Indian help for the rebel forces, resulting eventually in a defeat for the Pakistani forces — but before surrendering, a final no holds barred assault was conducted. In total, millions of Bengalis were killed and more than 200,000 women became victims of a systemic rape campaign with the intent of ‘ethnic re-engineering’. In short, Bangladesh is a country created in blood and the legacy of its torturous beginnings has cast a vast shadow over the politics of the country in the ensuing years. While Bangladesh continues to suffer from the wounds of history, geographically removed Pakistan has long since moved on and has consigned the breakup of the country to a chapter or two in its books, which exclusively blame the nefarious designs of our neighbour for the cataclysm. An acknowledgement, much less an apology, of the horrors inflicted on our former countrymen is nowhere on the horizon.
It is necessary to talk about these events, especially in the light of recent events in Bangladesh. Ever since 2010, the government of Sheikh Hasina — the eldest daughter of Mujib — has been on a campaign of ‘justice’, which seeks to finally punish the ‘loyalists’ of 1971 who committed war crimes against their own people and opposed the independence of Bangladesh. To add insult to the wounds of the Bengali people, most of these loyalists were given amnesty and integrated into the government machinery by the military regime that took over after the assassination of Mujibur Rehman and most of his family in 1975 in a military coup. Over the past five years, almost 15 such individuals — belonging to the JI and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) – have been convicted of war crimes and four have been executed. Two of the latest to be executed were the BNP leader Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury and JI Secretary-General Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid, who were convicted of charges of torture, rape and genocide and charges of genocide, conspiracy in killing intellectuals, torture and abduction respectively. The executions have resulted in a huge outcry in Pakistani political circles. The Foreign Office (FO) has described its response as ‘anguished’, while Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar, true to form, is commenting on international matters with his trademark belligerence and suggests that “one group” is against “brotherly relations of Bangladesh and Pakistan” and decries the “death of justice”. The FO considers this a violation of the 1974 Agreement between India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, but needs to realise the deal it has hinged its response on became immaterial the moment Mujib was killed and none of its other precepts were followed in the years to follow by either country. Events since then have overtaken the letter and spirit of the agreement so clinging to that by the FO is futile. While it is true that the trials that convicted these people have been found wanting in their commitment to international legal standards, and the question of whether Hasina is following the politics of justice or revenge is valid, Chaudhry Nisar has no business interfering in another country’s internal affairs. Commenting on legal standards of Bangladesh is the job of relevant watchdog organisations and Pakistan is in no position, given our bloody history of 1971, to raise a hue and cry about Bangladesh’s affairs. In fact, by these statements the Chaudhry has done more to risk the ‘brotherhood’ of the two countries by enraging the Bengali populace than what he accuses the Bangladesh government of. Once again this episode points to Pakistan’s utter failure to come up with a foreign policy that is appropriate to the present geopolitical situation and facts on the ground.
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