Are you serious, Pakistan?

In what can only be described as an absurd, uninformed, and demeaning move, the federal government of Pakistan has decided to demand its “outstanding amount” of Rs 15.25 billion from Bangladesh and India. A circular issued by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) demanded all the commercial banks and development financial institutions provide details of accounts of assets and others dues receivable from its two neighbours. As reported by the Pakistani daily The Express Tribune, India apparently owes Pakistan Rs. 6 billion, the value of assets occupied by India, while Bangladesh has to pay more than Rs. 9.21 billion, because of the transactions between government offices, loans, advances and papers of then East Pakistan and Pakistan.

It’s been 45 years since we gained our independence from Pakistan; the documents that prove their planned genocide against the Bangali people, who were once a part of their own nation, is out in the open for the whole world to see. Instead of acknowledging their atrocities against an entire population, Pakistan has continued to be in a state of denial, always refuting the wide scale genocide and rape committed by the Pakistani Army while presenting their own version of history for their people and the world. In fact, after a long, long wait when the Bangladeshi people were finally given hope for justice for the crimes committed by collaborators of the then Pakistani regime through the International War Crimes Tribunal, the current Pakistan government “condemned” our judgement, expressing their “grief and outrage” every time a war criminal was sentenced to death.

Thus, if anyone should be making demands for payments, by all means, it should be Bangladesh. We should be the ones insisting on war time reparations and compensation to the millions of people and their families that the Pakistan regime of 1971 tortured and killed. Even before trouble started, while we were still a willing part of Pakistan, East Pakistan was neglected by state authorities, constantly deprived economically and socially. While West Pakistan got all the attention, we were left pining for the most basic facilities, infrastructure and amenities, and we have to pay the price of this neglect to this day. Whenever, the Pakistan establishment has been asked about their role in the 1971 genocide, they have averted the question, instead claiming that Bangladesh and Pakistan are “brothers separated by the unfortunate interference of a third country”. However, the federal government of Pakistan’s latest demand has proven once again that let alone brothers, Pakistan does not even consider its relations with India and Bangladesh, the countries with which it share their borders, as anything that requires much attention or thought.