A particular time
of the year is never a prerequisite to write about ones motherland, people and
sovereignty. Yet, there are some events, historical and immensely significant, brings
back such deluge of emotions that it feels almost imperative to come up with
words to match the overwhelming thoughts. 26th day of March without any doubt is such a
day for any informed Bangladeshi who has a decent idea about the history of the
birth of Bangladesh.
In the year 1971, on this particular night the Pakistani soldiers had attacked
unsuspecting Bangladeshis in their own land with deadly force. Obviously the
long term outcome of that ruthless action had only worked in our favour as in only
9 months an independent and sovereign Bangladesh was born. The thick
headed military leaders of West Pakistan had concocted a heinous plan to
suppress the Bengalis with genocide and carnage, little they knew how such ineffective
strategy would bounce back to hound them shortly. However, it wouldn't be fair not to admit
that such quick outcome was possible due to timely intervention of India. Without
their participation in this war it would be difficult to assume, realistically,
that the independence of Bangladesh
would happen so soon after a formal war started.
Anyway, I have no
plan to write about our independence war today. Rather I plan to focus on the
other side of that war - the side that consisted of the Pakistani soldiers and
general population who all together carry the burden of the guilt for that
totally wrong war often knowing very little of the actual facts.
I was six during
the war. My dad was an army doctor. We along with many others got stuck in West Pakistan. We returned home after couple of years of
independence once the prisoner exchange program brokered by India went
through. Anyway, during our stay in Pakistan we were moved from one
place to another, met many locals, often becoming friends. I can not remember
any situation where they had treated us in a way that may be considered rude or
insulting. *
Since returning to Bangladesh I did not have much opportunity to
see a truly Pakistani citizen beside the Bihari refugees who had been eager to
move to Pakistan
since independence. To be honest, over the years I have read, written and
spoken quite a bit about our independence war but never before had I thought of
looking at it from a completely different perspective - how does it look at the
other side of this coin? The Pakistanis who are blamed generally for all the
war time brutalities, murders, rapes, destructions - how do they feel about it?
When I lived back in Bangladesh
there seemed to be very little need for such investigation. What’s the use? However, once I moved to America and later to Canada, and had the opportunity to
get to know many Pakistanis my mindset has changed. I want to share a few of
these encounters.
During my studies
in the Oakland
University located in Michigan eight of us
bachelors were sharing a two bedroom apartment. Beside me there was a Pakistani
guy and the rest were Indians. Pakistani Usuf who I believe was a Punjabi and I
was having issues from the very beginning, practically on all matters. One time
during an intense argument he suddenly blurted out, "What happened to all
the kids who were fathered by the Pakistani soldiers in your country during the
war?"
It is not too hard
to realize that his intentions to bring it up were not very nice. I had found
myself terribly angry, was at the brink of getting into a physical fight, when my
Indian friends intervened. During the independence war of Bangladesh an estimated two hundred thousand
females of all ages were violated in Bangladesh and it is quite
difficult to believe that anybody in his sane mind can poke fun at that. Not
sure exactly what had prompted Usuf to say something so out of line and
sickening. He wasn't generally a bad person and such remarks were totally
unexpected, even from him. It was clear to me that either he did not have a good
understanding of our independence war or he had been fed incorrect information.
The answer became clear later.
In the year 2002
when we immigrated to Canada
from USA, we came to Toronto first. Like most
folks who are from the Indian subcontinent we made our way to Scarborough,
rented an apartment in a high rise building. There was nothing to eat at home,
so we walked to the nearest strip mall just across the road and stepped into a
Subway restaurant. The owner and the only attendant of the store, a middle-aged
Indian looking man, greeted us smilingly and said to me something in Hindi or
Urdu. Thanks to all the Bollywood movies I had some understanding of Hindi but
that was not enough to know the difference between Hindi and Urdu.
I smiled back
apologetically and responded, "Sorry brother, I don't understand Hindi
very well."
"I didn't
speak in Hindi.” The man smilingly
responded. “It was Urdu. You
must be from Bangladesh.
I find many from Bangladesh
are quite fluent in Urdu."
I smiled back.
"Personally I have no fascination for Urdu. Where in Pakistan are
you from?"
"Karachi." As he fixed
our sandwiches he looked at me through his heavy glasses and almost shyly
said," Who had even imagined that after all the massacres that my country
did in Bangladesh
during 1971 war we could stand here today and speak like friends?"
I was pleasantly
surprised. Yet once more I learned not to judge everybody in the same
stereotyped way. Since then, over the years, I have met many others from Pakistan; a few
had even become close friends. I have learned how the educational system in Pakistan
have been actively trying to establish a theory of conspiracy for the
separation of the two Pakistan by catering false and historically incorrect
information to their young generation.
Some of the major
theories concocted by them are: Hindu teachers were spreading anti-Pakistan
teachings; India had
instigated it to secure the interest of the 10% Hindus who lived in Bangladesh; Soviet Union took especial interest due
to degradation of relationship with Pakistan
after the later agreed to allow America
to create a military base on its land; etc. The educational text do provide
some description of the war, but skilfully avoids mentioning the massacres that
were carried on by the Pakistani army with the collaboration of the anti-independence
forces residing in Bangladesh like Rajakar, Al-badar etc. However, the good
thing is that the ordinary Pakistanis are eager to break out of the lies. A few
days back the ex-cricketer turned politician Imran khan had demanded a state
sponsored apology to Bangladesh
for all the atrocities carried on during the 1971 war. Such apology definitely
won’t have any role in
wiping off all the scars that were created but would start a timely procedure
of healing the wound that still exists between the millions of people of both
the countries.
*I have a published
book named Damama describing my experiences as a boy during the independence
war of Bangladesh.
The book was published by Anannya prokashoni. An English version is on the way.
This book can be the first read for many kids of Bangladeshi descent to get a
simple but factual history of the birth of Bangladesh from the perspective of
a little boy.
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