Strengthening Bangladeshi and Pakistani Friendship
February 4, 2008 – 11:23 pm Bangladesh, (East Bengal back then) has come a long way since 1947. Most of Bangladesh was rural back at that time and most of the revenue generated from East Bengal until 1971 was mostly given to the development of Karachi, West Pakistan and the Pakistani Union military. The Bengalis supported the union and contributed so much to West Pakistan. Back then The Bengalis, Mohajirs (Urdu-speaking Muslims from India), Sindhis, Pashtus, Balochis, and the Punjabis worked side by side for a greater Pakistan; however, the elite businessmen, General Yayah Khan with his civil ally Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto crushed the union along with Mujibur Rahman, with their non-stop hunger for power. Their actions has caused aggressive hatred between the Muslim Bengalis and Muslim Punjabis. However, the actions of politicians should not stop the friendship between Muslims. Mujibur Rahman is hated by half of Bangladeshis, for he betrayed the country after the independence. As for Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and General Khan, a lot of Pakistanis blame them for the mistreatment and genocide of the Bengalis.
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| Pakistani lawyers and the rest media personals apologizing for the 1971 genocide last December 25th, on the Quad-E-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s birthday. It should be the government apologizing since they committed the crimes and not the people. |
Language Differentiation
Both Bangladeshis and Pakistanis are Muslim majority countries. The problem with understanding each other is the language differentiation. Each side lack the understanding of each other due to the Urdu-Bengali language borderline which keeps the flame of hate burning. However, in the United States and in United Kingdom I see the new generation Bangladeshis and Pakistanis talking to each other, hanging out, and praying together side-by-side.
Racist Perception
Racism is one of the most disgusting thing that comes out of the minds of the ignorant people in the Pakistani Union prior to 1971. Not all Pakistanis think of Bengalis in a bad manner; however, there are some who think Bengalis are like Indians and that they are inferior, which inflames anger and hatred toward Pakistanis not only from Bangladeshis but also from India’s side. Most of the elite class of Punjabis of Pakistan spat at the Bengalis and showed hatred and animosity towards them ever since the state of Pakistan was created. From my personal experience, regardless of my physical appearance as a tall, light skin (lighter skin than most Pakistanis) Bengali, a Pakistani Punjabi called me a “short, dark-skin, disgusting, Hindu Bengali” even with the knowledge that I am a born Muslim. Apparently that ignorant Punjabi have forgotten the teachings of Muhammad (SWT), that everyone is equal in front of Allah (SWT) regardless of appearance.
Recognize Bangladesh as a Sovereign Muslim Country
Many Pakistanis still believe Bangladeshis are East Pakistanis regardless of 1971. Most Pakistani intellectuals, such as doctors and lawyers recognize Bangladesh as a Muslim brethren country; few of their articles are published in Paktribune or on Reddiff.com. From my personal experience I see a lot of Pakistani youths don’t take the sovereignty seriously which inflames angers from the Bangladeshis. There was an incident in Georgia State University when I was the president of the BASA (Bangladesh America Student Association). In the international office, one side of the room is covered by a giant wall map of the world; few people from the PSA (Pakistani Student Association) went in when no one else was in there, and they cross out Bangladesh and wrote East Pakistan on the map. The entire international student council saw that and brought everyone’s attention on PSA. On the next international association meeting PSA was humiliated as their president had to apologize in front of everyone for the disrespect of Bangladesh. I was given the power to expel the students who were responsible from the university; however as Muslim Bengali, I showed that I was better than that and I accepted the apology even though it was not enough; anger and hatred burned inside me as I saw the PSA’s president walk away after the apology. A Muslim should forgive another Muslim and that’s what I did, for vengeance is for Allah (SWT).
Offer Friendship to the Punjabis Along with the Rest of the Pakistanis
The war of 1971 was all history and it should not stop the friendship between Bengalis and Punjabis. The Pakistanis of today are not responsible for the mass killings of Bengalis of 1971. Also note, that after the 90,000 Pakistani soldiers were captured, the Bengalis fighters went after the civilian Urdu-speakers in the established Bangladesh and massively slaughtered them as revenge. So, Bengalis are at fault too and they did commit crimes back then toward civilians. Both groups from each country are Muslims and they should increase the Muslim bond that was slowly torn since 1947 and finally broken in 1971. The Punjabis are the largest ethnic group in Pakistan after the Bengalis of East Pakistan left the union so you can’t avoid them. The loss of East Pakistan and the genocide of the fellow Bengalis is a painful and a dark memory of Pakistan; however, ignorance is decreasing and as English is widely used in countries abroad, the relationship between Bengalis and Punjabis living abroad should increase as well, which will be carried back to Bangladesh and Pakistan for better understanding of each other. My brother-in-law tells me “Pakistanis are stupid” but I talk to him and try my best to help understand that not all Pakis are bad, as in not all Bengalis are good, most to all West Pakistanis in 1971 were against the genocide of the Bengalis. West Pakistani civilians never wanted to loose the Bengalis and even today we see the goodness in Pakistani people (refering to the picture above), as they do not represent the notorious government of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. We are Bengalis, let’s not follow Mujibir Rahman and live with hatred, offer friendship to our Pakistani brothers for they are Muslims just like us.
Tags: bangladesh, Bengalis, English, friendship, Genocide, Hindi, india, islam, muslims, pakistan, ummah, Urdu
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23 Responses to “Strengthening Bangladeshi and Pakistani Friendship”
@Sunny:Good post but bro the money from East Pakistan was not spended on Karachi,Karachi is developed by the money of Muhajirs.
Well there is no harm if we call it Bangladesh or East Pakistan i hope your fight is only with few intellectuals and not with the word ‘Pakistan’.
friendship is a normal relationship to fulfill Quaid’s dream we need more than that.
By Muhammad Salman Khaliq on Feb 7, 2008
I didn’t say all Pakistanis were part of the crime, some Pakis even suffered. But East Pakistan gave $4 billion in the span of 20+ years to West Pakistan in an unequal distribution of wealth.
By Sunny on Feb 7, 2008
Despite the fact that West Pakistan was lot backward than East Pakistan there were no schools here,where as East Pakistan had more schools and infrastructure but that’s past we need to move forward and try to form a Confederation which will boost the moral of Sub-continent Muslims and will make us proud.
By Muhammad Salman Khaliq on Feb 8, 2008
@Sunny:You used the word ‘Pakis’ which is used by the West to insult us but I know your intentions so no reservations. Now you can see that similar misunderstandings were there before 1971.so look forward
By Muhammad Salman Khaliq on Feb 8, 2008
No I don’t use Pakis to show disrespect, in America that’s they refer to each other.
By Sunny on Feb 9, 2008
Good Post.
“Mujibur Rahman is hated by half of Bangladeshis, for he betrayed the country after the independence”
What’s your source? Mujibur Rahman is liked by a vast majority of Bangalis. Many BNP might not “like” BNP because he is from the Awami League side but they don’t “hate” him. Even Taslima Nasrin wrote stuff against him.
He is recognized the father of the nation by even the caretaker government. There are people, who hate him but those are mainly “Jamat” oriented people. A majority of BNP also like Mujibur Rahman. Trust me, don’t draw a conclusion monitoring the attitude towards Mujib among the “American” BNP supporters. All the people in the west doing “bangali” politics are hardcore supporters. They mouth off all the time about the leaders from different parties.
By Only Three Notes on Feb 10, 2008
Although Mujib is Father of the Bangladeshi nation but I think sunny is right to say that one should not follow the footsteps of hatred of Mujib,Bhutto and Yahya bcoz what happened in 1971 was bad no doubt about that was the most embarrassing incident of Muslim history.
By the way yaar slogan of your site is “Movement for a greater Nation” what do you mean by Nation?
By Muhammad Salman Khaliq(Pakistan) on Feb 10, 2008
@Arnab: Awami League knows the truth and they never admit that that Mujibur Rahman was a sell out to India. Hardly any other Muslim country recognized Bangladesh until AFTER his death.
“Mujib began increasing his powers. On January 25, 1975 Mujib declared a state of emergency and his political supporters approved a constitutional amendment banning all opposition political parties. Mujib was declared “president for life,” and given extraordinary powers.”
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheikh_Mujibur_Rahman
I am not a supporter of BNP, Jamaati, Jatiya, nor the Awami League; however, I know for a fact Mujibur Rahman decided to go back to the Islamic way after seeing that his way of “Mujibism” was destroying the country, but unfortunately for him the army was dissatisfied with his loyalty to India as he was disarming the Mukti Bhahini after the war.
@Muhammad: Yes, it was embarrassing in the Muslim world, when you see your own Muslim brethren killing each other.
“Movement for a greater Nation” is actually my slogan to make Bangladesh a better country from the corruption and a mess that it’s flooded in.
By Sunny on Feb 10, 2008
Well, it was BAKSAL and it came in due to the strong pressure from Russia and KGB I believe. It still doesn’t prove that Mujib is hated by most Bangladeshis as you said.
It is really hard to fix up a country after a strong war and genocide. The situation became worse because of the 1974 drought in Bangladesh. All the American allies including Arab nations decided to shut off the plights of the “dying” poor Bangladeshis during that time.
Remember, there were two superpowers at that time instead of one as we have now. The US at that time supported Pakistan and therefore France, Britain and the other western nations through their support towards Pakistan as well. The “Sunni” Arab nations were very friendly towards the US as well. Therefore, obviously they didn’t cooperate with Bangladesh.
Therefore, on the “communist” side you had Russia, India, Armenia etc and Mujib decided to stick with them. Well, he didn’t have any choice anyways.
However, Mujib also realized that he needed allies outside of the “communist” world and that’s why he approached various Arab nations such as Saudi Arab. Therefore, he was trying to appease those nations. He got caught in between two superpowers.
I believe most of the people understand that Mujib tried his best. Therefore, they really respect him for his effort. The army revolution in Bangladesh was encouraged by the US and many claim CIA. Therefore, as soon as it took place all the US allies started to recognize Bangladesh and the army government took a strong anti-Indian and anti-Russian policy. They have to. If you read some of the speeches of Ziaur Rahman he will see how he mentions “capitalism” and “free market” repeatedly. These were the words of the American capitalism as opposed to Russian socialism. It’s very interesting if you understand how Bangladesh got caught in between the “wars of the superpowers.”
By Only Three Notes on Feb 10, 2008
What do the Bangladeshi people think about Confederation?
By Muhammad Salman Khaliq on Feb 12, 2008
@Arnab: you give a convincing argument; however, it still doesn’t explain why he banned all other political parties, practiced nepotism, and the treasury had hardly any money under his power after hundreds of millions of dollars were given to the new country. Not only that, why the massacres of innocent Bengalis by his leadership after Bangladesh was created?
@Muhammad: Which Confederation are you referring to?
By Sunny on Feb 13, 2008
@Sunny: a Confederation of Pakistan and Bangladesh.
By Muhammad Salman Khaliq on Feb 13, 2008
Well, I think there will be just a military confederacy between Pakistan and Bangladesh in the future, since alot of senior Bengali military personel were once Pakistani officers. I’m saying this based on what I’ve been reading and basedo n India’s actions towards Bangladesh.
By Sunny on Feb 13, 2008
In my opinion there should be a full confederation. Protocols needs to be defined for that and it should not only b/c of India’s attitude it should be for the removal of hatred and misunderstandings.
By Muhammad Salman Khaliq on Feb 14, 2008
Well due to the war Bengalis don’t really want to be with Pakistan. But a lot of Bangladeshis are sympathetic to Paksitan due to the Islamic brotherhood.
I agree, there should be a forum for better understadnings with each other but it’s not happening.
By Sunny on Feb 14, 2008
That’s what I m trying to say that the war was committed by few individuals which people had nothing to do with so people should reunite
By Muhammad Salman Khaliq on Feb 15, 2008
It may happen in the future because of Islamic brotherhood. BNP, the largest political party in Bangladesh was created from the military, where most of the idelogies of the party came from General Ziur Rahman, a former Pakistani officer. But for now there’s too much internal conflicts in both Pakistan and Bangladesh to make anything of that sort. General Pervez Musharraf already has a hard time trying to keep together the four province of Pakistan, with only Punjab and Karachi city who cooperate with the government while Sindhi nationalists, Balochis, and the Pashtus want independence.
By Sunny on Feb 15, 2008
Na! No one in Pakistan wants independence the case is different in NWFP where the foreign Taliban are creating disturbance Alhamdullilah there is no separation movement in Pakistan. In Baluchistan there is an international game but by the Grace of God have crushed the foreign financed BLA(Baluchistan Liberation army) I have been to Baluchistan where people are very happy with the government and this is my personal experiance.I believe there should be a forum to rejoin people and countries
By Muhammad Salman Khaliq(Pakistan) on Feb 16, 2008
Yeah I’ve met a Balochi and he said he loves the union but it’s the elders who want no business with the mainstream. However, I read that there are uneven distribution of wealth in Balochistan, and the people in NWFP don’t really have a good infrastructure to work with Islamabad or Karachi.
By Sunny on Feb 16, 2008
Baluchistan is the most backward province but now it’s getting its share in the national wealth most of the mega projects are being build there and many extra grants are being allocated by the Government of Pakistan the only problem that we are facing is b/c of US war on terror but we will come out stronger Inshallah same as when East Pakistan separated and that shock was sudden, but Pakistan came out stronger after that so similarly the journey of Pakistan is continuing to become a world power and since there are elections tomorrow and hopefully the provinces will be given provincial autonomy so all those problems will be sorted out Inshallah it shows that we are learning from our mistakes.
By Muhammad Salman Khaliq(Pakistan) on Feb 17, 2008
Yeah giving the provinces autonomy can solve a lot of problems, that should have been done long time before to avoid the 1971 genocide incident.
By Sunny on Feb 19, 2008
I appreciated your piece of writing there. great work! I liked the fact that you have taken a look at the incident from an Islamic point of view, and your input of knowledge into practice (the uni. incident) was highly respectable. I believe there are a lot more who think alike as you, so great effort and good luck!
By --a bengali on Mar 14, 2008
Thank you for reading and I appreciate your feedback.
By Sunny on Mar 16, 2008