A Bloody December: The Fall of Dhaka!

The 16th of December is probably a cursed day in Pakistan's history with two grave tragedies occurring on this day; firstly the APS incident which took place in 2014. The other tragedy which occurred in the year 1971; the day when Dhaka fell and the country broke up into two never to recover back it's former glory. This is widely known as the East Pakistan debacle. I cannot even imagine the emotions of the Pakistani citizens the day when Dhaka fell and a new independent nation i.e. Bangladesh was created. While it was a day of utter joy and happiness for the Bengalis and the Indians, for us it was a dark and a gloomy day; if removing the memory of that day was an option I am sure we'd like to opt for it. In general we Pakistanis have the notion that this catastrophe was the conspiracy of India to break our country up. But all of this started way before the Indian involvement. It all started when the plan of division was announced by Lord Mountbatten then the Viceroy of United India in 1947. Bengal was to be divided between India and Pakistan with the West Bengal which comprises of Kolkata to be awarded to India and the East Bengal which comprises of Dhaka to be awarded to Pakistan. While Punjab province was also divided with Western side given to Pakistan and the Eastern given to India. This was an unfair division which eventually proved catastrophic for Pakistan as East  Bengal or later known as East Pakistan was some 1000 miles away from West Pakistan. The East Pakistanis felt isolated as managing these two wings which were separated by a thousand miles was an extremely challenging task. They were always considered second class citizens by the people in the West, no developments were being made in the region and the East Pakistanis were living in poor conditions.

They were discriminated against by the Government and while they were forced to live under such conditions; developments and infrastructures were being developed in West Pakistan. Primarily the construction of Islamabad the new capital city is a suitable example. As jute was available in considerable amounts in the Eastern Wing it generated a major share of exports  which contributed towards the construction of Islamabad in the 1960s. The demand to declare Bengali as the national language was an unfair one but it is still agreed that they faced cruel treatment. So in Urdu we can say that 'Aag toh India nai lagai magar tail hum chirak chukay thay' or as they say India added fuel to the fire basically considering it as an advantage on their part. We paved the way for them to destabilize the country. The late Qudratullah Shahab a known Pakistani writer has mentioned an incident in one of his books.When Pakistan came into being the United States of America offered some sanitary aid to the newly born nation in the 1950s, in a cabinet meeting some ministers from East Pakistan demanded that some part of the sanitary aid be given to them. The leaders of West Pakistan have reported to have said in reply that 'What do you need these toilet seats for, you people (Bengalis) use the groves as your washrooms' and eventually laughed it off. The conclusion that can be instantly drawn from this incident is that the ruling elite or the government ministers of that time maintained such an insolent behavior towards the East Pakistanis that this display of extreme wrath from the Bengalis and the creation of Bangladesh was destined to take place if not on 16 December 1971 then maybe later.

Roedad Khan, a former Pakistani politician who served as the Secretary of Information at that time narrated an incident in his interview with journalist Hamid Mir when Dhaka fell. He told President Yahya Khan at that time that Dhaka is lost but that does not mean that we should stop fighting as 'Dhaka is a part of my country' (these are Roedad Khan's words) and this is an all out war. Mr Yahya Khan in reply told Roedad that 'Aray choro yaar, in kaalay Bengalion kai liye hum kia West Pakistan ko khatray mai daal dein?' 'Leave it, why should we harm West Pakistan for the sake of these dark skinned Bengalis?'. Yes ladies and gentlemen we were ruled by racists who thought it was fine to let go East Pakistan as its inhabitants were dark skinned. So racism was also one of the reasons why East Pakistan was lost combined with arrogance, discourteousness and insolence. So people who directly blame India and the Mukti Bahini for the separation of East Pakistan should first look into the depth of this unfortunate situation. It was us Pakistanis who allowed this tragedy to befell us. During the war many brutalities were encountered by the Bengalis. It is reported that around 3 million Bengalis were killed during this war and around 200,000-400,000 Bengali women were raped during what is known as the Bangladesh genocide.