Ali Sukhanver
No East-Pakistan, No West-Pakistan; if India were not there between the two parts of Pakistan at the time of Partition; there would have been one Pakistan, very strong and very powerful. And certainly that strong Pakistan would have been a stronger challenge and threat to India and to all those forces which are frightened of Islam. Some of the analysts are of the opinion that it was an illogical way of creating a new country consisting upon two parts with hundreds of miles distance between and with presence of a hostile country in the mid. According to them separation was ‘writing on the wall’ but it could have been a more pleasant and friendly ‘Good-Bye’ if artificially created air of hatred had not added fuel to the fire. It is very much true that cultural, ethnic and mental disparity between the two wings of Pakistan was enough to push them apart but the ‘credit’ of separation goes also to the wicked brains of Hindu conspirators and the innocence rather insanity of the political leaders of both wings of Pakistan. This wickedness and innocence joined hands together in expediting the sad process of separation and making it acrid and bitter. Someone commented upon the separation of the East and West Pakistan in very beautiful words; the division was inevitable but could have been amicable rather than the bloody path it treated duly mid-wife by hostile India.
More important is the fact that Pakistan and Bangladesh could have established very good working relationship even after separation by simply acting upon a single rule, ‘Let bygones be bygones’. Though Pakistan always tried sincerely to ‘let bygones be bygones’ by forgetting and forgiving the bitterness and grievances of the past but on the other hand Bangladesh could never be a part of any such generosity. Moreover India never let Bangladesh forget bitterness of the past with Pakistan. To fulfill her desire of keeping Bangladesh away from Pakistan India always tried to manipulate the elections in Bangladesh and succeeded in inducting Sheikh Hasina as her ‘tool’. Sheikh Hasina has a long history of hatred against Pakistan.
She is the daughter of Sheikh Mujeeb-ur-Rehman and the current Prime Minister of Bangladesh. She has been in this office since January 2009. She previously served as Prime Minister from 1996 to 2001, and she has been leading the Bangladesh Awami League since 1981. Hasina is widely known for her enmity and hatred for Pakistan and the Pakistanis. In the name of her hatred for Pakistan, her government is ruthlessly penalizing those Bengalis who were against the separation of two wings of Pakistan and who wanted to keep the country united; most of such people were the members of the Jamat-e-Islami that time. So many leaders of Jamat-e-Islami had been hanged mercilessly in her regime till now; their guilt was the sublime desire of keeping Pakistan united. Most of the analysts are of opinion that death penalty given to these leaders has nothing to do with the people of Bangladesh; it is simply the result of personal enmity of Sheikh Hasina with Pakistan because she thinks that Pakistan was behind the assassination of her father Sheikh Mujeeb-ur-Rehman who was serving as the President of Bangladesh that time. According to the detail a group of Bangladesh Army personnel went to Mujeeb’s residence to arrest him in the early hours of August 15, 1975; a gun battle ensued with Mujeeb’s sons and other armed Awami League members. Sheikh Mujeeb and so many of his companions lost their lives in this rebellion; in the whole scenario Pakistan was nowhere; it was simply a military-revolt but Sheikh Hasina never accepted this reality. After the assassination of her father Hasina made it a sacred mission of her life to oppose and blame Pakistan at every platform under the ‘kind’ patronization and supervision of India. But on the other hand Pakistan’s response and reaction to Hasina’s hostility has always been very different. One can find no hatred for the people of Bangladesh or ill-will against Bangladesh in Pakistan. The people of Pakistan rank Bangladeshis as their brothers. Whenever Bangladesh passes through some kind of ordeal; weather it is in shape of some natural calamity or in form of some political turmoil, the people of Pakistan feel grieved, upset and unhappy at the loss of their Bangladeshi brothers. Pakistan is at present hosting more than 2 million illegal Bangladeshis. The government of Pakistan knows it well that these illegal Bengalis have no other option but to stay in Pakistan, that is why no legal action is ever taken against them. Some think-tanks in Pakistan are trying to convince the government of Pakistan to find out some way of legalizing their stay in Pakistan. Moreover Pakistani investors have been investing a lot in Bangladesh thus providing a strong support to Bangladesh economy. The two countries are member of SAARC Organization and there is a Free Trade Agreement also between Pakistan and Bangladesh which facilitates and encourages the traders of both the countries to increase bilateral trade and business. In such a cordial situation, Sheikh Hasina must not try to distort the relationship between Pakistan and Bangladesh just to satisfy her personal thirst of taking revenge of her father Sheikh Mujeeb-ur-Rehman.
