Bangladeshis do not in my opinion live vicariously and wish they were Pakistanis.
You need to understand history. Pakistan did not materialise without the effort of Bengali Muslims. Religion created east and west Pakistan, politics broke it.
It is not particularly difficult to comprehend that majority of educated Bangladeshis who know their history do not define themselves solely from a 1971 perspective.
I will speak purely for me. I see Bengali Muslim identity and national consciousness emanating and developing since the days of the Delhi Sultanate. A Bengali Muslim is not the same as a Hindu Bengali. The former is a mix of many backgrounds, cultures and influence but with an unifying thread of islam giving rise to an unique identity.
I know many Pakistanis as well as Hindu Bengalis ...... The similarities between a Hindu Bengali and a Muslim Bangladeshi are as cosmetic as the dis similarities between a Muslim Bangladeshi and a Pakistani.
Islam has moulded the cultures of the people of the subcontinent and that shared affinity is clear to see. I am born and raised in uk.... BD and Pakistanis simply gets on with it.... There are fights and disagreements sometimes but there is also shared experiences most visibly in attending mosques.
Most Bangladeshis I know support Pakistan as their second team after BD me included) in cricket , a few support India. In my circle of friends the Pakistanis have always supported BD except when it is Pakistan vs Bangladesh.
BD are as nationalistic as anyone else. 1971 happened, some issues remain unresolved but Bangladeshies as a whole have moved on. There is no yearning to roll the years back and to become Pakistanis. We are standing on our feet and progressing and apart from current unelected illegal government of BD droning on about 1971 as a point of distraction No one cares. The concept of Pakistan is a political football just like say the economy or the education policies.
But moving away from the hyperbole Bangladesh today exist because dream of Pakistan was fought for and realised by Muslim bengalies as much as any other
Group prior to 1947.
In terms of taking pride in Pakistanis achievements such as nukes or anything else I don't think Bangladeshis do that. I however do admire Pakistanis military prowess as the sole Muslim nuclear power, but some Bangladeshis won't. What I guess separates the likes of me from them is that my sense of nationalism which stems of Islam as the primary barometer of consciousness rather than culture. I am a pan-Islamist as I have found most Bangladeshis to be.... This may come across as wanting to be Pakistani but it is not....
