16th December 1971: From East Pakistan to Bangladesh

[Luffy 500]

What happened back then was truly sad and I believe Quid-e-Azam should have awarded East Pakistan full provincial autonomy right from the beginning. It would have been good for both sides, and saved countless lives. I don't think India was the ultimate winner (neither of three were) for the former East Pakistan emerged as an independent Muslim majority country and a member of the United Nation. India would have won had former East Pakistan annexed with India in any form, which did not happen.

I do believe the federation would have sustained itself had civilian leadership of PAK was more pragmatic and the army didn't intervene from the start. Even in 71 if mujib was allowed to be PM he most likely would not have lasted the full term. Worse case scenario- it would have been an amicable separation with strong bilateral ties. He wanted to be the PM of PAK as he was a typical politician with ambitions but 0 administrative skills. Bhutto was worse though. He was the primary reason for 71 debacle IMHO. His racist feudal mentality came very handy to Indira gandhi.


I guess it was a partial victory for India. Did u know many WB intellectuals were dreaming of annexing BD/E.PAK and i don't think it was completely out of Indira's long term goals. But E.Bengal political dynamic didn't allow their wet dream to materialize. If BD becomes strong with AL and other indian dalals firmly in the pages of history with no trace in BD, then u can say that India lost in 71.

 

[syedali73]

I do believe the federation would have sustained itself had civilian leadership of PAK was more pragmatic and the army didn't intervene from the start. Even in 71 if mujib was allowed to be PM he most likely would not have lasted the full term. Worse case scenario- it would have been an amicable separation with strong bilateral ties. He wanted to be the PM of PAK as he was a typical politician with ambitions but 0 administrative skills. Bhutto was worse though. He was the primary reason for 71 debacle IMHO. His racist feudal mentality came very handy to Indira gandhi.

Agreed.

 

[Bong]

I do believe the federation would have sustained itself had civilian leadership of PAK was more pragmatic and the army didn't intervene from the start. Even in 71 if mujib was allowed to be PM he most likely would not have lasted the full term. Worse case scenario- it would have been an amicable separation with strong bilateral ties. He wanted to be the PM of PAK as he was a typical politician with ambitions but 0 administrative skills. Bhutto was worse though. He was the primary reason for 71 debacle IMHO. His racist feudal mentality came very handy to Indira gandhi.


I guess it was a partial victory for India. Did u know many WB intellectuals were dreaming of annexing BD/E.PAK and i don't think it was completely out of Indira's long term goals. But E.Bengal political dynamic didn't allow their wet dream to materialize. If BD becomes strong with AL and other indian dalals firmly in the pages of history with no trace in BD, then u can say that India lost in 71.

Bangladesh is not the bull to justify India won it or not. See this way, East Pakistan separated itself from Pakistan union and renamed itself Bangladesh.

Agreed.

We all know histories. Most of us dont hate Pakistan. But many of the Pakistanis have negative attitude towards BD.
If BD and Pak respect each other both can be beneficiary with that. I feel an urgent bonding with Pak military.
If former enemies like Vietnam and USA can work together, BD and Pak as well.
To establish, PakBD relation it will be helpful if Pakistan dont think for only particular parties relating to 1971.

 

[Musalman]

Bangladesh is not the bull to justify India won it or not. See this way, East Pakistan separated itself from Pakistan union and renamed itself Bangladesh.



We all know histories. Most of us dont hate Pakistan. But many of the Pakistanis have negative attitude towards BD.
If BD and Pak respect each other both can be beneficiary with that. I feel an urgent bonding with Pak military.
If former enemies like Vietnam and USA can work together, BD and Pak as well.
To establish, PakBD relation it will be helpful if Pakistan dont think for only particular parties relating to 1971.

You can not have good relationship, unless you stop killing the people who supported Pakistan in 1971

 

[Bong]

You can not have good relationship, unless you stop killing the people who supported Pakistan in 1971

Its not Pakistan's interest anymore. Forget it.

 

[mughal arslan shah mirza]

. But many of the Pakistanis have negative attitude towards BD.
.

Bro, which ones?I frankly don't think it's like that. I personally like Bangladesh and Bangladeshi people. Heck even on pdf which is a very nationalistic website, you'll have most Pakistanis explicitly maintaining that the politicians of the erst-while West Pak were to blame for separation. Yes there are people who do bad-mouth but they are not even close to majority.
The whole saga of 71 is not talked about much, in fact, it's hardly talked about in ordinary settings. It's pretty much an academic topic. The new generation of PAk would love to have a new start with Bangladesh.

 

[Luffy 500]

Bangladesh is not the bull to justify India won it or not. See this way, East Pakistan separated itself from Pakistan union and renamed itself Bangladesh.

Yes it unfortunately is. That's how India sees it and that's how the world sees it because that is what it essentially is- an India- PAK war of 1971. Even the treaty of surrender was carried out between India & PAK. It may be hard for u to accept but not for me since i don't smoke on ekkaturer chetona.

 

[Tameem]

To establish, PakBD relation it will be helpful if Pakistan dont think for only particular parties relating to 1971.

@Bong Its not Pakistan but Bangladesh rather Awami League more precisely itself who doesn't want to forgets 1971....that's why consistently insisting on formal Apology instead of moving forward....which in return force special treatment for other parties from Pakistan...as tit for tat.

 

[Armstrong]

But many of the Pakistanis have negative attitude towards BD.

Pakistanis don't have any negative attitudes towards Bangladeshis; we accept that we made mistakes...huge mistakes.

The only time some negativity comes into this relationship is when Bangladeshis expect us to believe that everything.....EVERYTHING....was our fault and that they were completely blameless and that we were blood-thirsty vampires baying for East-Pakistani blood in '71 while the Mukti Bahini were the proverbial Knights in Shining Armor who could do no wrong and that the countless Biharis, West-Pakistani civilians and even Pro-Pakistan Bengalis that lost their lives suddenly stopped breathing in '71 of their own accord.

 

[Bong]

Bro, which ones?I frankly don't think it's like that. I personally like Bangladesh and Bangladeshi people. Heck even on pdf which is a very nationalistic website, you'll have most Pakistanis explicitly maintaining that the politicians of the erst-while West Pak were to blame for separation. Yes there are people who do bad-mouth but they are not even close to majority.
The whole saga of 71 is not talked about much, in fact, it's hardly talked about in ordinary settings. It's pretty much an academic topic. The new generation of PAk would love to have a new start with Bangladesh.

I feel close to pakistanis than the Indians. Pakistanis become quick friends. Ok only PDF gives me a bad impression of Pakistanis of $hit/Damn/dont care/and enemy attitude towards BD.

 

[Bong]

@Bong Its not Pakistan but Bangladesh rather Awami League more precisely itself who doesn't want to forgets 1971....that's why consistently insisting on formal Apology instead of moving forward....which in return force special treatment for other parties from Pakistan...as tit for tat.

This is true. Fault of politics.

Pakistanis don't have any negative attitudes towards Bangladeshis; we accept that we made mistakes...huge mistakes.

The only time some negativity comes into this relationship is when Bangladeshis expect us to believe that everything.....EVERYTHING....was our fault and that they were completely blameless and that we were blood-thirsty vampires baying for East-Pakistani blood in '71 while the Mukti Bahini were the proverbial Knights in Shining Armor who could do no wrong and that the countless Biharis, West-Pakistani civilians and even Pro-Pakistan Bengalis that lost their lives suddenly stopped breathing in '71 of their own accord.

Things got exaggerated. But we majority Bangladeshis support creation of BD. Some of our elders are still sympathetic to Pakistan. But we have to find ways to cooperate each other.

 

[Danish saleem]

The problem in Pakistan is , we never accept the peoples choice, we always want to impose our choice on people.
and the powers think that only they are patriots , and all others are traitors, that thinking demolishing the Pakistan's political structure;.

 

[Musalman]

Its not Pakistan's interest anymore. Forget it.

They r dying for us. How can we forget

 

[khair_ctg]

I am truly amazed by your comments. Are there still some people in former East Pakistan who think like this?

Yes, many. but they don't have big voice in the mainstream media and increasingly being vilified by Indian-backed BAL politically

 

[khair_ctg]

Actually when I went to States to do my post-doc, for the first few months I shared an apartment with 4 Bengali folks. Three were younger whereas one was about 50 years old. They never made me feel that I was an outsider, in-fact helped me as much as they could. The older guy could speak Urdu and he preferred to converse in Urdu instead of English. However, I was (and they were too) careful not to discuss about 1971 saga. But then this is how most expatriates (even Indians) behave irrespective of their political inclinations.

What happened back then was truly sad and I believe Quid-e-Azam should have awarded East Pakistan full provincial autonomy right from the beginning. It would have been good for both sides, and saved countless lives. I don't think India was the ultimate winner (neither of three were) for the former East Pakistan emerged as an independent Muslim majority country and a member of the United Nation. India would have won had former East Pakistan annexed with India in any form, which did not happen.

maybe

but there was no shortage of Bengali Muslim PMs and Prime Ministers who came to power during United Pakistan, and they could have decided East and West Pakistan to be autonomous or self-governing. the fact is, that is not what the East Pakistanis wanted and East Pakistanis wanted to be with West Pakistan until India forced a separation.