1971 and a bit of alternative history. What if Sheik Mujib became PM of Pakistan

[UKBengali]

Funny thing is he actually believes it.

 

[kingQamaR]

What if? The Bangladeshis had actually looked like us physically and culturally ?

And were Pakistanis?

 

[Al-zakir]

i am not agree with how its happen but i am fully agree that it must happen sir . its illogical a country apart in this shitty part of world some 2000km away .it was totally wrong idea which cost blood and tears to be fixed .trust me we are different people our thoughts are not same our food our culture our music even our dress and languages are totally different . we should separate with peacefully but this world did not work with logic

What made you so hateful toward Bd now a days? Something must happened between then and now. I sometime wonder....

 

[Neptune_]

Thank god it didn't happen and BD became an independent country which has already left Pakistan in dust and on its way to become the economic powerhouse of South Asia.


Had he been allowed to become the pm of PAKISTAN we wouldn't have lost 1.5 million people in the hand of barbaric PAK army. That's would have been the only positive outcome.


Otherwise we would've been in a losing situation if we had stayed with West PAK. Remember that the per Capita income in East Pak in 47 was above 300 rs which declined in next 10 years due to the amount of looting done by the West Pakistan regime. I don't think mujib could've prevented the daylight robbery and the economic disparity between these ep and wp even if he was made the PM of Pakistan.

 

[Hamza913]

It could safe Pakistanis from humiliation

Asalamu Alaikum

The real humiliation is that Pakistan ruled Bangladesh for over 20 years.

BD became an independent country which has already left Pakistan in dust and on its way to become the economic powerhouse of South Asia.

 

[WebMaster]

Please stop the racism. Racism was the reason why two states were divided.

 

[Kompromat]

The best solution would've been to give East Pakistan region autonomy and self governance.

 

[Imran Khan]

What made you so hateful toward Bd now a days? Something must happened between then and now. I sometime wonder....

you are asking something bigger here ....hate ?why hate ?

 

[Pan-Islamic-Pakistan]

Pakistani army did the right thing in starting the crackdown. Mujib was an agent of India, who was willing to give up Kashmir to India for peace.

Unfortunately, many rumors and lies were propagated by Indian agents to turn the population against Pakistan. The International media also played its hand against Pakistan.

Many people in East Pakistan had no connection or sympathy with Kashmiris, and they viewed the 1965 war as someone else’s war.

Bangladeshi people have a different outlook on religion and culture than Pakistanis.

Many Bangladeshis don’t view it as that bad to mix Hindu customs and superstitions in their beliefs. They speak and write the same language, Pali, like Hindu and Buddhist scriptures. They are very close to India culturally. Many of their cultural heroes, like Tagore, are Hindu.

Pakistanis on the other hand are deathly allergic to anything Hindu. We had a different history than Bangladeshi people, and developed a strong aversion to Hindu culture and religion. Our language is closer to Farsi and we use the Farsi script. Historically we have been linked to Iran, Afghanistan, Arabia, and Turks of Central Asia. Kashmir is very close to our hearts.

Two different nations, cultures, and identities could not have lived in one country. Pakistan was egging BD in that direction, but BD resisted. Every other country fed that discontent and divided us painfully.

Instead of focusing on the past, we should focus on the present and future. Today, BD and PK have much more in common than ever before. It’s good for both of us to stand on our own two feet and resist hegemony of India and support Rohingya.

 

[El Sidd]

Pakistani Judicial system should have hanged him.

We would be like.

Ommmaaar Dada Zinda hai.

 

[VikingRaider]

Pak was created by the relentless efforts of Jinnah, who traded his entire family (the only daughter), wealth, property etc. without the blink of an eye for the sake of Pak, which was solely based on Din.

yes no disagreement , and mujib was a die hard fan of Mr Jinnah and almost a blind follower , when Jinnah died , it was mujib who burst on tears , not other so called muslim leaders .

When Mujib was a private person, other folks had to do the grocery for him!!! However, when he became the public leader, his sons were being married with diamond crowns on the heads of the daughters-in law while 1m BD folks were perishing in a famine!!!!

I am not advocating for Mujib , just defending his good works. Before independence the role of mujib was unquestionable. So leader Mujib was always a great man.
Now when you are talking about Administrator Mujib , I admit he was not a good administrator .
He was partisan, and also he always overlooked the crimes of his own peoples . However he was a good man , but his party members are actually cause of his fall .
Again , before our independence , mujib was another person and after independant he was another one . I am just defending the previous mujib as leader , not failed mujib as administrator. Still as I said despite his failed administration , mujib was over all a pretty good man , and a good muslim।

The best solution would've been to give East Pakistan region autonomy and self governance.

The aim of six point movement was actually for autonomy and self governance.

 

[monitor]

Asalamu Alaikum

The real humiliation is that Pakistan ruled Bangladesh for over 20 years.

Rule Bangladesh or part of a country who get independence together from British India . In fact if three country was created would better but opposition from Hindu leaders made that difficult. Jinnah too was supporting the idea of greater Bangla comprising west Bengal and east Bengal current Bangladesh .

The best solution would've been to give East Pakistan region autonomy and self governance.

Under 6 points demand we could remain a country but stupid west Pakistani leadership ruin everything .

 

[Imran Khan]

yes no disagreement , and mujib was a die hard fan of Mr Jinnah and almost a blind follower , when Jinnah died , it was mujib who burst on tears , not other so called muslim leaders .

I am not advocating for Mujib , just defending his good works. Before independence the role of mujib was unquestionable. So leader Mujib was always a great man.
Now when you are talking about Administrator Mujib , I admit he was not a good administrator .
He was partisan, and also he always overlooked the crimes of his own peoples . However he was a good man , but his party members are actually cause of his fall .
Again , before our independence , mujib was another person and after independant he was another one . I am just defending the previous mujib as leader , not failed mujib as administrator. Still as I said despite his failed administration , mujib was over all a pretty good man , and a good muslim।


The aim of six point movement was actually for autonomy and self governance.

he was good mislim good man good politician but they wiped him out with family and even kids ?what this mean sir ?

Rule Bangladesh or part of a country who get independence together from British India . In fact if three country was created would better but opposition from Hindu leaders made that difficult. Jinnah too was supporting the idea of greater Bangla comprising west Bengal and east Bengal current Bangladesh .



Under 6 points demand we could remain a country but stupid west Pakistani leadership ruin everything .

beta it was Pakistan you are here otherwise sardar patel and nehro eat so many countries bigger and older then BD today . you guys need to learn .

let alone creating new countries

 

[Pan-Islamic-Pakistan]

In fact if three country was created would better

Alhamdulilah things are good now and Bangladeshis and Pakistanis are best friends the world over. Whether in US, Canada, UK, UAE, KSA, Qatar.

When I lived in London, I used to go to a Bangladeshi masjid whose khutbah was in Bangla. I had no problem praying with those wonderful fellows.

Time is the best healer. We are on the same page. I hope BD gets better leaders than Hasina.

 

[Umair Nawaz]

1971 and a bit of alternative history
Syed Badrul Ahsan

• Published at 05:36 pm September 19th, 2018

Imagining a different history / BIGSTOCK



What if Bangabandhu had taken charge as Pakistan’s prime minister?

History is consistently a matter of what is and what has been. It does not deal with what might or could have been.

Even so, there are all those moments when we sit back and reflect on the course history could have taken in our times as also in earlier stages of the collective human experience. Would such a course have made any difference for us?

One never knows, but we have just had the dubious pleasure of going through a “what if” write-up in Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper, where the writer speculates on the kind of Pakistan that would have shaped up if Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had assumed office as Pakistan’s prime minister in 1971.

Hardly anything revealing emerges from the reflections of the writer. His conclusions boil down to a simplistic point: That the Pakistan army would yet call the shots, that Mujib would not be able to bring about any change, that indeed his government would not last.

That is a Pakistani point of view. And here, for readers, is the alternative history we might imagine here in Bangladesh, assuming of course that the military junta of Yahya Khan had not repudiated the results of the election of December 1970.

There is little argument that the Awami League, prior to taking office in Islamabad, would have carried its Six Points to a definitive conclusion through incorporating them in the constitution stipulated for formulation within a period of 120 days, as mandated by the Legal Framework Order of 1970.

The Pakistan People’s Party would have raised huge commotion in the National Assembly, but the Awami League would obtain the support of such West Pakistani political figures as Khan Abdul Wali Khan and Ghaus Bakhsh Bizenjo for the Six Points to be the underpinning of the new constitution.

From the outside, Abdus Samad Achakzai, GM Syed, Nawab Akbar Bugti, and Air Marshal Asghar Khan would have supported the move, for it would mean a remarkable degree of autonomy not only for East Pakistan but also for Baluchistan and the North-West Frontier Province (today’s Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa).

The Six Points would thus not only lead to a resurgent East Pakistan -- which the ruling AL would constitutionally rename as Bangladesh -- and Baluchistan and the NWFP, but would also lead to similar autonomy for Punjab and Sind, the two provinces dominated by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s PPP. In the decentralization of power consequent upon the adoption of the Six Points, these two provinces would not wish to be left out of the mainstream of national politics.

In a reconfigured Pakistan, the AL would take power in Islamabad, with Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as the country’s first elected prime minister. The ruling party would likely invite Wali Khan’s National Awami Party to join it in a coalition, given that it had won no parliamentary seats at the election in the West but needed to project a nationwide image for itself.

The opposition, in the form of the PPP and certain right-wing elements as the Muslim League’s Khan Abdul Qayyum Khan, would make it hard for the government to carry important legislation through but would not be able to make much headway.

One would see much bluster from Bhutto and frequent walkouts from sessions of the National Assembly by his party.

Prime Minister Sheikh Mujibur Rahman would assert full authority over the Pakistan army, making certain that appropriate laws were enacted to block any move by it to undermine civilian rule in future. The headquarters of the Pakistan navy would move to Chittagong, and in line with the Six Points, a para-military force comprising Bengalis would be established in Bangladesh.

The government would take measures to stop the army from carrying on with its repressive policies in Baluchistan and would likely move to inquire into abuses by the military in the province and elsewhere in the country.

Under an AL government, flight of capital, and other resources from Bangladesh to West Pakistan would cease and the central government, in line with the Six Points, would meet its requirements through financial contributions from the five provinces.

Cabinets headed by chief ministers would administer the provinces, with governors appointed to symbolize the provinces. The governors would not necessarily be men or women from the provinces they would preside over.

An AL government would bring about fundamental changes in Pakistan’s foreign policy, with particular reference to India. Given the secular character of the party, the government would move to re-shape ties with Delhi through jettisoning the hostilities and sabre-rattling that had traditionally characterized relations between the two countries, and would not let the Kashmir problem come in the way of friendly ties.

The government would continue to uphold friendly ties with China, the Soviet Union, the West, and the Muslim world.

But that would be on the basis of an independent exercise of diplomacy.

It is tempting to think that an AL government at the centre in Islamabad would go for striking a balance in the country’s education system, specifically by introducing studies of Bengali in West Pakistani schools and Urdu in schools in Bangladesh.

The civil service would be recast to allow equal representation for educated young men and women from all over the country in the central administrative system on the basis of merit.

The most important aspect of a Pakistani government-led by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman would be a remarkable transformation of the state into a secular entity, away from the religious moorings it had been founded on in the late 1940s.

There would be serious resistance from religious extremists, who would be joined by the PPP and the Muslim League, but the change would be inexorable. In clear terms, Pakistan under an AL administration would be a loose federal structure where democratic politics, defined by healthy academic debate in parliament and outside, would be a defining factor.

But, of course, a more relaxed Pakistan underscored by the powers enjoyed by its federating units would in time lead to demands for enhanced political rights by these units -- as we have observed in Scotland, Quebec, and Catalonia -- opening the door to referenda on their future.

Bangladesh would likely vote to move out of the union, but Baluchistan, Sind, and the NWFP would extract more concessions from the centre to continue being part of the Pakistan state.

That is alternative history for you.

If Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had taken charge as Pakistan’s prime minister, the Pakistan army would not launch its genocide in Bangladesh and shame itself before world opinion.

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto would not have gone to the gallows but just might have, through an exercise of politics characteristic of parliamentary government, become prime minister at some point and pushed the AL into opposition.

The legacy of bitterness which has defined relations between Pakistanis and Bengalis since 1971 would not be there.

All of these possibilities were put paid to on the night of March 25, 1971.

Syed Badrul Ahsan is a journalist.



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• Pakistan
  
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• 1971
  
• Zulfikar Ali Bhutto

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'Youths choose protest over traditional politics'

i dont think so...once a traitor is always a traitor........we should have rather killed him in jail or trailed him to gallows....as he was killed anyways just 3 years after his release.......Besides BD isnt really an important country for a big and far too powerful country like that of Pakistan to really care much.