Remains of the federation

[Solomon2]

Remains of the federation

Kamila Hyat
Thursday, March 07, 2013
From Print Edition

Managing a federation is not an easy business. This is all the more true when the federation is as deeply divided and diverse as ours, and when a threat is posed to it by internal elements – notably the Taliban – who seek to impose their own, warped notions of Islam as the law of the land.

Quite astonishingly, in this pre-poll season of all party conferences, more and more mainstream parties have sat together and called for talks with the very group that threatens our land, and refuses to accept the constitution as its fundamental law. This much ignored document of course also specifically bars the operation of irregular militias.

While all this appears to be of little consequence to leaders ready to talk to criminals and killers, the Taliban themselves have been rather more sensible – with spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan, readily available to the media but beyond the reach of agencies, emphatically stating they will talk only to the military. From the Taliban perspective, this is logical. The parties have meanwhile been left looking at least a trifle foolish.

But beyond the Taliban, and the confidence with which they are calling the shots, there are other issues that need to be considered. There are varying levels of disgruntlement with the centre in all the three smaller provinces. This is not something that should be ignored. The most serious problem lies in Balochistan where a nationalist insurgency, sometimes waning, sometimes waxing, has continued for years.

The situation today in Balochistan, arising from this insurgency, threatens us all. There is no point in blaming ‘foreign hands’; while there may be some outside intervention in Balochistan, it capitalises on the resentments and frustrations that already exist in the province. These feelings are something we need to tackle head-on.

To do so successfully, and to recognise the need that a great deal has to be done, we must learn to look into our history – even its ugliest scenes and most gory moments. It is in many ways extraordinary that the events at Shahbag Square in Dhaka and those stemming from it have not really made waves at home. They should have. The reason why this has not happened dates back to 1971, the horrific civil war that resulted in the breaking away of the eastern wing of the country.

Since then, the details of that war have been only occasionally discussed at home. Pakistan Studies or history textbooks at schools mention the events of 1971 only in passing. Casual surveys suggest that many among the younger generation are completely confused about the chain of events or their consequences. Yes, there have been occasional discussions on Bangladesh, but these have been too limited and too rare.

These factors of course explain why the demand by thousands of young Bangladeshis for the trial of war criminals, and the death sentence awarded to the deputy head of the Jamaat-e-Islami in that country, Delwar Hossain Sayedee, for colluding with the Pakistan Army and committing war crimes in his own land, has not really hit home in our country. It should have.

To safeguard our future, we need to understand our past and work in the present keeping all this in view. Bangladesh, which today proudly flies its own flag, is very much a part of our past. We should not forget this. Nor should we fail to closely watch the events occurring there now.

The screens put up around us need to come down. Discrimination, disparity in development and a failure to hear the voices of people – even when they rose to shrill, anguished cries – were all the factors that occurred in the then East Pakistan. We should look around. Do we see the same pattern being repeated in what remains of our federation? If we listen carefully, casting aside our indifference, it is certainly possible to hear these voices. We need to respond to them.

And as the special tribunal set up by the Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League government hears accounts of war crimes, we should try to tune in. These atrocities have parallels in our country today. We must think of the tortured bodies found in the streets in Balochistan, of grandfathers who have taken small children, holding them by the hand, to see the mutilated bodies of their young fathers so they will never forget what was done and of once articulate men, poets and writers amongst them, released from agency custody, no longer able to speak.

The first attempts to bring such tales into the mainstream by writers such as Muhammad Hanif with his chilling narrative ‘The Baloch who is not Missing and Others who are’, are important. But we need more such efforts, more awareness.

After all, in the case of East Pakistan we failed to raise such awareness. This is why the protests at Shahbag Square, demanding justice for the war criminals have not really registered at home. But it is worth noting that many of those participating in what has become a big movement in Bangladesh were not even born when 1971 happened.

The scars have been passed on. The impact of mass injustice and brutality is after all enormous. This is something we also need to keep in mind as we look at the events of today and consider what effects they will leave behind in the longer run – on the generation of today and on generations still to come.

Turning back to the blood spattered pages of history in Bangladesh and following the events of 1971, is something we should be following too. After all they marked a key point in history which must not simply be cast aside.

Yes, an apology to Dhaka from Islamabad is long overdue. This must not be delayed any further. But beyond this, we also need to consider if we have examined the past deeply enough and learned from it the lessons which in so many ways remain vital to a federation, within which strains, tensions and dangers of many kinds lurk. They have to be dealt with systematically, sensitively and intelligently. Otherwise the menace we confront today may become unconquerable.

The writer is a freelance columnist and former newspaper editor.

Email: kamilahyat@hotmail.com