VIEW: Fall of Dhaka and a fall guy —D Asghar
The biggest issue with our nation is that we never want to reflect on our mistakes with honesty. We never want to offer an honest introspection
If hypocrisy was a sport, undoubtedly we Pakistanis would be the world champions. True to the core, till this day we are unmoved by the atrocities we unleashed on our eastern wing and dub it all as a conspiracy. Heck, we do not even want to accept our own mistakes and apologise to the millions of Bangladeshis because how could we possibly be wrong.
Every time December comes, the wounds of a shameful and utterly disgraceful defeat are renewed. The images of helpless Bengalis and their massacre by our ‘valiant soldiers’ comes to mind. There are certain people who want to put the blame on a so-called controversial individual, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (ZAB). Till this day, these individuals blast a false narrative and consider ZAB responsible for the breakup of united Pakistan.
There is no denying that East Pakistan was feeling isolated for a long time. Again, as a totally lay person, I would like to raise a few points here. Even prior to Ayub Khan’s martial law, there was discontent in that area. Yes, Bhutto served in Ayub’s regime, but his rise was attributed to being a young and bold foreign minister. He was not an Interior Minister and had little to do with East Pakistan.
ZAB may have been controversial, passionate and extremely zestful, but in no shape or form can he be held responsible for this ugly episode. Back in 1967, when he formed the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), he had already distanced himself from Ayub’s regime totally.
The grievances of the people of East Pakistan were ignored by the mighty military establishment. By the time General Ayub handed the baton over to General Yahya, ZAB’s political career had taken off. He was no longer a government minister but a true political leader with a solid backing of the people.
It was shocking for the military establishment to witness the mandate of the people from both wings in the elections of 1970. It has been proved time and again that when the people of Pakistan have been given their right to vote, they have always chosen the progressives. The Awami League’s victory in the then East Pakistan and the PPP’s dominance in West Pakistan was well expected.
Needless to say, even at that point, the establishment was unwilling to accept that mandate. Was it not ZAB who offered Sheikh Mujibur Rehman and his Awami League to form a government with him? He did offer Mujib to become prime minister of a united Pakistan.
The discontent among the Bengalis was overwhelming and they were able to read the writing on the wall. Was it ZAB who was holding power in Islamabad and unwilling to transfer it to the elected leaders? For that matter, who unleashed the full-fledged military operation in East Pakistan, in order to crush a so-called ‘Indian-supported conspiracy’? Can anyone in their right mind come up with any logical explanation who gave those orders and why? Was it ZAB who cajoled the military to do so? Why would have the military followed the commands of a civilian leader?
Who raised the squads of Al-Shams and Al-Badr (militias) in the troubled eastern wing? Who was responsible for rape, murder and mayhem in that area? Who left thousands of illegitimate children behind? Who gave the nation a false narrative that all was well and our valiant soldiers were going to crush this ‘evil conspiracy’? Who surrendered on December 16, 1971– was it ZAB or A K Niazi?
The biggest issue with our nation is that we never want to reflect on our mistakes with honesty. We never want to offer an honest introspection. Back then when ZAB became the first civilian Martial Law Administrator, he was ridiculed. Till this day, some misguided people use that as an epithet against him. The question to ask very honestly is why he did that. He was wary of his predecessors and their antics. Given the major debacle that the nation had gone through, was it not wise of him to do so? If he had any evil intentions, then why did he not cling on to that dictatorial power?
If anything, our establishment is indebted to ZAB for negotiating the safe return of 90,000 prisoners of war. It was ZAB who went to Simla and made that impossible thing happen. If he had any vendetta against the Bengalis, why would have ZAB accepted Bangladesh as a separate nation? Why would he go to Dhaka and lay wreaths on their monument of the fallen? Why would he meet Mujib again and embrace him at the historic Islamic Summit in 1974 in Lahore?
As always, shying away from our history is very easy and laying the blame on ZAB is even easier. We invent our own history to suit our own egos. We have high regard for a term called ‘conspiracy’. Any time we are unable to face the truth, we give it a facade of conspiracy and try to create an enemy or invent a fall guy.
ZAB may have done a lot of things as an elected prime minister of Pakistan that the people may vehemently disagree with but to blame him as the culprit behind the breakup of Pakistan is downright dishonest and inaccurate. The irony is that till this day we are in the same mode and unwilling to face and accept the reality. History can never be fabricated. Someone, somewhere, accounts for the truth. Accepting and learning from that bitter truth can perhaps make us understand ourselves better.
The writer is a Pakistani-American mortgage banker by profession. He blogs at
D Asghar's Political Prism and can be reached at
dasghar@aol.com. He tweets at
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