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March is characterised by Pakistan Day and the start of spring, each events for jubilation. Nevertheless, it additionally evokes recollections of a tumultuous interval in historical past, turning into a tremendously tormenting month for all those that, as Pakistani Biharis, have confronted intergenerational trauma for many years.
Let me enterprise to try the twenty third of March 1971 when the Pakistani flag was not hoisted anyplace within the nation’s japanese wing besides the Governor Home, President Home and Cantonments. In all places else, there was the inexperienced and pink flag of Bangladesh alongside a black flag as an indication of protest and mourning. In March 1971, Pakistan Military’s Jap Wing Commander Tikka Khan launched Operation Searchlight on the orders of Normal Yahya Khan, the army dictator, to crush the Bengali nationalist motion. As a part of the operation, the military launched an assault on the college campus. That is seen because the deadliest college assault in historical past from a Bangladeshi perspective. Whatever the etiology of pathogenic politics, it stays a indisputable fact that seeds of hatred and injustices had been nurtured, and the worth of human life was ignored. I’m not an knowledgeable in figuring out who did what, why, or what prompted the Fall of Dhaka, and providing a verdict on the responsible events.
A overwhelming majority of the younger and middle-aged folks in Pakistan and Bangladesh within the post-1971 years don’t have any reference to this difficult and painful previous. I’ve typically highlighted these features in my printed items. I reiterate that nobody ought to deny the discrimination skilled by our Bengali brothers and sisters. But, on the similar time, nobody ought to disregard the sacrifices made by the Bihari neighborhood in former East Pakistan for patriotism. Two wrongs don’t make one proper. No human rights philosophy can justify the bloodbath of a patriotic neighborhood. Their genocide is commonly neglected, and the rape and sexual offences dedicated towards their ladies are ignored. It’s regarding how such situations of brutal and selective amnesia can hinder sustainable overseas coverage with Bangladesh.
Worldwide relations shouldn’t be solely influenced by feelings. Nevertheless, some inevitable details can’t be ignored for concern of evoking emotional responses. One such set of details pertains to Pakistan and Bangladesh concerning a neighborhood generally known as Biharis, who paid an unbelievable value for his or her patriotism and love for a united Pakistan. The “dismembering” (also called the revenge of India) of East Pakistan isn’t a high-priority matter in Pakistan’s educational sector and activism trade.
The media seldom discusses it, and if there may be any dialogue, it’s fastidiously curated. Many widespread information anchors and journalists gained extraordinary eminence because of their daring stance on the legitimacy of the delivery of Bangladesh. Equally, many well-known human rights and girls’s rights activists virtually constructed a profession by celebrating “Victory Day” with their Bengali and Indian sisters and like-minded communities. There ought to be no problem with both of those stances, as one ought to virtually consider in freedom of alternative and expression. On a private degree, although, I maintain one hurtful sentiment.
It should be understood and accepted that former East Pakistani Bengalis had been oppressed by the elites of West Pakistan, however there are nonetheless folks like me who’re naive sufficient to justify the extraordinarily inhumane sequence of experiences endured by Biharis. The worst victims up to now are a superb variety of three to 4 hundred thousand stateless stranded Biharis caught within the ghettos of Bangladesh. Betrayed by Pakistan, scorned by nationalists in each international locations, and deserted by lecturers and consultants on overseas relations and safety, they continue to be a hub of embarrassment and misfortune.
Being a lady, an intersectional feminist, and a Bihari, I’m positive of 1 irrefutable reality. In all this mess, the torture, trauma and tyrannies endured by the ladies of my neighborhood had been shelved. From a army dispassionate standpoint, they had been simply one other “collateral injury”. From their very own neighborhood’s perspective, their tales should stay “coated”, as the standard thought of honour makes the raped ladies dishonoured somewhat than the rapists. I’d observe a “no feedback” technique on the function of poets and intellectuals who selected to look away and most well-liked to romanticise Bengal. These embody my favorite ones, Faiz Ahmed Faiz and Nasir Kazmi, too. The saddest and cruelest place is of the so-called liberal activist part of Pakistan, who’ve did not pay even an iota of consideration to those forgotten ladies.
The ebook, Blood and Tears, penned by the late journalist and diplomat Qutbuddin Aziz in 1974, not solely preserved the harrowing saga of servility but in addition documented the main points of the media blackout that performed a essential function in one of many bloodiest slaughters of recent instances, which largely went unreported within the worldwide press.
Time has modified, and know-how has superior. It might be useless to tamper with historical past. What’s required is to be taught from historical past by making use of a humane lens and being honest. Definitely, it’s an act of braveness, and braveness isn’t solely unique but in addition costly. I hope and pray that within the coming years, not solely the political circles but in addition indigenous feminist actions and their international allies will take a look at the ladies of the Bihari neighborhood, who, like many different communities of ladies, had been abused in a battle the place that they had no say. Their our bodies had been transformed to the battlefields, with out their consent. Those that escaped slaughter had been pressured by patriarchal norms to stay in silence and disgrace. And sure, it is usually time to raise ourselves from frivolous egos and think about these ladies as equal and as elegant as any Punjabi, Sindhi, Baloch, Pashtun, or Pakistani ladies of any ethnic origin.
Printed in The Categorical Tribune, March twenty fourth, 2024.
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