The reach of history
The crux of the issue lies over 40 years into the past. Prime Minister Hasina reportedly wants a formal apology from Pakistan for the genocide that took place in 1971. It must be mentioned that former president General (retd) Pervez Musharraf did express regrets over the events of 1971 and that his move was appreciated by the then Bangladesh government. However, pressure has been building for years that a more direct apology be issued. Individuals and groups have condemned the atrocities committed by the Pakistan Army in 1971. The massacres at universities, the rape of women and the killings in villages are etched into the soil of that country. Few among the younger generation realise the extent of the horrors that took place as Pakistan was torn into two.
While Sheikh Hasina may be merely playing to the gallery propping up such a demand, her actions can help raise the lingering questions from 1971. This should not be considered a matter of losing pride. Perhaps, the time has come to openly acknowledge what happened four decades ago, make an apology, learn from those mistakes and avoid the embarrassment we face each time the issue comes up.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 15th, 2012.
COMMENTS (43)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
Why such a storm and otiose beating about the bush? Neither the editorial nor any of the comment subscribers have put their finger on the real purpose of Madame Hasina's obstinate insistence on a formal apology. It should be seen in the context of her eternal conflict with Khaleda Zia. Hasina is widely perceived as sold out on India for, not only assisting in Bangladesh liberation but taking her and her sister Rehana underits wings when her father was assassinated. Khaleda is perceived as "anti-India," and therefore "pro-Pakistan," though it does not logically follow. Khaleda's party is intensely nationalist and opposes Indian hegemony and arm twisting.
In 2002, Khaleda was in power. She did not question Musharraf's remarks. It was Awami League led by Hasina then in the opposition which had rejected Musharraf's regrets.
Hasina wants apology now to score a point over her rival before the elections.
So, if Pakistan offers an official apology it should offer it when Khaleda is in power or never.
The world is a stage---Elvis Presley. . Just not Ronald Reagan, the political figures are simply acting out their roles. Every single moment they are sure this performance is going to land an Oscar Award. . Despite all the chaos of those days the military and many other organisations were operating (are they good at it is a different matter?), perhaps some of the war records were lost or on purpose got rid off, but routines were followed as much as they could. The figures supplied by all the contenders are the least reliable, they are politically motivated, i.e. trying to win points. More than a pinch of salt is needed. . We have no way of knowing whether it was 93,000 who surrendered at Paltan Maidan. There could be a register listing exactly the number of soldiers, their names, ranks, assignments etc, who were there at that particular moment. Would the system let any researcher access to these? . The biggest show on earth was at Simla. No one really knows what was that about? Who(big powers?) was pulling the strings to make it happen? Stuff that was agreed upon verbally but not formed into an document, what did it cover? The story could be far different than what one is led to believe.
@sidewinder: "sorry for spelling error..i rechecked it and found its Jinnah,not Zinnah or Jinah as suggested by you.but how does it translate into my, rather.." Sorry from me as well for harsh reply.If you visit TOI or other social websites and see the language of majority of indians on Pakistan or Islam you will justify my comment. Ask some learned Bangladeshis about Ayub Khan's ten years of rule.This man from west Pakistan was very honest patriotic and unprejudice.He was more popular and loved by east Pakistanis than by west Pakistanis.Because this man treated east and west on equall basis.It during his tenure east pakistan saw tremendous progress.
@Z one word ...Razakar.
@sabi the brotherly affection which west Pakistan demonstrated towards east right from the beginning,by gobbling up all the resources and utter discrimination in all walks of life has no parallels in the history of world.it reached its culmination when east was devastated by cyclone Bhola and west was playing her proverbial flute Zinnah for Jinah:this ugly mind and mean nature of many of you justifies Jinah going for seperate land.This is 2012 and you people are still living in stone age.Shame for you .Learn some attiquetes. sorry for spelling error..i rechecked it and found its Jinnah,not Zinnah or Jinah as suggested by you.but how does it translate into my, rather many of us being ugly minded and living in a stone age ?and as far as Jinnah going for a separate way is concerned,i am grateful to him for that sacrifice..
@sidewinder: the day Zinnah thrust ” Zinnah for Jinah:this ugly mind and mean nature of many of you justifies Jinah going for seperate land.This is 2012 and you people are still living in stone age.Shame for you .Learn some attiquetes.
@Z the day Zinnah thrust ''only Urdu'' policy upon the Bengalis ,he sowed the poisonous seed of hatred in their hearts.harvest was collected by Yahya in 1971....
@Tauheed Syed: What you have written is nonsense and completely idiotic. You have no sense of history or knowledge of something called historical objectivity. Your sheer stupidity is breath-taking. It is difficult to believe that someone could think like you. Unfortunately, The Express Tribune has only a button for someone who agrees with you but not one for someone who disagrees with you. I emphatically disagree with you and refute everything that you have written. The fact is rather simple. Pakistan lost the eastern wing in 1971 because of repeated and persistent mistreatment of East Bengal leaders and well documented atrocities against men and women of East Bengal. If you don't see this, then you are destined to repeat your achievement in Baluchistan.
@bangladeshi: "@Tauheed Syed: why you are not taking the stranded pakistani in bangladesh back to pakistan. answer this , its been 40 years they are suffering." . Was ages ago when all signs of decency went out of the window. For the last 40 years both sides are competing in who is meaner than the other.
@Tauheed Syed: why you are not taking the stranded pakistani in bangladesh back to pakistan. answer this , its been 40 years they are suffering.
@sidewinder: Rare retribution? The multis killed 30000 people in march which included pro west Bengalis, beharis, Pathans and punjabis. If Bengalis were so righteous why did they snatched properties from people who were either neutral or wanted to remain united with the west? The beharis had migrated to the east and adopted Bengal as their home, why was their right to citizenship taken away even though they had lived 25 years in the province? This was nothing but ethnic or racial hatred which made Bengalis to throw all beharis in camps and loot all their properties. UN celebrates national language day on the basis of Bengali struggle but why does it forget that the same people banned Urdu in 1971 a language spoken by half a million beharis and other pro west people who settled in the province?
People of the sub-continent; grow up ! How long will this tu tu mein mein go on ? Technically, a nation divided into two parts and with a country in between could never have been run from a central command. That is an ideological fantasy. But whatever happened in the past, is in the past. No use crying over spilled milk. Since we are citizens of Muslim countries, both leaders should apologize for the crimes of 1971. War brings out the worst in any human being and both countries are at fault. I have spent my childhood in both the countries and i have good memories of both and having nice Indian friends, i am sure i am not the only one. This thick-headed mentality needs to stop for all the nations in the sub-continent to trade with each other and have stability. All the 3 countries need statesmen not politicians at the helm of their Governments ! Truly, they act like petulant brats!
those equating rare retribution upon Biharis from Bengalis after surrender of Pakistan with the atrocities of Pakistan Army and Bihari collaboration are comparing apples with oranges....what do you expect from Bengalis after they were subjected to worst of tyrannies in the history of mankind by the duo ?Surrendered Pakistanis Soldiers did not come back in body bags....isn't it enough mercy on the part of Bengalis?
As a patriotic Pakistani, the pain and grief is steadily growing among the Pakistanis who still loves and Pray for their Pakistan, but those who love to hate this country and do not wish miss an opportunity to ridicule Pakistan whenever they can, in the name of freedom of expression, many pseudo journalists love to criticize Pakistan, its Army with quite an impunity, whenever they get to talk about the debacle of East Pakistan in 1971, they deliberately ignore this undeniable fact that it was actually the Mukti Bahani the killer squad which was led by Hasina's Father Mujeeb-ur-Rahman and sponsored by Indian RAW ,which actually and initially carried out the mass killings and killed and rape thousands of Non-Bangalis initially in the name of language then in the name so called independence, which unfortunately they never got and after getting rid of Pakistan (according to their own perception), later on they became an Indian slaves and as sheikh Hasina is playing a very effective role as an Indian Viceroy to Bangladesh. Those who actually carried out these genocides in guise of so called freedom fighters all died a very painful and shameful death among them Hasina's own father and members of her own and whole family are the prominent ones killed by their very own people and not all by Pak Army and this is what we Muslim called it the divine justice and lucky for her that she survived that attack, otherwise she also would have become thing of the Past. The role of Pak Army in 1971 was to defend their territory and protect the Non-Bangali population from these Indian Mercenaries and they performed their task with utmost Patriotism and we the Patriotic Pakistanis salute them for their bravery and patriotism. So when it comes to an apology then Hasina begum, it’s about time for you, as the last surviving member of Shaikh Maujeeb-ur-Rahman’s family, to apologies to the people of Pakistan for the crimes perpetrated by your father against humanity (in the name freedom struggle) and in the process pray for Allah’s blessings (if you still happens to be a muslim) for yourself and for your father as the divine justice clearly Indicates who actually need to apologies and last but not the least “Pakistan will never apologies for something it never did ”. But we the Pakistanis must give her the full credit in showing an unparallel obedience towards her master INDIA as she is doing a superb job in pleasing her Indian Masters be it humiliating Pakistan or be it providing and unwavering support to India, which has very cleverly deprive Bangladesh of its right over river Barak when it unilaterally decided to build a Tipaimukh dam on this site which has a huge reservoir which means the other side of River Barak will completely goes dry on the Bangladeshi side, this river (River Barak) flows into Bangladesh from the Indian state of Manipur Therefore this scenario only proved the adage that women are fickle and that’s why it’s tough luck for the Bangladeshi Nation to have such a woman governing their country and only for this one simple reason we the Pakistanis are really very sorry for this sorry nation.
Like the will get apology by demanding it publicly, bangla govt needs to learn diplomacy instead demanding it publicly to embarrass pakistan. I'm in favor of apology but can Behari's demand the same apology from bangladesh? And will bangla acknowledged its atrocities?
Mdm Wajed might be playing to the domestic gallery and abhor Pakistan and its actions against her people but as a leader she needs to be a bit diplomatic. In normal course of things when a leader doesn't want to undertake a visit to another country he/she cite prior commitments, ill health etc and send someone else instead. Underlying real reason is conveyed informally. It is unfortunate that someone chose to use media to highlight this issue.
As far as an official apology is concerned, knowing Pakistani psyche, I am convinced it won't happen in my lifetime (I am forty). But I say sorry to my Bangladeshi brothers and sisters and request them to bury the past for a better future for both our countries.
@waqar: ....rather a case of treason may be filed against her father Sheikh Mujeeb for pushing the country into the civil war. . And Mr Bhutto who vowed breaking legs, should be dug out of his grave and awarded a ten tonne heavy Gold Medal.
Make the apology, its the right thing to do, regardless of whether mukti bahini people apologize or not!
What so ever happened in Bangladesh was a conspiracy we all know.....I may ask PM of Bangladesh that who will appologise for the killings of non bengalis?? rather a case of treason may be filed against her father Sheikh Mujeeb for pushing the country into the civil war.
She should appoligize for the genocide committed to the east pakistani people we shouldn't have to appologize for anything
Allow me to divulge in history. When Spain was more acceptable to rest of Europe and about to become a member of the EU, Suarez (the PM) visited England in his official capacity..The newspapers said it was the first time that such a high ranking representative of the Spanish state in last 250 years was doing so! . The newspapers also mentioned that Spain had to abandon its sovereignty over the Low Countries as the well reputed Armada had lost the battle.at sea..Even after 700 years the English and the Spaniards were technically at war with each other as they had not signed a peace treaty.
@sabi:
"Yes definetly not only apology but will compensate substantialy to heel the wounds.Let the time come."
Many thanks!
When do you think it will be time? Why wait?
This will not end with apology, after apology compensation with interest will be demanded. With the highly exaggerated number of 3 million imagine what will be the amount with interest till 2012. What I don't understand that why do they only want apology from us and very conveniently forget the killings of beharis and patriotic Bengalis which continued in two phases, one during 10 march till 25th march and then in December after Pakistan surrendered. Instead of being highlighted this issue is very easily forgotten by both sides. Pakistan fails to bring the beharis back and Bangladesh punishes them by keeping them in ghettos for the 40 years. Shame on both.
@wonderer: Will Pakistan apologize for what actually happened? If the answer is Yes, then just do it. Yes definetly not only apology but will compensate substantialy to heel the wounds.Let the time come.
To my fellow readers I have not denied the attrocities of Pakistan army in east Pakistan rather I have expressed my doubts on the number of killings which, to me, seems twisted for this or that reasons,Since Pakistan looks for excuses not to apologise to Bangladesh'.These statistics which Pakistani authorities seriously believe are missleading give it enough excuse not to appologise. Therefore,In my above post it was sort of a tip to my Bangladeshi friends not to insist on figures but go for plain apology for whatever attrocities that Pakistan army may have done. To me requirement for apology for killings or other human rights voilation doesn't depend on some minimum number.Human rights violation is as much condemnable for one person as it may be for higher numbers. Remeber inter states affairs,some time turn tricky because of disputed past.Therefore issues are not resolved merely on the basis of emotions rather it involves high standards of statesmanship and mutual compromises.I hope some time in future this sad chapter of history will be closed and old hatches burried mutually.
@Raul:The treatment being meted out to Hazaras,Balochs,Pakhtuns,,Punjabis and others in Balochistan is not being done by the state of Pakistan.It is being mainly done by various groups with their own vested interests. Please do not club everything togather and put blame on Pakistan.Balanced approach is required.
@All Indians
I hope you are all watching the comments of Pakistanis. That pretty much confirms everything that a lot of us already know about them.
My advice to all the Indians advocating friendship with them: :"Please do not make your fellow Indians victims of your fantasies"
@Deen Sheikh: Strange that such prestigious papers as Tribune and Dawn ignore the massacre and rape of the "Pakistanis" (that is what the Bangladesh government calls the Biharis) under the direct watch of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Though it had begun from 16 December 1971, but it reached its apogee after the Sheikh's return to Dhaka on 8 January 1972.
Equally amazing that they recommend apology when they know that howsoever pertinent such a course may be, but Pakistan's military which never submits to any accountability, will neveragree to it. Period.
As to Sabi, let's remember if we are Muslim that killing one innocent person is like killing the entire humanity. Therefore, we must be contrite. So let's not quarrel about numbers which nobody outside Bangladesh has ever believed despite their relentless propaganda.
Sheikh Hasina's somersault was unbecoming. It only proved the adage that women are fickle. Did she not consult her alter ego, Dipu Moni or other whisperers before accepting the invite? She could very well have told Khar that she would communicate the reply after consulting her advisers.
@Tausif:
Most Pakistanis regret what happened in 1971, and are deeply sorry for it. But the nexus of deep state called Establishment you fought against still rules over us and it is not the civilian government.
While Pakistan considers the matter settled as Shiekh Mujib made no such demand on his Lahore visit for Islamic Summit most Pakistani will not mind an apology from the parliament. Except that it was not the Parliament which did it. We were as much under a dictator as you were.
Lastly, if Khaleda Zia was in charge and made such a demand Pakistan would probably have accepted. During Musharraf's visit she asked Musharraf to use the word Sorry after he first used regret. He did use it in a press statement which was welcomed by the Bangladeshi government.
Shiekh Hasina does not want an apology, she wants retribution. She is only indulging in political point scoring and while we will welcome her if she comes the summit could do without a person who think ISI manouverings caused Bangladesh to lose to Pakistan in Asia cup.
@sabi: First, I don't think the formal apology needs to contain the actual number killed. Second, I don't think that the level of the apology required for war crimes will come down if the number killed is 300 - 500k instead of 3 million (and the fact is that Yahya Khan is supposed to have stated as quoted in Asia Times - "Kill 3 million of them and the rest will eat out of our hands." - so the intent atleast was clear). Third, I would advise wider reading outside of Sharmila Bose, whose book has been criticized by intellectuals of all hues for basing most of its research on interviews of Pak military officers.
What I don't understand as a Bangladeshi is that why Pakistani people are of the view that it is the Bengalis for which Pakistan was divided in 1971. After around 60 years, present Pakistani government has granted provincial autonomy to the provinces through 18th amendment to the Pakistani constitution. This is what our leader Sheikh Mujib was demanding in the late 60s. So, it took Pakistani leaders 40 more years to realize that and subsequently grant that. Some young Pakistani may not have been alive when the war of independence broke out in Bangladesh, they might not be the witness but they can look at the present situation of Balochstan, present day Balochistan is nothing but the Bangladesh of 1971. Atrocities must have been committed in the part of Pakistani soldiers that is why former Pakistani president Prevez Musharraf "regretted" when he visited my country! Even this article itself recognize that. Wake up Pakistanis, do not be spoon fed on whatever your state media told you!!!
It is refreshing to note that the brave people of Bangladesh who are muslims and hence brother of pakistan is sticking to its principle. As an indian i am ashamed the the Govt of India invites cricketers from Pak without first getting the pakistani terrorists responsible for mumbai to justice. I salute you Bangladesh
@sabi:
"....Pakistan is not going to applogise for something that has never occured."
Will Pakistan apologize for what actually happened? If the answer is Yes, then just do it.
Reminiscent of Turkeys denial of the Armenian genocide - the entire World outside of Pakistan is familiar with this tragedy yet the younger generation won't admit that there elders committed horrendous crimes. A formal apology is warranted but more importantly holding the people responsible for this criminal act is long overdue.
@sabi: ".....something that has never occured." . What makes you think you know what occurred?
@sabi As long people like Sabi's mentality run Pakistan, there is no Future for that country. Every one knows that crime was committed Against Bengalis and confessed by their own generals. Now God is punishing Pakistan and country is falling behind Bangladesh in every aspects.
A balanced editorial.However Bangladeshis should come down to earth from the seventh sky and settle down on true figures rather than highly unrealistic figures of three millions killings.Since it is an exageration of the situation Pakistan is not going to applogise for something that has never occured.
@The Editor: . Those who are incapacitated to learn, can not learn from their own history either.
@Raul: The comments from majority of Pakistanis show that they have learned nothing, as usual they are putting the blame on the victims (compared it with how unfortunate girls/women who get raped are treated). Therefore be it Baloch, Hazaras, Ahemdis and minorities they will do the same to them as they did to the Bangladeshis. And then later on it will be the turn of Shias.
No apology unless apology is reciprocal, why do people forget the genocide of non bengalis during the civil war and afterwards at the hands of bengali nationalists. Those same nationalists owe their people as well as Pakistanis for starting a civil war. Pakistan was the vision of Bengalis and their hard work nationalists took it away from.them