Bangladesh Continues To Gravitate Towards Pakistan, Celebrates Jinnah’s Death Anniversary For First Time

Bangladesh’s Islamists, under the benign patronage of the country’s present rulers, continue to steer their conflict-ridden country towards Pakistan. 

For the first time since Bangladesh broke free from the state of Pakistan and became an independent country in 1971, the death anniversary of Pakistan’s founder — Mohammad Ali Jinnah — was observed in Dhaka on Wednesday (11 September). 

Jinnah’s 76th death anniversary was observed at the National Press Club in Dhaka through speeches extolling Jinnah, recitation of Urdu couplets and songs dedicated to Jinnah and some speakers even calling for Jinnah to be named as the ‘father of the nation’. 

Many of the speakers at the event, which was attended by Pakistan’s deputy high commissioner to Bangladesh, Kamran Dhangal, are aligned to the present dispensation in Bangladesh headed by Mohammad Yunus. 

According to the twisted logic of most of the speakers at the event, Bangladesh owes its creation to Jinnah.

For instance, Nazrul Islam (who is known to be close to the Bangladesh Nationalist Party or BNP), said: “If Jinnah had not been there, Pakistan would not have existed, and without Pakistan, Bangladesh would not exist. Jinnah is the father of our nation, but we do not acknowledge it. We must preserve our brotherhood, and I hope that both Jinnah’s birth and death anniversaries will continue to be observed here every year”. 

One of the primary sponsors of the event was the Nawab Salimullah Academy. Nawab Salimullah, the fourth Nawab of Dhaka, was one of the founders of the Muslim League and a prime advocate of the partition of Bengal (1905). 

Nagorik Porishod, another organisation closely aligned with the Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, was also involved in organising the event that saw participation of some Pakistanis studying in Bangladesh. 

Porishod president Md Samsuddin, in his address, said that had East Bengal not become East Pakistan due to the efforts of Jinnah, it would have remained part of India.

“Our condition would have been similar to that of Kashmir today, with the Indian junta holding weapons to our necks. Bangladesh gained independence because of Pakistan, which Jinnah helped create,” he said to loud applause from those present. 

Among those who attended the event were senior retired officers of Bangladesh’s armed forces, civil society leaders who were opposed to the Awami League and many who are aligned with the present dispensation in the country. 

Another speaker at the event, Md Shakawat, said that had Jinnah not insisted that East Bengal be made part of Pakistan, the landmass would have remained in India.

“We would have been like West Bengal, a backward and neglected state in India. Our condition would have been pathetic and we would have been like other Muslims of India who are persecuted and exploited and live as second-class citizens in our neighbouring country,” said Shakawat, who is very close to the student leaders who led the revolt that unseated Sheikh Hasina from power early last month. 

All the speakers emphasised the need for reassessment of Bangladesh’s relations with Pakistan and vowed to forge closer ties with Islamabad. 

Urdu songs and couplets praising Jinnah and Pakistan were sung and recited at the event where Pakistani flags were also displayed. 

Pakistani envoy Dhangal hoped that people of Bangladesh would realise the stellar role played by Jinnah who, he claimed, was the ‘creator of East Pakistan, the precursor of Bangladesh’. 

What all the speakers glossed over was that Jinnah’s declaration that Urdu will be the sole language of East and West Pakistan had triggered Bengali nationalism that ultimately led to the creation of Bangladesh. 

None of the speakers also cared to dwell on the horrific crimes committed by the West Pakistani army and their Islamist collaborators on Bengali nationalists in 1971. The West Pakistani army and its Islamist collaborators murdered an estimated 30 lakh Bengalis (Muslims and Hindus) and raped an estimated four lakh Bengali women in the nine months between March 1971 and November 1971. 

The horrific war crimes in 1971, and the brutal repression of Bengalis in the years preceding the liberation of the country, had been a very sore point among Bangladeshis since 1971. Many calls had been issued to Pakistan to acknowledge and apologise for the war crimes and pay reparations. But Islamabad had shamelessly refused. 

But Bangladesh’s Islamists, who are viscerally anti-India, had always had close ties with Pakistan and had advocated close ties with Islamabad. After the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (Bangladesh’s founder who was also Sheikh Hasina’s father) in August 1975, sections of the country’s intelligentsia, armed forces, politicians and bureaucrats have tried to steer Bangladesh close to Pakistan. 

Bangladesh's radical Islamists refuse to acknowledge India's role in liberating Bangladesh from Pakistan.

Had India not provided shelter and training to Bengali ‘mukti joddhas’ (freedom fighters) and had Indian armed forces not launched an offensive against Pakistan, East Pakistan would have remained a vassal state of West Pakistan and Bangladesh would never have been born. 

The Islamists' attempts to take Bangladesh closer to Pakistan met with limited success during the rule of the BNP and military juntas. But the spirit of the liberation war (of 1971) remained strong and Bengali nationalists in Bangladesh succeeded in styming such attempts. 

However, the overthrow of Sheikh Hasina last month by radical Islamists (who were the actual power and force behind the regime change in Dhaka) triggered sustain attempts to rewrite the nation’s history by vilifying Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the Awami League and whitewashing the terrible crimes committed by West Pakistan. 

As Wednesday’s observance of Jinnah’s death anniversary shows, such attempts are now bearing success. 

That such an event was observed in the heart of Dhaka — it would have been unthinkable even a couple of months ago — proves that pro-Pakistani elements are gaining ground in Bangladesh. And the country’s interim head — Mohammad Yunus — is either incapable of thwarting them or is hand-in-glove with them.