The Agony of Colony Status that We Earned in 1971

Dr. Firoz Mahboob Kamal

The Indian hegemony that we suffer in Bangladesh today is indeed what we earned in 1971 by our own blood. It is an agony of colony status under the Indian occupation. As a result, the democratic rights and basic human rights now stay buried in the graveyard. We have no right to blame others; we can only blame ourselves. Allah SWT never helps those who do not help themselves.

The Bengali Muslim leaders in 1947 were much more intelligent, sagacious and foresightful than the corrupt and powerhungrey stupid leaders of 1971. The leaders of 1971 like Mujib didn’t take a long time to prove their criminal intent to damage democracy, liberty and economy of Bangladesh. They proved to be very servile slaves of India.

The Bengali Muslim leaders of 1947 had the first hand knowledge about the evil intention of the Hindutva Hindus. They fought a tough political battle to get freedom from them in 1947. And in 1971, we lost that freedom. 

Now we can clearly see with our own eyes that our forefathers who created Pakistan were 100 percent correct in their political judgement. Pakistan had problems that were amenable by political means. The Bengali Muslims were the largest linguistic group in Pakistan, so they could be pivotal to solve the problems of Pakistan. But they showed little interest in solving those problems. Rathey, they were only interested in breaking the country.

But the Indian occupation that we have now today is not easily amenable. The Indian RAW runs many secret camps in Dhaka and other parts of Bangladesh to execute the forced disappearance of anti-Indian political activists and intellectuals. More than a thousand people already had to disappear forever. Even Hasina has no control over them; rather Hasina is under their control. Now the whole of Bangladesh is an open-air prison. There is no space for those who detest India. Many BNP and Jamaat leaders now understand this gloomy reality. So many of them think that a political fight against India is not winnable. This is why many BNP leaders tried to appease India. But they failed to substitute Hasina in doing so.

It is a harsh reality that the Bengali Muslims can’t pay  the heavy price of staying independent against a hegemonic state like India. The cost of independence is very high. Pakistan had to spend billions to build nuclear bombs for that. The Bengali Muslims didn’t have that ability even in 1947. So, our forefathers decided to merge with Pakistan. As a result of joining Pakistan, the Bengali Muslims could enjoy freedom and human rights for 23 years. The elections that were held in 1954 and 1970, we can’t think of that now. Even in Ayub’s era, Mujib enjoyed a political space that now stays denied for the opposition.

We must understand that if there was any chance of survival as an independent East Bengal, then the Muslim League leaders would have created an independent East Bengal in 1947. At that time in doing so, there was no need for any war of independence against Pakistan. Because, East Bengal was not included in the 1940’s Pakistan Resolution adopted in Muslim League’s Lahore conference.

The Bengali Muslim League leaders in 1947 -without a single exception didn’t think an independent East Bengal with the Indian encirclement was a viable option.This is why they persuaded Mr Mohammad Ali Jinnah to make changes in Lahore Resolution to include Bengal in Pakistan. Even when the Bengali-phobic President Ayub Khan provoked some Bengali leaders through his law minister Justice Munir to secede from Pakistan, the leaders refused to do so.

Because of Bengal’s detachment from Muslims’ heartland, the Muslim League leaders thought Pakistan is more needed for the Bengali Muslims than the West Pakistans. In fact, Pakistan was created by the Bengali Muslims. Bengal was Muslim League’s birthplace cum citadel; it could form a provincial government only in Bengal. The League could form governments in Punjab and Sindh only at the eleventh hour of British rule.     

Probably, Major Ziaur Rahman could understand that a great harm has already been done to the Bengali Muslims by breaking Pakistan -the third largest country of the world. So he tried to make kaffara by incorporating strong pro-Pakistani leaders like Shah Azizur Rahman, Moshiur Rahman Zadu Mia, Abdur Rahman Biswas, Abdul Aleem and many others in his BNP. He also tried to build strong relationships with Pakistan and other Muslim countries. But he had to pay the heavy price for that by being killed by the Indian stooges. The Jamaat-e-Islami leaders are also paying the price for the same reasons.

Major Abdul Jalil -another section commander of Mukti Bahini also understood the scale of damage done to the Bengali Muslims by breaking Pakistan. So, in his later years, he tried to make kaffara by aligning with the pro-Pakistani Islamic leaders. He died in Pakistan while he was on a visit to that country.

Now it is not easy to escape out of the Indian cage. The Kashmiris have been struggling for 75 years with little success. Day by day, India is making the grip more tighter. Bangladesh has now become another occupied Palestine. India is now an Israel. Those who stand against India are labelled as Hamas -as coined in an article recently published in the Jerusalem Post. The article was written by a pro-Indian Bengali.

The case of Bangladesh now clearly proves, why Allah SWT made it haram to break a Muslim country. Pakistan was a great blessing for the Bengali Muslims.Three of its Prime Ministers Khawja Nazeemuddin, Mohammad Ali Bogra and Shuhrawardi were Bengali. The man who sat on the chair of Mr Jinnah after his death was also a Bengali. He was Khawja Nazimuddin. Many of its Parliament speakers and key ministers were Bengali.

Pakistan – the largest Muslim country and a nuclear power, gave the Bengali Muslims to play some important role in world politics -especially in Muslim World’s politics. But the Bengali Muslims led by Mujib -a proven enemy of democracy and an agent of India preferred to make Bangladesh a colony of India. Now Bangladesh stays under the Indian radder. India now rules Bangladesh by its own viceroys. In the selection process of the viceroy, the people of Bangladesh don’t have a say. So colonialism has returned back to Bangladesh with its ugliest form.

Every crime has a punishment. In Islam, breaking a Muslim country is a huge crime. The Arabs are getting the punishment for breaking Arab Muslim land into 22 states. We -the Bengali Muslims, too, are at the receiving end of such punishment. Hasina happens to be a tool of the Divine punishment. Allah SWT punishes people not only by sending tsunami, earthquakes or cyclones but also by appointing a tyrant ruler. We have already got one.