I remember 17 December 1971 very\nwell. I had been in England just over one year and two months during which time\nI had learnt a little about East Pakistan. It was part of Pakistan that I had\nnot heard of until I came to England as a 12 year old. But then I didn\u2019t know\nmuch about anything, being the age I was and having grown up in a rural\ncommunity in Kashmir which had no contact with the outside world. We had not\nmuch access to radio or newspapers and no television (there was no\nelectricity). And now East Pakistan had become Bangladesh. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Upon arrival in Birmingham I\nbegan to read Urdu newspapers. There was much coverage about East Pakistan.\nThere was also much talk about Pakistan where an election was taking place,\nfirst such election in the history of the nation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Following the election I remember\nlearning about the war in East Pakistan. This I believed was because the East\nPakistanis wanted to become separate from Pakistan. I thought they were\nterrible people (for this was how they were portrayed in the Pakistani\npress). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I also learnt there was some sort\nof disaster which had led to many people dying. This had led to a concert being\norganised in the West. I saw the film – A Concert for Bangladesh – at the\ncinema in Quinton, Birmingham. This was the concert where people had applauded\nRavi Shankar, when he was tuning his sitar. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since then I have been trying to\neducate myself about what was East Pakistan, the birth of Bangladesh and the\nreasons for it. It took little time and learning effort to come to the\nconclusion that there was much reason for the new country to be born. I even\nwondered what took them so long. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
By 1979 I had a very different\nview of the Bangladesh situation and those who had come from there and were now\nliving in Birmingham. It was this year that I established the Asian Studies, a\ncourse which enabled white public sector professionals to learn about the Asian\ncommunities they served. I made sure the Bangladeshi community was included\nalongside Pakistanis and Indians. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Late, after deciding to become a\nbaptised Christian, one of the first volunteering roles I had was to chair the\nManagement Committee of St James Advice Centre which served the Bangladeshi\ncommunity and which was staffed by the Bangladeshi Zia ul-Islam. A few years\nlater I led the Birmingham Asian Role Models project. The 20 people I included\nin proportion to their presence in Birmingham had Tozammel Huq. Also, I took\nany opportunity to develop friendships with Bangladeshis wherever I\ncould. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
My learning journey about\nBangladesh has continued. Many years ago I picked up a copy of the book The\nLast Days of United Pakistan <\/em>by GW Choudhury (1974). The author had been a\nmember of the Pakistan Cabinet in 1969 so was able to see the situation first\nhand as it developed into the final breakup of Pakistan. He was of the view\nthat there were similarities between the Muslim nationalism of undivided India\nand Bengali sub-nationalism within united Pakistan. He quoted an East Pakistani\npolitical leader: <\/p>\n\n\n\n What was the original demand of the Muslim\nLeague in India before independence? Fair shares \u2013 in appointments, in jobs, in\npolitical influence. It was only the blindness and selfishness of the Hindus\nthat translated that into the demand for partition and now the West wing [West\nPakistan] is taking the same attitude to us. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Elsewhere the author goes onto\nsum up the fundamental problem that led to the break up of Pakistan: <\/p>\n\n\n\n In a democracy, the majority should not\nhave to ask for safeguards, such as regional autonomy, reservation of places in\nthe civil service and the Army, and guarantees that the economic development of\ntheir region would not be neglected nor their culture threatened. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n And yet, throughout its existence it is exactly these guarantees that the majority Bengali group had to seek. \u201cWhen they were not granted Bengali sub-nationalism gathered momentum until ultimately it became a national movement for the creation of a separate state\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My most recent reading matter about the Bangladeshi community has included the works of Aftab Rahman and Mashkura Begum<\/a>. Since then I have read two more books (and a few other bits of information); the first of these was \u2018Tony \u2013 the life of Tozammel Huq MBE<\/a>\u2019. \u2018The making of Bangladesh<\/a> as I saw it\u2019 is the second book I read, by Muhammed Idrish. The author provides a first-hand perspective on his birthplace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I learnt from these books that\nthe seeds for Bangladesh were sown at least as long ago as 1948. According to\nHuq, \u201cIn February 1948 an announcement was made that Urdu was to become the\nofficial language of Pakistan\u201d. The decision was embedded in 1952 when the\nPrime Minister Khawaja Nazimuddin declared that \u201cUrdu would be established as\nthe sole official language of Pakistan. He went onto suggest that regional\nlanguages, if written at all, should use the Persian script to maintain\ncompatibility with Urdu and emphasise the Islamic spirit of Pakistan\u201d. The Bengali\nscript is not Persian-based but derived from Brahmi. <\/p>\n\n\n\n We learn from Huq that politically conscious people across East Pakistan listened to this decree with horror and outrage: \u201cthe suggestion that Bengali should be reduced to a regional patios written in an alien script was just too much for any true Bengali to bear\u201d. They planned a demonstration to be held on 21 February 1952. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Language martyrs, the birth of the International Mother Language Day<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n While all public protests were banned the Dhaka demonstration on\n21 February went ahead. There was a stand-off between the demonstrators and the\nlarge number of police. Shots were fired which led to the killing of several of\nthe student protestors. This tragic incident was a major turning point in the\nbirth of Bangladesh. From that day onwards it was not a matter of if but when\nthe citizens would achieve independence from their current oppressors. Four\nyears later Bengali did get recognition as the official language of East\nPakistan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Idrish tells us: <\/p>\n\n\n\n On 21\nFebruary 1952, police opened fire with live ammunition on unarmed student\nprotestors outside Dhaka university, killing five students. it outraged the\nwhole of the Bengali population of the country. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Huq was 12 years of age at the time of the language demonstration.\nIt was to prove formative for him and he would go onto play a key role in\nresponse. 21 February became established as the Language Martyrs Day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In 1988 Huq was appointed Ambassador of Bangladesh to France and concurrently as Ambassador to Spain and Ambassador and Permanent Delegate to UNESCO. Federico Mayor, Director General of UNESCO 1987-1999, in his Introduction to Huq’s book says the following: <\/p>\n\n\n\n Tony played a crucial and significant role with regard to UNESCO\u2019s proclamation of 21 February as an international Mother Language Day. The proposal was sent to UNESCO at its headquarters in Paris in late summer 1999 by the Government of Bangladesh…. Tony had already talked to me about it and briefed me about the history and significance of 21st February 1952. He requested my support to which I agreed. \u00a0 <\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n UNESCO wanted to delay the adoption of 21 February but “on the strength of Tony’s argument” “relented” and “agreed to revive the proposal” and “unanimously passed the resolution in November 1999 “. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Language was not the only issue. It was obvious that all of the development efforts of the government were centred on West Pakistan even though the East wing contained more than half of the country\u2019s total population. <\/p>\n\n\n\n New\ncapital? West Pakistan. Major infrastructure projects? West Pakistan.\nIndustrial development? West Pakistan. Head offices of the banks and financial\nhouses? West Pakistan. If a new era was dawning it was certainly not promising\nmuch for East Pakistan. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Huq was active in student politics. This led him to attend a\nconference in Canada where he made a speech which was seen as sharply critical\nof the Pakistan government, headed by Ayub Khan. He was advised to not return\nhome for fear of arrest. This he did by enrolling as a PhD student. However,\nafter eighteen months he was persuaded to move to London, in 1963, where he\nenrolled at the Inner Temple, to study for the Bar. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Circumstances led for Huq to end up in Birmingham where he began\nworking as a teacher in Balsall Heath, eventually to be the Headteacher at\nLadypool School, in the late 1970s. This was when I first encountered him; I\nwas a youth and community worker and had organised the Asian Studies. We learn\nthat Huq married his wife Sheila, a school colleague, in Solihull on 26 October\n1968. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Back in East Pakistan in November 1970 a cyclone had hit the area,\ncausing almost half a million deaths and a million more became homeless. We\nlearn from Idrish: <\/p>\n\n\n\n The\nPakistan government was very slow in organising rescue and relief operations.\nFor the first three days they even denied that anything serious had happened. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n We\nheard that more than 200 relief planes landed in Dhaka airport from many\ncountries of the world; only one of them was from West Pakistan. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n I saw\nunburied dead bodies scattered around, some floating on the water. We had to\ndivide ourselves into two groups: one group to orgnaise food for the living and\nthe other to bury the dead. The bodies floating on the water were rotten and\nyellow in colour. The corpses washed ashore were so rotten and decomposed that\nwe had to douse them with paraffin and burn them. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n This neglect by the government was to inflame the independence\nmovement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Soon after an election was held which led to more than half of the\nseats being won by the Awami League, led by Sheikh Mujib, a colleague of Huq. According\nto Idrish: <\/p>\n\n\n\n The\nAwami League (led by Mujib) won 151 seats. This gave them an outright majority\nin a 300 seat Assembly. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Yahya\nKhan (the president of Pakistan) came to Dhaka soon afterwards, met Sheikh\nMujib and told reporters that Sheikh Mujib would be the next Prime\nMinister. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n In\nWest Pakistan the People\u2019s Party led by Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto won 81 seats. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Bhutto\ndemanded power sharing. Sheikh Mujib refused.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n In Birmingham and elsewhere in the UK, Huq played his full part in\nthe Bangladesh struggle for independence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Every\nweekday morning at 7 am he would be standing at the gate of one of the\nfactories, Wilmot Breedon or BSA, talking to East Pakistani workers as they\nemerged from the night shift and collecting the small sums they were able to\nafford, five shillings here, ten shillings there. At 8.30 am he would report\nfor duty at the school. then, after a full day of teaching, he would return to\nthe factory gates to catch the workers as they poured out at the end of the day\nshift. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Idrish played a frontline role in the struggle for the new nation.\nHe and his friends were a part of the home-made guerrilla movement: <\/p>\n\n\n\n A few\nrifles for our training were supplied by the police department. There was no\nammunition; there was no shooting practice. Most of us carried replica wooden\nrifles, made by ourselves and painted black to give them an authentic look. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n We\nlearnt about various tactics in guerilla warfare. We were taught how to crawl\non our knees and elbows holding a rifle parallel to the ground. \u2026 In the\nabsence of the real thing we used dried mud balls as grenades. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n We\nstarted imagining ourselves as Viet Cong guerillas fighting the Americans. We\nimagined ourselves in the army of Che Guevara and Fidel Castro. We were the\nheroes in our own imagination. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n How the birth of Bangladesh was announced in\nthese words:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018At 16.31 hours Indian standard time,\nGeneral Amir Abdullah Khan Niazi, commander of the Pakistan Eastern Command,\nsurrendered to General Jagjit Singh Aurora, the general officer commanding of\nthe Indian Eastern command at Ramna Race Course in Dacca. All fighting has\nceased. Dacca (Dhaka) is now the free capital of a free country. We hail the\npeople of Bangladesh in their hour of triumph. All nations who value the human\nspirit will recognise it as a significant milestone in man\u2019s quest for\nliberty\u2026\u2026.\u2019.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Idrish tells us that a new\ncountry was born. <\/p>\n\n\n\n We were free. The hundred or so people\nwho gathered round the radio burst into impromptu chants. <\/em>People\nwere chanting:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018Victory to Bengal, victory to the\nfreedom fighters.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018Joy Bangla, Joy Mukti Bahini.\u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018My country is Bangladesh, your country\nis Bangladesh.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018Amar Desh,Tomar Desh, Bangladesh,\nBangladesh.\u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n People hugged each other and\nmarched through the country paths in darkness. There was an outpouring of\nemotion and people were crying tears of joy. All-India radio played:-<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018A million salutes to you, whose name is\nBangladesh\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018Lakho se Salaam, Bangladesh Zisco Nam.\u2019\n\u201c<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Idrish tells the story in these\nwords: <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2026.. When I reached the Nazneen Cabinet\nfirm, I saw a group of young boys sitting in front of the shop commonly known\nas the Inspector\u2019s shop, which belonged to retired food inspector Muhammad\nAbdul Bari. They were holding rifles in their hands but their heads were\nlowered. They were in a very dishevelled state.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n I recognised one of them, a student of\nRajendra College. They were Freedom Fighters and they had just entered the\ntown. They were part of the Mukti Bahini unit which fought battles the week\nbefore with the Pakistani army at Karimpur Bridge, on the Jessore road, where\nsome of their comrades had fallen. One of the fallen comrades was Meshbauddin\nNoufel, son of the shop\u2019s owner. They had come to see Noufel\u2019s parents who\nlived in their house behind the shop. I knew Noufel, a student of Rajendra\nCollege, a polite and intelligent boy. I felt sad.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n I stood there for a while to pay my\nrespects to them. I had a chat with them. Tears came to my eyes when one of\nthem said, \u2018Today everybody is happy but we are sad.\u2019 I could say nothing in\nreply; there was no reply.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Uncomfortable questions<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n An indication of my interest in\nBangladesh is the various material that I have gathered over the years. In a\ndemocracy it is the norm that the political party that wins the most seats\nforms the government. This had not happened when it came to the Awami League\nled by Sheikh Mujib who had won 160 of the 300 seats for the National Assembly.\n81 of the seats were won by the Pakistan People\u2019s Party (led by Bhutto in West\nPakistan). <\/p>\n\n\n\n In his article \u2013 who broke up\nPakistan? The Nation from London 19-25 May 2007 \u2013 Aqeel Daanish spoke of the\nphrase \u201cidhar hum udhar tum\u201d (us here, you there), which was referenced to\nBhutto who had won most seats in West Pakistan and Mujib had won the most seats\nin East Pakistan. So, Bhutto was effectively saying two majority parties would\nrule in the different wings of Pakistan, in other words a break up of the\ncountry. The writer also points out that right from day one East Pakistan was\ntreated as alien and its population (majority of the nation) were ruled by the\nWestern wing (the minority). <\/p>\n\n\n\n For Syed Munawar Hasan (The\nNation 17.12.2005) <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cdismemberment of Pakistan is to date the\nworst disaster of our national history. Its route cause was the sense of\ndeprivation among Bengalis caused by dictatorial policies of the rulers from\nPakistan. However, the refusal to accept the results of 1970 elections proved\nto be the last nail in the coffin\u201d.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n He also confirmed the \u2018idhar hum,\nudhar tum\u2019 intention of Bhutto. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Ahmad Faruqi (The Nation 11-17\nDecember 2009) wrote an article on the dismemberment of Pakistan and creation\nof Bangladesh; the title says it all: \u2018The darkest December\u2019. The longstanding\ncause of this for him went back to the early days after Pakistan had come into\nexistence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Since the two wings did not share a\ncommon language, it made no sense to impose a single language on them. Imposing\nUrdu, a minority language spoken in the west, made even less sense. But that\nwas precisely what was done in 1952. Deadly language riots ensued in the east.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n He goes onto point out that in the years that\nfollowed the Bengalis felt like they had traded one colonial master for\nanother. This was the same point Choudhury had made: <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Bengalis found\na new ruling group set over them in place of the former British officials. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n It is pleasing to see that some\nin the Pakistani civic society have continued to ask questions about the\nseparation of East and West Pakistan. Recently, it was asked: why was Sheikh\nMujib not invited to form the government when he had won the most number of\nseat? This was by the journalist Tanveer Zaman Khan. The answer is obvious:\nBecause he was from East Pakistan. It was inconceivable for the West Pakistani\ndominated government including and especially for the largest political party\nPakistan People\u2019s Party led by Zualfiqar Ali Bhutto. According to Tanveer\nZaman Khan, for the previous three decades the Western wing had exploited East\nPakistan\u2019s resources- rice, tea and patsun (white jute). Any resources in the\nwestern wing were treated as belonging to the provinces but the resources of\nthe eastern wing were seen as belonging to the Centre (meaning the West). Choudhury\nconfirmed this: <\/p>\n\n\n\n East Pakistan earned most of the country\u2019s\nforeign exchange by the export of jute; yet most of the foreign exchange was\nspent on the industrialization of West Pakistan. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Idrish provides an example of\nBengali exclusion. He mentioned that in 1971 he was watching a cricket match\nbetween an international team and the Pakistan national team (who for the first\nand only time had included one single Bengali player). <\/p>\n\n\n\n I end this review note with two\nquotes, from Idrish. The first of Joan Baez singing the song of Bangladesh: <\/p>\n\n\n\n When the sun sinks in the west<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Die a million people of Bangladesh<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The American poet and activist\nAllen Ginsberg visited the refugee camps in Kolkata and wrote his famous poem\nSeptember on Jessore Road:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Millions of fathers in rain<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Millions of mothers in pain<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Millions of brothers in woe<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Millions of sisters nowhere to go<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Happy belated 52nd<\/sup>\nbirthday anniversary to the nation of Bangladesh. May its people, home and\nabroad, forever go on prospering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I remember 17 December 1971 very well. I had been in England just over one year and two months during which time I had learnt a little about East Pakistan. It was part of Pakistan that I had not heard of until I came to England as a 12 year old. But then I didn\u2019t … <\/p>\n