A Bangladeshi’s Visit to Pakistan

A Bangladeshi’s visit to Pakistan shatters her paradigms

Posted on July 27, 2008 by Moin Ansari

A Bangladeshi respecting Pakistanis, that’s something you won’t find very often from someone from Bangladesh. But the Bangladeshi visitor, Fariha, went to Pakistan and met the regular people, and her perception of Pakistan changed from the traditional anti-Paki views, which was imprinted to us in Bangladesh, to an open minded view. Read the article below thoroughly and you’ll realize us Bengalis are not that different from our fellow Pakistanis.

Fariha wrote:

“ Apko kia pata, ke humara dil apke liye kitna rota hai. Jab aap logo ko koi taklif hota hai to humain lagta hain k taklif humain ho raha hai. Bohot pyar karte hai hum aap se. alag ho gaye to kya hua. Bhai to bhai hota hai. Bangladeshi to humare bhai hai.” Rafe, 60-something, Bus-driver, Lahore

I’ve met people from different parts of the world and traveled to a few places myself. But never, not once, in any of my interactions or travels, have I ever come across a race of people who have made me feel so proud of my nationality: Bangladeshi. But then, I visited Pakistan. I was born in an independent Bangladesh. I’ve never had to struggle to get my voice heard, I was allowed to vote (till quite recently) and I’m allowed to speak my mind. Until my trip to Pakistan, I had never realized how precious all these things are. I had always regarded Pakistan, a distant country, as a bitter chapter in our history. But only after meeting the people did I realize how close we could be and how much my heritage means to them. Never before have I received so much respect for just being Bangladeshi.

Till quite recently, I had never visited Pakistan. Neither had my parents. Since the only Pakistanis I’d met belonged to the educated bourgeoisie class, I had assumed that it was only this select lot who were aware of the atrocities committed in 1971. I had always believed that most Pakistanis believed that Bangladeshis were Kafirs who had let India take them over and regarded us with disdain. Don’t ask me why I thought all of this or what explanation I have for my notions. My notions had stemmed from the prevalent attitude of our pro-liberation buddhijibis, who have, through their own glorifications of our War of Liberation, somehow equated patriotism as anti-Pakistani feeling and instilled that in some of us. In fact, I still know people who think that to be a true patriot you would have to hate Pakistan, with all its institutions and people. Our elders in Bangladesh, somehow always let us think that Pakistanis don’t care about Bangladesh. I’m not blaming them for my ill-conceived ideas. I was partly to blame for judging a whole race simply on the basis of the half-truths I had heard. I am not proud of what I thought. But my recent trip to Pakistan has made me feel proud of who I am and I am proud of my newly acquired views. Though I think that I now face the threat of being termed a ‘paki-lover’ or ‘Rajakar’, I am writing this because I think that our generation needs to know the other side of the story.

America: Dubious Ally Or Outright Enemy?

America: Dubious Ally Or Outright Enemy?

Have our political and military elites lost the will to fight? Where is the befitting response? Our government, and our military, has reduced us to a laughingstock – a joke of a nation that can be pushed around. The point is, if our military is unwilling or unable to fight those who violate our sovereignty and kill our people, then what is the purpose of continuing to beef up and support this expensive organization?

By Shireen M. Mazari

Wednesday, June 18, 2008.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—What have we been reduced to as a result of our successive leaderships’ kowtowing to the U.S. post-9/11? What many of us had feared and written about at the time seems to have come true — be it the
growing U.S. intrusions into our territory or the periodic diatribes from the U.S. against Dr A.Q. Khan whenever they feel Pakistan needs to be put under pressure. However, nothing reflects our state’s sovereign bankruptcy as much as the audacious threats issued by Afghanistan’s Karzai of sending in his Afghan Army into Pakistan to take out “militants” and “terrorists.”

Here is a man who barely has power in his own capital, Kabul, and has hundreds of occupation forces from the
U.S. and NATO — not to mention some Arab contingents from the Gulf states — and he is actually threatening Pakistan, a country with a massive conventional military, and nuclear capability to boot.

Herein lies the irony of Pakistan’s predicament post-9/11. Our military seems to have no stomach for fighting the violations of our sovereignty by the U.S. and its allies. That has emboldened the U.S. and they now feel they can target the Pakistani security forces directly — as they did in March 2008 in Bajaur, and more recently last week in
the Mohmand Agency which left 11 FC men dead, apart from the civilians that are a constant target of U.S. and NATO forces — especially as their frustration has grown over their lack of success in Afghanistan.

Since the war began in Afghanistan, one has seen only whimpers of protest from the Pakistani military and the government in response to brazen attacks on Pakistani soil by U.S./NATO forces in which many innocent Pakistani civilians have died. Sheltering behind these forces are the ragtag members of the “Afghan Army” — which Karzai now wants to send into Pakistan! Karzai, whose security forces stood helpless in the face of a massive prison break, actually thinks the Pakistani military is so weak that the same ineffectual security forces can simply march into our country and carry out military actions against our people.

Our government, and our military, has reduced us to a laughingstock – a joke of a nation that can be pushed around militarily by all and sundry. The point is, if our military is unwilling or unable to fight those who violate our sovereignty and kill our people, then what is the purpose of continuing to beef up and support this expensive
organization? Here we were thinking our investment in nuclear weapons and updating of conventional weapon systems would ensure that our borders were secure and any military threat from anywhere would be dealt with effectively by the Pakistan military. Yet nothing of the sort has happened. Instead, we continue to be subject to U.S. military attacks as and when they choose. From all accounts, they do not bother to inform us either until after the event. And all we do is whimper a few protests.