Volume 7, No. 1, January 2025
Editor: Rashed Rahman
One of the surprising things about the developments in Bangladesh has been the extent to which the criminal governance of the Sheikh Hasina regime mimicked governance in Pakistan. Despite our separation more than half a century ago – and the superior economic and social performance of Bangladesh – this shared malfeasance of governance suggests a surprising similarity of political dysfunction. The ray of hope that the youth, women and poor of Pakistan have demonstrated in the dark times of today has been demonstrated in even greater measure by the youth, women and poor of Bangladesh.
Unsurprisingly, developments in Bangladesh have enthused public opinion in Pakistan. But it has also aroused forebodings among our elite usurpers, exploiters and collaborators who have witnessed what could be their fate. They most likely hope for a faltering of the caretaker government and a reassertion of the ‘establishment’ in Bangladesh which, until the last moment, was the backbone of the Sheikh Hasina regime. The military in Bangladesh may still try for a de facto ‘hybrid’ model of governance that would nominally be in accordance with the letter of Bangladesh’s Constitution while actually being in complete violation of its intent and spirit, as is the case in Pakistan today.
Accordingly, the people in Pakistan will wish to see the caretaker leader, Nobel Peace laureate Mohammad Yunus, succeed in his commitment to credible and independently monitored elections as soon as possible, leading to genuine constitutional, democratic and responsible governance in Bangladesh based on unquestioned civilian supremacy. This would increase the confidence of the Pakistani people that their own stolen verdict of February 8, 2024 will be restored. For this to happen, however, concerned citizens, especially workers, students, civil society groups and people-friendly political parties will need to emulate the determination and accomplishments of their brethren in Bangladesh.
There are, however, reports that Mohammad Yunus is close to the US and was used by the US and India against Hasina after she refused the US request for a military base on Bangladesh’s Saint Martin’s Island for use against China. Bangladesh under Hasina has developed close relations with China. India, which was a firm supporter of Hasina and is a de facto ally of the US against China, allegedly saw her assertion of strategic independence and cooperation with China as a threat to its Subcontinental hegemony and a possible move towards improved relations with Pakistan. Such reports, however, are for the time being more speculative than confirmed.
Meanwhile, a friend recently commented that developments in Bangladesh did not constitute a real revolution because a number of essential elements of a revolution were missing. I suggested in jest that Pakistan should offer to reunite with our former compatriots to scare them into a real revolution, implying (i) given their parents’ and grandparents’ experience of united Pakistan they will do anything – including bringing about a real revolution – to avoid repeating that experience, and (ii) the fact that we were once fellow Pakistanis should provide an indissoluble bond between our countries when we securely achieve freedom from our respective domestic oppressors.
After all, the Muslim League took shape in Dhaka and, to put it politely, the role of the Muslims of Bengal in the Pakistan Movement was far more consistent than those of Punjab where Muslim political leaders were until a year before Partition mostly members or supporters of the Unionist Party. Moreover, East Pakistanis were more patriotic and loyal than West Pakistanis, especially the politicians, bureaucrats and soldiers of Punjab, who treated our Bengali compatriots with contempt, and finally perpetrated what many international human rights organisations have described as genocide against them. An explicit and unqualified apology is long overdue, not only to make amends to our Bangladeshi brethren, but also for our own sake and our own commitment to fundamental human values. Our Bangladeshi brethren may, however, have to be content with a token compensation because of the pathetic state of the Pakistani economy.
Such a gesture, even if symbolic, would be a prerequisite for a reconciliation and close relationship between Bangladesh and Pakistan that could go a long way towards mitigating the tragedy of 1971, and restoring our own fidelity to Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah and the Pakistan Movement. It would also help in putting a halt to the transformation of Pakistan into a fatally dysfunctional ‘Greater Punjab’ that is being forcibly imposed on the people of Pakistan today. This can only be avoided if as a first step the February 8, 2024 verdict of the people of Pakistan is unconditionally, unequivocally and immediately restored.
As an ‘ideological’ state Pakistan must also aspire to embody universal humanitarian and moral values essential to the survival of humanity in these dystopian times. This is especially critical at a time when we are compelled to witness on a daily basis the indescribable and unforgiveable evil that is brazenly perpetrated by the US and its miserable puppet Israel on our Palestinian brethren, with our leaders and rulers underlining their contemptible helplessness with effete and faint criticisms. What can be more despicable than the deliberate and systematic murder of Palestinian children being rewarded by a superpower with an announcement of further instalments of military assistance and diplomatic support to the murderers, along with buckets of crocodile tears for the murdered children and the devastated survivors, accompanied by a charade of peace making? The US reaction to Nagasaki’s refusal to invite Israel to the commemoration of the nuclear holocaust perpetrated on it by the US itself speaks volumes about the enormity of its perverse arrogance. Equally contemptible is Germany expiating its Holocaust guilt by supporting Israeli Nazis to the extent of prosecuting those protesting Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
Returning to the Subcontinent, Bangladesh’s strategic options with regard to India are more limited than Pakistan’s. Accordingly, it will be in Pakistan’s interest to ensure its developing relations with Bangladesh – both bilaterally and within the context of SAARC – without complicating the latter’s relations with India, which it is in no position to counterbalance. This objective can be facilitated by an improvement in Pakistan-India relations which will, of course, require movement towards a resolution of ‘core issues’, including a principled settlement of the Kashmir dispute in accordance with the verified wishes of the Kashmiri people. This in turn would require an enhancement of Pakistan’s standing in the international community so that its legitimate, realistic and cogent views can influence international opinion, which a Pakistan under the jackboot of its own military can never do. It would also require India to consider the legal and moral dimensions of becoming a regional or even global power, and to shape its policies towards its neighbours accordingly. As of now this appears to be a tall order. But it does not have to remain beyond reach provided India’s national and external policies can move towards far-sighted wisdom instead of shortsighted force.
These realities become even more critical when relations with the two global superpowers are brought into the picture. Suffice it to say here that should South Asia begin to provide a picture of relative harmony and success it could collectively contribute to the amelioration of superpower tensions, and significantly contribute towards a world more likely to avert ‘midnight’ on the Doomsday Clock. If, however, the US insists on forcing a choice, then the choice for South Asia as an Asian region should be obvious. Pakistan’s regional diplomacy should in that case work towards making that choice feasible. Other regions have a similar potential to contribute for better or worse to global security, prosperity and survival. But South Asia which is home to two billion people – almost a quarter of humanity – can have a special role to play in the fate of humankind. Moral imagination, if it begins to inform practical policy and decision making, can have a transformative power like no other.
The opposite of moral imagination is, of course, cynicism posing as realism, which Oscar Wilde brilliantly described as knowing the price of everything but the value of nothing. Unfortunately, so much of our current intellectual analysis and commentary, and political and bureaucratic decision making, is based on such ‘know everything, know nothing’ cynical pragmatism, which is the worst kind of pessimism and defeatism. If our middle class intelligentsia can really believe in Pakistan, we may yet escape from the death trap set for it by our extractive elites. Otherwise, it will take a revolution to save Pakistan.
The writer is a former Ambassador.