Jinnah’s Pakistan is back?

With the fall of Hasina Wazed, the Prime Minister (PM), Bangladesh has started to move outside the Indian Halo.

Once the dust settles, future course of action will unfold as there are rumours of external manipulation to take control of the strategic island. Modi’s India is on the defensive. Their Chief Security Adviser has been rushed to contain the damage.

Transitions are important. During this period of re-adjustment Pakistan should not be a mere spectator as together we gained freedom as brothers in faith. Every calamity comes with an opportunity. It is time to heal the wounds, reconciliation leading all the way to a confederation is perhaps the way forward, sooner the better.

Journey for the independence of Muslims of the Indian Subcontinent was started in Decca in 1906 with the launch of All India Muslim League (AIML). Later, the headquarter of the founding party of Pakistan was shifted to Lucknow. The Lahore resolution of 1940 that formed the basis of the partition seven years later was drafted by Maulvi Fazal Haq, a frontline Bengali leader.

Hussain Shaheed Suhrawardy served Pakistan in various capacities and was the first voice of resistance against the Martial Law of October 1958. When Mohtarma Fatima Jinnah decided to challenge the dictator in the 1965 Presidential Elections, East Pakistan (BD now) fully supported her.

First it was the partition in August 1947 that divided the Muslim community in the Sub-continent leaving behind a big chunk at the mercy of the Hindus. With the fall of Decca, Jinnah’s Pakistan was dismembered which created further divisions.

Today the Muslims of the Indian Sub-continent are in bad shape and in total disarray. The special status of Kashmir has also been annulled by the fascist regime of Narendra Modi. There must be a unified front in larger interests of the brothers in faith.

Though Modi has been contained with a big loss in the recently held national elections in India, the Muslim community is being haunted in the once secular land. India is fast turning into Hindustan, a land for the Hindus only where minorities are being harassed and cornered.

With a grand confederation between the two sovereign Muslim states (Pakistan and Bangladesh) those who were left behind can also be protected. Bangladesh has always supported the freedom struggle of their Kashmiri brethren. There was strong opposition in Decca to the unilateral move by Modi in August 2019 to end the special status of the valley. In unity there is strength. The Muslims of the Indian Subcontinent are under threat by the BJP-led fascist regime of Modi.

While several important Bengali leaders of AIML left (Suhrawardy, Fazal Haq, Bhashani) Pakistan Muslim League (PML) soon after partition. Khawaja Nazim-ud-din and Nur-ul-Amin remained loyal till the end as they firmly believed in the ideology that created Pakistan. Despite being in majority, they agreed on parity in the 1956 constitution, which could have sustained the democratic order and unity of the federation. The two Martial Laws (1958, 1969) and the military action in 1970 proved fatal for Jinnah’s Pakistan.

There were some issues with adoption of Urdu language which could have been worked out with mutual understanding. Suhrawardy was the most experienced politician to head the new government in Pakistan but as he was Chief Minister of undivided Bengal he was bypassed.

After the assassination of Liaquat Ali Khan his elevation as PM could have been very beneficial for the union but instead the establishment took control by pushing Khawaja Nazim-ud-din out of the office of the Governor General and into the PM slot.

When the crunch time came the Federal Court under Justice Muhammad Munir in the famous Maulvi Tamizuddin case sided with the establishment. It proved to be the beginning of the end of Jinnah’s Pakistan. There is now a chance of recovery which should not be missed. The doors of reconciliation have to be sprung open with the arrival in Dhaka of a high-powered delegation from Pakistan.

During the days of the Federation, the East Pakistan complained of being bypassed by the Western wing in major policy decisions like shifting of the capital or abrogation of the 1956 constitution. Billions were spent on building Islamabad while our Bengali brothers lived in shacks.

During the peak of protests the stand-up comedians (Bhands) came up with a joke, “ Mujib has promised to shift the capital to Decca while the floods would be directed towards Islamabad “. Awami League also demanded separate currency to protect their foreign exchange earnings from export of jute their ‘golden fibre’.

Under the confederation they will have their capital and currency together with their own language. Security and economic interests of the Muslims of the Sub-continent will be the primary focus of this union. Timing is crucial in a fast-changing world. As custodians of Jinnah’s Pakistan, we must move fast to reunite with our brothers in the Eastern Wing now called Bangladesh. The founders and majority of Pakistan must be brought back as equals in a new confederate structure for Jinnah’s ideology to prevail.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024