This is apropos a Business Recorder op-ed with the headline “The Dhaka debacle” carried by the newspaper recently.
No doubt, the dismemberment of Pakistan on December 16, 1971, as pointed out by the learned writer, Qamer Soomro, remains one of the most painful episodes in our chequered history.
He has also pointed out, among other things, that “Very few people remember and mourn this painful episode. Every year, December 16, with its bitter chill and serene calm, comes and goes unwept and unmourned.**
No light is shed on the sordid events culminating in an ignominious fall. No feathers are unruffled. No tears are shed. Better yet, the day deserves to be declared a national day of mourning, recalling the great days of our unification and the painful breakaway of a part of our body.
Our rulers, never tired of the rhetoric of singing the songs of their merits and delivery, seldom find time to reflect on our painful past or apprise us—especially the younger generation—how our follies led to the dismemberment of one of the largest Muslim countries and the lessons learnt from this great tragedy.“
The writer’s pessimism, in my view, is based on plausible reasons, so to speak. Needless to say, history is an important subject because it moulds the outlook of the younger generation.
Our successive governments’ approach to the Dhaka debacle is highly questionable as none has shown the required seriousness to learn lessons from this tragedy that attended us in 1971.
German philosopher Hegel had famously said that “the only thing we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history.” In my view, his seems to be a sardonic comment on how we as a nation successfully sweep the Dhaka debacle under the carpet to avoid embarrassment.
Sajid Khan Durrani (Quetta)
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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