The creation of separate state of Pakistan for the Muslim majority areas of British India was result of long struggle for the protection of their rights. Muslims feared that after the British exit, Hindu majority would trample their rights. Contrary to the misperception of communal differences, it was the question of communal rights under democracy that resulted into peaceful democratic struggle that finally succeeded. All India Muslim League under the leadership of Muhammad Ali Jinnah was efficient in galvanising the support at the grassroot level that feared the domination of majority. In short it can be said that Pakistan was outcome of struggle for the protection of human rights of its people.
The appeal for the creation of separate state resonated with the people of erstwhile East Pakistan. The political awareness of the Bengali people was catalyst in kindling the desire for Pakistan. After gaining independence, the people of East Pakistan faced the tyranny of the West Pakistan political/military elite. The Muslim League leadership that had struggled against the British occupation was side-lined and eliminated by the military establishment that had established its hold on the power. After years of indirect intervention, the military of Pakistan had imposed martial law on 7 October 1958. The transition of power from British to the civil leadership of the country was hamstrung from the start with the demise of founding father Muhammad Ali Jinnah in the first year of independence. Those who followed were sent packing one way or the other because of infighting of the politicians and interference by the military in the politics. Once the martial law was imposed, the nascent democracy was crushed in Pakistan.
The people of East Pakistan, the Bengalis felt left out and marginalized from government jobs and state administration in the first decade of country’s life. The sense of deprivation and alienation grew with the passage of time. With the roll back of democracy and imposition of martial law, the Bengalis who were not represented in the Army proportionate to their population realized the domination of military elite who primarily hailed from Punjab in West Pakistan. The exclusion from power circles and sense of deprivation further alienated the people of East Pakistan from the idea of united Pakistan. Those who had struggled fearing the domination of Hindus were now faced with the domination of military establishment.
Extreme sense of deprivation, acute poverty, and political marginalization started developing a chasm in East Pakistan that proved too much to be covered. The military men who were now running the country doomed the future of Pakistan by resorting to use of violence to suppress the people of East Pakistan. Use of violence in all shapes be it torture, abduction, unlawful killing and rape became the tactics of military’s strategy to suppress the uprising of people against the military rule. As last resort the second military dictator General Yahya Khan agreed to hold elections and transfer power to civilian government.
Awami League emerged as the single largest political party in the elections held in 1970. The military dictator General Yahya Khan and Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto the leader of largest political party in West Pakistan basically refused to accept the democratic mandate of Awami Leage and transfer power. We as Pakistanis must face the truth that India had only exploited the divisions between the East and West Pakistan during the civil war that was long the in the making because of the policies of military establishment. The military defeat in East Pakistan at the hands of India was result of hatred that Bengali people had developed against the military dictators of Pakistan. The number of people killed, women raped, children orphaned could be exaggerated as stated by the Bangladeshi government, but it remains shameful fact that such atrocities were committed after all by the military dictators to silence the people’s opposition to dictatorship. The interference of military in leftover/current Pakistan continues even today whereas two military dictators ruled for more than two decades in post 1971 period. The Chief of Army Staff (COAS) of Pakistan’s military runs the country as de facto Prime Minister with Corps Commanders as his ministers. The Corps Commander’s Conference is used as platform to issue statements about political, military, and foreign affairs of the country. Unconditional apology from the people of Bangladesh either by the military or the political elite of Pakistan is still pending.
The brazen election management and political engineering by the military in Pakistan came in the open in the recent elections only because of social media. Pakistan Tehreek Insaaf (PTI) was essentially bulldozed under the state oppression at the hands of military establishment because the leader of PTI started raising the questions about the fundamental question about who should be governing the country. Whether the power to govern the country should reside in the hands of democratically elected representatives of the people of the Pakistan through ballots in an election or whether the military should continue its illegal role in interfering the politics of Pakistan. PTI was stripped of its electoral symbol, its leaders incarcerated, supporters tortured and killed in the worst examples of state terrorism against its own people. Despite all the military crackdown, the people of Pakistan who are now politically aware in the age of social media voted for the PTI backed independent candidates. The overwhelming mandate that the people of Pakistan gave to PTI was stolen by the military establishment. The PTI activists tortured, killed, falsely imprisoned in fake cases, pain the same draconian tactics that military dictators used in East Pakistan.
It is popular misconception and escape argument given by military establishment that defeat in East Pakistan was essentially consequence of broken supply chain due to the geographical incongruity of that territory from the West Pakistan. The military elite deliberately completely fail to shoulder the responsibility for their prime role in the breakup of Pakistan. Had there been non-interference by the military in politics, the democratic process would have kept the country united. If the interference by military continues, the possibility of balkanization of Pakistan despite geographical contiguity cannot be ruled out. The rule of law-based societies consequently internally cohesive and thrive despite the best efforts of worst adversaries and enemies. The illegal abduction of PTI social media activists and shutting down of social media platforms like X, depict nothing but ignorant mindset of military elite that even in this age continues to believe in the utility of violence to solve problems within the very country that they are charged to defend against external enemies.