ON 5 August, Hasina Wajid’s helicopter landed in Agartala. My thoughts drove me back to my childhood when my parents would talk about Agartala Conspiracy case and Shaikh Mujib-ur-Rehman in their post dinner family chit chat. And now, angry mobs of young Bengalis had driven Shaikh Mujib’s daughter into exile –again to Agartala. For Pakistani observers, a balanced and dispassionate dissection of Bangladesh’s recent developments is next to impossible. Emotions run too high. My first thought was, has the pendulum of history hit the opposite extreme? Does it mark a reversal of the legacy and undoing of the reverence of Shaikh Mujib in the eyes of younger generation of Bengalis? Or a rethink of the very narrative on which Bangladesh was created? Or is it simply that protesting students were venting out their anger against their Government?
One thing is clear: Protesting students were unambiguous in their disapproval of Shaikh Mujib: recall those viral visuals of young Bangladeshis vandalizing his statue in Dhaka; and those pics of students setting Bangabandhu Memorial Museum on fire; this Museum was once residence of Shaikh Mujib-ur-Rehman. Recall that attack on the Mujib Nagar Memorial Complex that marked the site where Shaikh Mujib had made his famous speech on 7 March 1971.Sculptures attacked here included that of surrender by Pakistani Army in 1971. And these attacks came hours ‘after’ Hasina had fled the country; thus closer being a celebration rather than an uncomplicated student protest.
On the top of that came the [caretaker] government’s formal decision to scrap 15 August commemoration as “Black Day”; 15 August was to be observed as the Black Day to commemorate the assassination of Shaikh Mujib-ur-Rehman. I read it as a veiled endorsement by the Bangladesh Government, of the dismantling of Mujib’s symbols by the mob. Protests were ignited by a Court’s decision reinstating the quotas for government jobs; primarily against 30% seats reserved for the descendants of 1971 war veterans. Importantly, this quota system continued through regimes of both major political parties as well as during the non-democratic regimes; hence a universal endorsement.
These quotas were a strong instrument for preservation of Mujib’s legacy and narrative. They were an asset for Awami League and its patrons in New Delhi. End of these quotas would mean goodbye to a network that had fortified Pro-Mujib [read pro-India] ideology in Bangladesh. But those recruited on these quotas in the past still remain in the system and could serve as a lever for Awami League’s endeavours for a comeback. Awami League’s sympathetic voices are already audible.
What drove the protests on an unprecedented scale was a piled up anger against high handedness of Awami League. That is not something new. Four years of Mujib’s rule had not gone well with most of the Bengalis. Jatiya Rakhi Bahini – a paramilitary force formed by Shaikh Mujib in 1972 was blamed for its death squads, forced disappearance and rape. Human Rights Watch blamed it for “institutionalized violence” and a culture of impunity and human rights abuses. Neemat Imam’s novel “Black Coat” which was themed around excesses of Mujib era won international acclaim.
Fast forward to 2024 and Awami League’s Chhatra League hit the headlines for violence in educational institutions. Chhatra League is another historic wing of the Awami League that remained under sharp criticism for violence in educational institutions. Stories of Aynaghar were recently carried by media all around the world and are known to all. A major source of public anger against Hasina Wajid’s party stems from its deep-rooted connections with India, which date back even before the inception of Bangladesh. India is often seen as a key factor behind many of the Awami League’s past electoral successes. India’s relations with its smaller neighbours are marked by two characteristics: One, India is hated by publics of all its neighbours and two, New Delhi’s irresistible itch to meddle with and control the affairs of its smaller neighbours hence putting their government’s under pressure and in restraint. Both are permanent fixtures of India’s relations with its smaller neighbours.
Violent clashes on Modi’s arrival when he visited Bangladesh on Shaikh Mujib’s birth anniversary in 2021 were a classical example: public was wanting to wave their shoes to Modi while their Government was bending over backwards to appease him. To sum up this unprecedented wave of pubic resentment that we saw was directed against the historic high handedness of Awami League (including Shaikh Mujib) and hatred for its bosses in New Delhi. Quotas served to ignite. As we speak future of power in Bangladesh Government remains unclear. Needles to say, India’s coercion of Bangladesh would continue to pose limitations for whosoever rules that country. For Pakistan, it is a blissful end of a15-year long era of Bangladesh’s foreign policy that was far from being friendly towards Pakistan; an era when anti-Pakistan narrative was fed into the minds of the younger Bangladeshi generation. It seems – and thanks God – it did not work. This is the time for us to reassure our Bangladeshi brethren of our warmth towards them. We view them as our friends and brothers. A high level visit and some cultural exchanges would be a good start of a new era. Also, our future expectations from Bangladesh should take into account limitations of the Government in Dhaka. That is important.
—The writer is former Special Secretary, Pakistan Foreign Ministry and former Ambassador to Nepal and South Africa.
