Speakers at a reference organized by the Nazriya Pakistan Council (NPC) in memory of the dismemberment of Pakistan (Dec 16, 1971) and massacre of the young students of the Army Public School (Dec 16, 2014) termed both the incidents two dark chapters in the history of Pakistan.
They also participated in a dialogue titled ‘Ties with new Bangladesh’ and urged the government to address the trust deficit and move forward to befriend the new government of Bangladesh forgetting the sore past.
Chairman of the NPC Mian Muhammad Javed presided over the ceremony while former diplomats and intellectuals SalahuddinChaudhry, Afrasiyab Mehdi, SajjadAfzalCheema were invited as keynote speakers. They discussed various aspects of the Pakistan-Bangladesh relations and explained why it was important to mend ties with the new setup there.
Afrasiyab Mehdi Hashmi who has served in India as diplomat for several years said Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah was right when he advocated the ‘Two Nation Theory’ because despite living with the Hindus for 600 years the Muslims of the subcontinent were facing persecution, exploitation and repression.
Even after the establishment of Pakistan as an independent nation, India has never accepted the country and always conspired against its integrity, sovereignty, in short, its very existence.
Creation of Bangladesh in 1971 was the result of the conspiracies the successive Indian governments had been hatching against Pakistan, said Afrasiyab adding that after creation of a new country out of Pakistan’s territory, the former Indian Prime Minister Indra Gandhi had proudly stated that they had buried the ‘Two Nation Theory’ in the Bay of Bengal. However, he termed the current ‘revolution’ in Bangladesh a wave of awakening and the people there are now realizing it was a mistake to part ways with Pakistan, he said. Mian Muhammad Javed Chairman of the NPC echoed AfrasiyabHashmi’s views and recalled how devastated the Pakistanis were in 1971 at the news of the dismemberment of Pakistan and creation of a new country. However, now time is ripe to approach our erstwhile brothers and sisters and bridge the distance, he said.
