December 16, 1971, is remembered as a black day in Pakistan’s history. More commonly known as the ‘Fall of Dhaka’, the day marks the independence of Bangladesh and the breaking up of Pakistan into two parts. The disintegration of Pakistan came about due to many factors. The immediate cause was the military operation and the consequent atrocities committed by the Pakistan Army. This resulted in the influx of millions of refugees from East Pakistan into India, which gave the Indian military the justification to directly intervene.
The way West Pakistan treated East Pakistan also busted the theme of the Two Nation Theory. The Muslims of Pakistan in East Pakistan had to suffer at the hands of the minority group, i.e. West Pakistan. The domination of West Pakistan was visible right from the beginning. What added to the woes of the Bangalis was that despite East Pakistan being a major foreign revenue earner, the revenue was spent on the development and industrialization or the partitions of West Pakistan. This made the Bangalis feel as if East Pakistan was being treated as a colony.
I hope that we have to learn our lesson from the 1971 debacle and nothing of this sort would be repeated again in Pakistan.
