Daily Times

For any sincere, sensitive and simple person in Pakistan, life usually remains coarse in all months of the calendar, but the month of December becomes exceptionally condescending owing to two national tragedies.

On December 16, 2014 more than 100 of Pakistani kids went to the Army Public School Peshawar and never came back. That massacre resulted not only in the loss of precious lives of army men, school staff but also gave us the heaviest young coffins. Ironically, the bloodbath of APS 2014 was instantly politicized. Some donor supported candle vigils and seminars were hurriedly organized by the usual recipients of their well-intended support. The logical result was earned sceptics, by the common masses. Mainstream electronic media, notably popular and mighty TV channels, looked at the catastrophe with corporate lens and mercilessly made money. Remembering our butchered kids, with music and songs ( that too in main news bulletins) and in a chit chat style in poorly orchestrated current affairs TV shows is unacceptable. Since APS involved sons of soil and mostly Pakhtuns therefore, some serious and sincere reflections, still, do on happen twitter and some parts of the globe.

I rarely recall, what I have faced, because of my ethnic origin (politest printable words are bullied, ridiculed, humiliated and isolated) in school, college, University, job hunts and other social platforms but I admit what I could never forget , even at this age of 50, are those Biharis who kept on waiting for the airplanes that never arrived, after the calamity, known as the Dhaka Fall in my family. I was one of the few luckiest members of Biharis in the former East Pakistan who were then able to escape and landed safely in Karachi, while leaving behind their homes and beloved ones.

On December 16, 1971, Pakistan dismembered, and our eastern became a new Islamic country. Due to apparent dissimilarity in the optics of the two tragedies, geography and time lines, most of the Pakistanis have more accurate or more politically correct knowledge about 16 December 2014 than about 16 December 1971. As of today there has not been not a single remembrance even ceremonial fateha khawani by any forum that matters, for the martyred army men and us(to the best of my knowledge) the civilian Bihari Pakistanis who supported Pakistan army in 1971 and 300,000 or so of us (also known as stranded Pakistanis, A Linguistic Minority”, Camp Based Urdu Speaking Minority or even just “Displaced Persons) still “ live” in 66 camps in 13 regions across Bangladesh.

My country Pakistan has yet not acted to end the problem and even the most revered human rights defenders have failed (many refused as well) to show their solidarity with these marginalised Biharis who subsist, with their most fundamental human rights denied

A, Bangladeshi scholar Iftekharul Bashar, wrote in a research study, that the so-called camps for these abandoned people are miserable due to aging accommodations, poor sanitation, lack of education and healthcare facilities. The livelihood is confined to day labour, barbering, or rickshaw pulling and that too with exploitation. In Bangladesh, the average life expectancy is 60 but the average life span for these Biharis is said to be only 35-40 years. While there is some understanding about the hardships that Biharis face, there is no consensus about how to address the challenge. The two most commonly suggestions are the resettlement of the Biharis in Pakistan and the granting of Bangladeshi citizenship to those who wish it. The older generation (who had official citizenship of Pakistan ,governs employment cards, private business and personal properties-all take away) prefers the former solution, while the younger generation believes their future lies in Bangladesh.

My country Pakistan has yet not acted to end the problem and even the most revered human rights defenders have failed (many refused as well) to show their solidarity with these marginalised Biharis who subsist, with their most fundamental human rights denied. In my different and multilevel exposures and engagements with diverse political workers, civil and military bureaucrats and other influencers in Pakistan, I have noticed a visible insensitivity and apathy towards this unresolved issue. The audacity of many popular intellectuals including twitter and new age media warriors of admonishing that we (Biharis) must learn to love the people where we live (implying we should not support the Pakistan army if the country is under attack?) is also worth mentioning. Biharis residing (and that was also not a choice, but a natural destination after communal riots in Bihar that started in 1946-readers may refer to history) in spite of speaking Bengali with native proficiency could not abstain from loving one Pakistan with her army and therefore could not support their neighbours ,their friends ,their colleagues the Bengalis in their war of liberation (an outcome of the injustices to them ).

Supporting Pakistani army as Pakistani citizens is pardonable ( I think so) and even if not, then at least their next generations must not atone for “this undone sin or crime”. I crave for the day when some government in Pakistan will display the heroism to repatriate these Pakistanis. I further presume that even before any democratic government does it our fearless army will decide for a decent closure. The least my army can do is to dedicate a small inscription to us the patriotic Biharis in the army museum Rawalpindi so that the visitors would realize the actual price of patriotism.

Long Live Pakistan

The writer is a powerless patriotic, apolitical activist and author of the book Pakistan-I still love you. She tweets at dr_rakhshinda

Published in Daily Times, December 21^st 2018.