Daily Times

The experts at a reference on the 50 years of East Pakistan Separation in 1970 on Thursday said that the country needed to promote national consensus with a single goal, justice, strengthening of all institutions and democracy to avert tragedy like the Dhaka fall in the future.

The reference on East Pakistan was organized by Pakistan Media Think Tank and Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ-Dastoor) participated by experts, senior journalists, politicians, civil society activists and lawyers. Speaking on the occasion, President PFUJ-Dastoor Haji Nawaz Raza said there were still positive sentiments and love for Pakistan and needed to be encouraged to bring the two countries closer.

He said the day had its own significance but there was a clear message for the entire nation that every segment and stakeholder of the country was responsible for its negligence that resulted in separation of East Pakistan.

Pakistan should learn from this lesson of history that right to rule should be given to the popular faction and judicious distribution of resources for all the provinces should be ensured, he added.

Hurriyet Leader Abdul Hameed Lone said East Pakistan’s separation was a great tragedy which was unfortunately was misrepresented by various factions of the society. India under the leadership of Indra Gandhi orchestrated propaganda to provoke hatred against Pakistan among pro-Pakistan Bengali’s that paved the way for fall of Dhaka, he added.

“We salute Quaid-e-Azam for his vision to recognize the hidden motives of Hindu mindset and created a separate homeland,” he added.

Senior Journalist Dr Abdul Wadood Qureshi said India in a clandestine effort separated East Pakistan by design and attacked on Pakistan’s ideology, socio-economic linkages and nationalism.

He suggested that the nation must shun all the fake news against state institutions and national political leadership leading to hatred against the state.

Members from the Lawyers fraternity expressed that December 16 gave a shocking message to the entire society of the country that how and why the Bengali’s who led Pakistan movement went against their own country.

They added that national goals should be set to develop consensus and also rule of law and constitutional supremacy should be ensured as it were the key to success for Pakistan. Media’s role was also critical in raising voice for the marginalise factions facing injustice and unequal distribution of resources and should serve as eyes and ears of the state to safeguard national interests, they said.

War veteran of 1971 War and Senior leader of Jamaat-i-Islami mentioned that he among others fought with honour for the defence of East of Pakistan, however, the deprivation and degradation of Bengalis as a polity and political faction led to the event of Separation.

Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Secretary Information North Punjab Engineer Iftikhar Ahmed Chaudhry said after this tragedy it was imperative that Pakistanis as a nation needed to realise there individual responsibilities and play their role for practical steps towards nation building instead of hollow criticism.