Recognising past injustices is no favour, it's a responsibility

Express Tribune

09-03-2025

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As a Pakistani Bihari feminist, I am still drawing parallels between the targeted, brutal killings of poor Punjabis in present-day Pakistan and the targeted, ethnic cleansing of Biharis in former East Pakistan. The 2024 shift in Bangladesh, where the pro-Indian and anti-Pakistan government of Sheikh Hasina Wajid was ousted, appears to be a divine intervention, aligning with the students' movement.
As I reflect on media narratives and political puppeteering, I wonder: why does justice remain so blurry for Biharis? Why is there no one among the mighty ones to assert my community's case — for their repatriation to Pakistan, their equal citizenship rights in Bangladesh, the return of their properties, the restoration of their dignity, or at least some signs of remorse from the elites of both countries? We have been consistently dismissed as irrelevant stakeholders — whether in past agreements aimed at normalising relations or in the recent overenthusiasm to establish excellent camaraderie.
I have long lamented the media's cleverly shifted gaze and the politicians' impotence in this regard. But today, I genuinely want to know: why are our renowned and eminent scholars - experts in regional Studies - so utterly devoid of common sense and a human rights perspective? Many of them have traveled to foreign lands, including Bangladesh, on various fellowships and exchange programmes, and now they are once again promoting similar over-simplistic models for establishing "normal" ties with Bangladesh. Why do they fail to grasp the human melancholy of recent history?
Interventions such as carefully curated movies, music melas, military alliances, sudden sisterhood seasons and media engagement are not the magic mantra here. If this recipe had worked, India would have been our best friend. People cannot be fooled; they know their choices. Somehow, political leaders and their handlers treat people like pieces in a chess game. Most disgusting among them are those who masquerade as subject matter experts in such situations.
The audacity of many Pakistani IR and defence experts who shamelessly argue that acknowledging the Bihari issue would "complicate" relations with Dhaka is worth mourning. Is the propensity of many Pakistani experts in IR, defence studies and policy analysis to ignore the plight of stranded Biharis in Bangladesh while advocating for stronger Pakistan-Bangladesh bonds merely an oversight, or is it a deliberate destruction of an inconvenient truth?
I have stated my protests and discomfort through my writings and podcasts, highlighting the abrupt emergence of so-called experts on Bangladesh and their noticeable exclusion of the Biharis and other non-Bengali Urdu speakers, who continue to subsist in the ghettos of Bangladesh. As expected, my concerns were conveniently ignored. And, as always, I received my due share of contempt.
The messages I receive not only disrespect my entire community but celebrate our plight. These dispatches do not just come from unknown sources; they originate from intellectuals, reformists, liberals and feminists - people otherwise revered as promoters of peace, tolerance and coexistence. We are not only despised by nationalists but also omitted by well-settled Biharis and Urdu speakers, particularly in Karachi.
I do not wish to undermine the works of the few good people within Pakistan or in the diaspora, but the bitter truth remains: our own community did not play the role it could have. Maybe the burdens of trauma and survival struggles have compelled them to distance themselves from the miseries of those who are 1000 miles away from the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. All of this was enough to remind me - yet again - of what I have always known but still struggled to accept: the sustained, unholy and criminal elitist consensus and hypocrisy within these so-called champions of rightness.
The Pakistani Biharis of East Pakistan have been expunged from official histories, their struggle tempered in media reports and their fate forgotten in official discourse. But we exist. And we refuse to be silent. The art of selective amnesia defines the politics of South Asia. History, when narrated by the victors, effortlessly confiscates challenging truths.
Fifty-three years after 1971, my community remains a footnote in the majestic stories of Bangladesh, Pakistan and global bosses of human rights. Since August 5, 2024, I have read dozens of columns and blogs and followed social media discussions on 1971 and traumatic "past". For us trauma is still in the present. What I have gathered is a collection of exclusionary and inaccurate narratives.
Many think pieces have successfully snubbed the full historical context — particularly the human rights violations faced by pro-Pakistani Biharis and non-Bengali Urdu speakers, from the beginning of the language movement around 1948, to their enforced statelessness in Bangladesh since 1971. This obliviousness prevents a thorough understanding of the bilateral relationship. Such writings, along with numerous podcasts, expose a clear-cut bias — focusing solely on recent positive developments in Pakistan-Bangladesh contacts while limiting or entirely ditching unresolved injuries, especially the quandary of stateless populations. By failing to initiate an all-inclusive meaningful dialogue about the rights and citizenship status of stranded Biharis, these influencers deliberately evade an opportunity to resolve long standing humanitarian issues.
My plea to these professors and scholar-warriors is straightforward: revisit your intellectual honesty and re-evaluate your positions on this complex spectrum of issues. Empathy is a skill - it can be learned and integrated into your perspectives. As someone deeply connected to both her community and humanity at the grassroots level, I know one fundamental fact: any reconciliation without truth is illegitimate and hollow.
The continued erasure of the Bihari question by so-called experts will only jeopardise efforts to build a Pakistan-Bangladesh relationship on firm foundations. This disingenuous approach will crumble under the weight of unresolved historical injustices. Instead of chasing the illusion of "excellent friendship" and pleasing certain quarters by sidestepping embarrassing truths, it is time for an intellectually and morally daring approach - one that embraces the whole historical truth, no matter how painful it may be.
For powerless activists and advocates, the only hope lies in narratives that acknowledge both progress and persistence, pressing both governments to address historical wrongs and ensure equitable treatment for all communities affected by past atrocities.