KARACHI: Notable and prominent intellectuals said that lessons should be learnt from the tragedies like Army Public School APS Pishawar and fall of Dhaka, while apparently it was not done.
They expressed these views on Wednesday while addressing a seminar entitled: 16 December Fall of East Pakistan and Peshawar tragedy, organized by the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Karachi at its headquarters.
Renowned figure from judicial fraternity, Justice (Reted) Wajihuddin said that tragedies do not occur all at once but are results and implications of long series of injustice.
He said that the society have to learn some core lessons from the tragedies of 1971 and 2014.
He continued that the people of the then East Pakistan were subjected to worst behaviour and insults, which should never had been done. He said that unfortunately 90, 000 soldiers were compelled to surrender by our own ruling regime, while a long war could be fought in Bangladesh against the Indian invasion.
Justice (Retd) Wajihuddin said that pro Pakistan elements are still being subjected to political revenge while the Pakistani government is playing the role of only an spectator.
He said that old and baseless cases were being opened under the so-called international war crime tribunals, which is sheer violations of the 1974 accord. He was of the view that the Pakistani government should have approached the United Nations and other international forums against these brutal and illogical hangings.
He also raised the issue of stranded Pakistanis in Bangladeshi who are living in miserable conditions in Bangladeshi camps. He reminded of the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif that he had announced to bring back the stranded Pakistanis in Bangladesh and to settle them in Punjab.
Wajihuddin was of the view that Bangladeshi government can be compelled to shun its nefarious campaign of culling and killing all peaceful people who were in the favour of united Pakistan in past.
JI central leader Asadullah Bhutto said that the nation cannot forget the tragedies of 1971 and 2014.
He was of the view that for the integration and survival of a state, it is necessary to accept and respect the viewpoint of masses. He said that it was the only way to avoid the tragedies like fall of Dhaka and Peshawar tragedies.
Bhutto said that international powers and Indian invasion and conspiracies were also equally responsible for the tragedy and split of Pakistan in 1971. He strictly criticized India for its expending aggregation policies.
He stressed the need to analyze the factors behind the split of the country just after 24 years of its inception.
JI, Karachi chief Engr. Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman said that the goal of eliminating terrorism from our society cannot be achieved without figuring out the causes of terrorism and hitting hard on them.
He was of the view that the current dismal scenario and the tragedies like APS, Peshawar open the doors of brain storming and deliberations for the intelligentsia of the society.
He raised the question that terrorists organizations like IS, who appears in mysterious situations with the apparent support of global powers, hit hard against the cause of peaceful, democratic Islamic revolutionary movements.
Speaking on the occasion, senior journalist and scholar Shahnawaz Farooqui said that the Muslim world has three major setbacks in its history: the fall of Bagdad, Dehli and Dhaka and among them fall of Dhaka was the most horrible due to its implications.
He continued that the tragedy of Dhaka not resulted in the split of the largest Islamic country but also set a shameful example when 90,000 soldiers lay down their weapons.
The scholar was of the view that the shame associated with the 1971 tragedy was still haunting the psychology of our society because we did not let it to go through our compos mentis.
Shedding light on the importance of ideology, he said that ideology supports individuals and nations to overcome their fears and personal interests.
Talking about the causes of the 1971 tragedy, he said that Bengali people have legitimate complains which were not addressed, resultantly these issues were exaggerated and exploited later.
He said that it was the insult of Bengali people and their civilization, not only economic issues that create a situation in which Pakistan was split. “They were denied of their civil, economic and political rights,” he added.
Siddiqui said that the nation needs to learn lessons from the tragedy as the fall of Dhaka was a wound for the entire nation not only JI.
Renowned researcher and chairperson Economics department, Institute of Business Administration, Shahida Wezarat said that apparently the Pakistani nation is being treated as guinea pigs.
Referring to the media reports, citing Pakistani forces participation in the fight in middle East, she said that apparently no lesson has been learnt from the tragedies of 1971 and 2014 as lines for a new war are being finalized,
She criticized the ruling regime, as well as political parties, for the passage of seed act and said that Pakistani nation is being subjected to horrible experiments just for the sake of green back.
Wizarat criticized the Bangladeshi government for their political revenge in the name of war tribunals. She also criticized the Pakistani government for its criminal silence over continued hangings in Bangladesh. She said that those in Pakistan who were associated with India were acceptable while those associated with Pakistan in abroad are not being owned and supported by the government.
