Monday, Dec 16, 2013
KARACHI:
Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain on Monday said that the ‘fall of Dhaka’ was the gloomiest chapter of Pakistan’s history and it could never be forgotten.
Hussain’s remarks came to mark the Dhaka Fall Day on December 16th, when the eastern part of this country detached itself and became Bangladesh after the bloody war and riots in 1971.
Recalling the uneven and unjust behaviour with the then Bengali population of Pakistan, Hussain said that instead of giving their due rights their voice was suppressed through military might.
He further said that those Bengalis who laid priceless sacrifices for the establishment of Pakistan in 1947 were deprived of their due place and rights in the society. Injustice was rendered against them in every sphere of life.
The MQM chief said that the power mongering mafia tolerated the division of the country into two parts but refused to give the rights to the deprived population of the east Pakistan.
He stressed the need of learning lesion from the blunders committed in the past and treading a new path which should be deviated from the old ways.
Meanwhile, Jamatud Dawa Pakistan, a radical party staged protests in this mega city to mark the Dhaka Fall as well as to condemn hanging of Abdul Qadir Mullah by the Bangleshi government last week. Dozens of activists gathered outside the Karachi Press Club and offered memorial prayers for Mulla, the Jamate Islami leader, who was convicted of genocide, rape and other crimes during the 1971 riots.
The speakers said that by opening and conducting trial on the leaders Bangladeshi government violated the tripartite agreement that was signed after the war was over in 1971.
The sentence of Mulla had triggered riots and plunged Bangladesh into worst violence since independent. Some 235 people have so far been killed in street protests since January when verdicts of death sentence for pro-Pakistani leaders were announced.
Independent researchers put the death toll between 300,000 to 500,000 during the Dhaka Fall whereas the Bangladeshi government claims three million deaths during the 1971 war and riots.
By Mohammad Ashraf, Correspondent
Gulf News 2013. All rights reserved.
