state religion

Monday, January 12, 2009


This is with reference to S Khalid Husain’s letter titled “State and religion” (Jan 7). He asks “why did the Bengali Muslims of East Pakistan choose to go their separate way as a different nationality?” The answer, as is well-known, was the refusal by our politicians and the army to hand over power to the leader of the party which won a clear majority in the 1970 elections.

Bangladeshis are staunch Muslims (they even observe Friday as the weekly holiday), and they loudly cheer our cricket teams whenever there is a match between India and Pakistan. The inflexible attitude of our politicians and generals resulted in the secession of East Pakistan.

Shakir Lakhani

Karachi

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