Why are the EU & IMF suddenly concerned about human rights in Pakistan?

First it was the European Union which warned that Pakistani exports to the EU would no longer enjoy duty free status if human rights violations, child marriages, media curbs, etc were not ended. Now the IMF has sent a delegation to meet politicians, judges and others to determine whether there has been any improvement after their money started flowing. I'm against this government's policies, particularly the curbs on the media, but why do the EU and the IMF suddenly want to do it now?

Why didn't the EU say anything when the then Bangladesh government started executing pro-Pakistani politicians some years back? Is there something about Pakistan that they feel threatened by?

I can't help thinking that it is Imran Khan's blitzkrieg that's behind all this. He is so rich that he doesn't mind spending a few million here and there to get out of jail. Last week he got another US politician to ask Trump to get Imran released. One wonders how far the convicted leader will go to malign Pakistan.

The 1971 debacle: loss of East Pakistan

It's been more than fifty years since we lost half the country. The war is still fresh in our minds, and I remember how we felt when our army surrendered without putting up much of a fight. But now the outgoing chief of the army (Gen. Bajwa) says that it was the politicians who were responsible for the debacle. 

This is surprising, as the country was under military rule at the time. In fact, the country's downfall began in 1958 when General Ayub Khan seized power and ruled for eleven long years. If he had followed his own 1962 constitution and handed power to the Speaker (an East Pakistani), things would have been different. Instead, he chose to leave the country in the hands of a drunken lout, General Yahya, who spent most of his time on wine, women and song.

If General Yahya had been a competent officer, he would not have listened to Bhutto. The way forward was clear: the Awami League of Shaikh Mujeebur Rahman had won a decisive victory in the 1970 elections and Mujeeb should have been the prime minister. But as Bhutto didn't want to sit in the opposition, but wanted all power for himself, this did not happen. Yahya should have ignored Bhutto and gone ahead with Mujeeb forming the government. 

All that is in the past now, but it was the military, not the politicians, who were responsible for the debacle.

 

Learning from history

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Young people nowadays are not at all interested in history. "What's the use", they ask. "History is always written by the victors". So it's not surprising that most of them don't know that Bangladesh was once East Pakistan, and the school textbooks don't mention the shameful surrender of our armed forces on December 16, 1971. Even those who were teens at the time believe that East Pakistan was a burden on the country and needed to be separated from the country, although nowadays it seems the other way around. The miraculous recovery of that country from being a basket case to having an economy that is twice ours is food for thought. Of course, our leaders never think of such things like women empowerment, which is the chief reason for Bangladesh's superb performance.

Coming back to history, I'm reading about the Mughals under Akbar. It's astounding to find out how much you don't know. I didn't know for instance, that Akbar had men of all Indian religions advising him. His army was under the control of Man Singh, a Hindu Rajput. He had Jains advising him as well. But he would have become a Christian if being one would have allowed him to have more than one wife.

I didn't know that he'd given up being a Muslim in the last decade of his life, and had become a sun worshiper. But the most astounding thing is that he founded a new religion and began forcing his courtiers to worship him. Most did so, because they knew they would benefit from calling him God. But his army chief Raja Man Singh refused, saying that he would even convert to Islam rather than worship Akbar. One would've thought Akbar would sack him on the spot, but he didn't. At least he knew that good men are hard to get.

Our youngsters can learn a lot about human nature from reading history, if they have the time. But reading is now regarded as a deadly sin by most Pakistanis. 

Memories of the 1971 war

In today's DAWN (from past pages 1971 "Newsprint usage"), it is reported that the government had asked all morning newspapers to restrict consumption of newsprint from 48 to 46 pages a week (even today, DAWN prints 100 pages a week due to reduced readership). That brought back memories of the '71 war which we lost due to the stupidity of our leaders.

Bengali rebels had captured Chittagong port and the surrounding areas, killing hundreds of Memons, Pathans, Biharis and Punjabis who were employed in factories like Karnaphuli Paper Mills (which I visited when I went to Bangladesh in 1999). This mill was owned by my former Memon employers (Dawoods) who escaped being murdered by the skin of their teeth.

A petroleum oil tanker was due to berth to supply oil to Dawood's oil terminal. When the navy began to recapture the port, the tanker was ordered to go to Karachi, and when it arrived at the Dawood Petroleum's Keamari terminal (where I was working), I was surprised to see fat and tall Bengali workers on the ship. Karachi had a sizable number of Bengalis who worked mostly as cooks and drivers, and most of them were emaciated and short. Some of them stayed back and until a few years ago Karachi used to have a Bengali newspaper for such people (perhaps it still does).

When I visited Bangladesh I was warmly welcomed by people who were my age and older. One of them even embraced me. He had been the attorney general of the province in united Pakistan. He recalled fondly the good old days when his country had been part of Pakistan. I couldn't help thinking that if our leaders had not been so intransigent in those days, the country would still have been united today and we wouldn't have suffered the humiliating defeat in that war.

Remembering the break-up of Pakistan (1971)

It's been forty nine years but I can't forget the tragedy which resulted in the disintegration of the country, a tragedy that could have been avoided if our rulers had not been so intransigent.

On the face of it, there should have been no problem making Mujeeb the prime minister. In fact, the then president (Yahya Khan) himself called Mujeebur Rehman the next prime minister of the country (a smiling Mujeeb was standing by his side at the time). Yet the army brass was persuaded by Bhutto to postpone the meeting of the National Assembly and thus alienated Mujeeb. In hindsight, it's incredible that the generals and politicians of the time didn't realize that India would simply march into East Pakistan and defeat our army. 

In fact, just a day before General Niazi surrendered, he was seen boasting to foreign media that he had plenty of men and weapons to fight for a long time. In West Pakistan, the people were told that nothing was wrong, our heroic armed forces were in full control and there was no reason to despair. Of course, those few who listened to the BBC knew that the end was imminent. So it was a huge shock to the majority when they were told that "according to an agreement, Indian troops have taken control of Dacca". Crowds of infuriated people burnt down Yahya's house in Peshawer. Bhutto (one of the villains responsible for the tragedy) was called back from New York to form a government).

The real tragedy of course is that no one has been held accountable for the humiliation and shame the country had to go through after the surrender. 

Z. A. Bhutto, father of Bangladesh!

What Mujib wanted

Published in The News on January 2, 2013

This refers to Taj M Khattak’s article ‘What did Mujib want?’ (Dec 21). The answer is: he wanted Yahya Khan to obey the verdict of the people. But because of the intransigence of just one person (Z. A. Bhutto), he was not allowed to form government, despite obtaining a majority in the 1970 elections. Even after he was released and flown to London, and before returning to Bangladesh, he said that he didn’t want Pakistan to break up and that he could consider the option of a confederation.

Unfortunately, he never repeated this suggestion after reaching his home country, perhaps as a result of pressure from India and the hardliners surrounding him.

Shakir Lakhani

Karachi

The myth of Bangladesh's "phenomenal" progress

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I’ve heard many times from fellow Pakistanis that Bangladesh has made phenomenal progress in comparison to Pakistan. Those who say this usually cite as proof that the Bangladesh Taka is stronger than the Pakistan Rupee (one Taka is equal to PKR 1.11). However, the exchange rate does not reflect the true picture of a country’s economy. The Indian Rupee, for instance, is much stronger than the Pak Rupee, but it does not portray that almost 80% (836 million) of India’s population is struggling to survive on less than half a dollar a day (if proof is needed, please visit

https://www.reuters.com/article/2007/08/10/idUSDEL218894 and many other web sites).

As the data below reveals, Bangladesh is lagging behind Pakistan in all sectors, except the growth rate, which is natural, as Pakistan is fighting a war in which more than 30,000 of its citizens have been slaughtered. It should also be remembered that Bangladesh was at the same stage of development as (West) Pakistan when it was “liberated” by the Indian Army in 1971. Bangladesh (then East Pakistan) already had a steel mill (which West Pakistan did not have), it had a huge industrial base including jute mills, a large paper manufacturing factory, textile mills, an automobile assembly plant, etc. I would like to add here that these industries were set up and developed almost exclusively by residents of West Pakistan after 1947.

The comparative data of the two countries is given below:

GDP (purchasing power parity):

Pakistan: $488 billion (2011 est.)

Bangladesh: $282.5 billion (2011 est.)

GDP (official exchange rate):

Pakistan: $204.1 billion (2011 est.)

Bangladesh: $115 billion (2011 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:

Pakistan: 2.4% (2011 est.)

Bangladesh: 6.3% (2011 est.)

GDP - per capita (PPP):

Pakistan: $2,800 (2011 est.)

Bangladesh: $1,700 (2011 est.)

Unemployment rate:

Pakistan: 5.7% (2011 est.)

Bangladesh: 5% (2011 est.)

Population below poverty line:

Pakistan: 24% (FY05/06 est.)

Bangladesh: 31.5% (2010 est.)

Budget:

Pakistan: revenues: $26.3 billion, expenditures: $40.6 billion (2011 est.)

Bangladesh: revenues: $12.67 billion, expenditures: $17.15 billion (2011 est.)

Taxes and other revenues:

Pakistan: 12.9% of GDP (2011 est.)

Bangladesh: 11% of GDP (2011 est.)

Electricity consumption:

Pakistan: 89.23 billion kWh (2008 est.)

Bangladesh: 23.94 billion kWh (2009 est.

Natural gas consumption:

Pakistan: 42.9 billion cu m (2011 est.)

Bangladesh: 20.1 billion cu m (2010 est.)

Current account balance:

Pakistan: $540 million (2011 est.)

Bangladesh: -$372 million (2011 est.)

Exports:

Pakistan: $30.9 billion (2011 est.)

Bangladesh: $23.86 billion (2011 est.)

Imports:

Pakistan: $39.35 billion (2011 est.)

Bangladesh: $31.75 billion (2011 est.)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold:

Pakistan: $17.8 billion (31 December 2011 est.)

Bangladesh: $10.98 billion (31 December 2011 est.)