An apologetic Pakistani
I was absolutely delighted when I was going through the write-up of eminent Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir entitled “Apology Day for Pakistani” in The Daily Star on March 26. In his writing, Hamid has demanded formal apology from the government of Pakistan to the people of Bangladesh for the war crimes committed by their forefathers back in 1971. Symbolically, Hamid's awareness seems to me the awareness of Pakistanis, majority of whom feel ashamed and sorry for the genocide imposed on us by the oppressive military rulers during our liberation war.
What is great to see is that he is a very good Pakistani and feels proud for his motherland as we do for ours. But, he didn't allow his country's past, according to him 'dirty past', to go unchallenged and unquestioned. From his writing, we now understand how the descendants of those murderers, looters are treated in Pakistan, who get embarrassed to disclose their lineage. Certainly, that is a great sign.
In the meantime, we see there is a cheap practice of opposing India and Pakistan in our country. Why can't we take the people of both the nations as our friends? Should we blame Pakistani people in general most of whom were in darkness as they were misled by the ruling class about what was going on in the then East-Pakistan for the crimes of their former military dictators?
Scanning the world history, we see that military rulers don't generally represent the majority people's sentiments. For the narrow political gainers, we should not draw a line between the people of Bangladesh and those of Pakistan.
Hamid Mir seems to be optimistic that someday his government will formally beg apology and say sorry for their predecessors' crimes. We also hope so. But, the most important thing is that Hamid, on behalf of his countrymen, has shown the courage to say sorry. Now, can't we be that much courageous as a nation to welcome them warmly, forgetting the dirty past?
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