MONDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2013 | www.dhakatribune.com Victory Day 2013 Illustration: Sabyasachi Mistry Send us victorious n Zeeshan Khan world. The economic exploitation was our surprise when our language, our When Babur, the Mughal, encoun- Charjapadas. It ran through the Pala acute, resulting in death by the mil- culture, our ethnicity, our economy tered this kingdom for the first time, and Sena kingdoms of Gaur-Bongo to or the generations born lions, but the strains on our social and and then ultimately our votes were in the 1500s he made this observation: the Vangaladesa of the Cholas and was after December 16, 1971, psychological well-being were equally subordinated to a national pecking reborn in the Sultanate of Bangala that Bangladesh was an exis- catastrophic. Added to that, a British order that placed us at the bottom. A “There is an amazing custom in Babur encountered. tentially “normal” place policy of advancing some communi- rude awakening followed, and then Bengal: rule is seldom achieved by The emergence of Bangladesh was to grow up in. Nothing in ties at the expense of others created the guns came out. hereditary succession. Instead, there a historical inevitability. Repeatedly, Fthe atmosphere hinted at the violent sectarian tensions that wouldn’t go Truth is, the break from Pakistan, is a specific royal throne, and each the people of this land have resist- upheavals our preceding generations away when 1947 rolled around. even from India earlier, was the of the amirs, viziers or office holders ed authority that was oppressive or had to contend with and there was But an independent Bengal was in has an established place. It is the unrepresentative of their beliefs and no way of gauging what the yoke of the offing even as early as the 40s, and throne that is of importance for the identity. The Kaibarta rebellion in the imperialism felt like. when we moved the Lahore Resolu- people of Bengal … The people of tenth century, the independent sul- We grew up as free people, in a free tion to bring Pakistan into existence, We exist because we believe Bengal say, “we are the legal property tanate of the 1300s the Baro Bhuiyans country; free to live according to our we were actually signing onto the in ourselves and believe that of the throne, and we obey anyone in the 1600s, the fakir-sanyasin move- own values and free to advance our- notion of “independent states,” i.e. an we know a better way who is on it.” … Whoever becomes ment in the 1700s, the likes of Shurjo selves as equal citizens of the world. independence of our own. Machina- king, must accumulate a new treas- Sen and Subhas Chandra Bose in the We never experienced the humiliation tions by “all-India” Hindus and Mus- ury, which is a source of pride for the 1900s and the movements of 1952 of subjugation, or racism, and were lims denied us a united and independ- political manifestation of a yearning people. In addition, the salaries and and 1971, were all the same struggle never made to feel inadequate. In fact ent Bengal, so we were cleaved in half that was alive before either of those stipends of all the institutions of the against domination. quite to the contrary, we were raised and the bloody tale of that is of course republics ever existed. A memory rulers, treasury, military and civilian That’s why Victory Day matters to be proud of who, and indeed what, Partition, which seems a lifetime away of an independent country, with its are absolutely fixed from long ago as much as it does. We have walked we are – the first generation of an but really only happened to our grand- own systems, structures, culture and and cannot be spent anywhere else.” a long road to get here. This country independent Bangladesh. parents. values, resides somewhere in our stands on a time-worn platform of It’s easy to forget what that really Now, with only half of Bengal collective consciousness, and informs It’s clear that he was describing a pluralism and justice, and we exist as means until you think about what it and in the new notion of Pakistan, our identity as completely as genes modern, responsible country, with a nation because we didn’t, and still took to get here. Nearly 200 years of we were still hopeful of a chance to determine biology. institutions, offices and citizenship, don’t stumble in the blind alleys of British colonial rule had a devastating determine our own destinies, on our Well before Pakistani, British and something that was an anomaly in religious bigotry and cultural chauvin- effect on our civilisation and we went own terms and become economically the Mughals ruled this place, a Bengali the medieval era of conquerors. A ism. We exist because we believe in from being the richest Mughal prov- and politically empowered. We were, kingdom lived and breathed here, and self-aware Bengali nation has existed ourselves and believe that we know a ince to one of the poorest places in the after all, among “brothers.” Imagine it had its own way of doing things. since at least the time of the Buddhist better way. l 2 3 DHAKA TRIBUNE Victory Day 2013 Monday, December 16, 2013 DHAKA TRIBUNE Victory Day 2013 Monday, December 16, 2013 collection of all the significant international A publications that have been accredited as being the first few to have acknowledged the plight of A beginning the Bangladeshis during the war in red ink One of the most detailed stories about Operation Searchlight was published by the Sunday Times (UK) in June 1971 by the West Pakistani In conversation with Mohammad journalist Anthony Mascherenas. It was published shortly together with Abdul Malek, editor of independent the story of his and his own family’s escape from the military authorities. Bangladesh’s first newspaper Dainik Azadi n Syeda Samira Sadeque ything. Everyone was so happy that they were all working, excited to get ecember 17, 1971. As the spirit the paper out.” of independence dawned upon Malek said the whole team readied DBangladesh, a publication the content for the one-page publica- house in a corner of Chittagong was tion throughout night after independ- immersed in celebrating the victory ence was declared on December 16. in a way no other Bangladeshis were The independence day special was doing yet: taking out independent printed with the use of a heidelberg Bangladesh’s very first – and the only machine, which was not the regular one until later in the afternoon – medium of printing at that time. newspaper. “We used the machine for that day Dainik Azadi, a Chittagong-based because it was faster, and allowed us newspaper, which began in 1960, had to print a smaller paper – catering to “I have witnessed the brutality of ‘kill and burn missions’ as the army been operating for 11 years when it that day’s demand.” units, after clearing out the rebels, pursued the pogrom in the towns and became an integral part of the very Malek and his crew were unaware villages. first moments of Bangladesh’s birth. at that point that they had made his- I have seen whole villages devastated by ‘punitive action’. The one-page publication went out tory as the first newspaper that was And in the officer’s mess at night I have listened incredulously as otherwise in red ink instead of the conventional brave and honourable men proudly chewed over the day’s kill. black ink. ‘How many did you get?’ The answers are seared in my memory.” “We wanted it to be in red ink – Anthony Mascarhenas because we wanted to celebrate, be- cause we wanted to emphasise on our ‘We wanted it to be in red accomplishment,” Mohammad Abdul ink because we wanted Malek, editor of the newspaper, to celebrate, because we said in an interview with the Dhaka wanted to emphasise on our Tribune. accomplishment’ The paper on that day sold 50- The Blood 60,000 copies. “We started printing in the morn- ing, printed throughout the day and Telegram late into the night,” said Malek, who published after Bangladesh gained Pakistan: The ravaging of had been the editor of the paper at independence. They learned only that time. later of the significance that their golden Bengal What the Nixon White House knew They had later sent copies to other one-page, red-inked publication has parts of the country, but initially held for the history of Bangladesh. ur government has failed to denounce the internal matter of a sovereign state. Private Amer- December 17, 1971’s Dainik Azadi The Dainik Azadi, which was born This is an extract of the above titled article published in the suppression of democracy. Our govern- icans have expressed disgust. We, as professional “ had been distributed mainly in and in Chittagong, has remained in the “Oment has failed to denounce atrocities. Our civil servants, express our dissent with current policy around Chittagong. port-city since, and today has a circu- Time magazine on Monday, August 2, 1971 government has failed to take forceful measures to and fervently hope that our true and lasting interests Although Azadi is known to be lation of 50-60,000. Malek’s father, protect its citizens while at the same time bending here can be defined and our policies redirected. the only paper that was published who founded the paper, had started ver the rivers and down the in. No one can count them precisely, sections of the old city ablaze with over backwards to placate the West Pak[istan] dom- on December 17, there have been with the aim to distribute the paper highways and along countless but Indian officials, by projecting flamethrowers and then ma- inated government and to lessen any deservedly disagreements regarding this record.