Wave of Victory in Bangladesh; Pakistan continues to watch on
5th August, 2024 saw a marvelous event taking place in an otherwise bleak global environment – Bangladeshi protestors, led by students, forced Prime Minister Hasina Wajid to resign, bringing an end to a 15 year old rule. What started as student protests against quota systems a few weeks back, amplified into nation-wide organised resistance which aimed to topple a regressive, tyrannical system. The protestors withstood the worst kinds of state brutality, with hundreds dead and injured, yet they refused to surrender.
Today, as Bangladeshis cheer on, another nation just looks on with a deep sigh and hopes to replicate such heroic victory soon.
Pakistan and Bangladesh share a long, intertwined history, with its focal point being the independence of Bangladesh in 1971. The parallels between Bengali fight in both 1970 and 2024 to the current political crisis in Pakistan are way too many to overlook. However, there remains a major point of difference which is causing hindrances in Pakistan earning a similar victory – a lack of steadfastness and an overdose of selfishness and cowardice.
Where Does Pakistan Lag Behind?
It’s not that the Pakistani nation has never attempted to stand up for their rights. Time and again, they have led gigantic protests in different parts of the country. Unfortunately, there are two primary limitations due to which these have been unable to yield tangible impact:
- The protests have been short-lived; usually dispersing with the use of violent force by the state.
- The protests remain specific to certain regions/ethnicities, failing to spread throughout the country to create more pressure.
In comparison with the recent successful protests in Bangladesh, we see how it is the absence of these two limitations that bring tangible impacts. What started as student-led protests at the start of July, gained momentum steadily across the country, lasting for weeks before they succeeded. Nearly 300 lives were lost owing to state oppression, but instead of fleeing with fear, the passion only grew.
Compare that to Pakistan, where protests in Balochistan have been ongoing for weeks now, yet have failed to spread to the rest of the country. In fact, it’s almost as if that is an alternate reality, existing far away from the rest of us. Similarly, the infamous 9th May countrywide protests came to a quick end after police brutality, and since then, no such countrywide efforts have been made.
Striking Similarities
Tactics of Bangladeshi government have been quite similar to those in Pakistan. The ex-PM of the coutnry, Hasina Wajid, declared the protestors as “razakars” , a term connoting those who sided with the Pakistani army in 1971. Here in Pakistan, protestors have been called all kinds of terms from “ghaddar” (traitor) to “digital dehshatgard” (digital terrorist). Other tools like the use of weaponry on protestors and internet crackdown also remain the same.
Read More: Hiding the symptoms does not heal the illness
Asking the Hard Questions
Then why is is that the Bangladeshi nation bore all of that and refused to give up, but Pakistani nation has resorted to giving up on mass gatherings, and have essentially gone dormant?
Why is it that many circles in Pakistan who are currently hailing protestors in Bangladesh and claiming it to be a “victory of the people” and “freedom”, are the very ones who were criticizing protestors in Pakistan and backing the state’s actions against them?
Is it the heterogeneity of the Pakistani nation compared to a relative homogeneity in Bangladesh? Is there something fundamentally lacking in the blood of West Pakistanis that has always existed in (ex) East Pakistanis? Or is our state just too strong to be taken a fight against?
We as a nation should try to answer these questions which are at the back of all of our minds as we watch our Bangladeshi counterparts cheer. Once again, they have shown us that with the right level of determination and belief in your cause and rights, you can break all barriers in your way.
As a Pakistani who feels the burden of the ongoing state oppression everyday, I can’t help but feel a genuine joy as I watch the visuals from Bangladesh. They fought for it and hence, they got it.
May we all live to see ourselves free from tyrants. But for that to happen, we must be willing to put a fight.
The question is: are we?
No better time than our 77th birthday to look for answers within us.
Reference:
Al Jazeera, “How Bangladesh’s ‘Gen Z’ protests brought down PM Sheikh Hasina”,
