Having pro-Indian tilt, since
Bangladesh’s Awami League came into power, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina
Wajid has started a deliberate propaganda campaign against Pakistan, its
army and especially Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
In this context, on the direction of
India, unlike the past years, a ceremony was held in Dhaka on March 24,
2013, with full pump and show to honour ‘Foreign Friends of Bangladesh
Award,’ in relation to the crisis which led to the separation of East
Pakistan in 1971. For this purpose, several foreign friends who included
various institutions and media anchors from various countries,
particularly India were invited. Besides other renowned persons, the
recipients of awards from Pakistan were mainly those personalities whose
deceased fathers had opposed army action in the East Pakistan and had
totally ignored the Indian supported secessionist movement led by Mukti
Bahini. Notably, on the instruction of New Delhi, in December, 2012 when
the names of participants in the said ceremony were announced,
Bandladeshi Prime Minister Hasina Wajid had refused to attend D-8
conference in Islamabad unless Pakistan tendered apology for the alleged
genocide of Bengalis.
In this regard, in the recent past, a
book titled, “Sheikh Mujibur Rahman: The Unfinished Memoirs” written by a
Bengali as his autobiography has been simultaneously released in
Bangladesh, Pakistan and India. The book left no stone unturned in
distorting Pakistan’s history and tarnishing the image of Pakistan’s
armed forces regarding the separation of East Pakistan.
Without grasping reality, the book
explained that it was not Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and Bengalis who wanted
to break up Pakistan, but actually created Pakistan. In fact, the
political intrigues and blunders of military dictators broke up
Pakistan—Majib was arrested and a military operation started in East
Pakistan. Bengalis were massacred and their women were raped.
While speaking in line of the book, and
concealing the real facts, senior media anchor, Hamid Mir who also
received the award, reproduced its contents in his article, “Mujib’s
Memoirs,” published in a leading daily, on November 24 praised Mujibur
Ranman and implicated Pak Army. He wrote, “It is time now to apologise
officially to the people of Bangladesh.”
Notably, a renowned Bengali journalist
Sarmila Bose authored a book, “Dead Reckoning: Memories of the 1971
Bangladesh War” after thorough investigation. Her book was published in
2011. While countering exaggerations of the Indian and Bengali
Journalists, Bose argues that the number of Bengalis killed in 1971 was
not three million, but around 50,000 while Bengalis were equally
involved in the bloodshed of Punjabis, Biharis, Pashtoons and Balochis.
Everyone knows that Majib was already in
connivance with India for separation of East Pakistan. Therefore, when
East Pakistan was occupied by Indian Army in 1971, he stated with
pleasure that his 24 years old dream of an independent Bangladesh had
been fulfilled. He had earlier developed his contacts with Indian rulers
and training camps of Mukti Bahini, established by Indian army and RAW
which also funded Mujibur Rehman’s general elections in 1970.
Now, India is employing various tactics
through Prime Minister Hasina Wajid who has become a tool in
accelerating propaganda against ISI. Just like the Indian leaders of the
ruling party, Congress and the fundamentalist parties, especially BJP,
who have made ISI, a scapegoat for the forthcoming elections of India,
Prime Minister Ms. Wajid including workers of the Awami League has been
following the same pattern by propagating against this spy agency.
As a matter of fact, the government led by Awami League has brought
about political instability, social strife and financial problems of
grave nature in Bangladesh. Owing to incompetence, flawed policies, its
leader Prime Minister Hasina Wajid has totally failed in resolving the
problems of the impoverished masses. Therefore, present scenario in
Bangladesh presents poor governance, while the government is generally
known as an Indian puppet.
Nevertheless, resultantly political
turmoil and social disorder with its negative impact go on haunting the
socio-political milieu of Bangladesh. Lack of political vision and
inefficiency of the government headed by PM Ms. Wajid and the ministers
have turned the Awami League into a corrupt clique of politicians who
are totally insensitive towards real issues faced by people of the
country, as they remain focused in promoting their self-interests.
Hence, party’s popularity considerably declined. As the country enters
into new phase of elections, its leaders have developed irrational fears
and sense of proportion speculating that they will be rejected by the
voters. In this context, political experts indicate that Bangladeshis
have lost hope in Awami League—bringing about any positive change in
their poverty ridden socio-economic standing and status of deprivation.
The political awareness of the fiercely independent and patriotic
Bangladeshis has caused them to lose faith and respect for Awami League
which has made their country the subservient of New Delhi and
collaborator of Hindu extremists.
So, in this deteriorating situation,
Awami League’s leadership has developed a psychological obsession with
preconceived ideas to appease Indian government and extremist Hindus by
propagating against Pakistan and particularly ISI.
It is mentionable that, in the
election-campaign, Awami League’s rival party, Bangladesh Nationalist
Party (BNP) led by Begum Khaleda Zia is likely to challenge the current
problems, created by Awami League. Fearing the impending loss in the
polls and feeling the pinch of the likelihood of losing to BNP, the
Awami League has launched a vile propaganda campaign to malign BNP by
linking it with ISI. In this venomous campaign, Awami League is being
guided by its Indian advisers. It is notable that Tarique Rehman who is
son of the BNP Chairperson Ms. Khaleda Zia is likely to take over the
leadership of BNP from his mother and is a strong contestant to win
elections in the country.
In this respect, the content analysis of
recently published propaganda reports in Bangladesh’s print media
revealed that Tarique Rehman has contact with ISI for getting financial
support. But some Bangladeshi sources disclosed that Bangladesh’s
intelligence agency provided false data about Tarique Rehman to India
for initiating a slanderous campaign against him in Indian media—quickly
linking him with ISI for maintaining contact and allegedly getting
financial support. However, the government of Hasina Wajid’s move is
aimed at appeasing Indian leaders and diverting the attention of the
Bangladeshi people from the real crises in order to win the elections.
Overtly, Indian rulers declare that they
will not interfere in Bangladesh’s forthcoming elections, covertly;
they have been using all means in meddling in the politics of that
country. Alarmed with power-loss in Bangladesh, Indian top officials
have started maligning BNP and ISI, and the same is being done by those
of the Awami League. Unfortunately, nervous and confused leaders of the
Awami Legue use Indian style propaganda to implicate BNP and damage its
repute with a view to win elections. They intentionally indulge in
targeting ISI so as to create hatred against Pakistan and its primary
security agency, ISI. Although the people of Bandladesh are facing
poverty due to the flawed polices of the PM Hasina Wajid, yet
politically, they are matured to understand the manipulation by her
party’s politicians who are playing in the hands of New Delhi.
Nonetheless, Pakistan’s media must
assert upon Bangladesh’s writers and analysts to maintain their sense of
proportion and stop propagating against Islamabad and ISI, especially
when fresh elections in that country are likely to be held in the near
future. Pakistan respects the sovereignty of Bangladesh by expecting the
same from it. While exposing the Awami League’s connections with India,
our media and politicians must condemn slanderous expressions against
Pakistan’s ISI. Returning to our main discussion, Prime Minister
Sheikh Hasina lacks political vision and competence to address the real
concerns of the poor masses of Bangladesh, as her only priority is to
soothe Indians by showing Pakistan in bad light. The inefficiency and
corrupt practices of her party’s leaders are known to everybody both
inland and abroad. Consequently, they have hardly any chance to be
re-elected and hence, have started propagating against ISI.( By Sajjad Shaukat)
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