— Says now it’s ‘Muslim Bengal’ which rejects Indian hegemony, urges visa-free & open trade
ISLAMABAD: Speaking at Islamabad Literature Festival here today, Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed said that the historic change in Bangladesh has changed the strategic landscape of South Asia, opening up historic opportunities for Pakistan.
At a panel on ‘Pakistan-Bangladesh Relations’ which he shared with author Ikram Sehgal, Mushahid said Bangladesh’s people call the Student Revolution against the pro-India Haseena Wajid regime as the ‘Second Liberation’, which, he said, meant ‘liberation from Indian hegemony’.
Mushahid Hussain said the recent Revolution in Bangladesh has a three-fold historic significance for Pakistan. First, the Revolution provides a closure to the painful chapter of 1971, where the Indian narrative has now been finally buried.
Second, a new Bangladesh identity has now emerged, an identity of ‘Muslim Bengal’, which is rooted in the 1947 common struggle for freedom based on the Two Nation Theory. Hence, it’s no accident that the death anniversary of Quaid e Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah was commemorated recently in Dhaka for the first time since 1971.
Third, he said, now is the ‘opportunity of a lifetime’ for restoration of brotherhood, camaraderie & Strategic Partnership between Pakistan and Bangladesh. He urged for opening up visa-free travel and open trade and investment between the two brotherly countries.
He termed Pakistan and Bangladesh as being tied together with an ‘umbilical cord’. He called for exchange of youth and students between the two countries. Senator Mushahid Hussain said that India had an ideological animosity towards both Pakistan and Bangladesh, as its current ideology stemmed from ‘Akhand Bharat’ (Greater India).
Mushahid recalled that in December 1971, immediately after the breakup of Pakistan, then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi proudly proclaimed: ‘we have taken revenge after 1000 years’, language that is now echoed by Prime Minister Modi and the RSS Hindutva crowd.
Mushahid Hussain said, given this historic change, Pakistan now has Strategic Space to pursue a proactive foreign policy in South Asia, starting with restoring the strategic bond with Bangladesh as well as close ties with Nepal, Sri Lanka and the Maldives, all of whom are wary of Indian hegemony.
Mushahid Hussain termed Bengalis as among the creators of Pakistan who always displayed a spirit of defiance and culture of resistance, especially praising the eminent Muslim Bengal leaders, Hussain Shaheed Suhrwardhy, Sher e Bengal Fazlul Haq and Maulana Bhashani, who were great leaders of the Pakistan Movement. An animated question-and-answer session followed the presentation.
