The concept of the good war may sound oxymoronic to some across the political spectrum, the kind of term peddled by some slick operative of the war industry of the West, or one of its couriers in the form of shady arms-dealers who are the illegal beneficiaries when nations go to war. Maybe some misguided ideologue who wouldn’t know what to do with himself if all the wars suddenly wrapped up in the Middle East.
In 1971 though, the war fought in these lands that would go on to form an independent Bangladesh for its 75 million residents, at least from their side on the ground and humanity’s point of view, was every bit the good fight. Our cause was just, and our hands were forced. Despite all the post-war efforts at constructing an underlying theme of Bengali nationalism by tracing its origins right back to the Language Movement of 1952, over time all of these have unravelled.
While it is true that some of the more radical student groups were pushing Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman to declare independence outright in the lead-up to his historic March 7 address at the Racecourse Maidan, our leader clearly was not convinced by such urgency. Like a true democrat, he wanted the path of dialogue to exhaust itself before moving to such a course. No one knew better than their own “Mojibor” of old, the pulse of the Bengalis.
It was the commencement of Operation Searchlight, and the serial atrocities committed by the Pakistani army in its first phase (till early May) that provoked a collective outrage on the part of the population that no army in the world could hope to suppress. They were destined to fail, and so they did, spectacularly. Today as a result 160 million Bangladeshis wake up every morning entitled to expect the same freedoms as others who belong to independent nations, that we believe to be democracies. But can they, or do they really? From its politicians (not including the rulers of the day obviously) to its journalists and human rights defenders, its hopelessly repressed minorities, and perhaps most frustrating of all, the politicised bureaucracy, is it Bangladesh that is failing to live up to the promise of liberation, or Bangladeshis?
“Beyond a certain point, there is no turning back,” wrote Franz Kafka, the celebrated Czech writer, in “Reflections on Sin, Suffering, Hope and the True Way,” before shattering any preconception from forming with the refrain: “That is the point that must be reached.” The generation of 71 who fought for and attained our vaunted independence, were undoubtedly pushed to that point.
Yet once they were, the result was always inevitable. Overnight, throughout Bangladesh, the most ordinary, easygoing, peace-loving souls of the Bengalis were transformed into a ferocious form of indignation. And from that point onwards, there was going to be no turning back.
It almost required a sense of certainty, for as one of the sub-sector commanders during the war said, “I left home to fight, and knowing I wasn’t seeing mother again without returning victorious.”
This is one of the abiding feelings of what informed the original spirit or inspiration, today’s much-distorted concept of muktijuddher chetona, that one recalls from the period. There was also the sheer unacceptability across the entire population regarding Islamabad’s actions, which were grossly unjust. So there prevailed a degree of consistency among the population on what constituted right and wrong.
Today, almost no such consensus exists across the population on almost any issue. In 1971, let me assure you, it was inconceivable that more than four decades down the line, the fault lines in our society would still be defined along the lines of “pro-liberation” and “anti-liberation.” How can we still accommodate that rhetoric? It is high time however, that we begin to display some of the maturity necessary to rise above the maelstrom of party politics, for there is nothing that seems to accentuate our differences more in this day and age than the AL-BNP divide.
Today, under the leadership of the Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League government, we find ourselves at another critical juncture in the trajectory of our nation -- only this time in the field of developing our society while growing our economy for maximum benefits to the most number of people. Other nations find themselves similarly poised. Yet history (or is it biology?) teaches us that not everyone will make it.
Whether or not we now proceed to advance in keeping with the times, or fall off and get relegated to the lower leagues in humanity’s great march creating history, will depend mainly on whether we can rise above some of the petty differences pulling us asunder, and summon some of that clarity we had in 71. There can be no more turning back on the dream of delivering the promise of Bangladesh. We have reached the point of no return. And therein lies our opportunity.
