December 16 is marked as dismemberment of East Pakistan. In December, 1971 the then Indian government declared an open war against Pakistan which resulted in creation of Bangladesh. The Indian leadership had not accepted Pakistan since its creation and time and again, this traditional rival keeps on propagating against Pakistan, just to water the seeds of conflict.

History reveals that the conflict in East Pakistan in 1971 was a political battle which was given ethno-linguistic articulation by the political party of Sheikh Mujeeb Ur Rehman and other Bengali nationalists. The Awami League played well to manage perceptions of Bengalis. Efforts to resolve issue politically by Pakistan’s government of that time was ineffective, as Awami League had stalwarts approach the population at the behest of Indians. Therefore, a turf war after the 1971 general elections was aimed at political boasting which led to the dismemberment of East Pakistan. Though Sheikh Mujeeb later did not show any hostility towards Pakistan and gave an inspiring welcome to Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto in 1974. Later, he himself also visited Pakistan to attend the Islamic summit and stated “Bengalis know how to forget and forgive”. So, the time articulated that Indira Gandhi, who had claimed to have drowned the ‘Two Nation Theory’ in Bay of Bengal, proved to be wrong as the two states concept was replaced by the reality of three states, and that too with Bangladesh as a Muslim sovereign state. Consequently Indira Gandhi who claimed to have taken revenge of 700 years of Muslim rule was confirmed by Modi’s visit to Bangladesh in June, 2015 in which he openly confessed about Indian role in creation of Bangladesh.

In present day Bangladesh, political turmoil is still witnessed. Pakistan has approximately two million illegal Bengalis on its soil but has never made them a scapegoat for the unrest in Karachi while Bangladesh is busy profiling Pakistani visitors and workers. Similarly Bangladesh remains a highly religious country despite the much-touted facade of secularism and also has fair share of extremist elements. Killings of atheist bloggers are mainly due to their insulting of Islam so, Sheikh Hasina had to forbid people from anti religion statements. Earlier, she herself had to sack one of her ministers with expulsion from the parliament after his derogatory remarks about the Hajj.
In the 1971 scenario, the use of Pakistan Army in operation Search Light was the last option to restore law and order in East Pakistan. If the Pakistan military had to take over the Bengalis then it would not had kept less than two divisions’ army in East Pakistan. So is the case today that Pakistan Army has always kept its national interest at prime, whether be it operation Search Light in the past or Operation Zarb-e-Azb today. India during that phase organized and fully controlled the Bengali movement, Mukti Bahini, to create political unrest. Similarly, Indian initiation of war in 1971 on the pretext of refugees proved false as this principle could not be established correct today on the basis of Afghan refugees living in Pakistan or Syrians moving to Europe.

The claim of genocide of three millions in 1971 debacle is also a fabrication. On 11 Jan 1972, Sheikh Mujeeb baselessly claimed this figure upon his arrival to Bangladesh from Pakistan whereas this claim is not covered in any of the official reports. If the genocide claim is to be taken as correct then from 25 Mar, 1971 - 16 Dec, 1971 (257 days), the causality rate on the average comes to 11,000 per day, which is highly questionable as no neutral source ever reported confirmed atrocities at this mass scale. Atrocities did not just go one way, so no distinction between liberation fighters, innocent Bengalis, Mukti Bahinis, and Pakistanis or how many killed by Indians is available in any statistics. Atrocities have been overplayed by Indian side by the use of words as ethnic cleansing and genocide by Pakistan Army, whereas reign of terror by Mukti Bahini and Indian Army has been deliberately overlooked. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have openly questioned the transparency and fairness of so-called war trials. In present day discriminatory policies of Awami League are aimed at pleasing Indian masters in violation of international covenants, which has been condemned by human rights organizations and international community. Such war crime trials on the behest of India are polarizing the Bangladeshi society.

The Indian mindset doesn’t tolerate a Muslim, then how can it tolerate Bangladesh as Muslim country? India is still engaged in fomenting trouble through her proxies like using BLA, TTP in Pakistan and LTTE in Sri Lanka etc. Moreover, military interventions in Maldives, Sri Lanka and Myanmar vividly indicate that the sole threat to peaceful co-existence in South Asia is the hegemonic design and ambitions of India. India is denying basic human rights to its own population in lOK, Punjab, Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland and so many other troubled areas in its own country, smartly overlooked by media because of propaganda. Bangladesh has all the reasons to blame Pakistan so as to justify its creation, however, events have been excessively fabricated and exaggerated either at Indian directive or for political gains. Somehow, India does not want Bangladesh to forget about 1971 hence, continues to remind it every now and then. Pakistan and Bangladesh can either be friends or stay indifferent to each other owing to distance as well as no mutual enmity; hence, propaganda of interference holds no grounds. Water issues, border violations and smugglings between India and Bangladesh are matter of concern for both. Pakistan tends to gain nothing from instability of Bangladesh, whereas a strong and prosperous single homogenous state in such close proximity is detrimental to the interests of Indian Union.