(Abdul Wasey Malik)
The distortion of history for specific political gains is dangerous. Political hands use the power of the past to infuse change in the present. Today, to talk about pervasiveness of fake news is common but what is less commonly spoken about is twisting the facts of history which is more precarious than that of promoting fake news. And it is contorted history which has established the foundation for fake news.
Pushers of fake history present extreme leftists as heroes worthy of emulation. By comparing the current political situation to the fall of Dhaka, the PTI is trying to present patriots as traitors and traitors as patriots. Historical facts are totally contrary to what is professed for vested political mileage.
“Mujibur Rahman handed me a letter in an open envelope, dated 25 December 1962, containing a personal communication addressed to the then Indian Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, requesting him for India’s support to Mujib’s Bangladesh Liberation Struggle”, these are the words of an Indian diplomat Sashanka S Banerjee published by London School of Economics. He was the same diplomat who accompanied Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on Royal Air Force aircraft from London to New Delhi on special orders of Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi when Mujib was released from Mianwali Prison in 1972. This shows how close relations Mujib had with Indian intelligence agencies and how India was helping him to break Pakistan. These facts are important to be known by Pakistani nation to identify the real motive behind Imran Khan’s recent tweet where he asked the nation to study the findings of Hamoodur Rahman Commission so that they can know who the real traitor was, but Imran Khan forgot to mention the links of Mujibur Rehman with Indian leadership and Indian Intelligence agency RAW. Imran Khan also forgot to mention Mukti Bahni who were getting military training and aid from India to create chaos in East Pakistan. Imran Khan also missed the historic fact that efforts of creating Bangladesh started much earlier than 1971.
Later on, in a TV interview Raoof Hasan the secretary information of PTI tried to disown the said tweet by confessing that social media of PTI has been operated from outside the country which proves the involvement of international lobbies who want to destabilize Pakistan. After 9 May 2023, PTI used same tactics of disowning those involved in attacking the state institutions but video clips and audio leaks of PTI’s leadership proves that they were giving instructions and provoking the protesters to attack military installations. 16 December 1971 and 9 May 2023 both are the black days in the history of Pakistan when so called popular leaders played in the hands of our enemy just to gain power. Invoking East Pakistan history is a provocation attempt by a party that is now getting frustrated. Another common thing between Imran Khan and Mujibur Rahman was that they both tried to destabilize the country through civil disobedience movement. On March 7, 1971, Mujibur Rahman while giving speech in Dhaka, called for civil disobedience and a non-cooperation movement and by following his footsteps Imran Khan also called for civil disobedience movement in 2014.
In our current environment, it is difficult to distinguish between true and false information. It is vital to know that only by consulting the primary sources and immersing ourselves in accurate historical accounts, it is possible to equip ourselves with the tools to determine the real from the fake.
It is needed that efforts to incite violence for political point scoring must be discouraged as promotion of violence is detrimental for the national cohesion and unity. Today when Pakistan is finally moving ahead, it is once again attempted to destabilize the country. At a time when our friendly countries are ready to invest in Pakistan through Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC), we need political and social stability. As foreign investors get discouraged in the absence of stable investment environment ultimately damaging economy of the country. Political polarization is not the recipe for economic revival. An objective dialogue between political stakeholders is the need of the hour and sooner it is restored, better it is.
The writer is a researcher and freelance columnist. He can be reached at malikabulwasey.1994@gmail.com
