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Pakistan's Loss: A Disaster or a Blessing

hmm, you know what i thinking about Pakistan versus Bangladesh comparison, Bangladesh had an edge against Pakistan in sustainable economic growth and had more edge toward education, literation enforcement, and better foreign policies in which capable to drive her economic growth more sustainable compared to Pakistan.
 
Guys,before blaming me for starting another 1971 related thread,let me explain to you that,I have posted this only because, a lot of negative prediction were made in this article regarding the future of Bangladesh which we proved wrong.This article was published in New York Times,25th,December 1971.
Pakistan's Loss: A Disaster or a Blessing
By MALCOLM W. BROWNE DEC. 25, 1971





View page in TimesMachine

December 25, 1971, Page 4 The New York Times Archives


RAWALPINDI, Pakistan, Dec. 24—Before her two sectors were parted, Pakistan was sometimes likened to a pair of Siamese twins, one of whom was diseased and constantly at death's door.

The Indian Army has now separated the twins and inadvertently may have saved the life of the healthy one. In the eyes of even the most sophisticated Pakistani, the loss of East Pakistan is a disaster. The military humiliation was excruciating to a Moslem nation that despises Indians as “idol‐worshiping cow‐lovers.”

The trauma of losing more than half the population will affect all Pakistanis for many years.

Friends and relatives have been lost in the East, in some cases murdered by revengeseeking Bengali militants. Businessmen will have to do without their branches in Dacca or Chittagong.

Even the social life of West Pakistanis will be affected.

Thanks to a century of British rule, Pakistanis became nation of tea drinkers, and tea breaks are a part of office routine, business conferences and the daily life of the population.


`Tea Party Is Over’

Now, as Pakistan's new President, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, has told his people, “The tea party is over.” All of Pakistan's tea was grown in the East.

The nation has lost 54,500 square miles of land, 61 per cent of which is arable. The West retains 310,000 square miles, of which only 21 per cent is arable.

The forest resources of Pakistan were virtually all in the East. This means that paper will he even scarcer and more expensive than it is now.

Most serious of all, Pakistan has lost the jute grown in the East, which traditionally accounted for about half the nation's foreign‐exchange earnings.

But Pakistan still has its name: The word “Pakistan” is taken from letters of the words Punjab, Afghanistan, Kashmir, Sind and Baluchistan. Bengal, or East Pakistan, was never part of the name.

Much more important, Pakistan now has a chance to develop fairly rapidly from the wretched backwardness that has characterized the nation up to now.

The West has a small but growing industrial base whose production has doubled in the last 20 years to about 12 per cent of Pakistan's gross national product.

The loss of East Pakistan has virtually solved West Pakistan's food problem.

The West is very nearly self‐sufficient in wheat, the mainstay of its diet.

East Pakistan, on the other hand, has always had an enormous deficit in rice, the main food in Bengal, and Pakistan could provide for this only by buying foreign rice. (Actually, aid‐giving nations provide much of East Pakistan's food needs.)

New high‐yield types of rice have been introduced into East Pakistan, but with a population growing at a rate of well over 3 per cent a year there will never be enough food for East Bengal unless huge amounts of foreign aid are provided.

East Pakistan has virtually no mineral resources apart from some natural gas. It is a natural disaster area subject to periodic cyclones, floods and tidal waves.

Each fresh calamity soaks up huge amounts of relief money, only part of which can be provided by foreign donors.

As malnutrition and disease sink their roots ever deeper in Bengal, the population becomes progressively less productive as it grows larger.

In fact there are few experts who do not share the view that Bengal is truly the dominion of the damned, for whom there will never be hope of a better life no matter how much foreign assistance is provided.

That land is no longer part of Pakistan.

Pakistanis can take spiteful satisfaction in the knowledge that now India will have to look after not only her own West Bengal but East Bengal as well, both of which can be expected to drain away India's economic lifeblood.

Generals Are Discredited

But Pakistan has shed herself of something.else—potentially even more important for her future.

For the first time in Pakistan's 24‐years her army has been thoroughly beaten and discredited. The myth of military infallability is smashed.

During most of her history, Pakistan has been ruled by generals, either directly or indirectly. They have not been generals of the reforming, Nasserist, Islamic ‐Socialist stamp. More often they have resembled the British “Colonel Blimp” prototype—clubby, conservative, and fundamentally uninterested in the welfare of the population.

Despite her diplomatic friendship with China and other Communist nations, Pakistan has remained essentially an oligarchic partnership between an economic elite called the “22 families” and the army.

The national budget directly or indirectly has allocated well over half the available revenue to the armed forces each year. Education has had so small a fraction of 1 per cent it usually is not listed on budget charts.

Pakistan is essentially a nation of herdsmen, camel drivers and poor farmers whose fates are in the hands of. a few powerful sahibs.

For this first time in Pakistan's history there is a chance that this may slowly begin to change.

Mr. Bhutto has great freedom of movement, thanks to having won both an election and, after a de facto military coup, the presidency.

He has pledged to smash the sluggish, self‐serving bureaucracy that haS traditionally (shielded Pakistan's rulers from its population.

A Socialist, he has promised sweeping land reform programs.

In the space of a few days, Mr. Bhutto has made Pakistan a noticeably freer country, at least for the few people directly involved in its political future.

He has released political prisoners, abolished censorship, and pledged convincingly that he intends to make his Government and all future governments accountable to the people.

He has threatened to deal harshly with Pakistanis seeking to send their money out of the country and warned that he will nationalize any industry whose production starts to sag.

“I am not frightened by all this,” a businessman said. “I think Pakistan is going to be better place than ever in which to invest.”

Just how long Mr. Bhutto will be given by the armed’ forces and the population to reshape the nation remains to be seen, but as long as he seems to be moving he is likely to retain his powerful mandate. He is moving very fast at present.

In the months aread, Pakistan will move diplomatically, economically and culturally away from the subcontinent and toward Moslem Central Asia and the Middle East, most political observers feel.

“Our future now,” a Pakistani diplomat said, “is with our natural allies — Afghanistan, Iran, Turkey and, for that matter, with the Arab states. To hell with the subcontinent! Let the Indians die with it.”

There seems to be a good chance that Pakistan will now be able to avoid the periodic wars that have afflicted her until now. There are still major territorial disputes with India but Pakistan has reason to believe that the preponderance of world opinion and possibly military muscle would be on her side in any future conflict. It is expected that this will be a deterrent.

Mr. Bhutto has made it clear he wants good relations with both China and the United States and even with the Soviet Union, which sided with India during the recent war.

“Inshallah (God willing), Pakistan has finally reached a solution to the worst of its ills,” a businessman said. “We grieve for our Moslem brothers in the East, but we must carry on and for us the sun is rising.”

http://www.nytimes.com/1971/12/25/archives/pakistans-loss-a-disaster-or-a-blessing.html?_r=0

It was a different world back then. Natural resources, geo-strategic position and ability to play Cold War politics were prized assets. Few understood the value of humans and their abilities to rise above limitations.

Bangladesh could have done better as a country, but then so could India and all of South Asia. Times have changed and the whole world can see which part is diseased and which part has hope.
 
For all Bengali friends.

It is fine, you have your own country and we have ours. The concept of East and West Pakistan separated by 1000 miles or so by existential enemy India was doomed to fail from day one.

Lets move on. Concentrate on making your country a better place for living for your people. We Pakistanis wish you all the best.
 
Pakistan and BD live in different circumstances and hence their growth rate cannot be compared. For starters Pakistan is fighting an imposed proxy war for over a decade.

Yesss. And imposed by whom?

how many times Indian border security force kills Bengali people on the border,

Hmmm...Let us have an opinion poll among the BD members here - how many want to have a border with Pakistan?:azn:
 
our i
The old Pakistan was an artificial entity that had outlasted it's usefulness well before 1971.

The only tragic thing about the separation was that it was not peaceful.

While Pakistan is a tribal culture, BD is a unitary state where the state comes before anything else.

Current BD GDP/capita growth of 6% per annum when compared to 3% for Pakistan should tell everyone how much better off BD is without having Pakistan.
ours is 5% with 2 sied effects of 2 afghan wars and indian agrssion and other issues
 
Pakistan looted massive wealth from BD for 24 years and so it still is ahead on things
like infrastructure. That will soon be in the past as Pakistan can only dream of GDP capita growth
rates of 6% a year - only the East Asian " Tiger" economies have managed that.
We made Nukes,PAC Kamra,Developed after 1971 due to trillion tons of looted jute stored in Pakistan,but we have ran out of stock,we are preparing to attack Bangladesh
 
First point irrelevant
Second point again irrelevant. if we had a border with BD than it would had been eastpakistan.

But since you are trying to instigate BD members by pointing out issues at our border, isn't your locus standi in question? What is the Pakistani perspective on peaceful borders? Relentless firing/shelling/infiltration on the Eastern border, and now cross-border incursions on the Western Border.

So...Who would a sane nation want as a neighbor?
 
This is what you get if hate is being propagated.
The cycle of hatred can only lead to death and misery. I think Bangladesh could have gained independence peacefully but arrogance of certain leaders lead to war.
Multi Bahini were trained by India , armed by India and special Bengali language radio stations were set up by India transmitting hateful propaganda.
Bengalis were made to believe that jute produced in their part and a major export at the time , was worthy as gold and west Pakistan Is living a lavish life due to revenue generated by jute exports and that every West Pakistani city looks like New York. These ideas were planted in Bengali minds through propaganda vis Indian radio transmissions.
Then in 1970 came Bhola cyclone which brought the world's largest storm surge in recorded human history. It broke many world records and cause unprecedented damage and death.
That was also thrown in West Pakistan's account and via propaganda every Bengali was made to believe that west Pakistan doesn't care and no rescue or relief is coming their way and they should pick up weapons and fight. It's another thing that the cyclone destroyed most of the infrastructure and reaching villages for relief operations was very difficult.
Bengali youth who had lost family members to cyclone, lost property and livelihood, had not much purpose left in life and joined Mukti Bahini. In fact after Bhola Cyclone Mukti Bahini numbers swelled many folds and brutality of their warfare crossed all limits. Before that Mukti Bahini were a small Indian trained group of gorilla fighters which were a nuisance not a problem. After Bhola cyclone their numbers became many hundreds of thousands.
Pictures of large numbers of corpses were shown to Bengali people, telling them it was heaps of dead bodies killed by Pakistan army. Those pictures were actually from bhola cyclone and those died were those who drowned during storm surge, but all that was thrown in Pakistan army account.
 
Another feel good thread for shameless BDian

Bangladesh is a begairat nation. They send their women to Middle East as maid. I would shut my mouth comparing BD with other nation.
Surprising . Are you a BDian ?
 
Politically Field Marshal Ayub Khan created the trouble in January 1965 presidential election. Most of east Pakistan ( present day Bangladesh) voted for Jinnah's sister Fatima Jinnah who was a candidate . West Pakistan voted for Ayub Khan. Instead of sharing power with Fatima Jinnah, Ayub Khan continued as president. It was a constitutional decision as at the time Pakistan had similar election system as present day USA where majority of vote count doesn't matter , instead electoral colleges matter . I.e which area voted for which candidate matters more than how many voted.
Bengali politicians also supported Fatima Jinnah and felt betrayed by Ayub Khans decision. Again it was a political matter and should have been resolved in constitutional assemblies by changing the way the then presidential system of election worked.
It's similar to today's Hillary Clinton who lost to Donald Trump despite receiving larger number of votes.
Ayub Khan was a military man and had shame. He realized his mistake and resigned just a year later.
Then came the shameless. Our Zulfiqar Bhutto and their Sheikh Mujeeb and we all know what happened next.
 
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Pakistan looted massive wealth from BD for 24 years and so it still is ahead on things
like infrastructure. That will soon be in the past as Pakistan can only dream of GDP capita growth
rates of 6% a year - only the East Asian " Tiger" economies have managed that.

Bangladesh is 30 positions behind Pakistan in Transperancy Corruption Index . We have 10 Universities in QS top 250 Universities in Asia . How many does Bangladesh have ?Or Is that also because of the jute we took from you ?
 
No doubt 1971 was a tragic incident.. It was a total failure of Pakistan politician to actually analyse the situation.. and still we didn't learnt anything from it.. We just need to understand the Chanakaya policy of India..
 

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