Bangladesh Elections

From:
Khurram Ali Shafique (The Republic of Rumi)

Elections are being held in Bangladesh today. Our moderately
enlightened media cannot be trusted to understand how important they
are for Pakistan.

Bangladesh and Pakistan are the only countries which were voted into
existence. First, in the elections of 1945-6, people voted for the
creation of a state comprising of West Pakistan and East Bengal.
Then in 1971, they voted for the autonomy of East Bengal (which had
come to be called East Pakistan by then).

Since these are the only two states which came into being precisely
through the same method (i.e. consensus of the people), we cannot
overlook the fact that in many ways the two countries have been
evolving in a manner similar to each other and different from
everyone else:

• In 1975, Sheikh Mujib got assassinated by the Army; two
years later, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was deposed (and later hanged) by
the Army in Pakistan;
• Armies in both countries launched processes of Islamization
which lasted till the late 1980s;
• The first female prime minister of the Muslim world came
from Pakistan, and the second from Bangladesh soon afterwards
• Emergency was declared again in Bangladesh in 2007, and in
Pakistan latter the same year

Practically every major political change which occurs in one country
gets mirrored in the other. Between any other states, these might
pass as coincidences but between the only two states which came into
being through exactly the same method, would it be rational to
ignore these "coincidences" or to study them for discovering
something unknown?

Elections are being held in Bangladesh today – just as they were
held in Pakistan earlier this year. We know that a consensus
government was formed in Pakistan after the recent elections. Should
it not give us something to think about if consensus government also
comes in power in Bangladesh after these elections?

The independent and sovereign states of Bangladesh and Pakistan seem
to be held together in a bond which cannot be discovered through the
existing theories of political science. It can be discovered in the
poetry of our great poet Sehba Akhtar who addressed the spirit of
Bengal in 1968 and said, "There are no chains, but this Love is a
bond which, even if you wish, you will not be able to break."

Chains, if there were any, got cut in 1971. The bond of love
remains. It is in the best interest of Pakistan to keep track of
events that happen in Bangladesh. They may tell us more about
ourselves than expected.