East Pakistan - Memorials and Legacy

Memorials and Legacy

The trauma was extremely severe in Pakistan when the news of succession of East Pakistan as Bangladesh reached to Pakistan— a psychological setback, complete and humiliating defeat that shattered the prestige of Pakistan Armed Forces. The governor and martial law administrator Lieutenant-General Amir Abdullah Khan Niazi was defamed, his image was maligned and his honours were stripped. The people of Pakistan could not come terms with the magnitude of defeat, spontaneous demonstrations and mass protests erupted on the streets of major cities in (West) Pakistan. General Yahya Khan surrendered powers to Nurul Amin of Pakistan Muslim League, the only first and last Vice-President and Prime minister of Pakistan.

Prime minister Amin invited Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (sworned as President, later Prime minister) and the Pakistan Peoples Party to take control of Pakistan, and in a color ceremony where Bhutto addressed his daring speech to his nation via national television. At this ceremony, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto waved his punch in the air and pledged to his nation to never to allow or repeat the surrendered of his country as equivalent to as East Pakistan, therefore, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto launched and orchestrated the large-scale atomic bomb project in 1972. In memorial of East Pakistan, the East-Pakistan diaspora in Pakistan established the East-Pakistan colony in Karachi, Sindh. In accordance, the East-Pakistani diaspora also composed patriotic to tribute Pakistan after the war; songs such as Sohni Dharti (lit. Beautiful land) and "Jeevay, Jeevay Pakistan (lit. long-live, long-live Pakistan), were composed by Bengali singer Shahnaz Rahmatullah in 1970s and 1980s.

To Western observers, the loss of East Pakistan was a blessing— but it was a trauma that was not seen so; even as for today it is still not seen so. In a book, "Scoop! Inside Stories from the Partition to the Present", written by Pakistan-born Indian politician Kuldip Nayar, noted that "Losing of East Pakistan and Bhutto's releasing of Mujib did not mean anything to Pakistan's policy as in if there was no liberation war. Bhutto's policy, and even as of today, the policy of Pakistan continues to state that "she will continue to fight for the honor and integrity of Pakistan. East Pakistan is an inseparable and unseverable part of Pakistan".