KARACHI, Dec 16: A former chief justice of the Supreme Court, a top intellectual of the country and a retired general recognized on Sunday that poor leadership, repeated violations of the constitution and the armed forces’ interference in politics had triggered a separation movement in the former East Pakistan, which led to the fall of Dhaka in 1971.

Speaking at a seminar on ‘Suqoot-i-Dhaka – Muqam-i-Ibrat Ya Nidamat’, organized by Tehereek-e-Mahsooreen-i-Mashriqi Pakistan to mark the 36th anniversary of the Dhaka fall, the senior personalities of their respective fields admitted the lack of contributions on their parts to help save the country’s ideology and integrity. They said the armed forces, the judiciary and civil society, all were to share the blame.

“The judiciary always protected illegal initiatives of the politicians and the armed forces,” said Justice (retd) Saeed-uz-Zaman Siddiqui, former chief justice of Pakistan. “In 1958 Gen Ayub Khan staged a bloodless coup and declared himself president, ousting Iskandar Mirza. However, the Supreme Court declared the act as a ‘successful army revolution’ rather than an illegal use of power.”

Justice Siddiqi, who had refused to take oath under the provisional constitutional order when President Pervez Musharraf suspended the constitution after a coup and took over the government as the chief of the army staff, recalled the political and judicial history of Pakistan and highlighted the instrumental role of the army in the almost shattered democracy and persistent threats of coups and martial laws, which ignited the Dhaka fall.

Lt-Gen (retd) Abdul Qayyum, former chairman of Pakistan Steel Mills who witnessed the Dhaka fall as an army captain, rejected the notion that it was the army alone that was to blame for the tragic incident.

“It was more poor leadership, which pushed us towards the tragedy,” he said. “The Pakistan Army is an institution, which is known for its discipline and the soldiers here are bound to obey their commander-in-chief. If one such man (commander) is not decent or good, for this you can’t blame the whole force.”

He claimed that the army’s role was being removed from politics and there was a sense within the armed forces that it was not their job to run the state affairs. Gen Qayyum, who faced the axe for resisting the privatization of Pakistan Steel Mills, which was later overturned by the Supreme Court, said after Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah the country failed to get a committed and true leader.

It was a lack of leadership quality and sense of understanding national interests, which created Bangladesh, he said. He admitted the army’s contribution to the overall crisis of the country.

“And unfortunately whenever there has been a martial law or a military coup, there have been a number of politicians who cooperate with the army to make that coup a success for their own benefits and lusts,” he said.

Resettlement

Noted poet Jameeluddin Aali, however emphasized the need to bring the stranded Pakistanis, condemned to live in the 66 refugee camps in Dhaka, and settle them in the country with dignity.

“But I am very sorry to say that Islamabad doesn’t even recognized this as an issue,” he said referring to his recent meetings with senior members of the government and bureaucracy for the resettlement of the 250,000 odd stranded Pakistanis.

He also regretted that not a single political party had included the settlement of the stranded Pakistanis as a point of their manifestos.

“But to keep this issue alive and in the minds of our children, there is a need for continuous struggle,” he said. “We need to raise our voice before every influential individual, organization and political party to help us bring them back and resettle them here.”

Aali Jee, who had been instrumental in the resettlement of people who migrated from Bangladesh after the Dhaka Fall, also suggested the formation of a seven-member committee headed by Lt- Gen Abdul Qayyum to pursue and work on the subject.

Haider Ali Haider, secretary of the Tehereek-i-Mahsooreen-i-Mashriqi Pakistan, sought a government-level body to address the issue.

“We have also asked the government to remove obstacles in issuing computerized national identity cards to those who had migrated after 1971 from Bangladesh. It has been a source of hatred among the Pakistanis against their own government, which is needed to be removed,” he added.