16th Dec has come and gone. It
has always come and gone. For 41 years, it has come and gone. 41 years!
41 years---it’s enough for a generation to be born and ripen.
41 years---not enough for a baby to be born and grow without knowing why he’s an
outsider in his own country. Not know why he is not owned by any country in the
world. Not know why he has to suffer for a crime he did not commit.
When this baby was born, he was told that he was a Pakistani and they would soon
leave for Pakistan. As soon as the Pakistan government made proper arrangements,
they would leave for their country.
41 years!
41 years---that baby is now 41 years old and still waiting for that “special
arrangements” being made for them. He has now learnt to live in those
camps---has accepted it as his home---has accepted “bihari” as his identity. He
has well adjusted to his life in the camps of Bangladesh.
41 years---enough for a grown up to adjust to a life he was born in.
But! That baby, who is now a man of 41 years, will someday, stand in front of
Allah and ask his crime for which he suffered for all his life. A crime which he
does not remember committing. However, we all remember very clearly that the
crime he committed could not be overlooked. A crime, that deserved a suitable
punishment. His crime was that he chose Pakistan as his country.
Individually, we may be able to pass an excuse but as a nation, we will all be
held responsible for this generation of Pakistanis being raised in the camps of
Bangladesh. These people were Pakistan. These people are Pakistan. Each one of
them is more Pakistan than all of us combined because they chose to be
Pakistanis and we were born with it.
16th Dec---it has come and gone again. It will always come and go. This
realization hit me when I asked a school going kid if he knew what happened on
16th Dec. He said he didn’t know but surely knew what would happen on the 21st!
We cry for this tragic event. Tears overflow our eyes. But, in 41 more years,
this day will again come and there will be no eye that would cry, no tears that
would flow!!