Editorial
On Independence Day
Let the old resolve be renewed
THIRTY-seven years ago, on this day, the call went out to the people of Bangladesh and to the outside world that this nation had opted for freedom. Even as the Pakistan occupation army went about its genocide in Dhaka and elsewhere in the country, the Bengali nation could envision that there was light at the end of the tunnel for them. It was surely a long tunnel and as yet there was little to show that freedom would come any time soon. But that the Bengali political leadership had taken a decisive step in guiding the nation towards freedom boosted the collective morale of seventy five million Bengalis and conveyed to them a sure sense that the attainment of freedom was but a question of time.
Today, as we recall the seminal year that was 1971, we have cause too to reflect on and pay tributes to the 3,000,000 of our fellow Bengalis who made the supreme sacrifice at the altar of freedom. For nine long months the enemy went on a spree of murder, rape and pillage in our towns and villages; and in that period of darkness, as many as 2,00,000 Bengali women were ravaged by the soldiers of the occupation army. With the active assistance of their local collaborators, the soldiers plundered and murdered. But that did not dampen our resolve to be free. The provisional Bangladesh government at Mujibnagar, in a clear demonstration of purposeful leadership, sketched the outlines of the long twilight struggle the nation was confronted with. And along the path etched by the political leadership, the Mukti Bahini fought against the huge odds symbolised by a well-organised occupation army and eventually succeeded in wresting freedom from the marauders who had set about not only destroying the land but also molesting its culture and political heritage.
As dawn breaks today, it is for us to recapitulate not just the horrors we as a nation collectively went through in 1971 but also the promise held out by the declaration of freedom on 26 March in what was to be our annus mirabilis. Our struggle for liberation was based on our desire for a democratic society where equality, rule of law and an equitable distribution of resources would underpin our lives. In the nearly four decades since liberation, we have faltered and stumbled and picked ourselves up again. It is such resilience that has kept us going. As we observe Independence Day this year, we recall the contributions of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the Mujibnagar government and all the soldiers of freedom to the national cause. We also recall with gratitude the moral and material assistance provided to us by the government and people of India.
Today, let our resolve be to give ourselves a government based on the consent of the governed, to provide for those who have little or nothing, indeed to do all that may help us translate our dream of Shonar Bangla into a reality.
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