While Bangladesh marked 50 years of the Liberation War, Pakistan has come up with multidimensional propaganda aimed at hiding its "notorious character" and portraying itself as Dhaka's "genuine friend".
In an opinion piece in Bdnews24, Sajid Yousuf Shah said several Pakistani online and print media are trying to portray Pakistan as a "genuine friend" of Bangladesh and "spreading venom" against India.
He said that Pakistan's main narratives for portraying as a friend include, "Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman never wanted the independence of Bangladesh; Mujibur was one of the champions of the Pakistan movement in the 1940s; He was a patriot Pakistani all through his political carrier"; he represented Pakistan in many international forums; since Mujib and his party Awami League got an overwhelming majority in the election of Pakistan's National Assembly, they should have been allowed to form the government for the sake of the integrity of Pakistan; Pakistan was divided due to some communication gaps and mishandling of the political situation by the army junta of Yahia Khan."
On November 9, 2021, a "Pak-Bangladesh Friendship Conference" was arranged in Lahore by Jamhoori Watan Party, which was attended by the Bengalis living in Pakistan and some unknown Bangladeshi "youth leaders".
According to Yousuf Shah, the speakers from different parties and groups emphasised ways and means to develop more friendly relations between the two "powerful Muslim countries" of this region. The organisers chose the day because it was poet Iqbal's 175th birthday.
Yousuf Shah said that normally "Pakistani propaganda machines portray Mujibur as a traitor, deny the genocide of 1971 and accuse Bangladeshi "rebels" and the Indian Army for the indiscriminate killing of innocent Pakistanis". Now they have come up with a new strategy."
In the Lahore conference, Pakistani speakers asked their government to apologise for the 1971 "tragedy", respect Bengali language and culture, increase the number of scholarships to Bangladeshi students in Pakistani universities, name important roads in big cities of Pakistan after Mujibur and other great Bengali leaders, he explained.
He said that "we have never seen such aggressive propaganda and "love" for Bangladesh in the Pakistani media before and sadly many Bangladeshis are responding positively to such propaganda on social media. The second edition of this conference is scheduled for January 02, 2022, in Lahore."
( With inputs from ANI )
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