Dhaka: The National Revolutionary Council has called for the national remembrance of Bangladeshi Muslim nationalist leaders who made a major contribution to the establishment of Pakistan as a separate independent state for Muslims in South Asia.
The call was made at a prayer and discussion organized at the central office of the National Revolutionary Council in Purana Paltan in the capital on the occasion of Pakistan Day. On March 23, 1940, Sher-e-Bangla AK Fazlul Haque raised the 'Lahore Resolution' in Lahore. In light of this, Pakistan was established in 1947. This day has been observed as 'Pakistan Day' in Pakistan and Bangladesh since 1947.
The National Revolutionary Council, a new Muslim nationalist party in Bangladesh, established on December 16, 2024, celebrated 'Pakistan Day' for the first time today. At the discussion meeting, Khomeini Ihsan, convener of the National Revolutionary Council, said that Muslim leaders of Bangladesh had an outstanding contribution to Muslim nationalist politics in the subcontinent and the establishment of the Muslim state of Pakistan. But with the separation of Bangladesh and Pakistan in 1971, the contribution of Muslim nationalist leaders has been obscured.
In this context, he said, the first Muslim party in the subcontinent, the Muslim League, was established from Bangladesh. In 1906, Nawab Salimullah, a son of Dhaka, led the establishment of this party at the Isharat Manzil in Shahbagh, which is now the Madhur Canteen of Dhaka University. Then on March 23, 1940, Sher-e-Bangla AK Fazlul Haque, a son of Barisal, raised the historic 'Lahore Proposal' at Minto Park in Lahore. On the basis of this proposal, the independent Muslim state of Pakistan was established.
Khomeini Ehsan said, like Muslim nationalist leaders, the generations of the grandfathers of all the people of this country had made the Pakistan movement. But the new generation is not being allowed to remember the revolutionary contribution of their predecessors. Such an environment has been created in which it seems that everything that means Pakistan was done by the West Pakistanis. But if we look into history, we see that our predecessors had an outstanding contribution.
He said, with the establishment of Pakistan, landlordism was abolished in Bangladesh. But after 1971, a few families and two parties established landlordism in this country, erasing the contribution of their grandfathers' generation to keep the people as subjects. A narrative has been created in the middle that the leaders of 1971 only gave the nation independence and liberation. The common people had no contribution. Therefore, they have no rights. But if we look into history, we will see that the generation of our fathers, grandfathers, and great-grandfathers was involved in the British opposition and the establishment of Pakistan and Bangladesh. Therefore, the common people did not come to this country at all.
The convener of the National Revolutionary Council has called for strengthening the friendship and brotherhood between Bangladesh and Pakistan, the independent Muslim states of South Asia. He said, the independence and sovereignty of Pakistan and Bangladesh are at risk in the event of aggression against one Muslim state after another. Therefore, we must forget all divisions and narrow-mindedness and unite.
Jihadi Ihsan, Assistant Member Secretary of the Revolutionary Students' Council, said, "We have come to talk about the Lahore Resolution or Pakistan Day 1940 because the hegemony of Kolkata and Delhi wants to dismiss the 190-year-long struggle of Bengali Muslims. Our struggle is shown from 1952 to 1971, whereas our long struggle began in 1757. The struggle of the fakir-sannasi, the peasant rebel leader Shaheed Titumir, Haji Shariatullah, Dudu Mian, and others has been forgotten.
He said, in 1793, through the permanent settlement, the Hindu landlord class sold the abundance and prosperity of Bengali Muslims in the Indian subcontinent. Then we saw that during the Sepoy Mutiny in 1857, India suffered another 100 years of defeat due to the British colonial agents here. During the partition of Bengal in 1905, East Bengal was seen in the name of the Swadeshi movement. The movement that started because the mother's limbs would be cut off was to maintain the landlord system of Calcutta. However, in 1947, Hossain Shaheed Suhrawardy and Sarat Chandra Bose wanted a united Bengal, but in the name of that Swadeshi movement, the 'lathi' of the Hindu landlord class did not support United Bengal and joined Hindustan.
Jihadi Ihsan also said, we should remember the long struggle of the Muslims of East Bengal, and inform our children about our history, tradition, and abundance. Lahore proposed that in 1940, our national leader Sher-e-Bangla AK Fazlul Haq, Pakistan became independent with the help of our Muslims of East Bengal, after which an independent sovereign state called Bangladesh was established in that independent sovereign state. You should remember that in the Indian subcontinent, we did not get an inch of land as Bengalis, we got it as Muslims. To remember our long struggle and struggle, we will recite the twists and turns of our history.
Assistant Member Secretary of the National Revolutionary Council Ghalib was present at the event Ihsan, member Saidul Islam, central member secretary of the Revolutionary Students Council Fazlur Rahman, convener of the Bangladesh Islamic University branch Md. Ariful Islam, chairman of the Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi Foundation Fahim Ferdous, among others.