The writer is an author.
PERHAPS half the readers of this column might not have been born 50 years ago. Others old enough will recall the mood prevailing in January 1971 across East and West Pakistan — a feeling of child-like accomplishment, of a new-found confidence as our dyslexic nation tottered towards democracy.
The month before, in December 1970, the country had voted in its first ‘free and fair’ general elections, overseen by a military president, Gen A.M. Yahya Khan. He expressed his determination to hand over power to the elected representatives of the people. The results put paid to his avuncular hopes.