Old, often grainy images of Bangladesh’s War of Liberation show carrion feeding on the bloated bodies of murdered Bangali civilians along the rivers and marshes of the country. And among these pictures is the odd spectacle of grinning Bangali villagers holding up the severed head of a Pakistani soldier killed by the Mukti Bahini.
A Bangladeshi girl went viral on the internet for singing Rabindra Sangeet on Pakistan’s national channel, ARY. Musician Sheikh Dina, the NSU graduate who now resides in the USA, told us the story that is still circulating on social media.
There was always Bangla or “Banga” in references to the concept of a Bangalee’s affinity with Bangladesh. It did not matter that the name was never formally applied, prior to 1971, to the geographical entity that had been Bengal
قومی ترانے کی دھن اور اس کے بول تیار کرنے کا کام پاکستان بنتے ہی شروع ہو گیا تھا مگر عام طور پر لوگ یہ نہیں جانتے کہ ایک موقع پر سورۃ فاتحہ کو بھی قومی ترانہ بنانے کی تجویز دی گئی تھی۔