Book review of "Bikhri Hay Meri Dastaan" by Rauf Parekh - published in Dawn News
Literary Notes : Fall of Dhaka: a new autobiography triggers soul-searching
DECEMBER 16 marks an event that many of us would like to forget: the fall of East Pakistan in 1971, or the disintegration of Pakistan and creation of Bangladesh. But forgetting does not solve problems and facing reality may offer a few lessons, enabling us to avoid making the same mistakes again.
Luckily, some intellectuals have begun to feel differently, voicing their reservations unambiguously. “What is most painful about East Pakistan is the misunderstanding of West Pakistanis. But the rest of Pakistan was up to its neck in a state of denial that had probably begun from the Fall of Dhaka. If the majority of intellectuals of a country was to put all the blame on Bengalis even half-a-century later and insist on counting Bangladesh’s ‘failures’ — conveniently forgetting that their own country had become a centre of killings and lawlessness — how that country could have had a positive thinking about East Pakistan while it was still its part”, asks Muhammad Izharul Haq in his autobiography Bikhri Hai Meri Daastaan.
We have lately been having vibes that signal an awakening among our intellectuals as to what went wrong after the creation of Pakistan that led to the creation of Bangladesh. And, fortunately, just like Izharul Haq, some of us feel that we need to objectively reassess why East Pakistan — formerly a part of ours that had played a vital role in carving out a separate homeland for Muslims in the subcontinent — decided to part ways. Just to remind some of the younger readers, Sher-i-Bengal, or the lion of Bengal, A. K. Fazlul Haq (1873-1962), having presented the historic Lahore Resolution in 1940, was among the founding fathers of Pakistan, albeit later on he began opposing the Muslim League and supporting Bengali language movement. In the wake of recent thaw in Pakistan-Bangladesh relations, it is more significant to do a little soul-searching.
Izharul Haq goes further, drawing a picture of post-independence era where West Pakistan’s bureaucracy as well as politicians are shown behaving arrogantly with the public representatives from East Pakistan, even ridiculing them. He was an eyewitness to some of the events that took place in East Pakistan in the late 1960s, since Izharul Haq was a student at Dhaka University as a 19-year-old. Recalling the fond memories of two years in East Pakistan, just a year or two before the tragedy struck, he narrates some eye-opening facts. For instance, the relations between the local students and the students like him, who had been sent there from West Pakistan on scholarships, were mostly cordial, despite some difference of opinion on certain issues. Bengali friends would invite him and other students to their villages and homes where the guests received exemplary hospitality. So what went wrong? A lot, as Izharul Haq tries to sum up, inviting today’s fellow citizens to do some unemotional analysis of our follies and biases.
But this is not a political autobiography, so he cuts it short — and wisely so. Izharul Haq, having served at some very high-ranking posts as government employee, is a poet and prose writer, too. This has given a poetic touch to the book, though he tries to keep his tone matter-of-fact and is ever so careful to avoid exaggeration or self-praise, something autobiographies are notorious for. He seems to have taken Mustansar Husain Tarar’s advice seriously who, being a friend, had warned him to not make the autobiography a ‘service history’. As a result, though the book does recount many events that occurred during his long service, Izharul Haq has been selective in this regard and has only narrated events that are either interesting or offer some insight into human nature.
The author takes the reader on a journey that began in a village named Jhandial, some 20 kilometers from Fateh Jang, near Islamabad. The journey of life took him to places, even exotic ones, and he takes the readers with him all along, but it seems that wherever he goes he longs for the village life. His depiction of the village, its people, geography, rituals, struggles and culture is not only absorbing but it also reflects his true love for the place and its people. The cultural insight and details of everyday village life are remarkable and his elegant, flowing prose makes it even more so.
Published by Book Corner, Jehlum, the book proffers much food for thought. The candidness with which he exposes corruption in some government departments in a composed manner, while not naming the persons, is amusing and saddening at the same time.
Published in Dawn, December 15th, 2025
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