APROPOS the above article (Sept 16). The writer has posed the question “What might have happened if after the 1970 election, Sheikh Mujibur Rehman’s Awami League had formed a majority government in the Centre?”

I am an octogenarian and a PAF veteran of 1957 vintage. I saw action in both the 1965 and 1971 wars. Whereas in the 1965 conflict our East Pakistani comrades were as patriotic as any other, the situation by the 1970s had totally changed.

The role of Flight Lieutenant Motiur Rehman is an example of the transformed psyche of even professional personnel. Those of us who knew the Bengali psyche, specially during the 1971 crisis were aware of the sentiment of their armed forces’ personnel who knew that if power had been transferred to Sheikh Mujib, we might as well have said goodbye to West Pakistan also.

Mujib would have first of all shifted Pakistan’s capital to Dhaka and in due course, the naval, air and general headquarters would have been shifted there. The rest would have followed naturally.

There is not much for us to grieve over the 1971 tragedy. History, geography and nature were all against having a country with two units situated 1,000 miles apart. The parting could certainly have been less traumatic. Now that destiny has brought it about, we should wish Bangladesh well and concentrate on building our own nation.

Sqn Ldr (retd) Agha Khalil Ahmad
Karachi

Published in Dawn, September 21st, 2018