Screening of ‘Separation of East Pakistan – The Untold Story’ held

LAHORE: The first screening of Javed Jabbar’s documentary, ‘Separation of East Pakistan — The Untold Story’ at the Cinepax Packages Mall on Monday left the audience amazed at the ways how history had been manipulated against Pakistan, purposefully creating issues between Bangladesh and Pakistan to ensure continued regional unrest.

It was attended by eminent leaders, intellectuals and celebrities.

In the documentary, experts and intellectual leaders address the false information and share little-known facts about 1971, according to a press release. The documentary claims how the plight and insecurities of the vulnerable people of the then East Pakistan were misused by the international community to promote a separatist movement when they, including Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, did not necessarily want an independent nation. It poses the question how it is even possible that those who created Pakistan would want to break it. The documentary unfolds the reality and full extent of India’s involvement in the region, which is not limited to 1971 but, actually started years before.

Most importantly, it clarifies the fake news spread by those against Pakistan of the number of people killed and raped and clears the misnomers of the supposed, non-violent movement. The documentary also outlines the misjudgments made by those in power at the time, which created conducive environment for regional powers to play politics and break up a nation.

The documentary is an important step to clarify what really happened, to move towards improving relationships between Bangladesh and Pakistan. It is a time we told the true story so that we can build stronger ties with our Muslim brothers.

Speaking on the occasion, former senator and federal information minister Javed Jabbar said that 1971 was the source of an enduring pain and melancholy. Throwing light on the documentary, he said he had found many well-written books and vast amount of literature on 1971 tragedy but could not find even a single documentary on the subject that’s why this documentary was produced. He held in high esteem the team behind the documentary, especially the producer Iram Shahid.

Mr Jabbar said the documentary would be dubbed into Urdu for making it understandable for more people. The documentary also featured interviews of eminent scholars who all had endorsed its edited version, he said and added that making of the documentary would not have been possible without the military-civil cooperation for the archival material. The documentary screenings would also be held in Islamabad and Karachi.

Published in Dawn, December 14th, 2021