If every victory is sweet, some are earned at a colossal cost. The people of this land had achieved one such victory over the Pakistani military marauders on this day 51 years ago in 1971. On December 16, 1971 history was made on a grand scale. It surely was the culmination of colonial rule under which the people here suffered for centuries. The victory, although achieved with help from the allied Indian army, makes a bold statement of the Bangalees' valour in the face of overwhelming odds. They could rise up to the challenges because their love for the motherland inspired them to make the ultimate sacrifice. Such a mental makeup is not prepared overnight. Peoples the world over evolve silently from within to respond to the call of history. The Bangalees had a supreme leader in the form of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman who prepared his people to rise up to the occasion for the ultimate prize of liberty.
Political historians who viewed the emergence of Bangladesh negatively have proved wrong. The country has moved way ahead of Pakistan, from the clutch of which it freed itself, on almost all counts. Today Bangladesh's per capita income is almost double that of Pakistan. In most other development indices, the country is not only performing far better than Pakistan but has also overtaken in a number those indices its South Asian neighbours. Thus the country has reasons to be proud of its achievements because unless the wartime victory over the enemy has its reflection on its subsequent journey when the war is on against poverty and hunger, the war for a separate identity is not quite justified. Bangladesh has justified the logic of self determination many times over. Its journey was not smooth though, as retrogressive forces at one point almost succeeded to reverse the course and take the country back to square one.
Happily, the conspiratorial design fell through as the people once again responded valiantly to thwart all evil plots. Yet it has to be admitted that the nation is yet to earn its victory against the enemy within. The hordes that do not believe in the country's core elements that have gone into its making are known enemies but the insiders in positions who are violating the principles, values and ethics in the guise of chameleons of many hues are doing the greatest harm to the people and the country. These are the elements who are taking bribes, laundering money and engaging in all kinds of acts to deprive the underprivileged of their rights and due share of wealth of the state.
So, there is a need for waging a war against the corrupt and bribe takers, business syndicates who manipulate market and bank looters, swindlers and frauds with no love and responsibility for the country, who siphon off huge sums of money out of the country. This is a war within and unless a victory is achieved on all such fronts, the country cannot fulfil the dream of the martyrs and the founding fathers who envisioned establishment of an exploitation-free, equitable and just society.
