This great son of Bangladesh, my best friend, was a remarkable man with the qualities which are rare in present day world. May beautiful birds sing on his grave and fresh, clean grass guard it. The Bangladesh Today I was 19 when I landed at Dhaka University. It was fall of 1967.East Bengal had always been land of my dreams. Topped in Government College Rawalpindi in graduation with roll of honor, I brushed aside Punjab University's scholarship and jumped over an advertisement floated by the Federal Government announcing Inter-wing exchange Program. I competed and was selected. Lodged in room 367 of Mohsin Hall (Neel Khet), I overcame initial fits of homesickness, and started enjoying life at Dhaka University. I was one of very few West Pakistani students who felt at home with Bengali dress and food. I used to wear Lungi just like other fellow students. (Even now, after 38 years, I wear it. What is more, my 25 years son who is teaching at one of Islamabad universities also uses it-...

Have Bengalis missed anything by breaking away? The answer is: No, they haven't because they made a Nation-state out of themselves. The Bangladesh Today S ome of the Pakistani newspapers have quoted a particular news agency stating that according to a recent release by World Health Organization two hundred sixty two thousands people had got killed in 1971 Bangladesh War of independence. Although I could not get hold of any such report on internet, yet the news item provides an opportunity to do some stocktaking. Emergence of Bangladesh draws an analogy at least in one aspect with 1857 upheaval. What for Sub Continent was a war of independence was mutiny to British chronologists. Pakistanis term 1971 event as "Separation of East Pakistan" whereas all and sundry, especially Bangladeshis, term it as war of independence. Today when we look back, tragic paradoxes dominate the scene. Take for example Muhammad Ali Jinnah's Speech at Dhaka in which he declared Urdu as th...