IRSHAD SALIM: December 16, 2021 marked 50 years of estrangement between East Pakistan and West Pakistan –the former wing of Pakistan became independent as Bangladesh, and the millions of both the wing’s populace faced barrage of narratives, counter-narratives. Therefore, sifting facts from fiction (History is written by the victor) by many observers, experts, researchers and historians has continued over the decades. Here’s a collage of some talking points to consider:
Irshad Salim spent his childhood and adolescence in Khulna, former East Pakistan (Bangladesh since 1972) -during the period 1956 thru 1971. Some of the 34 of his poems published in ‘Sometime Somewhere’ (circa 1977) capture Dhaka episode’s contours as they developed and encircled sensitivities of many in both countries post-1971.
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