anti-Pakistani sentiment

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Anti-Pakistani sentiment involves xenophobia, particularly dislike, grievance, suspicion, dehumanization, prejudice, intimidation, fear, and/or hostility towards the Pakistani people, Pakistani nation and/or Pakistani culture. Sometimes the term Pakistanophobia is also used ^[1]

Sentiments against Pakistan are viewed by some as commonplace in parts of South Asia. This sentiment was common in Bangladesh for a long period of time due to the 1971 War.Today it's mainly found in India and to a certain extent in Afghanistan due to Pakistan's political and military support for the former Taliban regime which is allegedly despised by most Afghans. ^{[2] [3] [4][5]}

Today, anti-Pakistani sentiment continues based on Pakistani military aggression in the middle of the 20th century, war atrocities committed by the Pakistan Army and Bangladeshi citizens who pledged their loyalties to Pakistan known as "Razakars"^{[citation needed]} before and during the Bangladesh Liberation War, and alleged Pakistani state-sponsored terrorism. However this sentiment has gone down in recent years with the rise to power of Jamaat-e-Islami_Bangladesh and other similar political entities which preach a more anti-Hindu/Indian stance. While passions have settled somewhat since Pakistan's defeat in the 1971 war, tempers continue to flare on occasion over the perception among some that the Pakistan government has made insufficient reparations for the 1971 Bangladesh atrocities, or has sought to whitewash the history of these events. There also remains a great deal of hatred for past actions of Muslim conquerors who are revered as almost saints in Pakistani nationalism, The Muslim conquest in the Indian subcontinent, The relentless Persecution of Hindus and the execution of Guru Teg Bahadur a Sikh religious figure by Muslims historically associated with Pakistan makes much for the origins of anti-Pakistani sentiment among many Sikhs and Hindus. Historically India has condoned a general anti-Pakistani sentiment because of the dispute over the control of Kashmiri region. India and Pakistan are considered arch-rivals and have fought four wars over the Kashmir issue. Many films have been produced by Bollywood and Lollywood over the years attempting to capitalize on the negative sentiment prevalent between the two nations. Furthermore anti-Pakistani sentiment has been labelled as being anti-Islamic, especially by Pakistani religious leaders in order to play on the sense of solidarity amongst Muslims evoked by this.

Afghanistan

Anti-Pakistani sentiment has existed in Afghanistan since the partition of Pakistan from India in 1947. One of Afghanistan's first political gestures toward its new neighbor was a demand for self-determination for Pashtun and Baloch tribes on the Pakistani side of the Durand Line. The dispute over what came to be known as the "Pushtunistan" debate led to Afghanistan casting the lone vote against Pakistan's admission to the United Nations in 1947.^[6]

Whilst the majority of Afghan people remain thankful to Pakistan for allowing them to live and work on their territory during the Soviet war in Afghanistan.^[7], anti-Pakistan sentiment has been steadily rising in Afghanistan in recent years.^[8]

In the aftermath of the September 11th Attacks and Pakistan allowing U.S. military to use their land to launch attacks in Afghanistan, the response of Afghanistan appears to suggest that all of Afghanistan's ills have originated in Pakistan. Afghanistan has done little recently to foster mutual understanding between the two neighbours who have had an uneasy coexistence since Pakistan was established as a state nearly 60 years ago.^[6]

Paradoxically despite the presence of Anti-Pakistani sentiment in Afghanistan, Pakistan remains home to about 2 million Afghan refugees since 1979. Most stay due to extreme hardship in their country because of the ongoing war. Pakistan's Punjabi dominated government has announced that all 2 million Afghan refugees, most living in camps along the Durand Line, must return home by December 2009.^[9] However, the local Pashtun Governor of NWFP, Ali Muhammad Jan Aurakzai, explained that Pakistan will not be allowed to force the Afghan refugees if Afghanistan was not safe. He also said that Afghans should not be called refugees because "they are our brothers".^[10] About 25% of today's Afghan population has visited Pakistan at some point, making it one of the countries that Afghans are most familiar with outside their homeland. About 60,000 Pakistanis currently work in Afghanistan, and 10,000 of them cross the border daily.^[11]

Pakistan is Afghanistan’s biggest trading partner, thus Afghanistan is very sensitive to changes in its neighbour’s economy. Increases in the cost of basic goods in Pakistan leads to a corresponding increase in Afghanistan.^[12] Pakistan has given Afghanistan $250 million to accelerate economic activity there.

Bangladesh

There is anti-Pakistan sentiment in Bangladesh. There may be some regional variation in the intensity of anti-Pakistan sentiment, the roots of this dislike lie in history. Bangladesh started off as a part of Pakistan known as East Pakistan formed by the Partition of India towards the middle of the 20th century. Dissatisfaction with the settlement and the Crackdown led to the Bangladesh Liberation War.

Most anti-Pakistan sentiment in Bangladesh can be directly traced to the Bangladesh Liberation War, which was one theatre of the War. As a direct consequence of the war, Bangladesh suffered 3 million civilian deaths, and 10 million refugees.^[13] In addition Bangladeshi sources cite a figure of 200,000 women raped, giving birth to thousands of war-babies, Some other sources, for example Susan Brownmiller, refer to an even higher number of over 400,000. Pakistani sources claim the number is much lower, though having not completely denied rape incidents.^[14]

The minorities of Bangladesh, especially the Hindus, were specific targets of the Pakistan army.^[15] There was widespread killing of Hindu males, and rapes of women. More than 60% of the Bengali refugees that had fled to India were Hindus.^[16] It is not exactly known what percentage of the people killed by the Pakistan army were Hindus, but it is safe to say it was disproportionately high.^[17] This widespread violence against Hindus was motivated by a policy to purge East Pakistan of what was seen as Hindu and Indian influences. The West Pakistani rulers identified the Bengali culture with Hindu and Indian culture, and thought that the eradication of Hindus would remove such influences from the majority Muslims in East Pakistan.^[18]

Pakistan loyalists and supporters point to the work of Sarmila Bose (a Harvard-educated Indian academic related to the Indian Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose), presented a paper suggesting that the casualties and rape allegations in the war have been greatly exaggerated for political purposes.^[19] This work has been criticized in Bangladesh and her research methods have been attacked as shoddy and biased.^[20]

Bangladesh also accuses the Pakistan Army and its loyalist forces the Al-Badr and Al-Shams of killing Bangladeshi intellectuals such as doctors, teachers, poets, and scholars in a targeted manner.^[21]

There is a widespread perception in Bangladesh that Pakistan has not shown true repentance for its actions during the Bangladesh Liberation War. Many Bangladeshi people believe that Pakistan has gotten off lightly for the damage and suffering it caused. There is also mistrust of Pakistan's sincerity for its wartime behavior as being slow in coming, vaguely worded and insincere. This impression is backed up by the careless words and deeds of some Pakistani politicians and the assertion by some nationalist elements in Pakistan that wartime atrocities never took place asserting that Bangladesh should forget the past and look forward (similar in concept to Holocaust denial). ^{[23] [24]}

However attempts have been made by Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf to improve relations with Bangladesh by expressing his regret over Pakistani excesses during the Bangladesh Liberation War. It is the closest Pakistan has ever come to apologising for what Bangladesh says were atrocities carried out by Pakistani troops.^[25]In another attempt to improve relations, the Pakistani government returned the body of Matiur Rahman to Bangladesh a man regarded as a hero in Bangladesh and a traitor in Pakistan more than 35 years after his defection from the Pakistani military.^[26]These attempts have been aided by Islamist political parties, particularly those associated with Jamaat-e-Islami_Bangladesh (who allegedly collaborated with the Pakistani military to prevent the independence of Bangladesh and remove significant portions of Bangladesh's Hindu populations) by utilizing their religious influence on a grassroots level especially in sermons delivered in mosques and madrasahs to replace anti-Pakistani sentiment with a more anti-Hindu/Indian feeling, with various degrees of success.

References

See also

• Pakistani Nationalism
• Muslim conquest in the Indian subcontinent
• 1971 Bangladesh atrocities

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