We mistreated Bengalis: Pakistani scientist Pervez Hoodbhoy
"We mistreated Bengalis. We thought of them as lesser people. We exploited them and we massacred them," he said.
Pakistani nuclear scientist Pervez Hoodbhoy said that his country has mistreated, exploited and then massacred the Bangladeshi people.
"We mistreated Bengalis. We thought of them as lesser people. We exploited them and we massacred them," he said during a recent speech at the Adab Festival, a celebration of writers and artists, held in Karachi on January 31, Feb 1 and 2 this year.
"We have not been honest with ourselves in the last 73 years. We are not being honest now. Pakistan is in a state of confusion because it was born in a state of confusion," he said.
Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel
The scientist criticised Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, and said he was "a confused man" did not have a proper vision.
"The basis of Pakistan as articulated by Jinnah was that there are only two nations who live on this subcontinent. They are mutually hostile, they cannot ever live in peace," he said.
He explained that this ideology had another theory in its support, which is, that Muslims form a nation. He agreed with the first part of Jinnah's ideology, and said that it works, as Narendra Modi is in power in India, but he totally rejected the second theory of Jinnah.
"If Muslims could form a nation and live in peace with every part of that nation, we would not have Bangladesh," he said.
"… I want to address Bangladesh because that is not allowed in our official narrative. All we hear is that it was conspiracies. And there couldn't be a bigger nonsense than that," he said.
He spoke about how the core fundamentals that build a country, were never discussed upon by Jinnah. There were no talks held on Pakistan being a federation or a non-federation or how the country would survive in a world where science and technology strengthen the nations.
"We have no plans for that. So, Pakistan was born in a state of confusion," the physicist said.
He also stated how Jinnah had envisioned Pakistan to just be a land where "Islamic law will be applied."
"He (Jinnah) did not have an idea of Pakistan...When he was asked in 1945 that what will Pakistan be, he (Jinnah) said we have plenty of time. When we achieve Pakistan, we will see what is going to be," he added.
Earlier, the nuclear physicist was in limelight in 2017 when he said that his country was becoming a "fascist religious state".
