Screeshot of the petition site “We Pakistanis apologise to Bangladeshis”

Despite the rising human debris in Syria, as UK joins the posse bombing 'only' military targets by consent of its parliament albeit divided; in spite of the growing pile of corpses from unrelenting mass shootings, as USA refuses to ban the gun; and notwithstanding the ban on beef in India, as people in more cities flaunt defiance publicly, one of the most heartening news for Bangladesh came last week from perhaps the most unlikely front.

There are many diehard followers in Bangladesh of the English football side Manchester United. One sided love, if you will. And we would not be at all surprised if their players, world-class stars in their own right, remained focussed only on the game, their bread and butter, and passion, with little or no time for humanitarian thoughts, let alone measures for a people thousands of miles away. 

Yet, the caring, compassionate and charitable face of celebrities of the greatest game on the globe came to light when their generosity last Sunday 29 Nov helped raise a record-breaking £230,000 (Taka 2.67 crore) as part of a UNICEF drive to save Bangladeshi children from drowning. Did WE in Bangladesh know we had a problem? Well, according to the ManU report, a Bangladeshi child dies from drowning every 29 minutes. And, so the money raised by the universally acclaimed players will go towards training young people from the community to become swimming teachers, survival first aiders as well as raising awareness of the importance of safe swimming. Now who would have thought about that except Louis van Gaal, Wayne Rooney and the Red Army? Thank you.

On the flip side of happiness, the most disheartening news came from Pakistan, whose foreign ministry on 30 Nov "denied committing any war crimes or atrocities during the 1971 Liberation War". Now Bangladesh does not need any certificate to that effect from least of all Pakistan, many of whose citizens even today, its own Hamood-ur-Rahman Commission, have tallied what has been witnessed and experienced by millions of Bangladeshis still alive, as well as the international community from Bering Strait to Stewart Island, from Siberia to the southern tip of Argentina.

The Hamood-ur-Rahman Commission's findings "accuse the Pakistani Army of carrying out senseless and wanton arson, killings in the countryside, killing of intellectuals and professionals and burying them in mass graves, killing of Bengali Officers and soldiers on the pretence of quelling their rebellion, killing East Pakistani civilian officers, businessmen and industrialists, raping a large number of East Pakistani women as a deliberate act of revenge, retaliation and torture, and deliberate killing of members of the Hindu minority."

Responding to Pakistan foreign ministry's recent audacious statement, Mazhar Islam posted his mother Shova's photograph and the words: "Shame on you Pakistan for denying your atrocities during the Liberation War of Bangladesh in 1971. I don't need to Google to find evidence from the media to post on my wall because I AM the evidence.  I am the lone survivor of a genocide where 18 women and children including my MOTHER were brutally killed by Pakistani army and their collaborators on May 30, 1971. I still have the clothes I was wearing, soaked with my mother's blood."

Are people of Pakistan apologetic? An online petition "We Pakistanis apologise to Bangladeshis" was launched two months ago by one Imaduddin Ahmed.

In it, Sadia Bokhari from Islamabad, Pakistan, wrote: "I apologise to all young women and girls who suffered the ravages of war crimes. I apologise to all the mothers who lost their sons, and wives who became widows…"

Wrote Alishba Naeem, also from Islamabad: I believe every Pakistani owes an apology to the Bangladeshis and this apology might help in bridging gap between two nations."

Also from Islamabad, Usama Khilji wrote: "Many Pakistanis live with the guilt of knowing that their state committed atrocities against Bangladeshis in the run up to the 1971 war of liberation, and it is most tragic that the state refuses to apologise for the gross violations of human rights and mass murder committed by the military. I offer my deepest and heartfelt apologies to the people of Bangladesh on behalf of Pakistanis. We are ashamed, and we love you."

Rabia Ahmed from Lahore wrote: "What happened in 1971 was shameful, horrible. I am truly sorry for Pakistan's role in that tragedy."

Tanvir Khan wrote from Needham, MA, USA: "You were our family and still are and what the army did in Bangladesh was shameful. I hope in time you will forgive us."

From Richmond, CA, USA, Zainab Khan wrote: "… I feel ashamed of what our elders did to people who served, loved and cherished what was East Pakistan then. I apologize for that betrayal, those atrocities and for not recognizing what an asset East Pakistan was and could have been…"

Yasmeen Aidrus wrote from Leesburg, VA, USA: "We should have given this apology long time ago, better late than never. To all the people of Bangladesh who suffered due to the atrocities of Jamat-e-Islami and the Pakistani Army, I apologize from the bottom of my heart. Peace."

The author is a practising Architect at BashaBari Ltd., a Commonwealth Scholar and a Fellow, a Baden-Powell Fellow Scout Leader, and a Major Donor Rotarian.