East Pakistan
An open letter to the chief adviser
Dear Sir, With due respect, I state that throughout my life I have tried to live quietly as a law-abiding citizen. At the beginning of life, I was not much attracted to studies, nor was the environment favourable. My grandfather, Alauddin Siddiqui, held the flag of the Congress with Mahatma Gandhi, and in the 1940s with Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah under the Muslim League, in the Pakistan Movement. Sadly, my grandfather Alauddin Siddiqui did not live to see the independence of Pakistan. He passed away before Pakistan was created. Just before its birth, on 14 June 1947, I was born. At one time I took pride that my birth coincided with the birth of Pakistan. As a child, I celebrated Pakistan Day with joy, lighting clay lamps at our village and town houses. Sometimes I lit small candles in a failed attempt to ignite the light of freedom within my heart.