Usually smaller Parts of a country having extraordinary resources tries to break away from the mainland to take the maximum advantage of their resources for their advantage, and to protect themselves from the drain of their resources to majority or dominant section of the country, but in case of Pakistan Majority Part on the basis of population, which was also having scare resources, separated from the other part, Generally, it is regarded as an unfortunate event for Pakistan by people of Pakistan, and no Pakistani tries to see other side of the coin of that event for analysis of the benefits achieved to them by this event

The reason of this is that all literature about that event has been written by those who were living in East Pakistan and they suffered personally by this event, due to which they always indicate their miseries and losses and forget to explain the advantages of that event to whole Pakistani Nation. Therefore, it is necessary to see the real results of this event. With the separation of East Pakistan, following advantages were achieved to Pakistan.

1. Economical Advantages.

•Separation of Bangladesh was as much beneficial for Pakistan as separation of Pakistan from India.

•As the part of world in which East Pakistan was situated, was having limited resources, and many poor areas of subcontinent are situated in that part, such as Bihar , Assam ,West Bengal, Burma and Bhutan. Technically it was not in the interest of Pakistan, to keep itself attached with East Bengal(Historically one of the most poorest area of subcontinent) .In fact Pakistan after separation saved its future from economic burden of poverty ridden Bangladesh,

• Huge Population and scare resources of East Bengal were clear Indicators, that there will be no extraordinary progress in future in that province and no sensible person may think that it was valuable for Pakistan to keep itself attached with most poverty ridden part of this region.

•Being a part of East Pakistan, rulers were forcing to West Pakistani citizens to become a market of East Pakistan’s low quality Products, such as Tea, Pans and jute on artificial high prices on the name of Patriotism, while now such type high quality Products may be purchased from other countries on very low prices.

•After separation of Bangladesh, it was possible for Pakistan to make its economic policies without having any concern of interests of a far situated part.

•Pakistan Economic Managers relieved themselves from the Economic restrictions due to economic interest of East Bengal. That situation was as much harmful, as today Pakistan start to take care of the economic interest of Myanmar or West Bengal; it is certain that such type situation will be disastrous for Pakistan.

•With the analysis of economic situation of present day Pakistan and Bangladesh, shows that Pakistan GDP and Foreign currency reserves are double than that of Bangladesh and Electricity production is also 5 times more. It is obvious, that separation was much more in the interest of Pakistan, Because, the only solution of the Disparity between two parts, was to serve the Bangladesh with the resources of West Pakistan. Otherwise there was no other magic solution to address that disparity.

•It is still obvious that, there is still no charm in having trade links with countries of South Asia, because it is not in the economic interest of Pakistan, instead of that we should focus on rich and developed areas such as China, Middle East, Far East, Europe and USA.

2. Political Advantages.

•Due to extraordinary majority of Bengali Population, it was not possible for any province of West Pakistan to become equivalent to that majority any time in future, and it was certain that representatives of Provinces of West Pakistan will always remain in opposition in assemblies as per modern time democracy principles, this was really a frightening situation and the People of Pakistan were going to be ruled by any ethnocentric Bengali Leader or by any Bengali Military dictator for ever.

•Due to Bengali nationalism and ethnocentrism, on the basis of which People of Bangladesh were victimizing the Urdu Speaking Muslim refugees from India and that is still continue, and their Ethnic Cleansing with aborigines people of CHT, were clearly indicating that people of that area were not sincere and aware of the Ideology of Pakistan, in fact attachment of Pakistan with East Bengal was self deception and nothing else.

•Due to agitation style and different culture, the politicians of East Pakistan were always blaming Pakistan for their problems and exploitations, while people of Pakistan were worried about deteriorating condition of people of East Pakistan due to poverty and natural disasters, and they were too much fed up with that situation as they were seeing no end of all this, as this thing was also harming the Basic Ideology of Pakistan, and therefore to get rid of this situation and to avoid baseless allegations it was necessary to separate that area(East Bengal) from Pakistan, and this was the main reason that West Pakistani Military Personnel, even having capability for defending that part decided very easily and conveniently to end their any relation with that land on the basis of the facts that they were tired of all those messy affairs.

• Due to separation of East Pakistan, Pakistan saved itself and its ideology from baseless criticism of Bengalese Politicians, and now on real grounds they are blaming each other for their problems.
•With the separation of Bangladesh, Pakistan Islamic Ideology became more prominent with the introduction of Islamic laws and future scenario of Pakistan became much more firmed with the conversion of population ratio to 98 % Muslims, while with Bangladesh, presence of Huge Hindu minority was having adverse effects on the ideological progress of the country.

3. Security Advantages:

As East Pakistan was situated in the abdomen and inside the body of India and thousand miles away from West Pakistan, India was using this factor for blackmailing and pressurizing Pakistan from the beginning, In fact burden of huge population of East Bengal was loaded on West Pakistan to make Pakistan a crippled and failed state by Indian National Congress. India used that part as a button for keeping under pressure to Pakistan in 1947, in war of 1965 and again in 1970 with policy to occupy large chunk of land in East Pakistan. Due to 1000 miles distance between both parts and that also filled by enemy land, in such worst scenario even maintaining  contacts between security forces and their mobility was in fact a difficult, expensive and life taking task, accompanied with wastage of huge resources, ultimately resulting in weakening of Defense forces and economy of  the country. By separation of East Bengal, Pakistan was able to get rid of its weak point which was a most easy and favorite target of India. Due to that now Pakistan Defense is more strong and protected as compared to vulnerable and weak position before 1971.

4. Social Advantages:

•With the separation of Bengal flow of population from densely populated Bangladesh to parts of West Pakistan stopped, which was a good development for the culture and social set up of West Pakistan.

•Due to two national languages, Cultural evolution of the people of West Pakistan was stopped and their local languages were dying, with the separation of Bangladesh, that process was stopped.

•After separation of Bangladesh huge jobs opportunities were raised for people of different provinces of West Pakistan in both Federal and Provincial Governments. Due to elimination of share of people of Bengalese in civilian Jobs, which resulted in an increase in participation of local population in the affairs of country, by this their sense of depriving was minimized.

•People of Bengal are usually dark skinned, while people of West Pakistan were of Fair Skinned, due to continuous flow of Bengalese from East Bengal was creating racial discomfort and fears in the mind of local populations, that by this they will become minority in their own provinces, specially in the case when Federal Government was encouraging Bengalese to rehabilitate in West Pakistan, By separation of East Bengal this process of migration was also stopped.

This is the reason that after separation of East Pakistan, Mr. Mujibur Rehman was immediately released  by President Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, and he never expressed any regret about creation of Bangladesh.

Similarly once Prersident Zia-ul-Haq commented that freedom fighters of Bangladesh were in fact the freedom fighters of Pakistan, Now Bangladesh is a free country and Pakistan is also a free country.

It is crystal clear from all above mentioned facts that separation from Problematic East Bengal created new life and new freedom in Pakistan.

The Rock of Gibraltar is probably one of those things that bring images to people´s minds as diverse as granite isolation and political hotspots. Few images really capature what it is all about and less even know that it is an integral part of Europe and at the doorstep of a non too tolerant Spain. Grasping the full signficance of the social and political development of the small community, dwarfed by the massive boulder, takes more than a short resume to bring it to real life. It has been misinterpreted by so many who in some way or another have been touched by the subject, that to unravel the blind alleys and twisted notions would require a keycode all of its own. The essence in any case, is that it is different and very much its own world, grafted out of every embarassing rejection that all the leading figures in the conflicting demands over its titular existance, have showered on a confused and sometimes very disturbed, simple people.

Talking about simplicity is perhaps not the best way to approach a subject that is sticky with controversy, but it is as good as any, with respect to issues involved. Spain assumes it belongs to her including its population of some 30,000 and Britain has often felt it could do without it, if only to get the claimants to shut up. Gibraltar and its individualistic people, sheared from the shores of Genoa and Malta, Spain and Britain among other nationalities, think differently and feel forced to scowl at the wind, forever shuffling the familiar odds and expecting the worst. The coins spun in sudden urges by the negotiating parties have often sent a chill breeze to the hearts of those who would never change their way of life, (or nationality for that matter), in pursuit of economic or so called political interest. At heart, anything and everything they have wanted to be has been, Gibraltarian and British. None would want Independence and free choice except a few perhaps whos interests are purely economical and have little time for the question of identity or even political affiliations. There are a few high ranking ones in the place. Some of these have feet in all three camps with homes to boot that betray the lack of real interest in any of the three of them. My point is that not all of Gibraltar is that keen on such dire attachment to Britain or much against its absorption by Spain, especially if it produces additional benefits and abit of social status that smacks of the privileges they feed on. Mercifully however, they are a minority and one that would fit into practically any corner of the world where opportunity and new resources come easy. The average Gibraltarian however, is of a different order of things and genuinely very proud to be just that with the added privilege of having the adored elusive Queen at the head, even if the House of Commons, is a bit too complicated and distant to feel any sense of identity with. Gibraltar has its own anyway, called the House of Assembly which sits occasionally by force of habit rather than need when problems abound. Efforts to produce delegates or representives for the mystical Big Ben building have always failed and frankly, most in the community would blink with wonderment at the thought of having a foothold there. Even the London tourist office manager´s claim to diplomatic representation has raised a few local yawns. The reality is that Gibraltarians are only at home in Gibraltar and a fish out of water anywhere else. Gibraltarian English like Maltese English is a sound all of its own and short of having been to Oxford or Cambridge or been brought up in British public schools, as some have, it sounds like well…. Gibraltarian. Like the lingo, the character goes with it and having enjoyed basic creature comforts and a protected lifestyle, the home spun over confidence can often strike a rough chord, especially in Spain where lepers are treated with much more visible respect. The word Gibo o llanito sends waves of indignation in the Spanish mind visualising what they call Spanish traitors, who will not give them their Rock back. The also it would appear, spend more (which they classify as smuggling proceeds) and speak what they call shocking Spanglish, half of which they cannot usefully understand. Gibraltarians however naively treat the spanish hinterland as a second home (apart from a few puritans who would rather be seen dead somewhere else). The sense of identity with the language and culture keeps them exploring and some are on perpetual cruises from the international port of call of Malaga. The diehards who will not be drawn into the territory with the same intensity as the British nationalists, take the plane to London at every excuse for a fews daysout and to get away from what effectively can be a very claustrophic place.

Historical bewilderment.

The history behind the evolution of the Rock community is long and much publicized but few people, especially the Spanish really understand what happened in the first place. The war that brought Gibraltar into British laps, was one of rival royal attachments with France and Spain intending to marry its Royals within themselves to Britain´s chagrin and Austrian pretensions. In short, at the end of much bloodshed and equal number of miserable years, a British Admiral called Rooke climbs what is now a stretch of luxury villas, to take the Rock in the name of his Queen. Some say he actually took it in the name of the Austrian Emperor whose descendants would rule the Spanish mainland in any case and technically therefore, also for members of the Spanish clans who favoured the Teutonic connection. Not much of a dramatic snatch of identity but to make things a bit more acceptable in the face of the murky future ahead, Britain according to the Medina Sidonia archives in the Ducal Palace of Barrameda, paid an awful lot of money for it and also handed over the holiday island of Minorca which had been taken from the French. One would have thought that this would be more than enough for such an inhospitable place, but like all restrictive practices, the long, medium and short term was more of a “give it back” cloak and dagger, scenario. Paying back has never been an issue, because in reality it has never been acknowledged that it was bought legally in the first place. Foreign payments, even today, are still considered monopoly money curiously. Short of sending Gibraltarians to Minorca however, for a settlement period before coming back as fully fledged Spanish citizens, the question of handing it over just like that is hardly the subject for a trialogue guaranteed to last more than a few seconds. Certainly not for the Gibraltarians who in splendid isolation through the centuries, (initially with warring factions piled high at the doorstep) often had to eat rats when the British providers where unable or incapable of entering the bay. Gibraltar, it must be understood, sticks out of Spain like a sore thumb, but is actually joined to a very narrow isthmus which in ancient days was often under water. The island syndrome therefore plays a very important part in the character of the Gibraltarians who find most subjects outside the ritualistic day to day life of small communities of strange irrelevance and something to do with someone else. Why should it be otherwise with no nuclear ambitions ? Such is the charm of the place and its people, forged from the trading Genoese and stubborn Maltese, in that order and displaying their tell tale surnames with pride. Most have never been to either places of origin but many have and taken a peek at their encestral homes with the zeal of the Victorian explorers.

What most people do not know and see because of the different way marriage names are taken in Saxon and Hispanic lands, is that behind the scene and in the wings, the Spanish Grandmamas with their claim to Spanish soils, hide their names in the feathers of the male. The Garcias and the Perez and the Monteverdes and the Martinez only come to the fore when the female does the mating in the hinterland. Not when the male ventures out of his enclosure to get himself a younger partner than he would be ineligible for in the competitive backstreets of the Rock. Plainly,when the male gets his mate across the frontier in Spain he gives her his Maltese or Genoese surname, but when the female finds herself her Spanish lover her children bring it into the community. Originally to almost tribal local dirty looks. In any case whether hidden or not, it is there and whether anybody likes it or not, the Spanish blood and its culture not only fed in constantly, but forged the modern Gibraltarian alongside the blue blooded, British tuition and heavy history. Identifying with the ruling force was never a problem and the plate was almost always abrimful of elegant sufficiency , until the dockyard started to develop terminal dysfunction. Disastrous attempts to replace the non existante economy finally found a resting place in offshore functions which generally benefit the legal breed and leaves everything else out on grassroot fare, not to mention the odd scandal or three creating red faces where originally there were none. Smuggling of course at famous five level with teenagers riding high on uncontrollable power boats brought the question of identity and British stupefaction to a head. Worthy of Hollywood interpretation, hovering helicopters and daredevil Kung Fu on wave crests lost a few local families a kid or two. But the attempt to create a new economic base at the expense of Denmark´s insurance group Baltica paved the way for the disappearance of millions and its tombstone. The socialist party headed by the man the Brits called Oddball and who appeared to function on even days, amazingly lined the pockets of most of its Ministers with unheard of what today would be trillions. Even the bemused Chief Minister avoided the long arm of the smarting British law by apparently bribing the local attorney general, but the truth of the matter is that the fleeing resultant millionaires came back to base regardless and with social status to boot. But then maybe he trickled a bit into local charities or something like that. Hybrid genetics are in any case, a bit too advanced (some three hundred years) to send anyone back to Malta, Genoa or San Roque, but where to hang the crest when Britain opts out, is not that simple. The Gibraltarian for all his spots and peculiarities is something that would take an army of Brits and Spans to remotely understand and what sort of Gibraltarian will emerge with the present pot pourrie of tax exiles trading cash for apartments and ID cards, is an added mystery. But then why should it matter with Europe holding its colourful umbrella encouragingly aloft ?

Blind resolutions.

The United Nations like all institutions hardpressed to institute the ridiculous at the point of expediency, swore at the loyal representatives of the Rock who came cap in hand to declare that they did not mind being colonials – not one single bit. In fact it demanded of Britain to do the graceful thing of making a fool of itself by handing over the 30,000 to the gleefully expectant Spaniards. Whether or not mass extermination was a matter of overall interest or possibility is not the issue, but terrified islanders, loyal to the core and stripped of every dignity and aspiration overnight, were something that an alarmed British nation was not prepared to stomach. Such is the nature of benevolent societies like the UN with a critical role to play even when traditionally it does not quite know where it all starts and where it ends. Colonialism on the Rock seemed to work as it did in Malta and in India and whose to say the latter two have not quite come to terms with the vacuum the withdrawals produced ? In Gibraltar´s case the decolonialisaton demand would have broken every rule in the international book of human rights. And all for the sake of giving Spain the satisfaction that this little enclave which is not even its furthermost southern point or junction with Africa, had finally been taken from the pirate Brits. What on earth would they have done with the apes they call the local ancestors ? The pirate Brits and selfsame who fought for the restoration of Spanish sovereignty in the battle of Trafalgar in an attempt to rid the country of the French – the sticky invaders who were starting to massacre its people in the streets. It gave the country its favourite expression for catastrophy with the date 2nd May in much the same way as the twin tower event. The honeymoon with the French liberators had come to a misguided end as it always does between firmly established nations which attempt to make political love for too long. Spain even had a French dictator on the throne renamed Pepe Botella – a brother of the expansive Napoleon. Such are the ways of those who want everything overnight at other´s expense of course.

Today most Spaniards are led to believe that the pirate Nelson took the Rock then (some hundred years after the event) and deserved every bullet he got from the eager Iberian sniper, except that Lord Wellesley and his issue reaped the rewards in territorial presents for the acknowledged act of down to earth liberation. The Rock as everyone knows, is hardly ever going to go anywhere other than towards a form of self enshrined historical charter. It would be nice to think that all the parties would live happily everafter, but we all know that such charades only happen with Audrey Hepburn and El Zorro. A pity in a way, but let us see what issues involved are.

And then what ?

Gibraltar draws its basic sustenance from fiscal activities which are rapidly coming to an end as Inland Revenues in Europe start to tear at the guy ropes of these hideaways. It also draws on commercially geared, price differentials between the two states. This too, could easily come to an end and Gibrlatar would technically grind to an economic halt. Whether this is expected and the political saliva is starting to dribble in the wrong mouths, is not the point. What matters is whether there is any chance that the softening of resolutions by generations used to spending weekends in Spain will become the drawing board for a handover of an imperceptible nature doing its work over decades if not scores. At first glance it seems that this was what was ordered in that fateful day in Madrid when the Queen expressed gladness at the thought that the issue would be solved in a historical context, but then it is not generally known that the Royals would be loathe to hand over such an amulet to realtive strangers with their own crowns to bear. Symbolic joint title would have been the answer provided it kept the two distinctive cultures at bay, but alas the hackles rise at the thought and the cat and dog indicators remain firmly in place. A threesome or even a fivesome with the church and UN permanent representatives and Barclays brought in perhaps, but would this suit the eager fervent Spanish nationalists who dream with the yellow and red insignia unfurling over a torpid local sunset on the Rock ? Hardly, but one of the world´s most important bays devoid of posionous emissions and rampant with Acapulco opportunities might well throw the cat among the pigeons as Gibraltarian entrepreneurial talent threw its doors open for a slice of the action. Would that same spirit permeate a future of avid collaboraton for a scenic, maritime refuge that could rival the largest of its kind in the world and bring final lasting relief to cancer ridden, choking generations of inhabitants around its fringe ? A pleasant thought but a governing council of such a collection of communities with a personal, vested interest in such a future would hardly feel threatened by a Gibraltarian entity on board ? Whats one Municipality among a few in such a noble venture ? Surely the territorial issue, would be solved as aspirations merged within an umbrella of such cosmopolitan elegance ? The leopards, it seems, would not have to change their spots and individual historical identities would not only remain intact as the task in hand takes over, but neighbourhood differences might well be the added spice that would make the whole area the highlight of world navigators. Harnessing the talent and hauling the profile of this possible dream aloft, may well put political ones where they belong – in the bin.