DefinePK

Abstract

The present research explores the Bangladeshi narratives of victimhood and genocide to re-construct these homogenizing narratives that maligned the image of Pakistan globally. Bangladeshi fictional and non-fictional writers vigorously contributed in establishing a narrative of victimhood after separation in 1971 that squarely placed the blame of atrocities on Pakistan and her army. Bangladeshi narrative of oppression by former West Pakistan army and the complaints of political, cultural and economic exploitations are investigated through alternative narrative of Bose which delegitimizes, deconstructs and re-constructs Bangladeshi metanarrative of oppression. The study also highlights fluidity of nationalist ideologies that transformed from Muslim nationalism of 1947 to ethno-linguistic Bangladeshi nationalisms in 1971. The selected work is analyzed through the theoretical lens of Lyotard’s postmodernist perspective of incredulity towards metanarratives. Munslow’s deconstructionist postmodernist approach is used as methodological trajectory for the current research. The present study focusses on investigating the secession holistically and presents heterogeneous representations of this historical separation in 1971.||Keywords: Metanarratives, Alternative Narratives, Delegitimation, Fluid Nationalist Ideology, Ethno-Linguistic Nationalism.