# Birthday of a Country

It baffles me that a lot of people in Bangladesh are still confused about the birthday of their country. I should come clear right of the bat— fixing on a birthday is not overly important. Whether a country, an abstract idea, can have a birthday is also up for debate. But the problem is, with this meaningless confusion, arises another question—when exactly Bangladesh started to exist. Unlike a birthday, this question is important.

There are two dates in this debate. 16th December, 1971, when the liberation army won against the invading pakistani army—AKA the victory day. And 26th March, 1971, when Bangladeshi people declared their independence—AKA the independence day.

The people who argue 16th December is the birthday, usually try to draw an allegory with human gestation. Like how a child is conceived and born 9 months after, the country was conceived on 26th march and born in 16th December.

What they do not consider is that, a country is an idea and ideas do not need to be in gestation. They can take place immediately, in mere fractions of a second. Also considering 16th December as the birthday, undermines the actions of the liberation army, rendering them illegitimate. The brutal war to free our people becomes merely a civil war and the freedom fighters seem as traitors. Only people with ignorance can suggest such propositions.

So, the birthday of Bangladesh, if we are taking this colloquially, is 26th march, the independence day.