Bangladesh lecture

The Partition of Bengal in 1947

The Partition of Bengal

• The old Bengal was cut into 201 pieces

• Pakistan received about 64% of the territory and 65% of the population

• India received the princely states of Tripura and Cooch Behar, apart from West Bengal

• There were 197 tiny enclaves, where people belonged neither to India nor to Pakistan. Finally settled in 2015 with Indo-Bangladesh border agreement

The province was fractured, having lost its capital, Calcutta, and its whole industrial base.

What were the demands of East Pakistan?

• Excluded from top positions in administration, army, business and banking

• Jute was taken to West Pakistan for processing and exported. No gain to East Pakistan.

  • Chief economic exploitation - was absolutely central to Bengal’s economy - before Partition, it had gone to Calcutta for manufacturing but now went to West Pakistan

  • The rupee was overvalued so East Pakistani peasants did not get the returns of their labour

• Disparity in income between West and East Pakistan was about 20% in the early 1950s and grew to 50% by 1970

  • The result of exploitative economic policies

What was the language movement, 1947-50?

• 1947 - establishment of Tamaddun Mujilish by Professor Abdul Kashem

• 6 December 1947 - East Bengali students held a meeting on Dhaka University Campus demanding that Bangla be made a state language of Pakistan

• December 1947 - Rastrabhasa Sangram Parishad (Language Action Committee) was formed with Professor Nurul Huq Bhulyan as the convener

• 13 February 1948 at Karachi, tussle over language at the Constituent Assembly. Resolution to include Bengali defeated. Followed by general strike and wide-spread agitations.

  • Made the argument that 66% of Pakistan’s population spoke Bengali

• A general strike was called, with East Pakistani leaders arrested

• 11 March 1950 - Dhaka University Language Action Committee formed with Abdul Matin as its convener

What were the key landmarks, 1953-70

• 1953 - Dismissal of Fazul Haq government

• 1956 - Pakistan constitution

• 1958 - Suspension of constitution - martial law

• 1962 - Ayub Khan becomes President - hostile police towards East Pakistan

  • Ayesha Jalal argues that although he promised to restore political integrity, he was aware that his position depended on the Punjabi federal bureaucracy, leading him to support the notion of Punjabi supremacy

• 1965 - Defeat in war against India

• 1970 - Elections - massive victory of Awami League

Operation Searchlight

• On 25 March 1971, in the middle of negotiations, Yahya Khan quietly took a plane to Karachi, ordering a military crackdown

• On 27 March 1971 - Major Zaiur Rahman announced Bangladesh independence on Swahdin Bangla Betar Kendra (Independent Bangla Radio Centre) Chittagong

House divided

• Pakistani POW (about 90,000) and civil internees

• Collaborators (Bengali and non-Bengali) especially razakars

• ‘Bihars’ - non-Bengali Muslim migrants

Birangana

• By some estimates 200,000 women were raped in the war

• An instrument to ‘weaken the Bengali race’

• Declared war heroines by the government

• Nationalism - break with the ‘traditions and taboos of Muslim society’

• Attemoted rehabilitatio through marriage and employment, not very successful

Poloumi Saha: An Empire of Touch

• Population 166.59 million

• Bengali language was placed at no.7 in numbers of speakers

• Low lying delta risk of rising sea-level, Natural disasters

• Grameen Bank - Yunus wins Nobel prize

  • Micro credit schemes targeted at women - a resounding success, copied across the Global South

• Development of Garment industry

• HDI and GDI performance among the best in South Asia