Chapter 13 - Formation of Bangladesh 

General Yahya Khan:

• He was a %%distinguished military officer%% who had fought in the British Eighth Army in the Second World War.
• He was the %%Commander-in-Chief of Pakistan Army%% when Ayub handed him power after imposing the second martial law in March 1969.
• He %%held first general elections in Pakistan in 1970%% but could not control the resultant political crisis in East Pakistan.
• He %%started military operation in East Pakistan in March 1971%% that escalated to the %%third Pak- India war in December 1971%% and defeat of Pakistan.
• This made him extremely unpopular and %%he died in a state of house arrest in 1980.%%

Sheikh Mujeeb ur Rehman:

• He was the %%founder of the Awami League in 1949%% that eventually %%became the most popular political party of East Pakistan.%%
• He %%presented his six points in February 1966%% in which he demanded complete internal and fiscal provincial autonomy as a solution to the growing political and economic disparity between East and West Pakistan.
• %%West Pakistan rejected them%% as they would mean a nominal federal government.
• Mujeeb %%won a huge majority in 1970 elections%% but was arrested by West Pakistan.
• He %%became the first Prime Minister of Bangladesh in 1971%% but proved to be an autocratic
  ruler.
• I%%n August 1975, he and his wife were killed in a military coup.%%

Reasons for the Formation of Bangladesh:

• %%Economic disparity between East and West Pakistan grew with time.%%

  • East Pakistan had been poorer than West Pakistan since 1947 as its weak industrial base was repeatedly damaged by floods.
  • Unfortunately, this gap was widened mainly due to the economic policies of Ayub Khan in the 1960s.
  • West Pakistan became the major beneficiary of his industrial and agricultural reforms.
  • The 22 richest families of West Pakistan owned 66% of the industries and 80% of banking and insurance companies of Pakistan.
  • East Pakistan was the largest producer of jute in the world (producing 75% of the total world jute) but its economic growth was slower than that of West Pakistan.
  • Earnings from the jute export and taxes collected from East Pakistan were mainly spent on the development of West Pakistan.
  • The per capita income of East Pakistan was 85% that of West Pakistan by 1970. This means that every West Pakistani was 15% richer then his East Pakistani counterpart on the average.
  • The Bengalis also questioned the justification of spending of the Kashmir issue while keeping East Pakistan under developed.
  • All this promoted a sense of deprivation and frustration among the people of East Pakistan.

  </p>

• %%Political factors%% also contributed to the separation of East Pakistan.

  • It wanted a share in the government according to the size of the population that was 10% greater than West Pakistan (55% of the total population).
  • This was denied to them under the One Unit Scheme and rule of parity as enforced in the 1956 and 1962 Constitutions.
  • Most of the political decision making was done in West Pakistan.
  • East Pakistan was under- represented in the armed forces and the Civil Services as the headquarters of the armed forces were located in West Pakistan.

  </p>

• %%The Awami League of Sheikh Mujeeb in East Pakistan won an overall majority in the 1970 elections.%%

  • Mujeeb got this victory on the basis of his six points that asked for full autonomy of East Pakistan in all matters except for defence and foreign affairs.
  • Mujeeb wanted separate fiscal, taxation and foreign trade policy of the two wings which West Pakistan could not accept as it would weaken its traditional dominance in politics and economy.
  • Mujeeb was denied power and arrested that led to a civil war in East Pakistan. Situation worsened as General Yahya ordered a military operation in March 1971.
  • There was massacre of Bengalis who retaliated with the help of India.
  • The Indian army had been training and funding the Mukti Bahini, the militant Bengali separatist army.
  • Finally, the 1971 war led to West Pakistan’s defeat and creation of Bangladesh.

  </p>

• %%Cultural factors%% also contributed towards the tragic separation of East Pakistan.

  • %%Jinnah declared Urdu as the only national language on the basis of “One Nation One Language”.%%
  • This was resented by East Pakistan as Bengali was a fully developed and the only language spoken throughout East Pakistan.
  • The Bengalis took this as a step of West Pakistan’s attempts to dominate them.
  • After protests and violence, Bengali was also declared as the national language with Urdu.

  </p>

• %%East and West Pakistan were separated by a 1600 km long Indian territory%% and this caused difficulties in communication between the two wings.

  • East Pakistan was regularly ravaged by floods and cyclones that further weakened its economy.
  • Failure of West Pakistan to provide timely help in such emergencies also promoted a sense of separatism in East Pakistan.
  • It was affected by devastating floods only a couple of months before the 1970 elections but West Pakistan did not show any concern in providing relief to the flood victims.
  • India offered aid ostensibly on humanitarian grounds but West Pakistan did not allow it and this further hurt the people of East Pakistan.

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