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.

  • %%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.

  • %%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.

  • %%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.

  • %%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.