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.

• In 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.