Why East Pakistan Became Bangladesh: The Final Part (Part 4) - Military and Politics

Why East Pakistan Became Bangladesh (Part 4)

Part 1- Economic Exploitation of the East

Part 2: Language and Culture

Part 3: Cyclone Bhola

The Final Part (Part 4): Military and Politics

In this series of posts, I will highlight just a few of the many reasons why East Pakistan seceded from Pakistan and became Bangladesh. 

The Final Part (Part 4): Military and Politics

When Pakistan came into being in 1947, it inherited 6 infantry divisions and 1 armored brigade from the British Indian army, ALL of which was based in West Pakistan. East Pakistan was later allocated a few battalions. Over time, as the Pakistan army exponentially grew, West Pakistan continued to receive over 90% of the armed forces. There was little to no air force or navy present to defend East Pakistan.

The defense of the East lies in the West .

This mantra, that the Pakistan army does NOT NEED TO DEFEND East Pakistan, formed the core of Pakistan army's strategy. Broadly speaking, this translated into Pakistan defeating India in the west, regardless of what transpired in the east (including Indian occupation of East Pakistan) because the presumed West Pakistani success would force India to negotiate a favourable settlement.

So Bengali Pakistanis became increasingly frustrated. They were asked to lay down their lives in defending West Pakistan, yet the Pakistani army wasn't prepared to defend them. The Pakistan army was also composed of 90% West Pakistanis, despite Bengalis making up 56% of the population of Pakistan.

During the two wars with India, East Pakistan was left virtually defenseless. Bengalis died preventing India from taking Lahore, while their own homes in East Pakistan were left open to attack, had India wanted to. This ultimately led to Sheikh Mujibur Rahman of the Awami League proposing the famous "6 point formula" in 1966 in Lahore. It, amongst others, demanded almost full autonomy for East Pakistan in most matters.

Political Subjugation

From 1947 through to 1971, the political suppression of Bengali Pakistanis continued on a systematic scale.

• Whenever a Bengali Pakistan was elected as Prime Minister of Pakistan, such as Khawaja Nazimuddin, Mohammad Ali Bogra, or Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, the West Pakistani establishment would quickly depose of that person.
• As most Pakistanis were Bengalis, a system of direct representation would favour them, thus the leadership of West Pakistan came up with the idea of "One Unit". West Pakistan was "one unit", as was East Pakistan. Pakistani scholars and researchers maintain that the One Unit programme was viewed as a counterbalance against the political and population domination of the ethnic Bengali population of East Pakistan.
• We have already talked about the economic, cultural and language oppression policies of West Pakistan towards their brothers in the East in previous segments.
• Finally, in 1970 General Elections, the Bangladesh Awami League, the largest East Pakistani political party, led by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, won a landslide victory in the national elections. The party won 167 of the 169 seats allotted to East Pakistan, and thus a majority of the 313 seats in the National Assembly. This gave the Awami League the constitutional right to form a government. However, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (a former Foreign Minister), the leader of the Pakistan People's Party, refused to allow Rahman to become the Prime Minister of Pakistan. Instead, he proposed the idea of having two Prime Ministers, one for each wing.
• This was the final straw. Bengalis now knew that EVEN IF THEY played by all the rules, and legitimately won, their aspirations would be crushed and their dreams squashed. Thus Pakistan could no longer remain united.

Events Leading to the Declaration of Independence

Events then began to move fast.

• On 7th March, Sheikh Mujubur Rahman gave his famous speech at the Racecourse.
• The Pakistan army began to fly soldiers into East Pakistan, disguised as civilians.
• General Tikka Khan, known as the "Butcher of Baluchistan", was flown into Dhaka to become Governor of East Bengal. East Pakistani judges, including Justice Siddique, refused to swear him in.
• "Operation Searchlight" began on March 25, 1971. Before the beginning of the operation, all foreign journalists were systematically deported from East Pakistan.
• The violence unleashed by the Pakistani forces on 25 March 1971 proved the last straw to the efforts to negotiate a settlement. Following these incidents, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman signed an official declaration of Independence:
  
  "Today Bangladesh is a sovereign and independent country. On Thursday night, West Pakistani armed forces suddenly attacked the police barracks at Razarbagh and the EPR headquarters at Pilkhana in Dacca. Many innocent and unarmed have been killed in Dhaka city and other places of Bangladesh. Violent clashes between E.P.R. and Police on the one hand and the armed forces of Pakistan on the other, are going on. The Bengalis are fighting the enemy with great courage for an independent Bangladesh. May Allah aid us in our fight for freedom. Joy Bangla."

Thus was born Bangladesh.

Sources:

1. Major Nasir Uddin, Juddhey Juddhey Swadhinata, pp47
2. Ali, Maj. Gen. Rao Farman, How Pakistan Got Divided, pp114
3. A Tale of Millions, Rafiqul Islam
4. Sayeed, Khalid B. (1967). The Political System of Pakistan. Houghton Mifflin. p. 61.
5. Talbot 1989, p. 86.

Why East Pakistan Became Bangladesh: Part 3 - Cyclone Bhola

Why East Pakistan Became Bangladesh (Part 3)

Part 1- Economic Exploitation of the East

Part 2: Language and Culture

Part 3: Cyclone Bhola

The Final Part (Part 4): Military and Politics

In this series of posts, I will highlight just a few of the many reasons why East Pakistan seceded from Pakistan and became Bangladesh. 

Part 3: Cyclone Bhola

Is it possible for a hurricane to physically split apart a nation? 

In this segment I want to highlight the effect of Cyclone Bhola on East Pakistan and the subsequent events. Before that, let's set the context.

Ever since 1947, East and West Pakistan has been uneasy bedfellows. Initially the fear of Muslims being dominated by a Hindu India kept the two wings together. By 1970, the military had been ruling Pakistan with an iron fist for 12 years. Strikes, riots and civil unrest was a daily fact of life. Elections were promised but delayed due to floods. And then came Tropical Cyclone Bhola.

Bhola remains the deadliest tropical cyclone ever recorded, and one of the deadliest natural disasters.

Bhola is often compared to the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami in its devastation:

- More than half a million people in East Pakistan lost their lives.

- Over 3.6 million people directly affected by the cyclone.

- Total damage is over $86.4 million (1970 USD, $450 Million 2006 USD).

- 65% of the fishing capacity of the coastal region was destroyed

- Survivors were at risk of cholera, typhoid and small pox for upto three months.

- People ate tree roots and drank water from ponds in which corpses were rotting because they had no other choice.

The Response of the Pakistan Government

Faced with such a catastrophic natural disaster, the government of Pakistan had a moral duty, and a golden opportunity, to demonstrate to the citizens of East Pakistan that Pakistan cared about them and their well being. Instead, everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. 

Whether by a genuine lack of concern from West Pakistan, or just genuine incompetency, or likely some combination of both, the response of the government to the disaster was a disaster in itself:

- About 3 weeks before the Bhola Cyclone there was a much smaller cyclone that had hit on October 23rd. The Pakistan government sent out evacuation orders, however, the storm dissipated. Because of this previous cyclone, government officials decided to not send out evacuation orders for Bhola.

- The government issued a warning of the approaching hurricane ... AFTER the hurricane had already made landfall, leading to people caught unaware.

- Only one military transport aircraft and three crop-dusting aircraft were assigned to relief work by the Pakistani government. They blamed India for not allowing flights across Indian air space, a charge the Indian government denied.

- A pesticide company had to wait two days before it received permission for two of its crop dusters, which were already in the country, to carry out supply drops in the affected regions.

- The Pakistani government only deployed a single helicopter to relief operations.

- Pakistan and India, due to their rivalry, did not share weather data which prevent warnings from given to East Pakistan coastal areas.

- The hurricane struck land on Nov 12, but the leader of Pakistan, Yahya Khan, only visited the areas on Nov 16. Despite criticism of efforts, he only took charge of relief operations on Nov 24.

- A reporter for the Pakistan Observer spent a week in the worst hit areas in early January and saw none of the tents supplied by relief agencies being used to house survivors.

- West Pakistani newspapers constantly downplayed the affects. Despite receiving reports of 500,000 dead, the Pakistan Observer on Nov 13 had the headline: "50 feared lost".

As the magnitude of the disaster became more and more clear, as did the inadequate response by the government, anger and unrest spread among the survivors. All political parties of East Pakistan issued a united statement harshly criticizing the government of Pakistan. Each politician wasted no time in telling the people how the Centre had bungled the efforts.

The entire political atmosphere had now changed dramatically.

No longer were East Pakistanis content with a return to democracy. With the disregard shown by the Yahya government towards the victims of the cyclone, not only did East Pakistani politicians demand the leader's resignation, but people openly called for what had hitherto been left unsaid: the breakup of East and West Pakistan. It was now only a matter of when.

To Be Continued ...

Sources:

1. 1970 cyclone changes the course of history. (2010, November 06) Retrieved November 11, 2017, from https://thisinnocentcorner.wordpress.com/.../1970.../

2. 1970 - The Great Bhola Cyclone. (N.D.). Retrieved November 1, 2017, from http://www.hurricanescience.org/.../storms/1970s/greatbhola/

3. Remembering Bhola https://www.dhakatribune.com/.../remembering-the-great...

4. Zeitlin, Arnold (January 13, 1971). "Pakistan Cyclone Relief Still Jumbled and Inadequate". Long Beach Press-Telegram. Associated Press. p. P-11. Retrieved April 15, 2007 – via Newspapers.com

5. Durdin, Tillman (March 11, 1971). "Pakistanis Crisis Virtually Halts Rehabilitation Work in Cyclone Region". The New York Times. p. 2.

Why East Pakistan Became Bangladesh: Part 2 - Language and Culture

Why East Pakistan Became Bangladesh (Part 2)

Part 1- Economic Exploitation of the East

Part 2: Language and Culture

Part 3: Cyclone Bhola

The Final Part (Part 4): Military and Politics

In this series of posts, I will highlight just a few of the many reasons why East Pakistan seceded from Pakistan and became Bangladesh. 

Part 2: Language and Culture

Pakistan was an anomaly when the nation was created. Two wings, East and West, divided by 1000 miles of Indian territory. Yet, it wasn't just the vast land that separated the two wings.

West Pakistan had 5 primary languages: Punjabi, Pashto, Sindhi, Balochi, Urdu. Yet none of them could be used by a West Pakistani to converse with a man from East Pakistan who spoke Bengali. West Pakistani culture was influenced by Arabic and Persian, while East Pakistan's Bengali culture had influences from Sanskrit and Hindi. Food, music, culture - everything was different. Yet, even modern India has sizable populations speaking over 150 languages, 22 of which are official. So what went wrong for Pakistan?

As a side note: In modern day Pakistan, Urdu is officially understood and spoken throughout Pakistan, despite being the mother tongue of only 8% of the population.

Islam and Religion

At the creation of Pakistan, the religion of Islam was used as a glue to hold such a diverse nation together. In fact, one of the architects of Pakistan was a Bengali man called A.K. Fazlul Hoque (also called Sher-e-Bangla, the Lion of Bengal). It was he who presented the Lahore Resolution in 1940 that ultimate resulted in the creation of Pakistan based on religious lines. Being Muslim, and Islam the religion, was to be the unifying factor of Pakistan.

Yet, even Islam was different in between the two wings. In 1947 the Bengali Muslims had identified themselves with Pakistan's Islamic project. Yet by the 1970s the people of East Pakistan had given priority to their Bengali ethnicity over their religious identity. Many Bengali Muslims strongly objected to the Islamist paradigm imposed by the Pakistani state in the interim years. The history of Islam in Bengal has been strongly influenced with Sufism - a much less extreme, more tolerant variety of Islam, which allowed for a strong connection with cultural heritage, language and ethnicity.

Cultural discrimination also prevailed, causing the eastern wing to forge a distinct political identity. There was a bias against Bengali culture in state media, such as a ban on broadcasts of the works of Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore. And then there was the Language Movement.

The Language Movement and the birth of Ekushey

In 1947, almost immediately after the birth of the nation, the government of Pakistan declared that "Urdu should be the sole state language".

At that time, only 7.2% of Pakistanis spoke Urdu, while 55.4% of Pakistanis spoke Bengali.

Immediate protests erupted in East Pakistan. At the height of civic unrest, Governor-General of Pakistan Muhammad Ali Jinnah arrived in Dhaka on 19 March 1948. On 21 March, at a civic reception at Racecourse Ground, he declared that "Urdu, and only Urdu" embodied the spirit of Muslim nations and would remain as the state language. West Pakistani politicians even suggested Bengali be written in the Arabic script.

The culmination of the protests led to the famous killing of students on Feb 21, 1952. Today that date is marked worldwide as International Mother Language Day. Finally in 1954 the government of Pakistan relented and declared that Bengali will also be a state official language of Pakistan, which finally came into place in 1956.

The Effect of the Divide

The almost ten year struggle by Bengali Pakistanis to have the right to speak, converse, teach, and obtain government services in their own language, in their OWN country, further highlighted the differences between the two Wings.

It heightened the sense of alienation and 'otherness'. It was not the final straw that broke the camel's back, but it was one of the many in a series of unfortunate events that ultimately led to civil war.

PS. Interesting trivia: the famous Pakistani patriotic songs Sohni Dharti Allah Rakhay, as well as Jeevay Jeevay Pakistan are composed and originally sung by Shahnaz Rahmatullah, a Bengali artist.

To be continued ...

Why East Pakistan Became Bangladesh: Part 1- Economic Exploitation of the East

Why East Pakistan Became Bangladesh (Part 1)

Part 1- Economic Exploitation of the East

Part 2: Language and Culture

Part 3: Cyclone Bhola

The Final Part (Part 4): Military and Politics

In this series of posts, I will highlight just a few of the many reasons why East Pakistan seceded from Pakistan and became Bangladesh. Today, I want to focus on the economic disparity between the two wings before Liberation.

Part 1- Economic Exploitation of the East

Take a look at the chart. In almost every year since the creation of Pakistan in 1947, spending was more on West Pakistan than East Pakistan. 

This, despite the fact that the majority of Pakistanis were Bengalis and lived in East Pakistan.

Here are some highlights amongst the stats:

• During the period of 1947-55 only 10% of total expenditure of the central government was spent in East Pakistan.
• In 1948 there were 11 textile mills in the East and only 9 in the West.
• In 1971 there were 26 in the East as opposed to 150 in the West.
• Presence of the country's capital city and more immigrant businessmen in the Western wing directed greater government allocations there.
• Much lower foreign investment in Eastern wing as opposed to West.
• The Pakistani state's economic outlook was geared towards urban industry, which was not compatible with East Pakistan's mainly agrarian economy.
• In 1947 and 1966, East Pakistan had a trade surplus of Rs. 4924.1 million where West Pakistan ran into a deficit of Rs. 16,634.6 million. Naturally, East Pakistan’s surplus was used to meet up West Pakistan’s deficit.
• Three capital cities - Karachi, Rawalpindi and Islamabad were built in phases in West Pakistan. An amount of Rs. 5700 million was spent till 1956 for Karachi alone to build it up but Dhaka got only Rs. 250 million.

As can be seen, despite more Pakistanis being Bengalis, and living in the East, money, resources and man power was always directed at the Western wing, despite Ayub Khan's brief investments in East Pakistan.

Thus it isn't hard to see why the people of Bengal felt exploited. The British had left, but the Bengalis had remained a colony. This time in their "own" country.

To be continued ...

Sources:

1. Economic Exploitation of East Pakistan, by Shanawaz Ahamed

2. Reports of the Advisory Panels for the Fourth Five Year Plan 1970–75, Vol. I, published by the planning commission of Pakistan.

A Memorable Test Win For Bangladesh

October 30, 2016.

A red letter day in the history of Bangladesh cricket.

(As an aside, do people still use the term "red letter day" any more or am I a hangover from an old English medium era?)

Sometimes, you as a fan know, simply know, in your heart that today, your team will succeed against all odds. In 1999, I remember telling my incredulous Pakistani friends that we would defeat them in the World Cup. 

Similarly today, I just had a gut feeling. Yes, it wasn't going to be easy, but somewhere, we all Tiger fans had that feeling.

This date joins others in the years - such as the 2012 wins over India, Sri Lanka and West Indies or the whitewashing of New Zealand in 2010 and later in 2013. 2015 was a banner year with victories over Pakistan, India and South Africa, but this date, October 30, 2016, will stand apart from all the rest.

It was the day when we arrived in Test cricket, after having a significant improvement in ODI cricket. Sure, we had Test victories over a full strength Zimbabwe team (surely an oxymoron in itself), or a weakened West Indies team, but this was the big fish. For the first time we beat a team that is in a bonafide contest for the no. 1 Test team in the world, the holder of the Ashes and had pretty much their first choice in team selection. And we didn't have our premiere bowler - Mustafizur. And we had come soooo close in Chittagong. 

I had been following the match from the first ball. It was good that today was Sunday here in Canada - I could forget about sleep and just watch the game. Well, in reality I did keep dozing off intermittently, but in my defense that is traditional for a Test cricket audience.

As a Bangladeshi wicket after Bangladeshi wicket fell in the morning, I kept thinking, why the hurry? Did our batsmen forget this was Test cricket, and not an ODI?

And then England raced to 100-0 to just before tea. The target was 273, a seemingly daunting one on a spinning wicket. Suddenly it was far less challenging, and flashbacks of the ODI decider kept coming back. We had what we thought was a good, challenging target, but England openers carved out a big chunk of it to make it an easy stroll.

I don't know what the coach told the team in the interval. Whatever it was, it seemed to work. Suddenly, in the next 22.2 mesmerizing overs, Shakib and Mehedi destroyed England. From 100-0 to 164 all out. 

This time, as each wicket fell, the anticipation grew. Test is really the best - and this game had it all. Sudden twists, batting collapses, umpire mistakes, overturned decisions, intrigue, colourful characters and so on. 

 
I mean the way Shakib gave Stokes a send off was the best if you had followed the series. Had a grin on my face as he departed.

And then suddenly after Shakib's three wickets in four balls ... after that over ... it was all down to the last wicket. Suddenly, there could be no doubt. And then Mehedi bowled that ball.

And then the umpire raised his finger. We all turned to Finn. Would he review the decision? Yes he would. Of course. But wait! England had no reviews left. 

This is it. 

This.

Was.

It.

We had won.

It was a hot smoggy winter's day and I was in Dhaka in 2005 as Bangladesh defended against Zimbabwe for 5 sessions to earn a draw and win the series 1-0. How far we have come from that!

Cholo Bangladesh!

My Liar Mom: A Mother's Day Poem.

This is a beautiful poem a man wrote out of love for his mother. His mother had become a widow in Bangladesh at a very early age, and raised her young son all alone, working hard for him, until this son got established and had a huge job in USA.

The poem is being recited by my father. I don't know who is the original author of the poem - if you know please let me know so I can credit the author. The poem is in Bengali, so I am attaching a (rough) translation here. Remember, a lot is lost in the translation.

--------------------
A long time has gone by, and still for my mom I cry
For my mom used to always vehemently lie.

Lonely we became, with death of my dad
My mom aged faster, with the worries now all on her head.
My mother said, a star in the far away galaxy was my dad
He would come down if I studied and got educated.
I did study, and amongst the stars I searched for my dad,
For me, my mother’s lies started with that.

“Get married again”, friends and relatives advised her
Difficult would be the long life all alone to bear.
They said, “Select a man and get married again, and come to your senses!”
Mom said, “I have no time for such nonsense!”
“Am I alone? Look! My son is with me here,”
That was another lie she could easily utter.

On the sewing machine my mom worked all night, making new clothes in batches,
Struggling hard for my life to be a little bright, yet her own old clothes had multiple patches.
Her eyes were sleepy, she was tired when a needle pricked her hand,
“Mom! Come, leave the work alone and sleep!” Was my demand.
“I am not sleepy,” said my mom, “I don’t need rest.”
That was another untruth to which my mom would attest.

Every day after school, she would pick me up,
My mom would wait for me, standing with no shade, and in the sky the sun high up.
The hot sun and humidity made everyone huff and sag,
Yet every day without fail she used to hand me an ice cream from her bag.
I held it out to my mom, “Here … take a bite,”
To this, she would say, “oh no, it’s all right.”
“You have it all. My throat gets infected if I have something cold,”
For me, that was another lie, she easily told.

In a big city I got a job, quite good
Got married, settled down as life eventually would.
In a posh location I got a house well furnished
With an interior decorator, each room was nicely made.
My mom still lived in my village
All alone in the darkness of load shedding, trying to light up a candle.
As the lights of the city shone and dazzled.
“Oh mom”, I said, “Come! Leave the village and come here to settle.”
Mom said, “It’s so nice and open here.”
“Why should I go to your hot and crowded city?”
“Actually if I stay in a closed room all day I get asthma attacks,”
Once again my mom lied.

After this my status went even higher
Job in World Bank with lots of power
Busy all day, I met people in rows
How is my mom, I had no time to regularly check up on her and know.
A day came when I heard she is sick and bed ridden,
Hit with a sickness that has no cure in Bangladesh.
I flew out to her, it was now a long journey,
I begged and pleaded with her to change her mind.
“Come with me States I beg of you.”
“The best doctors will take care of you.”
“These types of illnesses are no big deal there,”
“In seven days we will cure you and have you back here.”
With a smile on her face uttered my mom,
“I am not supposed to fly don’t you know!”
“Nothing has happened to me, don’t you worry.”

That was the last lie she told me.
A few days later, died this extreme liar.
For my lying mom, till today I cry.

A Guide for my Pakistani Friends About 1971

1. Realize that no matter how close we are, 1971 is a sensitive topic. Never, even jokingly, refer to modern Bangladesh as 'East Pakistan'. In fact, NEVER joke about 1971.
2. Realize that we do not blame you personally or hold you personally responsible for 1971 in any way. We do, however, blame your government for trying to whitewash history and pretend nothing happened.
3. Never say, 'oh, but both sides committed atrocities'. The scale does not even compare. It's like the Nazis saying, after they have gassed thousands of Jews, that one of them threw a rock at us.
4. I know it's hard for you to comprehend, but the army that you look up to and revere, has committed horrible war crimes, genocides and atrocities.
5. Never say 'it's the past and we should forget it in the spirit of forgiveness and brotherhood'. Forgiveness can only be given to those that sincerely repent and ask for it. Your government has denied any atrocities, let alone ask for forgiveness.
6. Do not automatically start speaking to a Bengali person in Urdu. Know about 1952, and ask for permission first.
7. Visit Bangladesh. You will find almost all Pakistanis speaking positively about their time there, and visit the War Museum in Dhaka. Educate yourself about your own history.
8. Ask your own government and challenge your own countrymen as to why 1952, 1971 are forgotten chapters in your history.
9. Finally, stop blaming India or Indian conspiracies and start building your own country. Start tolerating, no rather, start accepting those who speak and think and believe differently than you. The mistakes you made in 1971 are being repeated today in your country on the Ahmedis and on Baluchistan. Why?