Bengalis in Pakistan, the war of Liberation and the Creation of

Bangladesh

3.1 Introduction

This chapter discusses the political developments in Pakistan following the partition of India on religious
lines, the growing sense of regional and linguistic autonomy of the Bengali Muslims of East Pakistan
within the context of a united Pakistan, the war of liberation and the creation of Bangladesh. This
ultimately raises question whether the legacy of the liberation war was cohesive enough to constitute
the basis of a new future of a functioning parliamentary democracy in Bangladesh. Accordingly this
chapter is divided into two main parts. In the first part we shall make a brief study of the roots and
growth of disparity between two units of Pakistan that ultimately contributed to the acceleration of the
autonomy movement in East Pakistan.¹ In this context, some mention of the historical, economic and
cultural factors responsible is imperative. However, we shall mainly focus on the issue of regional
autonomy, as this is the factor, which mostly affected the course of politics in Pakistan and shaped the
form of movements. In the second part, we shall discuss and analyse the radicalisation of Bengali
autonomy movement, which led to the politics of confrontation, the war of liberation and ultimate
eation of Bangladesh in 1971.

5.2 Bengalis in Pakistan and the Evolution of an Internal Colony

Then Pakistan was created in 1947, it was formed from the union of two istinct regions separated by a
distance of one thousand miles of Indian

When Pakistan was created in August 1947, its eastern wing was known as East Bengal. It was renamed
as East Pakistan when the first constitution was enacted in 1956. The Bengali nationalists always
referred to it interchangeably as Bangladesh and East Bengal. For the sake of historical reasons, in my
study, I have used throughout 'East Bengal' up to the partition of India in 1947, East Pakistan' covering
the pre-liberation period of 1971 and Bangladesh' from and after the independence in 1971

70 Bangladesh: Failure of a Parliamentary Government 1973-75.

Territory. The western region was made up of what is now Pakistan and the eastern region consisted of
the present Bangladesh. These two regions of Pakistan were distinctly different from one another
geographically, ethnically and culturally. Again, the region of West Pakistan was itself divided into
various regional and linguistic people namely, Punjabis, Sindhis, Pathans and the Beluchis. The eastern
region, however, was culturally and linguistically homogenous in that the people were mostly ethnically
Bengalis.

The historical reasons leading to the partition of India and the creation of Pakistan resulted in the
regrouping of Bengalis on a religious basis. The division of the territory of Bengal into East Bengal (later
East Pakistan) and West Bengal (in India) in 1947 led two groups of people to govern in two different
ways and in the process of history they developed two different cultural patterns, although they spoke
the same language and belonged to the same ethnic group. This fact of being in a separate state,
however, did not in any way change the urge of Bengalis in East Pakistan to maintain an autonomous
status. Previously, it was an urge within the structure of India under British rule that the Bengalis were a
separate and distinct people, and now within Pakistan with a new status of a full province, the urge
became deeper. The fact that the central administration of Pakistan was situated abour one thousand
miles away, dividing her two broad territories by another sovereign state presumed enemy right from
the beginning (by the central leadership), made the demand for autonomy more logical and strong.

Right from the beginning of the union following independence, Bengalis in East Pakistan started feeling
left out in the process of governance. The lack of adequate representation in all spheres of life was
noticed. The policies pursued by the ruling elite deepened the inherent socio-economic imbalance
between the two regions of Pakistan and created a wide disparity in terms of development. For
example, although East Pakistan in 1955 had a population of 48.1 million against a population of 40.2
million in West Pakistan, Bengalis had little higher ranking military and civil service representation (Table
3.1 & 3.2) comparing to their West Pakistani counterpart. The economic policy of the ruling elite was
also a significant factor in the perpetuation and widening of

There were a number of tribal people living in the Northeast and Southeast areas of Eart Pakiman who
for all practical purposes identified themselves within the broader cultures of Bengalis although keeping
their separate ethnic identities. However, there were a number of non-Bengali immigrants mostly from
Bihar, India, who settled in East Pakistan following the partition of India in 1947. Known as the Bibaris,
majority of these immigrants always identified themselves with the ruling elites of Pakistan and mostly
posal a problem for the Bengali nationalists.

Jahan, R (1994). Pakistan: Failure in National Integration. Dhaka: University Press Limited, p. 31.

Bengalis in Pakistan, the war of Liberation and the Creation of Bangladesh 71

the economic disparity between East and West Pakistan. During the first decade, the central
government allocated two-thirds of its' developmental and non-developmental funds to West Pakistan
(Table 3.3 & 3.4). There was a similar disparity in the allocation of foreign aid (Table 3.5). Whether it was
revenue or development expenditure, foreign assistance and loans or foreign exchange, East Pakistan
did not get its fair share though it contained the majority of the country's population.

TABLE 3.1 Military Elites in Pakistan, July 1955 (No. Of Officers)

Service

EAST WEST

Army 14 894

Navy 7 593

Airforce 60 640

Source Dawn, Karachi, January 8, 1955. Quoted in Jahan, R (1994) Pakistane Failure National Integration.
Dhaka: University Press Dhaka, p. 25.

in

TABLE 3.2 Higher Civil Service Representation, 1955

Service/Rank EAST WEST

CSP 5 12

CENTRAL SECRETARIAT
Secretary 19

Joint secretary 3 38

Deputy secretary 10 123

Under secretary 38 510

Source: Adapted from Jahan, R. (1994). Pakistan: Failure In National Integration Dhaka

University Press Limited, p. 26.

Bengalis in Pakistan, the war of Liberation www.

These disparities, both in the central services and in the allocation of resources in addition to many
others, which resulted from the central government's conscious policy of favouring West Pakistanis at
the expense of the Bengalis, was deeply resented in East Pakistan. Thus, the power structure that
Pakistan inherited had little effective Bengali participation, and the policy pursued by the West
Pakistanis in the early years - a policy of one state, one government, one economy, one language, and
one culture - tended to perpetuate this imbalance; and was a significant factor in the growth of Bengali
alienation in the first decade of Pakistan's existence. This created a severe feeling of discontent right
from the beginning. Thus, as early as 1948 an East Pakistani member of the Constituent Assembly of
Pakistan stated, "A feeling is growing among the East Pakistanis that the Eastern Pakistan is being
neglected and treated merely as a colony of West Pakistan. This feeling of East Pakistan being treated
like a colony" was well documented in the Constitution Commission Report that was set up by Ayub
Khan under the chairmanship of Justice Shahabuddin."

While 'economic disparity' and 'service disparity' were issues that primarily affected the middle class in
East Pakistan, the cultural policy of the central government gave a wider emotional appeal to the
demand for autonomy and helped to develop a linguistic nationalism among the masses of Bengalis.
Thus, the conflict of the Bengalis with the cultural policy centred round the choice of the state language
of Pakistan. The controversy over this issue began even before Pakistan was created. The Muslim League
leader, especially those who did not represent the Bengalis, developed a clear notion that Urdu the
'spoken language of the north Indian Muslim elites would be the only official state language of Pakistan.

The language movement by the Bengalis effectively started soon after the creation of Pakistan. In the
first session of the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan, Dhirendra Nath Datta, a Hindu Congress member
moved an amendment on February 25, 1948 that sought to make Bengali one of the state languages of
Pakistan. This motion was strongly apposed by the then West

Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Liaquat Ali Khan who alleged that the mover of the resolution tried
to create misunderstanding between different parts of Pakistan. Even the first Governor General of
Pakistan, M. A. Jinnah declared in March 1948, at Dacca, East Pakistan that anyone who opposed Urdu
as the only state language of Pakistan was really the enemy of Pakistan."

Thus, the leadership of Pakistan mainly from the western region were determined to impose Urdu as
the only state language of Pakistan ignoring the very emotional and sentimental wishes of the majority
population in the eastern wing. But, for the first time involving themselves in politics, the students of
Dhaka University launched a movement against Jinnah's declaration and demanded the recognition of
Bengali as one of the state languages of Pakistan. This was the beginning of involvement of students in
the active politics in the then East Pakistan. Although, this language movement of 1948 was short lived
and failed to achieve its objective, it nevertheless. generated a new unity amongst the Bengali students
of East Pakistan who began to play the role of spokesman for the rising counter elite. The man who
emerged, as the most prominent and popular leader out of this movement was Sheikh Mujibur
Rahman"- the future father of the Bengali nation. The language movement of 1948 ultimately set a
different tone for social and political institutional development in East Pakistan; it enunciated the
necessity of having 'Bengali' as one of the national languages of Pakistan. The non acceptance of this
cultural demand, however, laid the groundwork for future discord and distrust between the two wings
of Pakistan and can be viewed in hindsight as the beginning of the end of united Pakistan.

It was during this very period that the first political party of Bengalis was formed in East Pakistan. The
Awami Muslim League (later to become the Awami League) was formed in the then East Pakistan in
June 1949 by a group of dissatisfied Muslim League leaders from East Pakistan." The founding

Ibid, p. 17. "Callard, K (1957). Pakistan: A Political Study. London: Allan and Unwin, p. 182. u Sheikh
Mujibur Rahman, widely acclaimed as the father of the Bengali mation who gave

leadership for the independence of Bangladesh in 1971. Born on March 17, 1920 in Faridpur District of
Bangladesh, Sheikh Mujib showed leadership and generosity from a very early age He graduated from
Islamic College in Calcutta and moved to East Bengal to become the undsunted political leader of the
decades providing leadership to the formation of East Bengal Muslim Student League, which later
became the student wing of the Awami League Party. Sheikh Mujib's devoted fight for the autonomy of
his people ultimately earned him the independence of Bangladesh in 1971

leadership of the Awami League was dominated by lawyers and students who provided. for the first
time, a political platform for the rising autonomy movement of East Pakistan." Meanwhile, the first
Constituent Assembly of Pakistan appointed a committee known as Basic Principles Committee (BPC) to
make necessary recommendations on the basic principles for the future Constitution of Pakistan. The
committee submitted its report in September 1950, and immediately a severe political storm took place
in East Pakistan. For the first time, Bengalis organised themselves on political issues and outright
rejected the proposals of the committee. The main criticism against the report was that it was a mixture
of parliamentary and presidential systems allowing too many prerogatives to the president. The report
also did not offer any effective autonomy to the provinces, which Bengalis thought was not in
accordance with their wishes and ultimate long term aims. The presidential power of proclaiming an
emergency and suspending the constitution, and recommendation of Urdu as the only state language of
Pakistan were a few of the most unacceptable proposals for the Bengalis. A committee of action formed
at a mass convention of opposition political workers in Dhaka, East Pakistan, who were entrusted to
draft an alternative proposal for the future constitution. This Bengali anti-BPC report proposal especially
those dealing with East Pakistan's autonomy remained the anchor of all subsequent demands for
autonomy in East Pakistan earning ultimate independence for the Bengalis.

Since Liaquat Ali Khan's" assassination in 1951, the fear of Bengali domination in the Constituent
Assembly had become a permanent fixture to the Punjabis - the ruling group in Pakistan's politics from
West Pakistan. The Bengalis with 44 out of 79 members in the Constituent Assembly had not only a
majority but also obtained the support of other minority groups from West Pakistan like the Pathans
and the Sindhis. To check this Bengali-Pathan-Sindhi onslaught against the Punjabi bureaucratic
complex, a tacit understanding was reached between the two contending groups. However, the uneasy
compromise of having a formula like a Punjabi Governor General (Ghulam Muhammed) together with
an East Pakistani Bengali Prime Minister (Khawaja Nazimuddin) did not solve the regional power
struggle; rather it intensified the rivalry! The modus operandi devised by the Punjabi group to discredit
Bengali Nazimuddin and his followers was both subtle and ingenious. The unity of

three vice presidents - Abul Mansur Ahmed, Araur Rahman Khan and Abdus Salam Khan were all
lawyers. The general secretary. Shamsul Huq and assistant general secretary Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
both were young student leaders and became prominent during the 1948 language movement

Disparity between West

and East Pakistan

Introduction

• Pakistan emerged as an independent nation in 1947 breaking apart from India on

the basis of a two-nation theory. The Muslim majority province of East Bengal

(subsequently East Pakistan) joined Punjab, North-West Frontier Province, Sind

and Baluchistan to form the undivided Pakistan.

• Economic maltreatment of East Bengal, it is argued, was one of the factors that

led to the disintegration of Pakistan in 1971 leading to the creation of

Bangladesh.
• Discriminatory allocation of government budget across provinces arguably led to

big disparities in the development of infrastructure facilities which, in turn,

resulted in marked disparities in economic welfare.

• Pakistan adopted parliamentary system but had failed to organize election in the first 11 years.

• Pakistan was dominated by bureaucrats and soldiers.

• The ruling elite was composed of senior bureaucrats none of whom was East Bengali. Up to
1958 they were supported indirectly by the army; after 1958, army support was direct and open.
There was a cabinet and a parliament, but the political order in Pakistan could be called 'an
oligarchy under a democratic constitution‘.

• The country had, in theory, a federal constitution, but in practice the provincial government
was entirely subordinate to the centre, particularly in financial and administrative matters.

• The Bengalis found a new ruling group set over them in place of the former British officials.
The civil and military officials from West Pakistan stationed in East Bengal never bothered to
develop any real bonds with the local population who looked upon them as aliens.

• The British raj contained only one Bengali officer. Similarly, the Bengalis were very poorly
represented in the army because the British authorities had considered them to be a non-martial
race.

•Following its separation from India, Pakistan inherited a federal

structure of governance under which subjects such as foreign affairs,

defence and commerce were administered by the central

government whilst matters like education and health were concerns

of the respective provincial governments.

•In reality, however, the division of planned development activities in

the public sector between the central and provincial governments did

not follow the line of division of subjects between the two.

Policy Discrimination

• The central government of Pakistan adopted various means and methods to get

firm control over East Pakistan’s economy. The foreign exchange control and

import licensing were two most effective methods for the appropriation of

agricultural surplus and to establish import-substitution industries in West

Pakistan with the help of national bureaucracy.

• It also pursued the policy of single economy and fiscal and commercial policies
directed towards supporting private sector (underlying motive of the

establishment of PIDC) private investment in East Pakistan through industrial

house based in West Pakistan.

• East Pakistan is being deprived of its legitimate sources and shares of revenue;

East Pakistan government was running into deficits. He also demand that

population should be the basis of distributing the windfall surplus earned by the

central government.

•The main economic grievances of East Pakistan against the central

government can be bracketed under three areas of public policy

which included division of revenue between the centre and

provinces, jute and foreign exchange, and development planning.

Each one of them was criticized on the ground of strong centre.

•In 1959-60, the per capita income in West Pakistan was 32 per cent.

higher than in the East. Over the next ten years the annual rate of

growth of income in West Pakistan was 6-2 per cent. while it was only

4-2 per cent. in East Pakistan. As a result, by 1969-70 the per capita

income in the West was 61 per cent. higher than in the East. Thus in

ten years the income gap doubled in percentage terms; it increased

even more in absolute terms.

•Mehboob ul Haq, the chief economist of the planning commission

stated in 1968 that 66 per cent of country's industrial assets, 79 per

cent of insurance funds, 80 per cent of bank assets were controlled

by some twenty families. About 80 per cent of the total loan

advanced by the PICIC had gone to the fifteen families.

•East Pakistan had not been allowed to produce its own 'indigenous

capitalist class'. The big industrialists established in East Pakistan

were all non-Bengalis, and there was not a single Bengali family

among the famous twenty families which control the country’s

economy’.