The Political

Movements in
the Rise of the
Bengali
Nationalism
The Six Point
Program
 Announced by
Bangabandhu Sheikh
Mujibur Rahman
 On February 5th, 1966
 Demanded the full regional
autonomy in the East
Pakistan
  The Constitution should provide for a Federation
of Pakistan in its true sense on the Lahore
Resolution, and the parliamentary form of
government with supremacy of a Legislature
directly elected on the basis of universal adult
franchise.
 The federal government should deal with only two
subjects: Defence and Foreign Affairs, and all other
residuary subjects shall be vested in the federating
The Six Points states.
 Two separate, but freely convertible currencies for
two wings should be introduced; or if this is not
feasible, there should be one currency for the
whole country, but effective constitutional
provisions should be introduced to stop the flight
of capital from East to West Pakistan. Furthermore,
a separate Banking Reserve should be established,
and separate fiscal and monetary policy be adopted
for East Pakistan.
  The power of taxation and revenue collection
shall be vested in the federating units and the
federal centre will have no such power on the
issue. The federation will be entitled to a share
in the state taxes to meet its expenditures.
 There should be two separate accounts for the
foreign exchange earnings of the two wings; the
The Six foreign exchange requirements of the federal
government should be met by the two wings
Points(cont’d) equally or in a ratio to be fixed; indigenous
products should move free of duty between the
two wings, and the Constitution should
empower the units to establish trade links with
foreign countries.
 East Pakistan should have a separate militia or
paramilitary force.
  It challenged the political and economic
monopoly.
 The export earnings of East Pakistan would no
longer be spent in West Pakistan.
 Foreign assistance would no longer be
monopolized for the West Pakistan only.
 East Pakistan would no longer a captive market
The Impact of Six for WP products

Point Program  East Pakistan would no longer maintain the war

cost.
 Economic priorities would no longer be
determined for the advantages of the West
Pakistan.
 It would end the dominance of West Pakistan
bureaucrats.
  Agartala Conspiracy Case a case framed by the
Pakistan Government in 1968 during the Ayub
regime against Awami League chief Sheikh
Mujibur Rahman, some in-service and ex-service
army personnel and high government officials.
 They were accused of involvement in a conspiracy
to secede the East wing from Pakistan with the
The Agartala help of the government of India.
 The petition said that the conspiracy was concocted
Conspiracy Case between the Indian party and the accused persons
at Agartala city of Tripura in India. The case was
thus called Agartala Conspiracy Case.
 However, the Pakistan government was compelled
to withdraw the case in the face of a mass
movement in East Pakistan.
  The 1969 uprising in East Pakistan was a
democratic political movement in East
Pakistan.
 The uprising consisted of a series of mass
demonstrations and sporadic conflicts
between government armed forces and the
demonstrators.
Although the unrest began in 1966 with
The Mass Uprising 
the Six Point movement, it got momentum at
of 1969 the beginning of 1969 and culminated in the
resignation of Ayub Khan, the first military
ruler of Pakistan.
 The uprising also led to the withdrawal
of Agartala Conspiracy Case and acquittal
of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his colleagues
from the case.
 1. The state's Islamic ideology and reserving
the role of the Head of State for Muslims
exclusively.
2. Free and regular elections, both provincial
and federal, based on provincial
populations and universal suffrage.
Legal Framework 3. Judicial independence and human rights for
the citizenry.
Order(LFO) of
4. Assurance of maximum autonomy for the
General Yahya provinces while protecting the country's
territorial sovereignty and providing
Khan sufficient powers to the Federal
Government for functioning both internally
and externally.
5. Providing national participation to all
citizens with the removal of all regional and
provincial disparities.
  First scheduled in October 1970 but due to a
devastating flood in East Pakistan it had to
rescheduled in December 1970.
 Eld on the principle of ‘one person, one vote’
 The Awami League won 167 out of 169 seats in
East Pakistan but no seats in West Pakistan.
General Election  The Pakistan Peoples Party won 88 seats in
in 1970 West Pakistan but no seats in East Pakistan.
 A constitutional crisis of power sharing was
generated that led to the ultimate breakup of
Pakistan and emergence of independent
Bangladesh.