His 103 - 2

North South University
Department of History and Philosophy

Course Title: Emargance of Bangladesh
Course Code: HIS 103 (sec-3-4)
Fall 2016
Course teacher: Dr A K M Shahnawaz
Office: NAC 1043 Office hour: 2:4014:10
Lecture Days: MW
shahnawaz7b@gmail.com
1. Bengal to BangladeshGeographical FeaturesLand and People;
2. Brief Outline of the History of British Rule in South Asia till 1905
Coming of the British as Colonial Power;
3. Politics of Partition of Bengal (1905) and Its ResultFoundation of All India Muslim League;
4. Origin of Two Nation TheoryMohammad Ali JinnahNawab Sir Salimullah;
5. The Lahore Resolution (1940)BackgroundProvincial AutonomyRole of A. K. FazlulHaq;
6. Indian Independence Acts of 1947,Partition of India and the Second Partition of Bengal;
7. Language Movement of 1948 and 1952BackgroundRole of Students21st February 1952

Foundation of the Awami League,
East Bengal State Acquisition and Tenancy Act of 1950;
8. Election of 1954 and the United Front (Jukto Front)21 Points MovementRole of
A.K.FazlulHaq;
9. Constitution of 1956NatureDifficulties in implementation;
10. Military Rule in 1958 and the Basic Democracy of Ayub Khan
Failure of Democracy and the Rise of Authoritarian GovernmentPrinciple of Controlled
Democracy;
11. Constitutionof1962Principal FeaturesProvincial Autonomy QuestionStruggle for

AutonomyEast Pakistans Movement for provincial Autonomy and Political and Economic
Rights;
12. Six Point Program of Awami League (1966)Principal Features Propagation of the Program
throughout East Pakistan and the Role of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and Awami
League;
13. Agortola ConspiracyBackgroundRole of Pakistan Government and the Resistance of the

People of East Pakistan;
14. 11-Point Movement of the studentsSalient Features and their significance;
15. Mass upsurge of 1969 and the Fall of Ayub KhanYahya Khan and the second phase of Army
Rule;
16. Election of 1970Election Manifesto of Awami LeagueOverwhelming Victory of Awami

League;
17. Problem of National Integration in PakistanSocio-economical and Political Disparity between

the East and West Pakistan;
18. Understanding Bengali Nationalism: Political Basis of Bengali Nationalism;
19. Understanding Bengali Nationalism: Social, Cultural and Economical Basis of Bengali
nationalism;
20. Liberation War of 1971: Non-cooperation MovementQuest for constitutional solution

Historic 7th March Speech of Bangabandhu;
21. Genocide of March 25 and the beginning of the Liberation War;
22. Bangladeshi Response: Declaration of Independence of Bangladeshthe Mujibnagar

GovernmentFreedom Fighters
23. The Price We Paid: War Victims and War Damage of 1971.
24. Feedback
Suggested Readings:
Badruddin Umar The Emergence of Bangladesh: Class Struggles inEast Pakistan,

1947-1958
NazmaChowdhury The Legislative Process in Bangladesh: Politics and Functioning of
the East Bengal Legislature, 1947-58
Ahmed Kamal State Against the Nation: the Decline of the Muslim League in Pre-
Independence Bangladesh 1947-54
MohammadGhulamKabir Minority Politics in Bangladesh
Khalid B. Syeed Pakistan: The Formative Phase
Ayesha Jalal The Sole Spokesman: Jinnah, the Muslim League and the Demand
for Pakistan
Harun-or-Rashid The Foreshadowing of Bangladesh
Khalid B. Syeed The Political System of Pakistan
Keith Callard Pakistan: A political Study
Kamruddin Ahmed A Social History of East Pakistan
Jayanta K. Ray Democracy and Nationalism on Trial: A Study of East Pakistan
RaunaqJahan Pakistan: Failure in National Integration
A. M. A. Muhit Bangladesh: Emergence of a Nation
Moudud Ahmed Bangladesh: Constitutional Quest for Autonomy, 1950-71
Abdul WadudBhuiyan Emergence of Bangladesh and the Role of AwamiLeague
S. K. Chakrabarty The Evolution of Politics in Bangladesh, 1947-1978
W. H. Morris Jones Pakistan Postmortem Roots of Bangladesh
Lawrence Ziring The Ayub Khan Era: Politics in Pakistan 1958-1969
Syed Humayun Sheikh Mujibs 6-Point Formula: An Analytical Study of the
Breakup of Pakistan
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Fall 2016
1. Bengal to BangladeshGeographical FeaturesLand and People;
Land
1. Origin of the name of the Bengal

The Bengal we refer here covers both Bangladesh and West Bengal of India. At the
very beginning of the Muslim period, the name Bangla is first found to be used. The
Portuguese called it Bengala which is pronounced Bangalah in Persian. Two foreign
travelers Marco Polo and Rashiduddin in the thirteen-century used the name Bangal in
their travelogues long before the Muslims had used Bangalah. The terms Banga and
Bangalah were originated during the reign of Hindus and are also found in the Sanskrit
literature. But Banga and Bangala constituted limited area of the present Bengal. It was
changed into Bengal in European languages. The country was known as Gaur or Gour
Desh country in the eleventh and twelfth centuries and for a considerable successive
period.
2. Geographical Boundaries
Bengal lies in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent between 21N and 28N
latitude and between 87E and 9230'E longitude. To the north of Bengal there is the
Himalayas and to the south flows the Bay of Bengal. It is surrounded to the west by
about 350 miles border with Bihar and Orissa and to the east and south-east lies Asam
and Burma. Accordingly, the total area of Bengal is 84,432 square miles.
3. Physical Features
Bengal got a specific geographical condition. Although the country was an integral part
of the subcontinent, there was no desert, mountains, plateaus or valleys. It is mainly a
plain land excluding some high land along the border on its north, east and west. The
whole Bengal is called a deltaic country for its alluvial soil and diversified natural
conditions.
4. Geographical Divisions according to the position of its rivers

Bangladesh can be divided clearly into four regions according to the position of its
rivers: the large land area to the north of the Ganges (the Padma) and to the west of the
Brahmaputra, which belong to Rajshahi division now. This area was known as
Pundrabardhan in ancient times and Barendra on the eve of Muslim conquest. The
western land area of the Bhagirathi, a tributary of the Ganges was known as Rarh. The
areas to the east of the Bhagirathi, washed by the Meghna and the Brahmaputra, now
belonging to Khulna and Dhaka divisions was called Banga. The present Chittagong
division standing to the east of Meghna was Samatata.
Considering the geographical position of Bengal, Dr K. Bagchi has also observed Bengal
with its border surrounded by the rivers on its three sides. That is, the Padma lies to its
north, the Bhagirathi to the west and the Meghna to the east.
5. General natural conditions

It is generally clear from the above geographical location that the hilly regions and the
sea surround Bengal on its three sides. It is as if a natural defense line of Bengal. The
Himalayas on the north and the dense forests of the Lusai, Khasia and the Jaintia Hills
have encircled
Bangladesh. So these natural defenses caused difficulties to the foreign invaders. The
Bay of Bengal was also one of the impediments for them. Moreover, there lies the noted
Sunderbans along the southern parts. Although its western frontier regions were a plain
land, it was covered with dense forests. These natural protections of Bangladesh along
with its seasonal floods and many marshes which form a favorable condition for
holding a strong resistance against the cavalry of North India attracted the rulers of
Delhi who were appointed in Bengal. As a result, they frequently held their positions as
independent Sultans by revolting against Delhi.
People
People and Races

The little that we know of the earliest period of Bengal is derived almost solely from a
study of the Vedic literature. We may, therefore, legitimately draw the inference that
the primitive people of Bengal were different in race or culture, and perhaps in both,
from the Aryans who compiled the Vedic literature. We may further hold that Bengal
was unknown or but little known to the Vedic Aryans during the period represented by
the Riksamhita, but that at the time of the tater Samhitas and Brahmanas they were
gradually coming into contact with the province and adjoining tracts, though this
region was still outside the pale of Vedic civilization.
Origin of the People of Bengal
a. Legendary approach
An interesting sidelight is thrown on the orthodox Aryan view of the origin and
characteristics of the early people of Bengal by the episode of the Aitareya Brahmana. The
Rishi Visvamitra adopted as his son a Brahmana boy who had been offered as a victim
in a sacrifice to appease a deity. Fifty elder sons of the sage expressed disapproval of the
act and were consequently cursed by their father. They came to be known as the
Vangas, Pundras, Pulindas etc.
b. Scientific approach
From the Gupta period onwards we get written records in the form of epigraphs and
literature which contain information on the history of the region and Races of Bengal.
In the earliest period Bengal was known to be inhabited by different groups of people,
whose names came to be associated with the area inhabited by them. Thus the ancient
janapadas of Vanga, Pundra, Radha and Gauda came to be recognised as inhabited by
non-Aryan ethnic groups bearing those names. Aryan influence in ancient India came to
be felt in the northwestern parts in the middle of the second millennium BC and it took
a long time for the Aryans to reach the eastern limits of the subcontinent. Thus the
people of Bengal felt the tide of Aryanisation quite late. From about 5th century BC it
pushed into Bengal from the west and it took about one thousand years to aryanise the
whole of Bengal. By the time Aryan influence reached Bengal, it had become feeble
during its long march through the entire area of northern India. Thus the pre-Aryan
elements in the culture of the people of Bengal got time to become deeply rooted and
even under Aryan influence, which was feeble, they retained many elements in their life
and culture which were non-Aryan and pre-Aryan.
Pre Aryan People

Stone tools provide the earliest evidence of human settlements. Prehistoric stone
implements have been discovered in some parts of Bangladesh.But it is difficult to
determine, even approximately, the time when people using them first settled in
Bengal.
It might have taken place thirty thousand years ago. The original settlers were the non-
Aryan ethnic groupsNisadas or Austric or Austro-Asiaticswho are now represented
by the primitive peoples known as Kola, Bhil, Santal, Shabara, Pulinda etc. At a
subsequent age, peoples of two other ethnic stocks settled in Bengal, whose languages
were Dravidian and Tibeto-Burma.
Aryanisation
It is evident from Vedic literature that the Aryans regarded the peoples whom they met
in Bengal as barbarians. But the evidence of the higher material culture that has come to
light in West Bengal proves beyond any doubt the invalidity of the Aryan idea. But at
the same time it must be said that Aryan settlement, which took place gradually over a
long period of time, profoundly affected its culture and the process of gradual
Aryanisation forms the chief point of interest in the subsequent history of the region.
The history of ancient Bengal from the 4th century AD onwards, which appears to us in
a more or less clear light, is the history of Aryan domination, both from the political and
cultural points of view.
People under the Palas

The long Buddhist rule of the Palas generated an environment of religious toleration in
Bengal and we notice an atmosphere of Hindu-Buddhist amity and co-existence. The
Palas initiated a policy of religious toleration. Their liberal patronage of Hindu gods
and goddesses as well as Brahmans, who were employed in high state posts, clearly
speaks of the sagacious policy of the rulers. This also resulted in narrowing the gaps
between the two religions and one merging into the other gave rise to new forms and
practices which culminated in the evolution of Tantric cults and practices among the
Buddhists in Bengal. The socio-religious climate of the Pala period bred a spirit of
toleration and mutual coexistence and this spirit had a far-reaching impact in the
history of the land.
Arabian settlement
The rulers of southeastern Bengal commanded the sea trade through the vast coastal
area of the Chittagong-Comilla region and this is attested to by the find of a large
number of silver coins in various places of their empire. The accounts of the Arab
merchants and navigators, written between 9th and 11th century AD, contain evidence
of flourishing sea trade in the coastal area of southeastern Bengal, especially through
the port, which the Arabs called 'Samandar', identified with the area near present-day
Chittagong port. The rulers of southeastern Bengal could earn the necessary bullion for
the issue of silver coins. We also have evidence of boat building industries in the
records of the period. The picture of a flourishing sea-trade emerges very clearly and
the resultant economic affluence of the area is beyond any doubt.
South Indian blood

Towards the end of the 12th century AD Vijayasena founded the Sena Empire. His
forefathers hailed from the Karnata country of the Deccan, but he emerged in the
politics of Bengal during the rule of the Pala emperor Ramapala. During the period of
decline of the Palas after Ramapala, Vijayasena rose into prominence and gradually
grabbed power. The Senas held sway over Bengal for more than a century (c1097-1223
AD) in which five generations of kings (Vijayasena, Vallalasena, Laksmanasena,
Vishvarupasena and Keshavasena) ruled. But it must be noted that the invasion of
Muhammad Bakhtiyer Khalji put an end to Sena rule in parts of western and northern
Bengal (in 1204 AD) The nobility, composed of heterogeneous elements likes Arabs,
Pathans, Mughals and Bengalis played an important part in Bengal History. The nobles
of Husain Shahi Bengal do not seem to have been much different from their north
Indian counterparts; the military governors enjoyed revenue assignments.
Ad-mixture of Medieval People
Bengal derived her wealth mainly from agriculture, trade and industry. It is not
possible to have a precise idea about the ratio of the urban and rural populations. Since
the society of medieval Bengal was basically agricultural, people living in villages must
have outnumbered those in towns and cities. Considered from the point of view of its
economic structure, the village in medieval Bengal did not differ much from its modern
counterpart. It had a number of inter-dependent socio-economic groups, which
functioned collectively to sustain the life of the entire rural population.
Sufism greatly influenced the society of the period. Muslim Sufis and saints, who were
held in high esteem by the people, appear to have brought about a cultural synthesis by
adapting yogic and tantric philosophy to Islamic mysticism. Epigraphic records and
literary evidence indicate the growth of Shi'ite influence in the period. Bengal had direct
maritime connection with the Persian Gulf and Iraq. Barbosa found a good number of
Persian merchants in Bengal in the early 16th century. The process of the growth of
Shi'ism in Bengal was accelerated in the 17th century by the large-scale immigration of
Persians into Bengal due to socio-political insecurity under the Safavids.

Fall 2016
3. Politics of Partition of Bengal (1905) and Its ResultFoundation of All India

MuslimLeague.
Partition of Bengal, 1905 effected on 16 October during the viceroyalty of Lord Curzon
(1899-1905), proved to be a momentous event in the history of modern Bengal. The idea
of partitioning Bengal did not originate with Curzon. Bengal, which included Bihar and
Orissa since 1765, was admittedly much too large for a single province of British India.
This premier province grew too vast for efficient administration and required
reorganisation and intelligent division.
The lieutenant governor of Bengal had to administer an area of 189,000 sq miles and by
1903 the population of the province had risen to 78.50 million. Consequently, many
districts in eastern Bengal had been practically neglected because of isolation and poor
communication which made good governance almost impossible. Calcutta and its
nearby districts attracted all the energy and attention of the government. The condition
of peasants was miserable under the exaction of absentee landlords; and trade,
commerce and education were being impaired. The administrative machinery of the
province was under-staffed. Especially in east Bengal, in countryside so cut off by rivers
and creeks, no special attention had been paid to the peculiar difficulties of police work
till the last decade of the 19th century. Organised piracy in the waterways had existed
for at least a century.
Along with administrative difficulties, the problems of famine, of defence, or of
linguistics had at one time or other prompted the government to consider the
redrawing of administrative boundaries. Occasional efforts were made to rearrange the
administrative units of Bengal. In 1836, the upper provinces were sliced off from Bengal
and placed under a lieutenant governor. In 1854, the Governor-General-in-Council was
relieved of the direct administration of Bengal which was placed under a lieutenant
governor. In 1874 Assam (along with Sylhet) was severed from Bengal to form a Chief-
Commissionership and in 1898 Lushai Hills were added to it.
Proposals for partitioning Bengal were first considered in 1903. Curzon's original
scheme was based on grounds of administrative efficiency. It was probably during the
vociferous protests and adverse reaction against the original plan, that the officials first
envisaged the possible advantages of a divided Bengal. Originally, the division was
made on geographical rather than on an avowedly communal basis. 'Political
Considerations' in this respect seemed to have been 'an afterthought'. The government
contention was that the Partition of Bengal was purely an administrative measure with
three main objectives. Firstly, it wanted to relieve the government of Bengal of a part of
the administrative burden and to ensure more efficient administration in the outlying
districts. Secondly, the government desired to promote the development of backward
Assam (ruled by a Chief Commissioner) by enlarging its jurisdiction so as to provide it
with an outlet to the sea. Thirdly, the government felt the urgent necessity to unite the
scattered sections of the Uriya-speaking population under a single administration.
There were further proposals to separate Chittagong and the districts of Dhaka (then
Dacca) and Mymensigh from Bengal and attach them to Assam. Similarly Chhota
Nagpur was to be taken away from Bengal and incorporated with the Central
Provinces.
The government's proposals were officially published in January 1904. In February
1904, Curzon made an official tour of the districts of eastern Bengal with a view to
assessing public opinion on the government proposals. He consulted the leading
personalities of the different districts and delivered speeches at Dhaka, Chittagong and
Mymensigh explaining the governments stand on partition. It was during this visit that
the decision to push through an expanded scheme took hold of his mind. This would
involve the creation of a self-contained new province under a Lieutenant Governor with
a Legislative Council, an independent revenue authority and transfer of so much
territory as would justify a fully equipped administration.
The new province was to be called 'Eastern Bengal and Assam' with its capital at Dhaka
and subsidiary headquarters at Chittagong. It would cover an area of 106,540 sq. miles
with a population of 31 million comprising of 18 million Muslims and 12 million
Hindus. Its administration would consist of a Legislative Council, a Board of Revenue
of two members, and the jurisdiction of the Calcutta High Court would be left
undisturbed. The government pointed out that the new province would have a clearly
demarcated western boundary and well defined geographical, ethnological, linguistic
and social characteristics. The most striking feature of the new province was that it
would concentrate within its own bounds the hitherto ignored and neglected typical
homogenous Muslim population of Bengal. Besides, the whole of the tea industry
(except Darjeeling), and the greater portion of the jute growing area would be brought
under a single administration. The government of India promulgated their final
decision in a Resolution dated 19 July 1905 and the Partition of Bengal was affected on
16 October of the same year.
Reactions
The educated Bengali Hindus felt that it was a deliberate blow inflicted by Curzon at
the national consciousness and growing solidarity of the Bengali-speaking population.
The Hindus of Bengal, who controlled most of Bengal's commerce and the different
professions and led the rural society, opined that the Bengalee nation would be divided,
making them a minority in a province including the whole of Bihar and Orissa. They
complained that it was a veiled attempt by Curzon to strangle the spirit of nationalism
in Bengal. They strongly believed that it was the prime object of the government to
encourage the growth of a Muslim power in eastern Bengal as a counterpoise to thwart
the rapidly growing strength of the educated Hindu community. Economic, political
and communal interests combined together to intensify the opposition against the
partition measure.
The Indian and specially the Bengali press opposed the partition move from the very
beginning. The British press, the Anglo-Indian press and even some administrators also
opposed the intended measure. The partition evoked fierce protest in west Bengal,
especially in Calcutta and gave a new fillip to Indian nationalism. Henceforth, the
Indian National Congress was destined to become the main platform of the Indian
nationalist movement. It exhibited unusual strength and vigour and shifted from a
middle-class pressure group to a nation-wide mass organisation. The leadership of the
Indian National Congress viewed the partition as an attempt to 'divide and rule' and as
a proof of the government's vindictive antipathy towards the outspoken Bhadralok
intellectuals. Mother-goddess worshipping Bengali Hindus believed that the partition
was tantamount to the vivisection of their 'Mother province'. 'Bande-Mataram' (Hail
Motherland) almost became the national anthem of the Indian National Congress.
Defeat of the partition became the immediate target of Bengalee nationalism. Agitation
against the partition manifested itself in the form of mass meetings, rural unrest and a
Swadeshi Movement to boycott the import of British manufactured goods. Swadeshi
and Boycott were the twin weapons of this nationalism and Swaraj (self-government) its
main objective. Swaraj was first mentioned in the presidential address of Dadabhai
Naoroji as the Congress goal at its Calcutta session in 1906.
Leaders like Surendranath Benarjee along with journalists like Krishna Kumar Mitra,
editor of the Sanjivani (13 July 1905) urged the people to boycott British goods, observe
mourning and sever all contact with official bodies. In a meeting held at Calcutta on 7
August 1905 (hailed as the birthday of Indian nationalism) a resolution to abstain from
purchases of British products so long as 'Partition resolution is not withdrawn' was
accepted with acclaim. This national spirit was popularised by the patriotic songs of
Dwijendralal Roy, Rajanikanta Sen and Rabindranath Tagore. As with other political
movements of the day this also took on religious overtones. Pujas were offered to
emphasise the solemn nature of the occasion.
The Hindu religious fervour reached its peak on 28 September 1905, the day of the
Mahalaya, the new-moon day before the puja, and thousands of Hindus gathered at the
Kali temple in Calcutta. In Bengal the worship of Kali, wife of Shiva, had always been
very popular. She possessed a two-dimensional character with mingled attributes both
generative and destructive. Simultaneously she took great pleasure in bloody sacrifices
but she was also venerated as the great Mother associated with the conception of Bengal
as the Motherland. This conception offered a solid basis for the support of political
objectives stimulated by religious excitement. Kali was accepted as a symbol of the
Motherland, and the priest administered the Swadeshi vow. Such a religious flavour
could and did give the movement a widespread appeal among the Hindu masses, but
by the same token that flavour aroused hostility in average Muslim minds. Huge
protest rallies before and after Bengal's division on 16 October 1905 attracted millions of
people heretofore not involved in politics.
The Swadeshi Movement as an economic movement would have been quite acceptable
to the Muslims, but as the movement was used as a weapon against the partition (which
the greater body of the Muslims supported) and as it often had a religious colouring
added to it, it antagonised Muslim minds.
The new tide of national sentiment against the Partition of Bengal originating in Bengal
spilled over into different regions in India Punjab, Central Provinces, Poona, Madras,
Bombay and other cities. Instead of wearing foreign made outfits, the Indians vowed to
use only swadeshi (indigenous) cottons and other clothing materials made in India.
Foreign garments were viewed as hateful imports. The Swadeshi Movement soon
stimulated local enterprise in many areas; from Indian cotton mills to match factories,
glassblowing shops, iron and steel foundries. The agitation also generated increased
demands for national education. Bengali teachers and students extended their boycott
of British goods to English schools and college classrooms. The movement for national
education spread throughout Bengal and reached even as far as Benaras where Pandit
Madan Mohan Malaviya founded his private BenarasHinduUniversity in 1910.
The student community of Bengal responded with great enthusiasm to the call of
nationalism. Students including schoolboys participated en masse in the campaigns of
Swadeshi and Boycott. The government retaliated with the notorious Carlyle Circular
that aimed to crush the students' participation in the Swadeshi and Boycott movements.
Both the students and the teachers strongly reacted against this repressive measure and
the protest was almost universal. In fact, through this protest movement the first
organised student movement was born in Bengal. Along with this the 'Anti-Circular
Society', a militant student organisation, also came into being.
The anti-partition agitation was peaceful and constitutional at the initial stage, but
when it appeared that it was not yielding the desired results the protest movement
inevitably passed into the hands of more militant leaders. Two techniques of boycott
and terrorism were to be applied to make their mission successful. Consequently the
younger generation, who were unwittingly drawn into politics, adopted terrorist
methods by using firearms, pistols and bombs indiscriminately. The agitation soon took
a turn towards anarchy and disorder. Several assassinations were committed and
attempts were made on the lives of officials including Sir Andrew Fraser. The terrorist
movement soon became an integral part of the Swadeshi agitation. Bengal terrorism
reached its peak from 1908 through 1910, as did the severity of official repression and
the number of 'preventive detention' arrests. The new militant spirit was reflected in the
columns of the nationalist newspapers, notably the Bande Mataram, Sandhya and
Jugantar. The press assisted a great deal to disseminate revolutionary ideas. In 1907, the
Indian National Congress at its annual session in Surat split into two groups - one being
moderate, liberal, and evolutionary; and the other extremist, militant and revolutionary.
The young militants of Bal Gangadhar Tilak's extremist party supported the 'cult of the
bomb and the gun' while the moderate leaders like Gopal Krishna Gokhale and
Surendranath Banerjea cautioned against such extremist actions fearing it might lead to
anarchy and uncontrollable violence. Surendranath Banerjea, though one of the front-
rank leaders of the anti-Partition agitation, was not in favour of terrorist activities.
When the proposal for partition was first published in 1903 there was expression of
Muslim opposition to the scheme. The Moslem Chronicle the Central National
Mohamedan Associatan condemned the proposed measure. Even Nawab Salimullah
termed the suggestion as 'beastly' at the initial stage. In the beginning the main criticism
from the Muslim side was against any part of an enlightened and advanced province of
Bengal passing under the rule of a chief commissioner. They felt that thereby, their
educational, social and other interests would suffer, and there is no doubt that the
Muslims also felt that the proposed measure would threaten Bengali solidarity. The
Muslim intelligentsia, however, criticised the ideas of extremist militant nationalism as
being against the spirit of Islam. The Muslim press urged its educated co-religionists to
remain faithful to the government. On the whole the Swadeshi preachers were not able
to influence and arouse the predominantly Muslim masses in east Bengal. The anti-
partition trend in the thought process of the Muslims did not continue for long. When
the wider scheme of a self contained separate province was known to the educated
section of the Muslims they soon changed their views. They realised that the partition
would be a boon to them and that their special difficulties would receive greater
attention from the new administration.
The general trend of thoughts in the Muslim minds was in favour of partition. The All
India Muslim League, founded in 1906, supported the partition. In the meeting of the
Imperial Council in 1910 Shamsul Huda of Bengal and Mazhar-ul-Huq from Bihar
spoke in favour of the partition.
Consequently, the antagonism between the Hindus and Muslims became very acute in
the new province. The Muslim leaders, now more conscious of their separate communal
identity, directed their attention in uniting the different sections of their community to
the creation of a counter movement against that of the Hindus. They keenly felt the
need for unity and believed that the Hindu agitation against the Partition was in fact a
communal movement and as such a threat to the Muslims as a separate community.
They decided to faithfully follow the directions of leaders like Salimullah and Nawab
Ali Chowdhury and formed organisations like the Mohammedan Provincial Union.
Though communalism had reached its peak in the new province by 1907, there is
evidence of a sensible and sincere desire among some of the educated and upper class
Muslims and Hindus to put an end to these religious antagonisms. A group of
prominent members of both communities met the Viceroy Lord Minto on 15 March
1907 with suggestions to put an end to communal violence and promote religious
harmony between the two communities.
The landlord-tenant relationship in the new province had deteriorated and took a
communal turn. The Hindu landlords felt alarmed at the acts of terrorism committed by
the anti-partition agitators. To prove their unswerving loyalty to the government and
give evidence of their negative attitude towards the agitation, they offered their hands
of friendship and co-operation to their Muslim counterparts to the effect that they
would take a non-communal stand and work unitedly against the anti-government
revolutionary movements.
In the meantime the All-India Muslim League had come into being at Dacca on 30
December 1906. Though several factors were responsible for the formation of such an
organisation, the Partition of Bengal and the threat to it was, perhaps, the most
important factor that hastened its birth. At its very first sitting at Dacca the Muslim
League, in one of its resolutions, said: 'That this meeting in view of the clear interest of
the Muhammadans of Eastern Bengal consider that Partition is sure to prove beneficial
to the Muhammadan community which constitute the vast majority of the populations
of the new province and that all such methods of agitation such as boycotting should be
strongly condemned and discouraged'.
To assuage the resentment of the assertive Bengali Hindus, the British government
decided to annul the Partition of Bengal. As regards the Muslims of Eastern Bengal the
government stated that in the new province the Muslims were in an overwhelming
majority in point of population, under the new arrangement also they would still be in a
position of approximate numerical equality or possibly of small superiority over the
Hindus. The interests of the Muslims would be safeguarded by special representation in
the Legislative Councils and the local bodies. In a secret despatch the government of
India recommended certain changes in the administration of India. According to the
suggestion of the Governor-General-in-Council, King George V at his Coronation
Darbar in Delhi in December 1911 announced the revocation of the Partition of Bengal
and of certain changes in the administration of India. Firstly, the Government of India
should have its seat at Delhi instead of Calcutta. By shifting the capital to the site of past
Muslim glory, the British hoped to placate Bengal's Muslim community now aggrieved
at the loss of provincial power and privilege in eastern Bengal. Secondly, the five
Bengali speaking Divisions viz The Presidency, Burdwan, Dacca, Rajshahi and
Chittagong were to be united and formed into a Presidency to be administered by a
Governor-in-Council. The area of this province would be approximately 70,000 sq miles
with a population of 42 million. Thirdly, a Lieutenant-Governor-in-Council with a
Legislative Council was to govern the province comprising of Bihar, Chhota Nagpur
and Orissa. Fourthly, Assam was to revert back to the rule of a Chief Commissioner.
The date chosen for the formal ending of the partition and reunification of Bengal was I
April 1912.
The Partition of Bengal of 1905 left a profound impact on the political history of India.
From a political angle the measure accentuated Hindu-Muslim differences in the region.
One point of view is that by giving the Muslim's a separate territorial identity in 1905
and a communal electorate through the Morley-Minto Reforms of 1909 the British
Government in a subtle manner tried to neutralise the possibility of major Muslim
participation in the Indian National Congress.
The Partition of Bengal indeed marks a turning point in the history of nationalism in
India. It may be said that it was out of the travails of Bengal that Indian nationalism was
born. By the same token the agitation against the partition and the terrorism that it
generated was one of the main factors which gave birth to Muslim nationalism and
encouraged them to engage in separatist politics. The birth of the Muslim League in
1906 at Dacca (Dhaka) bears testimony to this. The annulment of the partition sorely
disappointed not only the Bengali Muslims but also the Muslims of the whole of India.
They felt that loyalty did not pay but agitation does. Thereafter, the dejected Muslims
gradually took an anti-British stance.

Fall 2016
4. Origin of Two Nation TheoryMohammad Ali JinnahNawab Sir Salimullah
Two-nation theory
The two-nation (Dijati totto) is the ideology that the primary identity and unifying denominator
of Muslims in the South Asian subcontinent is their religion, rather than their language or
ethnicity, and therefore Indian Hindus and Muslims are two distinct nations, regardless of ethnic
or other commonalities. The two-nation theory was a founding principle of the Pakistan
Movement (i.e. the ideology of Pakistan as a Muslim nation-state in South Asia), and the
partition of India in 1947.
The ideology that religion is the determining factor in defining the nationality of Indian Muslims
was undertaken by Muhammad Ali Jinnah, who termed it as the awakening of Muslims for the
creation of Pakistan. It is also a source of inspiration to several Hindu nationalist organizations,
with causes as varied as the redefinition of Indian Muslims as non-Indian foreigners and second-
class citizens in India, the expulsion of all Muslims from India, establishment of a legally Hindu
state in India, prohibition of conversions to Islam, and the promotion of conversions or
reconversions of Indian Muslims to Hinduism.
There are varying interpretations of the two-nation theory, based on whether the two postulated
nationalities can coexist in one territory or not, with radically different implications. One
interpretation argued for sovereign autonomy, including the right to secede, for Muslim-majority
areas of the Indian subcontinent, but without any transfer of populations (i.e. Hindus and
Muslims would continue to live together). A different interpretation contends that Hindus and
Muslims constitute "two distinct, and frequently antagonistic ways of life, and that therefore they
cannot coexist in one nation." In this version, a transfer of populations (i.e. the total removal of
Hindus from Muslim-majority areas and the total removal of Muslims from Hindu-majority
areas) is a desirable step towards a complete separation of two incompatible nations that "cannot
coexist in a harmonious relationship".
Opposition to the theory has come from two sources. The first is the concept of a single Indian
nation, of which Hindus and Muslims are two intertwined communities. This is a founding
principle of the modern, officially secular, Republic of India. Even after the formation of
Pakistan, debates on whether Muslims and Hindus are distinct nationalities or not continued in
that country as well. The second source of opposition is the concept that while Indians are not
one nation, neither are the Muslims or Hindus of the subcontinent, and it is instead the relatively
homogeneous provincial units of the subcontinent which are true nations and deserving of
sovereignty; this view has been presented by the Baloch, Sindhi, and Pashtun sub-nationalities of
Pakistan.
In general, the British-run government and British commentators made "it a point of speaking of
Indians as the people of India and avoid speaking of an Indian nation." This was cited as a key
reason for British control of the country: since Indians were not a nation, they were not capable
of national self-government. While some Indian leaders insisted that Indians were one nation,
others agreed that Indians were not yet a nation but there was "no reason why in the course of
time they should not grow into a nation."
Similar debates on national identity existed within India at the linguistic, provincial and religious
levels. While some argued that Indian Muslims were one nation, others argued they were not.
Some, such as Liaquat Ali Khan (later prime minister of Pakistan) argued that Indian Muslims
were not yet a nation, but could be forged into one.
According to the Pakistan studies curriculum[Muhammad bin Qasim is often referred to as the
first Pakistani. While Prakash K. Singh attributes the arrival of Muhammad bin Qasim as the first
step towards the creation of Pakistan. Muhammad Ali Jinnah considered the Pakistan movement
to have started when the first Muslim put a foot in the Gateway of Islam.
Start of Muslim self-awakening and identity movement (19th century1940s)
The movement for Muslim self-awakening and identity was started by the Muslim modernist and
reformer Syed Ahmad Khan (18171898). Many Pakistanis describe him as the architect of the
two-nation theory. However, the researcher Ziauddin Lahori, the author of seven books on Sir
Syed, believes that it is incorrect to say that Sir Syed propounded the two-nation theory.
The poet philosopher Muhammad Iqbal (18771938) provided the philosophical exposition and
BarristerMuhammad Ali Jinnah (18711948) translated it into the political reality of a nation-
state. Allama Iqbal's presidential address to the Muslim League on December 29, 1930 is seen by
some as the first exposition of the two-nation theory in support of what would ultimately become
Pakistan.
The scholar Al-Biruni (973-1048) had observed, at the beginning of the eleventh century, that
Hindus and Muslims differed in all matters and habits. On March 23, 1940, Jinnah made a
speech in Lahore which was very similar to Al-Biruni's thesis in theme and tone. Jinnah stated
that Hindus and Muslims belonged to two different religious philosophies, with different social
customs and literature, with no intermarriage and based on conflicting ideas and concepts. Their
outlook on life and of life was different and despite 1000 years of history, the relations between
the Hindus and Muslims could not attain the level of cordiality.
In 1948, Jinnah said:
Islam has taught us this and I think you will agree with me, for whatever you may be and
wherever you are, you are a Muslim. You belong to a nation now. You have carved out a
territory, a vast territory, it is all yours; it does not belong to a Punjabi or a Sindhi or a Pathan or
a Bengali, it is yours.
The All-India Muslim League, in attempting to represent Indian Muslims, felt that the Muslims
of the subcontinent were a distinct and separate nation from the Hindus. At first they demanded
separate electorates, but when they came to the conclusion that Muslims would not be safe in a
Hindu-dominated India, they began to demand a separate state. The League demanded self-
determination for Muslim-majority areas in the form of a sovereign state promising minorities
equal rights and safeguards in these Muslim majority areas.
Aspects of the theory
The theory asserted that India was not a nation. It also asserted that Indian Hindus and Indian
Muslims were each a nation, despite great variations in language, culture and ethnicity within
each of those groups. To counter critics who said that a community of radically varying
ethnicities and languages who were territorially intertwined with other communities could not be
a nation, the theory said that the concept of nation in the East was different from that in the West.
In the East, religion was "a complete social order which affects all the activities in life" and
"where the allegiance of people is divided on the basis of religion, the idea of territorial
nationalism has never succeeded."
It asserted that "a Muslim of one country has far more sympathies with a Muslim living in
another country than with a non-Muslim living in the same country." Therefore, "the conception
of Indian Muslims as a nation may not be ethnically correct, but socially it is correct."
Pakistan, or The Partition of India (1945)
In the poet Iqbql`s 1945 book Pakistan, or The Partition of India, Indian statesman and Buddhist
Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar wrote a sub-chapter titled "If Muslims truly and deeply desire
Pakistan, their choice ought to be accepted". He asserted that, if the Muslims were bent on the
creation of Pakistan, the demand should be conceded in the interest of the safety of India. He
asks whether Muslims in the army could be trusted to defend India in the event of Muslims
invading India or in the case of a Muslim rebellion. "[W]hom would the Indian Muslims in the
army side with?" he questioned. According to him, the assumption that Hindus and Muslims
could live under one state if they were distinct nations was but "an empty sermon, a mad project,
to which no sane man would agree".
Muhammad Iqbal's statement explaining the attitude of Muslim delegates to the London round-
table conference issued in December 1933 was a rejoinder to Jawahar Lal Nehru's statement.
Nehru had said that the attitude of the Muslim delegation was based on reactionarism". Iqbal
concluded his rejoinder with:
In conclusion, I must put a straight question to Pandit Jawahar Lal, how is India's problem to be
solved if the majority community will neither concede the minimum safeguards necessary for the
protection of a minority of 80 million people, nor accept the award of a third party; but continue
to talk of a kind of nationalism which works out only to its own benefit? This position can admit
of only two alternatives. Either the Indian majority community will have to accept for itself the
permanent position of an agent of British imperialism in the East, or the country will have to be
redistributed on a basis of religious, historical and cultural affinities so as to do away with the
question of electorates and the communal problem in its present form.
In Muhammad Ali Jinnah's All India Muslim League presidential address delivered in Lahore,
on March 22, 1940, he explained:
It is extremely difficult to appreciate why our Hindu friends fail to understand the real nature of
Islam and Hinduism. They are not religions in the strict sense of the word, but are, in fact,
different and distinct social orders, and it is a dream that the Hindus and Muslims can ever
evolve a common nationality, and this misconception of one Indian nation has troubles and will
lead India to destruction if we fail to revise our notions in time. The Hindus and Muslims belong
to two different religious philosophies, social customs, litterateurs. They neither intermarry nor
interdine together and, indeed, they belong to two different civilizations which are based mainly
on conflicting ideas and conceptions. Their aspect on life and of life are different. It is quite clear
that Hindus and Mussalmans derive their inspiration from different sources of history. They have
different epics, different heroes, and different episodes. Very often the hero of one is a foe of the
other and, likewise, their victories and defeats overlap. To yoke together two such nations under
a single state, one as a numerical minority and the other as a majority, must lead to growing
discontent and final destruction of any fabric that may be so built for the government of such a
state.
In 1944, Jinnah said:
We maintain and hold that Muslims and Hindus are two major nations by any definition or test
of a nation. We are a nation of hundred million and what is more, we are a nation with our own
distinctive culture and civilization, language and literature, art and architecture, names and
nomenclature, sense of values and proportions, legal laws and moral codes, customs and
calendar, history and tradition, and aptitude and ambitions. In short, we have our own outlook on
life and of life.
In an interview with the British journalist Beverley Nichols, he said in 1943:
Islam is not only a religious doctrine but also a realistic code of conduct in terms of every day
and everything important in life: our history, our laws and our jurisprudence. In all these things,
our outlook is not only fundamentally different but also opposed to Hindus. There is nothing in
life that links us together. Our names, clothes, food, festivals, and rituals, all are different. Our
economic life, our educational ideas, treatment of women, attitude towards animals, and
humanitarian considerations, all are very different.
In May 1947, he had an entirely different emphasis when he told Mountbatten, who was in
charge of British India's transition to independence:
Your Excellency doesn't understand that the Punjab is a nation. Bengal is a nation. A man is a
Punjabi or a Bengali first before he is a Hindu or a Muslim. If you give us those provinces you
must, under no condition, partition them. You will destroy their viability and cause endless
bloodshed and trouble.
Mountbatten replied:
Yes, of course. A man is not only a Punjabi or a Bengali before he is a Muslim or Hindu, but he
is an Indian before all else. What you're saying is the perfect, absolute answer I've been looking
for. You've presented me the arguments to keep India united.
Savarkar's opposition to the formation of Pakistan
The Hindu Maha Sabha under the presidency of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, presented a stance
of complete opposition to the formation of Pakistan. Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar summarises
Savarkar's position, in his Pakistan or The Partition of India as follows,
Mr. Savarkar... insists that, although there are two nations in India, India shall not be divided into
two parts, one for Muslims and the other for the Hindus; that the two nations shall dwell in one
country and shall live under the mantle of one single constitution;... In the struggle for political
power between the two nations the rule of the game which Mr. Savarkar prescribes is to be one
man one vote, be the man Hindu or Muslim. In his scheme a Muslim is to have no advantage
which a Hindu does not have. Minority is to be no justification for privilege and majority is to be
no ground for penalty. The State will guarantee the Muslims any defined measure of political
power in the form of Muslim religion and Muslim culture. But the State will not guarantee
secured seats in the Legislature or in the Administration and, if such guarantee is insisted upon
by the Muslims, such guaranteed quota is not to exceed their proportion to the general
population.
Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan's opposition to the partition of India
Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, also known as "Frontier Gandhi" or "Sarhadi Gandhi", was not
convinced by the two-nation theory and wanted a single united India as home for both Hindus
and Muslims. He was from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, in present-day Pakistan. He believed
that the partition would be harmful to the Muslims of the subcontinent. Post partition, Ghaffar
Khan was a strong advocate of the Pashtunistan movement.
Gandhi's View
Gandhi was against the division of India on the basis of religion. He once wrote:
I find no parallel in history for a body of converts and their descendants claiming to be a nation
apart from the parent stock.
Post-partition debate
Since the partition, the theory has been subjected to animated debates and different
interpretations on several grounds. In his memoirs entitled Pathway to Pakistan (1961),
Chaudhry Khaliquzzaman, the first president of the Pakistan Muslim League, approvingly
quoted Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy as saying that the theory proved harmful to the Muslims of
India. According to him, Jinnah bade farewell to it in his famous speech of August 11, 1947. In
his August 11, 1947 speech, Jinnah had spoken of composite Pakistani nationalism, effectively
negating the faith-based nationalism that he had advocated in his speech of March 22, 1940. In
his August 11 speech, he said that non-Muslims would be equal citizens of Pakistan and that
there would be no discrimination against them. "You may belong to any religion or caste or
creed that has nothing to do with the business of the state."
The theory has faced scepticism because Muslims did not entirely separate from Hindus and
about one-third of all Muslims continued to live in post-partition India as Indian citizens
alongside a much larger Hindu majority. The subsequent partition of Pakistan itself into the
present-day nations of Pakistan and Bangladesh was cited as proof both that Muslims did not
constitute one nation and that religion was not a defining factor for nationhood.
Some historians have claimed that the theory was a creation of a few Muslim intellectuals.
Prominent Pakistani politician Altaf Hussain of Muttahida Qaumi Movement believes history
has proved the two-nation theory wrong. He contended, "The idea of Pakistan was dead at its
inception, when the majority of Muslims (in Muslim-minority areas of India) chose to stay back
after partition, a truism reiterated in the creation of Bangladesh in 1971".Canadian writer Tarek
Fatah termed the two-nation theory as "absurd".
Ethnic and provincial groups in Pakistan
Several ethnic and provincial leaders in Pakistan also began to use the term "nation" to describe
their provinces and argued that their very existence was threatened by the concept of
amalgamation into a Pakistani nation on the basis that Muslims were one nation. It has also been
alleged that the idea that Islam is the basis of nationhood embroils Pakistan too deeply in the
affairs of other predominantly Muslim states and regions, prevents the emergence of a unique
sense of Pakistani nationhood that is independent of reference to India, and encourages the
growth of a fundamentalist culture in the country.
Also, because partition divided Indian Muslims into three groups (of roughly 150 million people
each in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh) instead of forming a single community inside a united
India that would have numbered about 450 million people in 2010 and potentially exercised great
influence over the entire subcontinent, the two-nation theory is sometimes alleged to have
ultimately weakened the position of Muslims on the subcontinent and resulted in large-scale
territorial shrinkage or skewing for cultural aspects that became associated with Muslims (e.g.,
the decline of Urdu language in India).
This criticism has received a mixed response in Pakistan. A poll conducted by Gallup Pakistan in
2011 shows that an overwhelming majority of Pakistanis hold the view that separation from
India was justified in 1947. Pakistani commentators have contended that two nations did not
necessarily imply two states, and the fact that Bangladesh did not merge into India after
separating from Pakistan supports the two nation theory.
Others have stated that the theory is still valid despite the still-extant Muslim minority in India,
and asserted variously that Indian Muslims have been "Hinduised" (i.e., lost much of their
Muslim identity due to assimilation into Hindu culture), or that they are treated as an excluded or
alien group by an allegedly Hindu-dominated India. Factors such as lower literacy and education
levels among Indian Muslims as compared to Indian Hindus, longstanding cultural differences,
and outbreaks of religious violence such as those occurring during the 2002 Gujarat riots in India
are cited.
Pan-Islamic identity
The emergence of a sense of identity that is pan-Islamic rather than Pakistani has been defended
as consistent with the founding ideology of Pakistan and the concept that "Islam itself is a
nationality," while the commonly-held notion of "nationality, to Muslims, is like idol worship."
While some have emphasized that promoting the primacy of a pan-Islamic identity (over all
other identities) is essential to maintaining a distinctiveness from India and preventing national
"collapse", others have argued that the Two Nation Theory has served its purpose in "midwifing"
Pakistan into existence and should now be discarded to allow Pakistan to emerge as a normal
nation-state.
According to Sharif al Mujahid, arguably the preeminent authority on Jinnah in Pakistan, the
two-nation theory was relevant only in the pre-1947 subcontinental context. He is of the opinion
that the creation of Pakistan rendered it obsolete because the two nations had transformed
themselves into Indian and Pakistani nations. The columnist Muqtida Mansoor has quoted
Farooq Sattar, a prominent leader of the MQM, as saying that his party did not accept the two-
nation theory. "Even if there was such a theory, it has sunk in the Bay of Bengal."
Post-partition perspectives in India
In post-independence India, the two-nation theory has helped advance the cause of groups
seeking to identify a "Hindu national culture" as the core identification of an Indian. This allows
the acknowledgement of the common ethnicity of Hindus and Muslims while requiring that all
adopt a Hindu identity in order to be truly Indian. From the Hindu nationalist perspective, this
concedes the ethnic reality that Indian Muslims are "flesh of our flesh and blood of our blood"
but still presses for an officially-recognized equation of national and religious identity, i.e., that
"an Indian is a Hindu."
The theory has provided evidence to the allegation that Indian Muslims "cannot be loyal citizens
of India" or any other non-Muslim nation, and are "always capable and ready to perform
traitorous acts".Constitutionally, India rejects the two-nation theory and regards Indian Muslims
as equal citizens. From the official Indian perspective, the partition is regarded as a tactical
necessity to rid the subcontinent of British rule rather than denoting acceptance of the theory.
Muhammad Ali Jinnah

Muhammad Ali Jinnah born 25 December 1876 11 September 1948) was a lawyer,
politician, and the founder of Pakistan. Jinnah served as leader of the All-India Muslim League
from 1913 until Pakistan's creation on 14 August 1947, and then as Pakistan's first Governor-
General until his death. He is revered in Pakistan as Quaid-i-Azam (Great Leader) and Baba-i-
Qaum (Father of the Nation).
Born in Karachi and trained as a barrister at Lincoln's Inn in London, Jinnah rose to prominence
in the Indian National Congress in the first two decades of the 20th century. In these early years
of his political career, Jinnah advocated HinduMuslim unity, helping to shape the 1916
Lucknow Pact between the Congress and the All-India Muslim League, in which Jinnah had also
become prominent. Jinnah became a key leader in the All India Home Rule League, and
proposed a fourteen-point constitutional reform plan to safeguard the political rights of Muslims.
In 1920, however, Jinnah resigned from the Congress when it agreed to follow a campaign of
satyagraha, which he regarded as political anarchy.
By 1940, Jinnah had come to believe that Indian Muslims should have their own state. In that
year, the Muslim League, led by Jinnah, passed the Lahore Resolution, demanding a separate
nation. During the Second World War, the League gained strength while leaders of the Congress
were imprisoned, and in the elections held shortly after the war, it won most of the seats reserved
for Muslims. Ultimately, the Congress and the Muslim League could not reach a power-sharing
formula for a united India, leading all parties to agree to separate independence of a
predominantly Hindu India, and for a Muslim-majority state, to be called Pakistan.
As the first Governor-General of Pakistan, Jinnah worked to establish the new nation's
government and policies, and to aid the millions of Muslim migrants who had emigrated from
the new nation of India to Pakistan after independence, personally supervising the establishment
of refugee camps. Jinnah died at age 71 in September 1948, just over a year after Pakistan gained
independence from the United Kingdom. He left a deep and respected legacy in Pakistan.
According to his biographer, Stanley Wolpert, he remains Pakistan's greatest leader.
Khwaja Salimullah
Nawab Sir Khwaja Salimullah Bahadur (18711915) was the fourth Nawab of Dhaka and one
of the leading Muslim politicians during the British Raj. In the wake of partition of Bengal in
1905,he consulted with Nawab Muhsinul Mulk at Aligarh over the issue of formation of the All
India Muslim League. In 1906, the Muslim League was officially founded at the educational
conference held in Dhaka to protest against the efforts towards re-unification of Bengal, and
Salimullah played a pioneering role in it. The convention was held at Ahsan Manzil, the official
residence of the Dhaka Nawab Family. Sir Salimullah was a key patron of education for the
Eastern Bengal. He was one of the founders of the University of Dhaka and the prestigious
Ahsanullah School of Engineering (now the Bangladesh University of Engineering and
Technology). Sir Salimullah was a staunch supporter of the Partition of Bengal and was a
member of East Bengal and Assam Legislative Council from 1906 to 1907. He was also a
member of Bengal Legislative Assembly from 1913 till his death in Calcutta in 1915 at the age
of 43. He was the founder President of Bengal Muslim League in 1907.
Khwaja Salimullah was the eldest son of the third Nawab of Dhaka, Sir Khwaja Ahsanullah and
grandson of the first Nawab of Dhaka, Sir Khwaja Abdul Ghani. Khawaja Salimullah was born
at the Ahsan Manzil Palace on 7 June 1871.
Politics
Salimullah began his career in government service in 1893 as Deputy Magistrate, a position he
held until he departed in 1895 to start his business in Mymensingh. In 1901 he inherited the
position of Nawab of the Dhaka Nawab Family following his father's death.
In 1903-04, Nawab Salimullah began supporting the partition of Bengal in the face of opposition
of the Indian National Congress. On 16 October 1905, the day the Bengal Province was parted,
zSalimullah presided over a meeting of Muslim leaders from all over East Bengal in Northbrook
Hall where a political front called Mohammedan Provincial Union was formed. With others of
the front, Salimullah organized meetings around East Bengal in favor of the partition, while the
Congress built up a movement to oppose it. On 14 and 15 April 1906, Salimullah organized and
was named president at the first convention of East Bengal and Assam Provincial Educational
Conference at Shahbag, Dhaka. Later that year, newspapers published a dispatch from
Salimullah to various Muslim leaders around India urging to form an all-India political party he
called Muslim All India Confederacy, and leaders of the Aligarh Movement requested him to
convene the 20th meeting of the All India Mohammedan Educational Conference at his own
cost. Over two thousand people covering Muslim leaders from all over India gathered at the
Nawab's family garden-house in Shahbag, Dhaka for the conference held between 27 and 30
December 1906. On the last day, the assembly formed the All India Muslim League, appointing
Nawab Salimullah the Vice President and placing him on a committee to craft its constitution.
Two years later, in December 1908, Salimullah would speak out for free speech in educational
institutes and also rights for Muslims to separate elections.The Muslims in East Bengal who
hoped that a separate province of Eastern Bengal and Assam as created in 1905 would give them
more control over education and employment,found a new leader in Nawab Salimullah.
Throughout these years, Salimullah held positions of authority in several leagues and
conferences and continued to speak out on important political issues. In 1907, he became
president of the All Bengal Muslim League, formed newly Kolkata. In 1908, he became the
secretary of the newly established East Bengal and Assam Provincial Muslim League, becoming
president in 1909. He served as the chairman at the 22nd Convention of the All India
Mohammedan Educational Conference at Amritsar in December 1908. In 1909, he led people of
wealth in the newly formed province to form the Imperial League of Eastern Bengal and Assam.
In March 1911, at a meeting at the Ahsan Manzil, he presided over a decision to maintain the
provincial Muslim League and provincial Educational Conference separate for political and
educational activities. On 2 March 1912, Salimullah chaired a meeting at which the two Muslim
Leagues of the Bengal were combined into the Presidency Muslim League and the two Muslim
Associations were combined into the Bengal Presidency Muslim Association. Salimullah was
made president of both the organisations.
In August 1911, Salimullah demanded a university for Dhaka at a function at a political function
at Curzon Hall, but it was not until after the shock of the annulment of the partition by George V
on 12 December 1911 that Salimullah was able to achieve this goal. Within days of the
annulment, Salimullah submitted a list of demands to Viceroy Lord Hardinge to protect the
interest of Muslims. In response, a pledge was made to establish a university at Dhaka and to
provide for Muslims an education officer, which pledge led to the inclusion of an Islamic Studies
Department in Dhaka University. Salimullah continued afterwards to champion this cause,
making speeches to counter those who argued against it and, in 1914, organizing a convention on
1112 April for the Muslim Education Conference of United Bengal.
Along with his continued championing of education, Salimullah's last focuses before
withdrawing from active politics in 1914 included situations involving Turkey. In 1912, he
raised money from East Bengal to assist Turkish Muslims threatened by the Balkan wars. During
World War I, however, he supported the Allied Powers after Turkey aligned with Germany.
Fall 2016
5. The Lahore Resolution (1940)BackgroundProvincial AutonomyRole of

A. K. FazlulHaq;
In India the British rule was first established in Bengal and it was in Bengal that reaction
against the British first begun. Through a long experience of revolts and movements
British ruling group wanted to hand over the power to the Indians by a process.
The independence from British rule and Birth of Pakistan as is generally believed,
through the Lahore Resolution of 1940. Lahore Resolution adopted at the general
session of the Muslim League. In 1940 Muhammad Ali Jinnah called a general session of
the All India Muslim League in Lahore to discuss the situation that had arisen due to
the outbreak of the Second World War and the Government of India joining the war
without taking the opinion of the Indian leaders, and also to analyse the reasons that
led to the defeat of the Muslim League in the general election of 1937 in the Muslim
majority provinces.
Huseyn Shahid Suhrawardy left with a small group of Muslim League workers for
Lahore on 19 March 1940. A K Fazlul Haque led the Bengal Muslim League contingent
and reached Lahore on 22 March. The Chief Ministers of Bengal and the Punjab were
two dominant figures in the conference. The Lahore Resolution ran as follows:
That the areas where the Muslims are numerically in a majority as in the Northwestern
and Eastern zones of India should be grouped to constitute 'independent states' in
which the constituent units shall be autonomous and sovereign.
On 15 April 1941 the Lahore Resolution was incorporated as a creed in the constitution
of the All-India Muslim League in its Madras session. It continued to be the League's
creed until its dissolution after the independence of Pakistan in 1947.
The genesis of Pakistan has sometimes been traced back to1905 when Muslim leaders of
India demanded for separate electorate of the Muslims which was conceded to by the
Morley-Minto Reforms of 1909. The Congress also accepted the system of separate
electorate by the Lucknow Pact of 1916 and the system was followed in subsequent
elections.
Iqbal, the poet- philosopher, for the first time made the reference to the need for a
'North-westIndianMuslimState' in his Presidential Address at the Allahabad Session of
the Muslim League in 1930. He then was visualising not partition, but recognition of
Muslim majority areas in Northwest India into an autonomous unit within an Indian
federation. A similar need for the recognition of autonomy for the Muslim majority
province of Bengal did not occur to him. Chaudhury Rahmat Ali may be regarded as
the proponent of the idea of Pakistan. In two pamphlets entitled "Now or Never",
written in 1933 and 1935, he demanded a separate national status for a new entity, and
coined its name as 'Pakistan' (from Punjab, Afghan province, Kashmir, Sindh and
Baluchistan). The Lahore Resolution rejected the federal constitution envisaged under
the 1935 Act. In the resolution it was demanded that the areas where the Muslims were
numerically in a majority as in the Northwestern and Eastern zones of India should be
grouped to constitute "independent states", in which the constituent units should be
autonomous and sovereign. Muslims of Bengal found their identity in the Lahore
Resolution in the sense that they were no longer a community, but a nation with its own
defined territory. The Resolution gave Bengal Muslims a sense of nationhood and
henceforth, instead of making complaints against Hindu injustice, they demanded for
separate political existence.
The Hindu Press dubbed the Lahore Resolution as the "Pakistan Demand". The 1940
resolution nowhere mentioned Pakistan and in asking for "independent states" the
spokesmen of the League were far from clear what were intended. The Hindu press
supplied Muslim leadership a concrete slogan, which immediately conveyed to them
the idea of a state. It would have taken long for the Muslim leaders to explain the
Lahore Resolution and convey its real meaning and significance to the Muslim masses.
The Hindu press in dubbing it as the "Pakistan Resolution" shortened years of labour of
the Muslim leaders to propagate its full importance amongst the masses. By
emphasising the idea of Pakistan the Hindu press succeeded in converting Jinnah's
wordy and clouded formula into a clarion call.
On 15 April 1941 the so-called Pakistan Resolution was incorporated as a creed in the
constitution of the Muslim League in its Madras session. It continued to be the League's
creed until its dissolution after the independence of Pakistan in 1947. Indeed, from 1940
onward, Pakistan was the great talking point of the Indian independence debate.
The Pakistan slogan spread rapidly among the Indian Muslims. There were obvious
reasons for this. To the Muslim peasants of Bengal and the Punjab, Pakistan was being
presented as the end of Hindu zamindar and bania exploitation.Abul Hashim, Secretary
of the Bengal Muslim League from November 1943 did his best to cultivate a radical
image for his party, promising abolition of rent-receiving interests in a manifesto issued
in 1944. Another significant factor was that Pakistan promised 'the hedging off' of a part
of India from competition by the established Hindu business groups or professional
classes so that the small Muslim business class could thrive and the nascent Muslim
intelligentsia could find employment. Big Muslim capitalists were relatively few in
number. In the Muslim majority areas, such as East Bengal and West Punjab, big
industries hardly existed before 1947, but a number of small entrepreneurs were slowly
coming up, connected with flourishing agriculture of the regions. Pakistan for such
people did provide a major economic boon by insulating them from competition with
established Indian large business houses.
The Hindu and Sikh communal groups in Bengal and the Punjab preferred the partition
of the Indian Sub-continent by separating the Hindu-Sikh majority portion of the
Punjab and Hindu majority portion of Bengal from the Lahore Resolution-based
Pakistan zones. According to their expectations eastern Punjab and western Bengal
should join with the Hindu majority India. The surgical solution to Hindu-Muslim
communal problem of the subcontinent was at last achieved through the creation of
Pakistan in 1947.
A. K. Fazlul Huq
Early life
Huq was born in Saturia village, located in Bakerganj district (now Jhalokati District in Barisal
Division, Bangladesh). He passed the entrance examination in 1890 from Barisal Zilla School
and the FA Examination in 1892. He then obtained a BA degree (with triple Honours in
chemistry, mathematics and physics) from Presidency College. Later he got admitted in MA in
English at Calcutta University. Just six months before the final exam, a friend of his father teased
him that, Muslims are weak in mathematics and that's why he was studying English. Huq
opposed it strongly and challenged his father's friend that he will sit for mathematics exam
instead of English. With special permission to attend the exam he passed the Master of Arts in
mathematics from Calcutta University with distinction. His formal education was completed with
a BL degree in 1897 from the University Law College.
Political career
After the Partition of Bengal in 1905, A. K. Fazlul Huq emerged as a leader and advocate of the
Muslim community of Bengal. Huq was involved in the formation of the All-India Muslim
League in Dhaka on 1906. He joined the Bengal Legislative assembly in 1913. After being
alienated from the Congress party where he served as its general secretary in 19161918, it was
up to the Muslims to nominate a mayor in Calcutta. He was involved with the Khilafat
Movement and presided over the first all India Khilafat Conference held in Delhi.
A. K. Fazlul Huq was elected to the Bengal Legislative Council and was appointed as the
Education Minister under the dyarchy scheme in 1924. As Education Minister he was
instrumental in establishing the Islamia College in Calcutta, creating a special directorate for
Muslim education and reserving seats for Muslim boys in various colleges in Bengal. These
reforms were seen as uplift of only one community and were opposed by the Hindu members of
the Legislative Council who passed a no-confidence motion against Huq. Thus, he held office for
six months only.
In 1929, he launched the Nikhil Proja Samiti. In 1935, with the backing of Congress, he was
elected mayor of Calcutta, the first Muslim mayor of Calcutta. He helped establish many
educational institutions for Muslims which made him popular among the middle class. His
politics were described by academic Joya Chatterji as a unique blend of "secular nationalism,
Bengali patriotism and Muslim populism". He campaigned for the rights of peasant Muslims and
against the zamindari system. His view was that both Muslim and Hindu zamindars (landlords)
had been harmful for the Muslim peasant farmers.
In 1937 elections took place in British India. A year before that he had converted the Nikhil
Proja Samiti to Krishak Praja Party (K.P.P.). Meanwhile, Muhammad Ali Jinnah nominated
him to the Muslim League Central Parliamentary Board (C.P.B.) but Huq refused to dissolve his
own party citing its bi-communal composition, thus terminating his alliance with the League.
When elections were held he successfully challenged Khawaja Nazimuddin for his seat. The
K.P.P. won 35 seats. Despite his bitter fight with the League which had won 40 seats, the K.P.P.
entered into an alliance with it. The Europeans (25), the Independent Scheduled Castes (23) and
the Independent Caste Hindus (14) lent support to the alliance. As a result, Huq was appointed
the Premier of Bengal.
His period in office was unstable as it was marred by controversies. In 1938, the Independent
Scheduled Castes seceded and the K.P.P. slowly started disintegrating. He also moved the
famous Lahore Resolution in 1940 which increased communal tensions. He moved the Lahore
Resolution, drafted by Sir Zafrulla Khan, of 1940 that established Muslim League's demand for a
homeland for Muslims; that ultimately resulted in the nation of Pakistan. In 1941, The Viceroy
of India, Victor Alexander John Hope, 2nd Marquess of Linlithgow nominated him to the
Defense Council but Muhammad Ali Jinnah who headed the All-India Muslim League asked
him to resign. He obeyed but, to demonstrate his unhappiness, resigned from the League
Working Committee and the All-India Muslim League. As a result of Huq's reluctance to obey,
the League ministers resigned.
In the early 1940s, Muhammad Ali Jinnah and the Muslim League conducted a public campaign
against Huq. He was accused of being a traitor and working against the interests of Bengali
Muslims. This harmed Muslim unity in East Bengal and damaged Huq's reputation. In 1945, he
contested elections successfully from two seats. But his party was trounced badly by the All-
India Muslim League. In 1947, he joined the League campaign to include Calcutta in Pakistan.
The opposition of the Congress, however, ensured a partition of the province. Later on he
accused Jinnah of not working hard enough for the cause.
He became Chief Minister of East Bengal in 1952. He was involved in the Bengali language
movement and was injured in police action. In 1954 Sher-e-Bangla, Hussein Shaheed
Suhrawardy and Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani led the United Front to an election victory in East
Pakistan over the Muslim League. The United Front faced controversy over two of its demands.
These were "the recognition of Bangla as a national language along with Urdu" and "autonomy
for East Pakistan". The New York Times columnist John P. Callaghan published a story which
said that Huq wanted independence and not autonomy for East Pakistan. Huq denied it
vehemently. He suggested the Pakistan Army headquarters could be kept in West Pakistan while
the Naval headquarters should be moved to East Bengal. The National Government should be in
charge of only defense, foreign policy and currency. Ethnic rioting broke out in Adamjee Jute
Mills in Narayanganj between Bengali workers and non-Bengali management. As a result of this
rioting, Governor General of Pakistan dismissed the East Bengal government. In 1955, he was
Home Minister of Pakistan and, from 1956 to 1958, Governor of East Pakistan.
Fall 2016
6 .Indian Independence Acts of 1947,Partition of India and the Second Partition of Bengal
The Indian Independence Act 1947 (1947 c. 30 (10 & 11. Geo. 6.)), is an Actof the Parliament of
the United Kingdom that partitioned British India into the two new
independent dominions of India and Pakistan. The Act received theroyal assent on 18 July 1947,
and Pakistan came into being on 15 August at the same time as Indian independence. However,
due to Mountbatten's need to be in New Delhi for the transfer of power, Pakistan celebrated its
formation a day ahead on 14 August 1947 to enable the viceroy Lord Mountbatten to attend both
events.
The legislation was formulated by the government of Prime Minister Clement Attlee and the
Governor General of India Lord Mountbatten, after representatives of the Indian National
Congress the Muslim League, and the Sikh community came to an agreement with the Viceroy
of India, Lord Mountbatten of Burma, on what has come to be known as the 3 June
Plan orMountbatten Plan. This plan was the last plan for independence.
The background to the Act

Attlees announcement
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Attlee announced on 20 February 1947 that:
1. British Government would grant full self-government to British India by June 1948 at the
latest,
2. The future of Princely States would be decided after the date of final transfer is
decided.[5]
3 June Plan
This was also known as the Mountbatten Plan. The British government proposed a plan
announced on 3 June 1947 that included these principles:
1. Principle of Partition of India was accepted by the British Government

2. Successor governments would be given dominion status
3. Implicit right to secede from the British Commonwealth
The Indian Independence Act 1947 was the implementation of 3 June Plan..
The Act's provisions
The Act's most important provisions were:
division of British India into the two new and fully sovereign dominions
of India and Pakistan, with effect from 15 August 1947;
partition of the provinces of Bengal and Punjab between the two new countries;
establishment of the office of Governor-General in each of the two new countries, as
representatives of the Crown;
conferral of complete legislative authority upon the respective Constituent Assemblies of the
two new countries;
termination of British suzerainty over the princely states, with effect from 15 August 1947,
and recognised the right of states to accede to either dominion
abolition of the use of the title "Emperor of India" by the British monarch (this was
subsequently executed by King George VI by royal proclamation on 22 June 1948).
the Dominion of India may be regarded as an expression of the desire for self-government of
the Hindus in India, and the Dominion of Pakistan as the expression of the demand for self-
government by the Muslims.
The Act also made provision for the division of joint property, etc. between the two new
countries, including in particular the division of the armed forces.
Salient features of the Act
1. Two new dominion states: Two new dominions were to emerge from the Indian Union,
Pakistan and India.The Dominion of India may be regarded as an expression of the desire
for self-government of the Hindus in India, and the Dominion of Pakistan as the
expression of the demand for self-government by the Muslims.
2. Appointed Date: 15 August 1947 was declared as the appointed date for the partition.
3. Territories:
1. Pakistan: East Bengal, West Punjab, Sind, and Chief Commissioners Province of
Baluchistan.
2. The fate of North West Frontier Province (now Pakhtunkhwa) was subject to the
result of referendum.
3. Bengal & Assam:
1. The province of Bengal as constituted under the Government of India Act
1935 ceased to exist;
2. In lieu thereof two new provinces were to be constituted, to be known
respectively as East Bengal and West Bengal.
3. The fate of District Sylhet, in the province of Assam, was to be decided in
a referendum.
4. Punjab:
1. The province as constituted under the Government of India Act 1935
ceased to exist;
2. Two new provinces were to be constituted, to be known respectively as
West Punjab & East Punjab
4. The boundaries of the new provinces were to be determined by, whether before or after
the appointed date, by the award of a boundary commission to be appointed by the
Governor General.
5. Constitution for the New Dominions: until the time of framing of new constitution, the
new dominions and the provinces thereof were to be governed by the Government of
India Act 1935. (Temporary Provisions as to the Government of Each New Dominion.)
6. The Governors General of the new dominions:
1. For each of the new dominion a new Governor-General was to be appointed by
the Crown, subject to the law of the legislature of either of the new dominions.
2. Same person as Governor General of both dominions: if unless and until provision
to the contrary was made by a law of the legislature of either of the new
dominions, the same person could be the Governor General of both.
7. Powers of Governor General: (Section-9)
1. The Governor General was empowered to bring this Act in force.
2. Division of territories, powers, duties, rights, assets, liabilities, etc., was the
responsibility of Governor General
3. To adopt, amend, Government of India Act 1935, as the Governor-General may
consider it necessary.
4. power to introduce any change was until 31 March 1948, after that it was open to
the constituent assembly to modify or adopt the same Act. (Temporary
Provisions as to the Government of Each New Dominion.)
5. Governor-General had full powers to give assent to any law.
8. Legislation for the new dominions:
1. The existing legislative setup was allowed to continue as Constitution making
body as well as a legislature. (Temporary Provisions as to the Government of
Each New Dominion.)
2. The legislature of each dominion was given full powers to make laws for that
dominion, including laws having extraterritorial operation.
3. No Act of Parliament of UK passed after the appointed date would be extended to
the territories of new dominions.
4. No law and provision of any law made by the legislature of the new dominions
shall be void or inoperative on the ground that it is repugnant to the law of
England.
5. The Governor-General of each dominion had full powers to give assent in His
Majestys name to any law of the legislature. [Configuration of Pakistans
Constitution Assembly (CAP I): 69 members of the central legislature + 10
immigrant members= 79]
9. Consequences of setting up of the new dominions:
1. His Majestys Government lost all the responsibility to the new dominions
2. The suzerainty of His Majestys Government over the Indian States lapsed.
3. All the treaties or agreements in force at the passing of the Act lapsed.
4. The title of "Emperor of India" was dropped from the titles of British Crown.
5. The office of Secretary of State for India was abolished and the provisions of GOI
Act 1935 relating to the appointments to the civil service or civil posts under the
crown by the secretary of the state ceased to operate
10. Civil servants: Section 10 provided for the continuance of service of the government
servants appointed on or before 15 August 1947 under the Governments of new
Dominions with full benefits.
11. Armed Forces: Sections 11, 12, & 13 dealt with the future of Indian Armed Forces. A
Partition Committee was formed on 7 June 1947, with two representatives from each
side and the viceroy in the chair, to decide about the division thereof. As soon as the
process of partition was to start it was to be replaced by a Partition Council with a similar
structure.
12. First and Second Schedules:
1. First Schedule listed the districts provisionally included in the new province of
East Bengal:
1. Chittagong Division: Chittagong, Noakhali & Tippera.
2. Dacca Division: Bakarganj, Dacca, Faridpur, & Mymensingh.
3. Presidency Division: Jessor, Murshidabad & Nadia
4. Rajshahi Division: Bogra, Dinajpur, Malda, Rajshahi & Rangpur.
2. Second Schedule listed the districts provisionally included in the new province of
West Punjab:
1. Lahore Division: Gujranwala, Gurdaspur, Lahore, Sheikhupura & Sialkot.
2. Rawalpindi Division: Attock, Gujrat, Jehlum, Rawalpindi & Shahpur.
3. Multan Division: Dera Ghazi Khan, Jhang, Lyallpur, Montgomery, Multan
& Muzaffargarh [6]
In the event, between August 1947 and March 1948 the rulers of several Muslim-majority states
signed an Instrument of Accession to join Pakistan. These included Amb, Bahawalpur, Chitral,
Dir, Kalat, Khairpur, Kharan, Las Bela, Makran, and Swat.
Fall 2016
7. Language Movement of 1948 and 1952BackgroundRole of Students21st February

1952Foundation of the Awami League,
Language Movement
The first movement on this issue was mobilised by Tamaddun Majlish headed by Professor Abul
Kashem. Gradually many other non-communal and progressive organisations joined the movement,
which finally turned into a mass movement.
Meanwhile, serious preparation was being taken in various forums of the central government of Pakistan
under the initiative of Fazlur Rahman, the central education minister, to make Urdu the only state
language of Pakistan. On receipt of this information, East Pakistani students became agitated and held a
meeting on the Dhaka University campus on 6 December 1947, demanding that Bangla be made one of
the state languages of Pakistan. The meeting was followed by student processions and more agitation. The
first Rastrabhasa Sangram Parishad (Language Action Committee) was formed towards the end of
December with Professor Nurul Huq Bhuiyan of Tamaddun Majlish as the convener.
The Constituent Assembly of Pakistan was in session at Karachi-then the capital of Pakistan-from 23
February 1948. It was proposed that the members would have to speak either in Urdu or in English at the
Assembly. Dhirendranath Datta a member from the East Pakistan Congress Party, moved an amendment
motion to include Bangla as one of the languages of the Constituent Assembly. He noted that out of the 6
crore 90 lakh population of Pakistan, 4 crore 40 lakh were from East Pakistan with Bangla as their mother
tongue. The central leaders, including Liaquat Ali Khan prime minister of Pakistan, and Khawaja
Nazimuddin chief minister of East Bengal, opposed the motion. On receiving the news that the motion
had been rejected, students, intellectuals and politicians of East Pakistan became agitated. Newspapers
such as the Azad also criticised of the politicians who had rejected the motion.
A new committee to fight for Bangla as the state language was formed with Shamsul Huq as convener.
On 11 March 1948 a general strike was observed in the towns of East Pakistan in protest against the
omission of Bangla from the languages of the Constituent Assembly, the absence of Bangla letters in
Pakistani coins and stamps, and the use of only Urdu in recruitment tests for the navy. The movement
also reiterated the earlier demand that Bangla be declared one of the state languages of Pakistan and the
official language of East Pakistan. Amidst processions, picketing and slogans, leaders such as Shawkat
Ali, Kazi Golam Mahboob, Shamsul Huq, Oli Ahad, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Abdul Wahed and others
were arrested. Student leaders, including Abdul Matin and Abdul Malek Ukil, also took part in the
procession and picketing. A meeting was held on the Dhaka University premises. Mohammad Toaha was
severely injured while trying to snatch away a rifle from a policeman and had to be admitted to hospital.
Strikes were observed from 12 March to 15 March.
Under such circumstances the government had to give in. Khwaja Nazimuddin signed an agreement with
the student leaders. However, although he agreed to a few terms and conditions, he did not comply with
their demand that Bangla be made a state language. Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the governor general of
Pakistan, came to visit East Pakistan on 19 March. He addressed two meetings in Dhaka, in both of which
he ignored the popular demand for Bangla. He reiterated that Urdu would be the only state language of
Pakistan. This declaration was instantly protested with the Language Movement spreading throughout
East Pakistan. The Dhaka University Language Action Committee was formed on 11 March 1950 with
Abdul Matin as its convener.
By the beginning of 1952, the Language Movement took a serious turn. Both Jinnah and Liaquat Ali
Khan were dead-Jinnah on 11 September 1948 and Liaquat Ali Khan on 16 October 1951. Khwaja
Nazimuddin had succeeded Liaquat Ali Khan as prime minister of Pakistan. With the political crisis, the
economic condition in East Pakistan also deteriorated. The people of East Pakistan started losing faith in
the Muslim League. A new party, the Awami Muslim League-which would later become the Awami
League was formed under the leadership of Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhasani in 1949. There was a
growing sense of deprivation and exploitation in East Pakistan and a realisation that a new form of
colonialism had replaced British imperialism. Under these circumstances, the Language Movement got a
new momentum in 1952.
On 27 January 1952, Khwaja Nazimuddin came to Dhaka from Karachi. Addressing a meeting at Paltan
Maidan, he said that the people of the province could decide what would be the provincial language, but
only Urdu would be the state language of Pakistan. There was an instantaneous, negative reaction to this
speech among the students who responded with the slogan, 'Rashtrabhasha Bangla Chai' (We want
Bangla as the state language).
A strike was observed at Dhaka University on 30 January. The representatives of various political and
cultural organisations held a meeting on 31 January chaired by Moulana Bhasani. An All-Party Central
Language Action Committee was formed with Kazi Golam Mahboob as its convener. At this time the
government also proposed that Bangla be written in Arabic script. This proposal was also vehemently
opposed. The Language Action Committee decided to call a hartal and organise demonstrations and
processions on February 21 throughout East Pakistan.
As preparations for demonstrations were underway, the government imposed Section 144 in the city of
Dhaka, banning all assemblies and demonstrations. A meeting of the Central Language Action Committee
was held on 20 February under the chairmanship of Abul Hashim. Opinion was divided as to whether or
not to violate Section 144.
The students were determined to violate Section144 and held a student meeting at 11.00 a.m. on 21
February on the Dhaka University campus, then located close to the Medical College Hospital. When the
meeting started, the Vice-Chancellor, along with a few university teachers, came to the spot and requested
the students not to violate the ban on assembly. However, the students, under their leaders - Abdul Matin
and Gaziul Huq - were adamant. Thousands of students from different schools and colleges of Dhaka
assembled on the university campus while armed police waited outside the gate. When the students
emerged in groups, shouting slogans, the police resorted to baton charge; even the female students were
not spared.
The students then started throwing brickbats at the police, who retaliated with tear gas. Unable to control
the agitated students, the police fired upon the crowd of students, who were proceeding towards the
Assembly Hall (at present, part of Jagannath Hall, University of Dhaka). Three young men, Rafiq Uddin
Ahmed, Abdul Jabber and Abul Barkat (an MA student of Political Science) were fatally wounded. Many
injured persons were admitted to the hospital. Among them Abdus Salam, a peon at the Secretariat,
subsequently succumbed to his wounds. A nine-year-old boy named Ohiullah was also killed.
At the Legislative Assembly building, the session was about to begin. Hearing the news of the shooting,
some members of the Assembly, including Maulana Abdur Rashid Tarkabagish and some opposition
members, went out and joined the students. In the Assembly, Nurul Amin, chief minister of East Pakistan,
continued to oppose the demand for Bangla.
The next day, 22 February, was also a day of public demonstrations and police reprisals. The public
performed a janaza (prayer service for the dead) and brought out a mourning procession, which was
attacked by the police and the army resulting in several deaths, including that of a young man named
Shafiur Rahman. Many were injured and arrested. On 23 February, at the spot where students had been
killed, a memorial was erected. In 1963, the temporary structure was replaced by a concrete memorial, the
Shid Minar (martyrs' memorial).
The East Bengal Legislative Assembly adopted a resolution recommending the recognition of Bangla as
one of the state languages of Pakistan. The language movement continued until 1956. The movement
achieved its goal by forcing the Pakistan Constituent Assembly in adopting both Bangla and Urdu as the
state languages of Pakistan. While the Assembly was debating on the language issue, Member Adel
Uddin Ahmed (1913-1981; Faridpur) made an important amendment proposal, which was adopted
unanimously by the Assembly (16 February 1956). Both Bangla and Urdu were thus enacted to be the
state languages of Pakistan.
Since 1952, 21 February has been observed every year to commemorate the martyrs of the Language
Movement. With UNESCO adopting a resolution on 17 November 1999 proclaiming 21 February as
International Mother Language Day. It is an honour bestowed by the international community on the
Language Movement of Bangladesh.
Bangladesh Awami League one of the oldest and major political parties in Bangladesh. It is the
Awami League that played the leading role in achieving the independence of Bangladesh.
The Awami League was founded in Rose Garden of KM Das Lane, Dhaka on 23 June 1949 at a
convention of the leaders and workers known to be a faction of the Bengal Provincial Muslim
League headed by huseyn shaheed suhrawardy and abul hashim. The new party was named East
Pakistan Awami Muslim League. It was established with Maulana abdul hamid khan bhasani as
president, ataur rahman khan, Sakhawat Hossain and Ali Ahmed Khan as vice-presidents,
Shamsul Hoque as general secretary, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (then interned in jail), Khondakar
Mostaq Ahmed and AK Rafiqul Hussain as joint secretaries, and Yar Mohammad Khan as
treasurer. From the very inception the Awami League has been a secular and non-communal
party. As a mark of its secular posture, the term 'Muslim' was deleted from the name of the party
at its third council meeting held on 21-23 October 1955. The party believes in welfare economy.
It has front organisations among the students, labourers, peasants, youths and women.
The Awami League was the first opposition party in the then Pakistan. At its birth the party
adopted a 42-point programme with a special emphasis on the demand for provincial autonomy.
Recognition of Bangla as one of the state languages of Pakistan, one man one vote, democracy,
framing of a constitution, parliamentary form of government, regional autonomy and removal of
disparity between the two wings had been the major demands of Awami League during the
initial stage of the Pakistani rule. In the 1948-52 language movement, the Awami League and its
student front, Chhatra League (est. 1948), played a vitally important role. The Awami League
played a leading role in the formation of the 'All Party State Language Action Committee' in
1952 preceding the 21 February killing.

Fall 2016
9. Constitution of 1956NatureDifficulties in implementation;
Constitution of Pakistan of 1956
Origins
Pakistan became independent of the United Kingdom in 1947, but remained a British Dominion
like Canada or Australia until 1956. Under Section 8 of the Indian Independence Act, 1947, the
Government of India Act 1935 with certain adaptations, served as the working constitution of
Pakistan, but the need of a full independence and a constitution to be framed by the elected
representatives of the people was all the more necessary for the free citizens of a sovereign state.
Therefore, the first Constituent Assembly was formed under the Independence Act and was
entrusted with two separate functions:
To frame a Constitution for the country, and

To set as a Federal Legislative Assembly or Parliament until that Constitution came into
effect.
The powers and functions of the central legislature under the Government of India Act were
conferred on the Constituent Assembly. The Constituent Assembly could, however, amend the
Indian Independence Act, 1947 or the Government of India Act, 1935, and no Act of the British
Parliament could be extended to Pakistan without legislation by the Constituent Assembly. The
first Constituent Assembly originally consisted of 69 members; subsequently the number of
members was increased to 79.
The first major step in the framing of a constitution for Pakistan was taken by the Constituent
Assembly on 12 March 1949, when it passed a resolution on the 'Aims and Objectives of the
Constitution', popularly known as the Objectives Resolution. It laid the foundation of the
constitution and indicated the broad outline of its structure. The resolution was moved by
Liaquat Ali Khan, the first Prime Minister of Pakistan. While moving the Resolution, he said:
Sir, I consider this to be a most important occasion in the life of this country, next in importance
only to the achievement of independence, because by achieving independence we only won an
opportunity of building up a country and its polity in accordance with our ideals. I would like to
remind the house that the Father of the Nation, Quaid-i-Azam, gave expression of his feelings on
this matter on many occasions, and his views were endorsed by the nation in unmistakable terms,
Pakistan was founded because the Muslims of this sub-continent wanted to build up their lives in
accordance with the teachings and traditions of Islam, because they wanted to demonstrate to the
world that Islam provides a panacea to the many diseases which have crept into the life of
humanity today.
The resolution was debated for five days. The leading members of the government and a large
number of non-Muslim members, especially from East Bengal, took a prominent part. Non-
Muslim members expressed grave apprehensions about their position and role in the new policy.
Hindu members of the Constitutional Assembly argued that the Objectives Resolution differed
with Muhammad Ali Jinnah's (Quaid-e-Azam) view in all the basic points. Sris Chandra
Chattopadhyaya said:
What I hear in this (Objectives) Resolution is not the voice of the great creator of Pakistan - the
Quaid-i-Azam, nor even that of the Prime Minister of Pakistan the Honorable Mr. Liaquat Ali
Khan, but of the Ulema of the land.
Birat Chandra Mandal declared that Jinnah had "unequivocally said that Pakistan will be a
secular state." Bhupendra Kumar Datta went a step further: "...were this resolution to come
before this house within the life-time of the Great Creator of Pakistan, the Quaid-i-Azam, it
would not have come in its present shape...."
However, Muslim scholars and a large portion of the people of Pakistan were of the view that
this was exactly what the Quaid-a-Azam wanted and that it was a good step forward in the
constitutional history of Pakistan. They also argued that objective resolution provided the
minorities with equal rights and that they had no compulsion, whatsoever, in adopting or
converting into Islam.
After nine years of efforts, Pakistan was successful in framing a constitution. The Constituent
Assembly adopted it on 29 February 1956, and it was enforced on 23 March 1956, proclaiming
Pakistan to be an Islamic republic.
Provisions
The Constitution of 1956 was lengthy and detailed; it contained 234 articles divided into thirteen
parts and six schedules. The Constitution of 1956 provided for federal system with the principle
of parity between East Pakistan and West Pakistan. The Federal Legislature was to perform like
the British Parliament. The Centre was invested with such powers as to take unilateral action in
emergency and it could influence the provincial autonomy.
The Constitution of 1956 provided for the parliamentary form of government, where real
executive authority was vested in a cabinet, collectively responsible to the legislature. The
cabinet was presided over by the Prime Minister. The Constitution declared that there would be
only one house of parliament known as the National Assembly and equality between the two
Wings (i.e. East Pakistan and West Pakistan) was maintained in it. The Governor General was
replaced by a President, who was to be elected by the Electoral College of Pakistan composed of
members of the National Assembly and Provincial Assembly.
Familiar democratic rights and freedoms such as freedom of speech and expression, of assembly
and association, of movement and of profession were all provided in the Constitution, with the
usual qualifications. With regards to civil rights, familiar rights such as rights of life, liberty and
property were granted, again with the usual qualifications and safeguards. The judiciary was
given power to enforce the fundamental rights and the courts were to decide if a law was
repugnant to any provisions of the fundamental rights.
As per the Constitution, Urdu and Bengali were made national languages.
Salient features
Written Constitution - This is a written and lengthy document.

Rigid Constitution - The constitution could only be amended through a process requiring
the amendment to be passed by at least a two-thirds majority of the parliament and
authentication by the President.
Islamic Republic of Pakistan - The name of the country was adopted as the Islamic
Republic of Pakistan.
Objectives Resolution - The objective resolution was included as a preamble of the
constitution.
Federal System - The constitution provides for a federal system in the country. Powers
was divided between the centre and the provinces. The subjects were divided into three
lists; The Federal List, The Provincial List, and the Concurrent List.
Unicameral Legislature - The legislature would consist of a single house. Both the wings
of the country were given representation in the National Assembly. The National
Assembly consisted of 300 members. 150 members were drawn from each wing.
Parliamentary System - a parliamentary system was adopted, according to it the president
was the head of state and the Prime Minister the head of government.
The President - required to be a Muslim of at least forty years of age. The tenure of his
office was five years. In case of internal or external danger he could declare a state of
emergency in the country. He was authorized to appoint the Governors, the Judges of the
Supreme Court, Auditor General and the Advocate General.
The Prime Minister - He was to be the leader of the Parliamentary group and was thus
indirectly elected by the people. He could choose his cabinet from the members of the
National Assembly; the cabinet was answerable to the Assembly.
Provincial Autonomy - Curtailed in the constitution to a great extent.
Islamic Law - no law would be passed against the teachings of the Quran and Sunnah.
Free Judiciary - An independent judiciary in the country. A Supreme Court interpreted
the constitution, advised the state whenever required, and decided the issues whenever
required.
Fundamental Rights - included freedom of movement, freedom of speech and expression,
freedom to choose profession and freedom to profess religion. Right to life, liberty, and
property.
Language - Urdu & Bengali
Drawbacks
The Bengalis were underrepresented in the National Assembly.

The provisional autonomy was not given to provinces, and their demands were tried to be
crushed by 'One Unit Scheme', while Dr Akhter Hamid Khan always said that the people
should be given the right to solve their problems themselves.
The first step towards institutionalising army into politics was taken by giving the
president the right to declare emergency at a time of so-called internal or external danger.
Demise
On 7 October 1958, President Iskander Mirza staged a coup d'tat. He abrogated the constitution,
imposed martial law and appointed General Muhammad Ayub Khan as the Chief Martial Law
Administrator and Aziz Ahmad as Secretary General and Deputy Chief Martial Law
Administrator. However, three weeks later General Ayubwho had been openly questioning the
authority of the government prior to the imposition of martial lawdeposed Iskandar Mirza on
27 October 1958 and assumed the presidency that practically formalized the militarization of the
political system in Pakistan. Four years later a new document, Constitution of 1962 was adopted.
This was eventually succeeded by the Constitution of 1973, current as of 2015.

Fall 2016
10. Military Rule in 1958 and the Basic Democracy of Ayub Khan
Failure of Democracy and the Rise of Authoritarian GovernmentPrinciple of
Controlled Democracy;
Mohammed Ayub Khan (14 May 1907 19 April 1974), widely known as Ayub Khan, was the
first native four-star general and the only Field Marshal of Pakistan. He was the first military
ruler (martial law imposed in 1958) and also the second President of Pakistan who assumed
power in the 1958 Pakistani coup d'tat, serving in office until his forced resignation amid a
popular uprising in 1969 (in East Pakistan).
Trained at British Sandhurst Military College, Ayub Khan fought in World War II as an officer
(Colonel) in the British Indian Army. He joined the armed forces of the newly formed state of
Pakistan upon independence in 1947, and became its chief military commander in East Bengal.
He was appointed as the first native Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistan Army in 1951 by the
then-Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan, in a controversial promotion over several senior officers.
President Iskander Mirza's decision to declare martial law in 1958 was supported by Ayub,
whom Mirza declared chief martial law administrator. Two weeks later, Ayub deposed Mirza in
a bloodless coup and assumed the presidency. He relinquished the post of army chief to General
Musa Khan the same year.
Ayub Khan continued his predecessors' policy of an alliance with the United States during the
Cold War, joining CENTO, and allowing the U.S. and Britain access to facilities inside Pakistan,
most notably the airbase outside of Peshawar, from which U-2 intelligence flights over the
Soviet Union were launched. He also strengthened military ties with neighboring China, while
relations deteriorated with the Soviet Union and India. There was the five-week war in 1965 with
India, ending in a United Nations-mandated ceasefire. Domestically, Ayub embraced private-
sector industrialization and free-market principles, purportedly making the country one of Asia's
fastest-growing economies. He built several infrastructure projects, including canals, dams and
power stations, began Pakistan's space programme, and gave less priority to nuclear deterrence.
After defeating Fatima Jinnah in the controversial presidential elections of 1965, Ayub's standing
began to slide amid allegations of widespread vote rigging and political murder. Proceeding with
a peace agreement with India to end the war, many Pakistanis considered an embarrassing
compromise and demonstrations across the country over rising prices, including those led by
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, increased dramatically from 1967 onwards. In 1969, Ayub resigned and
handed over power to General Yahya Khan, who declared martial law for the second time.
Following ill health, Ayub died in 1974. His legacy remains mixed; he is credited with an
ostensible economic prosperity and what supporters dub the so-called 'decade of development',
but is criticized for beginning the first of the army's incursions into civilian politics, for
concentrating corrupt wealth in a few hands and policies that later led to the break-up of Pakistan
and creation of Bangladesh.
Basic Democracies
Basic Democracies a local government system introduced during the Ayub regime in the early
1960s. General Ayub khan, President of Pakistan, introduced the concept of basic democracy
under the Basic Democracies Order, 1959 having made an attempt to initiate a grass-root level
democratic system. Of course, most of the political parties of East Pakistan had different ideas
about his scheme, and considered it a bid to usurp power in the hands of Ayub Khan and other
vested groups.
The system of Basic Democracies was initially a five-tier arrangement. They were: (i) union
councils (rural areas), town and union committees (urban areas); (ii) thana councils (East
Pakistan), tehsil councils (West Pakistan); (iii) district councils; (iv) divisional councils; (v)
provincial development advisory council.
At the base of the system was the union council which consisted of a chairman and usually about
15 members. It had both elected and nominated members. Two-thirds of the members were
elected representatives and one-third consisted of non-official members nominated by the
government. However, the nomination was abolished by an amendment in 1962. The members
of the council were elected by the people from their respective unions on the basis of universal
adult franchise. The chairman of the council was elected by the members from amongst
themselves. In a way, it was at par with the erstwhile union board with minor differences. The
elected representatives of the union council were called basic democrats. The total number of
such councils was 7300.
In the second tier was the thana council which consisted of ex-officio representative members,
official and non-official members. The representative members were the chairmen of the union
councils and town committees. The official members were the representatives of various nation-
building departments of a thana and their number was fixed by the district magistrate of the
concerned district. The total number of official members could not in any case exceed the
number of non-official members. The council was headed by the Sub-Divisional Officer (SDO)
who was the ex-officio chairman. In his absence the Circle Officer (development) would preside
over the meetings of the thana council as ex-officio member. In case of West Pakistan, the thana
was known as tehsil and it was presided over by a tehsilder. In all, there were 655 thanas and
tehsils in Pakistan.
The third tier was the district council. It consisted of one chairman, official and non-official
members. The number of members would not exceed 40. The chairmen of thana councils were
its members, and other official members were drawn from district level officers of development
departments and an equal number of non-official members. At least 50% the non-official
members was drawn from amongst the chairmen of union councils and town committees. The
district magistrate acted as chairman of the council while the vice-chairman was elected by the
elected members of the council.
In absence of the chairman the vice-chairman had to perform such other functions assigned by
the chairman. There were 74 district councils in Pakistan. The district council was the most
important tier in the basic democracy system. It was the successor organisation to the district
board. So far as the composition of the council was concerned, it regressed beyond its 1885
position when 25% members were nominated.
The fourth and the apex tier was the divisional council. The Divisional Commissioner was the
ex-officio chairman of the council. It had both official and non-official (representative) members.
The maximum number of members was 45. Official members consisted of the chairmen of
district councils of the concerned division and representatives of development departments. The
total number of divisional councils was sixteen.
Basic democracies specified a provincial development advisory council for each wing. Its
composition followed the pattern of the divisional council except that only one-third of the
appointed members had to be selected from union council chairmen. The council did not have
any power. However, it was dropped with the introduction of provincial assemblies in both East
and West Pakistan.
Of the five councils created by the Basic Democracies Order only the union and district councils
had been given specific functions. The divisional and thana council performed mostly
coordinative functions. The union council had been entrusted with a variety of functions such as
agriculture, small industry, community development and increased food production in the union.
It maintained law and order through the rural police and had been given judicial powers to try
minor civil and criminal cases through its conciliation courts. The union councils were given the
responsibility of planning and implementing rural public works programmes for construction of
roads, bridges and culverts, irrigation channels and embankments. The union council was
empowered to levy taxes, impose rates, tolls and fees. The most important feature of the basic
democracy system was that it formed the national electoral college consisting of 80,000 members
from East and West Pakistan for the elections of President, members of national assembly and of
the provincial assemblies.
The thana/tehsil council was mostly a coordinative and supervisory body. All the activities of
union councils and town committees falling within its jurisdiction were coordinated by it. All
development plans prepared by the union councils and town committees were coordinated by the
thana council including supervision of on-going schemes. It followed the directions of the district
council and remained responsible to it.
The district council had been entrusted with three types of functions: compulsory, optional and
coordinating. Some of the compulsory functions included construction of public roads, culverts,
bridges, maintenance of primary schools, plantation and preservation of trees, regulation of
public ferries, and improvement of public health. Optional functions included education, culture,
socio-economic welfare, and public works. In addition, the district council was also given broad
functions such as agriculture, industry, community development, promotion of national
reconstruction and development of cooperatives. Coordination of all activities of local councils
within the district was also a responsibility of the district council. The council was supposed to
formulate schemes and projects taken by nation building departments and make suggestions for
further improvement and development and recommend them to the divisional council and other
concerned authorities. The fourth tier, the divisional council, was least important functionally. It
was simply an advisory body at that level.
Apart from being the agent of local government, the basic democracies also performed political
and electoral functions to legitimize the government through popular support and participation.
In the referendum for presidential elections held on 14 February 1960 the basic democrats voted
for Ayub Khan. The monopolisation of electoral rights by the basic democrats was strongly
despised by the vast rural and urban masses, which led to mass upheaval against Ayub in 1969.
As a political institution it not only failed to legitimize the regime, but also in fact lost its
legitimacy after the fall of General Ayub in 1969.
Course Title: Emergence of Bangladesh
Fall 2016
11. Constitution of 1962Principal FeaturesProvincial Autonomy QuestionStruggle

for AutonomyEast Pakistans Movement for provincial Autonomy and Political and
Economic Rights
Background:
On 7 Oct 1958 the military assumed power in Pakistan under the leadership of general Ayub
Khan who was the Commander in Chief at that time. The military abrogated the Constitution and
the federal and provincial cabinets were abolished. The national and provincial assemblies were
also abolished and martial law was imposed in Pakistan.Ayub Khan became the chief martial law
administrator and in this way the 1st military govt came into existence in Pakistan. The military
govt had to undertake a lot of tasks, a lot of actions were taken during this period.
One of the major responsibility that the military govt assigned to itself was the framing the new
Constitution for Pakistan because ultimately Pakistan was to return to constitutional rule and for
that the military govt wanted to frame a constitution for the country. During this period General
Ayub Khan who became Field Martial in Oct 1959 issued several statements on working of the
governments in the past. The govt circles were generally critical of the parliamentary system of
the govt which they thought was not providing stability to the country.
They emphasized that any political system for Pakistan must ensure stability, continuity
economic development and gradual development of democracy. These were the primary
considerations and by keeping in view the govt decided to take certain measures to move in the
direction of framing the constitution for this country.
2. Constitution-Making:
The first step in the direction of setting up a new political system was the introduction of new
local govt system which was announced in Oct 1959 one year after the assumption of power by
the armed forces.
This local govt system was called as Basic Democracies (Buniadi Jamhooriatain) and under this
system people elected 80000 representatives for the local councils and these representatives were
divided equally between East Pakistan and West Pakistan. This local govt system had initially
five levels but later on it had four levels. Union Councils, Tehsil Councils, District and
Divisions. This system worked as the local govt and also performed the development work. The
elections to the Basic Democracies were held in Dec, 1959 and Jan, 1960 and in this way the
local govts were installed.
The next stage of setting up of a new political framework for Pakistan was Presidential
Referendum which was held ob Feb 17, 1960.President Ayub decided to hold Referendum for
him to become an elected President and this Referendum was held on Feb 17,1960.In this
Referendum the elected members of Basic Democracies voted, at that time the members of the
Basic Democracies were called as BD members, So the elected BD members were to vote and in
this Referendum Ayub Khan won the election with the overwhelming support and there was no
candidate against him.
After holding of the elections Ayub Khan decided to set up a constitution. This constitution was
established in Feb, 1960 and this commission was headed by a former chief justice of Pakistan,
his name was justice Shahabuddin.
In addition to Shahabuddin who was heading the commission, there were other members and
there was equality in representation to both wings of Pakistan that is there were equal numbers of
members from East Pakistan and from West Pakistan. This constitution commission was
assigned of doing two major things
1 This was to examine the causes of failure of Parliamentary system in Pakistan. You would
recall that before 1958 Pakistan had Parliamentary system of govt and when military took over in
1958 Parliamentary system was done away with, so the first responsibility of the commission
was to look at the history of Pakistan as it developed from 1957 to 1958 and identify the factors
or causes that led to the failure of the parliamentary system.
2: The second major responsibility was to recommend an appropriate system of govt for Pakistan
in view of the genius of the people or temperament of the people, level of education, and the kind
of political situation that existed in Pakistan in the state of nationhood and also the need for
economic development in Pakistan.
In keeping in view the causes of the failure of parliamentary system and these goals or these
objectives the commission was to make certain recommendations.
The constitution commission visited different cities interviewed a lot of people, it also issued a
questionnaire and people could send their responses and all these responses and interviews which
the commission conducted in different cities of Pakistan.
The commission prepared a report a detailed report which was submitted to the President of
Pakistan in May, 1961.This report provided an analysis of the political history of Pakistan
from1947 to 1958, identifying the causes of the failure of the parliamentary system during the 1st
eleven years.
Then it suggested a number of principles, guidelines for framing a new constitution. This report
which was published as the report of the constitution commission is available in the libraries.
This report was reviewed by two committees. One committee was comprised of the members of
the Presidential cabinet and the second committee was consisted of the senior bureaucrats who
looked into the practical aspects of this report how this is to be implemented. The report was also
discussed in the governors conference and also by other people who were able to get
information on this report.
After detailed deliberations of the constitution commission, President Ayub Khan announced the
new constitution on March 1st 1962.The constitution which was announced did not incorporate
all the recommendations of the constitution commission, most of its recommendations were
incorporated but some were not, and in this way constitution was announced.
The next stage was that in April and May 1962 elections to the national and provincial were held.
These elections were an indirect election that is the BD members or the members of the Basic
Democracies were to elect their members both in the national and provincial assemblies. So in
this way this was the system of indirect elections where people were to elect an Electoral College
and the members of that Electoral College would elect the members of the national and
provincial assemblies. This was the system of indirect elections and it was introduced in 1962 for
the 1962 Constitution.
Once the assemblies that is the national and provincial were elected the Constitution was
enforced on 8th June 1962 and on that day Martial Law was withdrawn, military rule came to an
end, and the new constitution which was framed by the military govt of Ayub khan became the
Constitution of Pakistan. And from 8th June 1962 to onward Pakistani system was functioning
under this new constitution.
This constitution had 250 articles and 5 schedules. Initially there were 3 and 2 more were added
later on in the constitution. Now we will move on to the 3rd part. In the second part we have
discussed how constitution was framed what were the steps and stages in the formulation of the
1962 Constitution.
3. Salient Features:
The type of political system which was created under the new constitution of Pakistan is
described as under:
3.1 Title of the State:
When the constitution was enforced on June 8th 1962 the title of the State was given as the
Republic of Pakistan. But when this title was given there was a demand in the assembly and
outside the assembly that the title should be the Islamic Republic of Pakistan that is the demand
was to go back to the title that was provided in the earlier constitution of 1956.The 1956
Constitution describe the country as the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. So after some thinking on
this issue 1st amendment was made in the constitution which dealt with a number of issues but
here one issue is important for us that is the word Islamic were inserted in the title and therefore
Pakistan once again became The Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
3.2 Presidential System:

The 2nd outstanding feature of this constitution was the Presidential System of the govt.In this
way the 1962 Constitution marked a departure from the 1956 Constitution which had provided
for a parliamentary system of govt, but in 1962 this was replaced with presidential system of
govt.
The constitution provided for a very powerful President who had vast administrative powers and
other authority to handle the affairs of the State. In a way the President was the focal point of the
constitution. It was around him that constitution was revolving. Constitution provided that a
person could become or he can contest the election of the president if he had the minimum age of
40 years. He should be a Muslim and qualified to be a member of the national assembly. In this
constitution, the president like the members of the national assembly was indirectly elected. The
members of the Basic Democracy which were 80000 in number were made the Electoral College
for the president. So the BD members would elect the president of Pakistan under the
Constitution of 1962, and the term was five for years.
If a president had held the office for more than 8 years, he could seek re-election if, his
candidature is allowed or permitted or approved by the national and provincial assemblies. To
simplify what I have said, that a person could stay president for two terms consecutive terms one
after the other and each term for 5 years, so a person can hold that office for 10 years. Now if,
that person wanted to go beyond that is for the 3rd term then his candidature had to be approved
by the national and two provincial assemblies and then he could go for the elections, the way it
was provided in the constitution which is indirect elections through the elected members of the
Basic Democracies.
Although the term of the president was fixed for 5 years, the president could be removed from
his office by the national assembly; this is called the impeachment process or the impeachment
of the president that is president could be removed by impeachment. However the impeachment
process was very difficult and it was not easy to remove a president from his office until the
expiry of his tenure which was 5 years.
Normally in presidential systems the president doesnt have powers to dissolve the national
assemblies or the parliament. Here in the Constitution of 1962 this power was given to the
president. President could dissolve the NA call for new elections but there was one condition that
is if the president dissolves the assemblies, he would himself go for the elections; he will have to
seek his own re-elections.
This for all practical purposes meant that president would not dissolve the NA, because he would
also have to get a new mandate, a new vote from Electoral College. So that means that the
president would be extremely reluctant to take such a step and for all practical purposes he would
not remove the NA although he was given this kind of powers in a conditional manner.
3.3 Powers of the president:
The president was the focal point of the political system, the central piece of the political system.
he had executive powers, legislative powers because he was the part of the legislative process
and certain judicial powers. The cabinet was appointed by the president and the cabinet was
responsible to the president. He could remove a cabinet member anytime he wants and other key
appointments in the state were also to be made by the president. For example the appointment of
chief justice and judges of the Supreme Court, the three commanders of the armed forces,
chairman and the members of the PPSC and some others, but there was a procedure to make
these appointments.
But ultimately it was the responsibility of the president to make these appointments. President
also had the powers to issue ordinances when the NA was not in session. President also had an
emergency power that is if state of emergency had been declared in the country then his powers
enhanced. Emergency can be declared in the country for 3 major reasons.
1. External threat, there is war imposed on the country as was the case in Sep, 1965 when
India attacked on Pakistan state of emergency was declared in Pakistan.
2. Internal disturbances there are developments within a country which threatens security
then emergency powers could be invoked.
A very serious economic crises economic threat to the security of the state
So, in these kinds of situations the president can declare the state of emergency and can
assume extra powers. And then he had a free hand to function but within a limit prescribe by
the constitution of Pakistan.
3.4 Legislative powers:
President was the part of the legislative process where he would be dealing with legislation
but we will discuss his legislative powers when we discuss the NA which is the 3rd feature of
the constitution. The 3rd feature is that it provided for a single house legislature, like the 1956
Constitution it provided for a single house parliament called NA.And in this NA both the
wings of Pakistan had equal representation or what is called the principle of parity.
The strength of the house for the membership of the NA was 156.150 were the general seats
and 6 were reserved for women. The general seats were elected through an indirect election
that is the BD members constituted the Electoral College for the members of the NA; the
same applies to the provincial assemblies. Both the national and provincial assemblies were
elected by the Electoral College of BD members.
Minimum age was 25 years and the candidate would be a registered voter in anywhere in
Pakistan and a citizen of Pakistan. A had law making powers, could make laws for the issues
and powers given to the federal govt.However, all laws made by the NA would go to the
president and at that stage before they are passed by the president they are called as bills, so,
the president could sign the law which has been passed in the form of bills, reject it or return
it for reconsideration to the NA.There was a procedure through which NA could accept the
recommendations of the president or could returned the bill to the president, So there was a
procedure to deal with the situation, but the president was the part of the legislative process.
3.5 Financial powers:

So for as financial powers were concerned these powers were limited. The NA could vote on
new expenditure it means those items in the budget which are included for the first time that
is why they are new expenditures. It has the power to accept or reject the new expenditure.
Here were 2 other categories of expenditures which it could not turn down
The consolidated fund list which included salary for the officers of certain important Offices
under the state of Pakistan. This was the same in the 1956 constitution however the 1962
provided for recurring expenditure, this expenditure meant the expenditure which was
coming from the previous years. This was for multi year projects.
3.6 Federalism:
The 1962 established a federal system of govt which meant two types of govt govt at the centre
and govt at the provincial level there were two provinces at that time. So there were two govts
functioning within the limits defined by the constitution.
1962 Constitution provided one list of subjects, one set of powers were clearly laid down in the
constitution and those were the powers of the central govt.So the one list of subjects pertains to
the powers of the central govt and the rest of the powers were given to the provincial
govts.However the federation under the 1962 Constitution had a strong centre, because there was
a powerful president. A president who has enough powers to manage the central as well as the
provincial affairs.
And if we look at the emergency powers then there is greater freedom to intervene in the
provincial affairs. So, it was a strong centre under the 1962 Constitution, although provincial
autonomy was there, a provincial setup a governor with his cabinet and governor was appointed
by the president. And governor would appoint the cabinet with the approval of the president and
each province had its legislature for law making purporses.Here the authority of the governor
was strong, he was the head of the govt at the provincial level. So we can say that there was
provincial autonomy administration but centre was strong under the 1962 Constitution.
3.7 Principles of policy:
The 5th feature is that the constitution provided principles for policy making. These principles
were guidelines for policy makers and these principles emphasized national solidarity that
principles would be designed to promote national solidarity and the policies would take care the
people of the backward areas, and other principles like opportunities would be provided to
people to take part in national life. Emphasis on Islamic way of life, on Islamic system, Islamic
teachings and on Islamic principles. These were the principles given in the constitution. And
these principles were simply guidelines for those were to make policies for Pakistan.
3.8 Fundamental Rights:
The next feature was Fundamental Rights, like the previous constitution this constitution also
provided certain political and civil rights to the people and these were the standard rights which
are given in democratic systems. Right to speech, right to organization, right to movement,
protection of life, security, freedom of religion and such rights which are part of any democratic
setup.
These were there and these could be invoked in a court of law. But I may mention here that when
constitution was enforced these fundamental rights were given in the constitution as principles
for law making not as fundamental rights. Then there was a demand that these should be
fundamental rights rather than principles, and due to this demand in the NA and outside the NA
the principles for law making were changed into fundamental rights under an amendment to the
constitution and in this way the standard civil and political rights became the part of the
constitution.
3.9 Political Parties:
The 9th feature pertains to political parties. When constitution was enforced in June 1962
political parties were not allowed in Pakistan. There was a ban on Political parties and the
elections to the national and provincial assemblies in April and May in 1962 were party less
elections. Now once the NA began to function the members thought that Pakistan must have
political parties. Therefore a political partys act was passed in 1962,to provide for working of
political parties under the constitution of Pakistan and after the passing of this act the political
parties began to function in Pakistan.
3.10 Islamic Provisions:
The next feature pertains to the Islamic Provisions of the constitution. I have discussed about the
title of the state of Pakistan which was Islamic Republic of Pakistan. If we look at the preamble
of the constitution, it reflects the Objective Resolution and constitution assigns sovereignty to all
over Universe to Almighty Allah and it is to be exercised within the limits prescribed by Him in
the Quran and Sunnah.If we look at the principles of policy making there are clear provisions for
Islamic way of life and Islamic principles for example state is to enable the people to lead their
lives according to the principles of Islam and teachings of Islam. Two important institutions were
created
Advisory council for Islamic Ideology:
It comprised the scholars of Islam law and politics and this was to make sure that the laws made
were in conformity with Islamic principles. But this was an advisory body; this was to advise to
the parliament the NA and the President.
Islamic Research Institute:
The 2nd important institute was the Islamic research institute which was set up under this
constitution for devoting itself to research and instructions in Islam for insisting the
reconstruction of the Muslim society on truly Islamic lines. In other way we could say that this
constitution emphasized on the Islamic character of the polity.
Fall 2016
12. Six Point Program of Awami League (1966)Principal Features Propagation of the
Program throughout East Pakistan and the Role of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur
Rahman and Awami League;
On this day in 1966, the people of what was then East Pakistan observed a general strike in the
province in support of the Awami League's Six-Point demands of autonomy announced a few
months earlier by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
The strike, in the course of which a number of individuals were killed in police firing and a
number of others were injured, was a powerful instance of the Bangalees making their
displeasure about their place in Pakistan known to the authorities.
But even as the general strike, or hartal, kept the province in its grip throughout the day, the
central leaders of the Awami League -- Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Tajuddin Ahmed, Syed Nazrul
Islam and others -- stayed behind bars. The strike would be spearheaded by two young Awami
League politicians, Mizanur Rahman Chowdhury and Amena Begum.
Mujib, who would not become Bangabandhu till three years later, had been placed in detention
under the Defense of Pakistan Rules on 8 May 1966. The reason was not hard to understand:
Field Marshal Mohammad Ayub Khan, president of Pakistan, had made clear his opinion on the
Six Points. He told the country that the purveyors of the Six Points would be dealt with in the
language of weapons.
Ayub Khan was not the only individual who spotted a threat to Pakistan's unity should the Six
Points be acknowledged. His soon-to-be-out foreign minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto challenged
Mujib early in the year to a public debate at Dhaka's Paltan Maidan on the Six Points. It was
Tajuddin Ahmed who accepted the challenge on Mujib's behalf. In the event, Bhutto did not turn
up.
The Six-Point demands included the following:
1. Pakistan would have a federal structure of government based on spirit of the Lahore
Resolution of 1940, with a parliament elected on the basis of universal adult franchise;
2. The central government would have authority only in defense and foreign affairs and all other
subjects would be handled by the federating units of the state of Pakistan;
3. There would be two freely convertible currencies for the two wings of Pakistan or two
separate reserve banks for the two regions of the country;
4. The power of taxation and revenue collection would be vested in the federating units;
5. There would be two separate accounts for foreign exchange reserves for the two wings of
Pakistan;
6. East Pakistan would have a separate militia or paramilitary force as a measure of its security.
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman planned to announce the Six Points at a conference of
opposition political parties in Lahore in early February 1966. He was not permitted to do so by
the other participants, including the chief of the Awami League at the time, Nawabzada
Nasrullah Khan. They found the plan too incendiary to be articulated. Rebuffed, Mujib
announced the plan at a news conference in Lahore the following day, February 5, 1966.
Bangabandhu's move raised howls of protest all over Pakistan. The civil-military bureaucracy
and politicians straddling both government and opposition circles were quick to dub the Six
Points as a secessionist plot to dismember Pakistan. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's arrest in May
1966, followed by the 7 June strike, swiftly led to circumstances where the Pakistan government
opted for repression in East Pakistan. Tofazzal Hossain Manik Mia, the respected editor of the
Bangla daily Ittefaq, was arrested on June 16 over his support for the Six Points. The next day, a
ban was clamped on his newspaper.
Events would move fast after June 1966. In January 1968, Mujib would be charged with
conspiracy to break up Pakistan. The case, which would become notorious as the Agartala
Conspiracy Case, would eventually be withdrawn under public pressure on February 22, 1969.
A day after his release, Mujib would be honored as Bangabandhu (friend of Bengal) at a historic
rally in Dhaka.
From Six Points to declaration of Independence: A Timeline towards Our Freedom
January, 1966 Pakistan's President Ayub Khan and Indian Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri
sign a peace deal, following the September 1965 war between their two countries, in Tashkent.
Shastri dies of a heart attack soon after. February, 1966 East Pakistan Awami League leader
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman seeks to place a Six Point programme at a conference of Pakistan's
opposition politicians in Lahore. He is rebuffed. He announces the programme at a news
conference the next day. May, 1966 Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and a large number of other senior
Awami League politicians are arrested under the Defence of Pakistan Rules. Around this time,
President Mohammad Ayub Khan threatens to employ the language of weapons against
advocates of the Six Points.
November, 1967 Former foreign minister, and once Ayub loyalist, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto forms the
Pakistan People's Party.
December, 1967 Towards the end of the month, the Pakistan government announces the arrest of
a number of individuals, all Bengalis. It is the first sign of what the authorities will later present
as the Agartala Conspiracy Case.
January, 1968 Early in the month, the Pakistan government implicates Sheikh Mujibur Rahman,
in detention since 1966, in the Agartala Conspiracy Case. Altogether 35 Bengalis, including civil
servants and military officers, are charged with conspiracy to separate East Pakistan from the rest
of Pakistan by force.
June, 1968 The trial of the accused in the Agartala Conspiracy Case commences before a special
tribunal in Dhaka. Headed by Justice S.A. Rahman, the tribunal has two Bengali judges on it,
namely, Justice Mujibur Rahman Khan and Justice Maksumul Hakim. On the first day of the
trial, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman tells a foreign reporter, You know, they can't keep me here for
more than six months.
October, 1968 As the Ayub regime prepares to celebrate its decade in power, political agitation
breaks out across Pakistan.
November, 1968 Potshots are fired at Ayub Khan in Peshawar. The president is unhurt. But a
few days later, the government arrests Bhutto and Khan Abdul Wali Khan under the Defence of
Pakistan Rules. Within days of the arrests, Justice Syed Mahbub Murshed and Air Marshal
Asghar Khan enter politics in opposition to the regime.
January, 1969 Widespread unrest spreads in East Pakistan as demands grow for the withdrawal
of the Agartala Case. In West Pakistan, agitation against the regime grows apace.
February, 1969 On the fifteenth, Sergeant Zahurul Haq, an accused in the Agartala case, is shot
dead by guards in Dhaka cantonment. On the twenty second, the case is withdrawn
unconditionally and all accused, including Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, walk free. The next day,
Mujib is honoured as Bangabandhu at a mammoth rally at the Race Course in Dhaka.
Between late February and early March, a round table conference takes place in Rawalpindi
between the government and the opposition. The talks eventually collapse.
March, 1969 President Ayub Khan resigns and hands over power to the army chief, General
Agha Mohammad Yahya Khan. Martial law is declared all over Pakistan. Yahya stresses the
creation of conditions conducive to the holding of general elections in the country.
January, 1970 Political activities resume in Pakistan under a Legal Framework Order. The stage
is thus set for general elections later in the year.
November, 1970 A devastating cyclone batters the coastal regions of East Pakistan, leaving a
million Bengalis dead.
December, 1970 At the general elections on the seventh, the Awami League scores a sweeping
victory, winning 167 of 169 seats in East Pakistan. Overall, the party secures a majority in the
313-seat National Assembly. Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party ends up winning 88 seats, all of
them in the Punjab and Sindh.
January, 1971 Bangabandhu and the MNAs-elect belonging to the Awami League pledge to
frame a constitution for Pakistan on the basis of the Six Point programme.
Toward the end of the month, Bhutto leads a PPP team to Dhaka for talks with the Awami
League on power-sharing at the centre. They lead nowhere as the Awami League refuses to go
for a coalition government.
February, 1971 President Yahya Khan calls the National Assembly into session in Dhaka on 3
March. Within days, Bhutto announces his decision to stay away from the meeting unless the
Awami League modifies its position on the Six Points. The Awami League, for its part,
dismisses the PPP's reservations.
March, 1971 In a surprise announcement on the first of the month, General Yahya Khan
announces the postponement of the National Assembly session scheduled for two days later. The
result is an outbreak of disorder in East Pakistan.
The next day, students at Dhaka University raise the flag of an independent Bangladesh on the
campus.
On the seventh, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman tells a million-strong rally at the Race
Course, The struggle this time is the struggle for our emancipation; the struggle this time is the
struggle for independence.
Talks on resolving the political crisis go on from the sixteenth to the twenty fourth. Late on the
twenty fifth, the Pakistan army launches its genocide in East Pakistan.
In the early hours of the twenty sixth, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman declares the
independence of Bangladesh. Moments later, he is arrested by the Pakistan army.
Fall 2016
13. Agortola ConspiracyBackgroundRole of Pakistan Government and the Resistance
of the People of East Pakistan;
Agartala Conspiracy Case
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 help of the government of India. The
petitis principii in the petition was that the conspiracy was concocted 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.
Since the inception of Pakistan, the people of East Pakistan were deprived of their legitimate
rights in all spheres. Consequently, a general resentment against the Pakistani rulers brewed
among the people of East Pakistan. The demand for autonomy as placed through the six-point
programme of the Awami League chief Sheikh Mujibur Rahman thus received the spontaneous
support of the people of East Pakistan.
The acute disparity in the armed forces led some Bangali army officers and soldiers to be united
secretly. Knowing full well that the interest of the Bangalis could never be served under the
rulers of West Pakistan, they decided to make East Pakistan independent through an armed
revolt. With this end in view, they began to mobilise army personnel secretly. The conspiracy
was, however, detected by the intelligence department of the government. Nearly one thousand
five hundred Bangalis throughout Pakistan were arrested by the intelligence force.
The Home Department of Pakistan declared through a press-note issued on 6 January 1968 that
the government had detected in December 1967 a conspiracy detrimental to the national interest
of Pakistan. The press-note disclosed the news of the arrest of 8 persons including 2 CSP officers
and alleged that the persons seized were involved in attempting to separate East Pakistan through
armed revolt. Through a separate declaration issued on 18 January 1968 the Home Department
implicated Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in the conspiracy. He was then detained in jail along with
many others since 9 May 1966. They were released, only to be arrested again under martial law
regulations and were taken to Dhaka Cantonment under military custody.
Initially the government decided to court martial the accused, but subsequently in the interest of
the proper holding of the general elections of 1970 the government resolved to frame charge only
against 35 concerned political personalities and high government officials under civil law. The
persons included in the charge-sheet were Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Commander Moazzem
Hossain, Steward Mujibur Rahman, former LS Sultanuddin Ahmad, LSCDI Nur Mohammad,
Ahmed Fazlur Rahman CSP, Flight Sergeant Mahfiz Ullah, Corporal Abdus Samad, former
Havildar Dalil Uddin, Ruhul Quddus CSP, Flight Sergeant Md. Fazlul Haq, Bibhuti Bhushan
Chowdhury alias Manik Chowdhury, Bidhan Krishna Sen, Subedar Abdur Razzaque, former
clerk Mujibur Rahman, former Flight Sergeant Md. Abdur Razzaque, Sergeant Zahurul Haq, AB
Khurshid, Khan Mohammad Shamsur Rahman CSP, AKM Shamsul Haque, Havildar Azizul
Haq, Mahfuzul Bari, Sergeant Shamsul Haq, Shamsul Alam, Captain Md. Abdul Motaleb,
Captain A Shawkat Ali Mian, Captain Khondkar Nazmul Huda, Captain M Nuruzzaman,
Sergeant Abdul Jalil, Mahbub Uddin Chowdhury, Lt. M Rahman, former Subedar Tajul Islam,
Ali Reza, Captain Khurshid Uddin Ahmed, and Lt. Abdur Rauf.
A special tribunal was formed after an amendment was made in the penal code to that end for the
disposal of the case. The hearing of the case started on 19 June 1968 under Sections 121-A and
131. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was enrolled as accused No.1. The case was entitled 'State vs
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and others'. The tribunal started proceedings of the case in a highly
protected chamber inside Dhaka Cantonment. A charge-sheet consisting of 100 paragraphs
against the 35 accused was placed before the tribunal. There were 227 witnesses including 11
approvers. However, 4 approvers were declared hostile by the government.
Thomas William, a British lawyer and a member of the British Parliament, filed a writ petition in
Dhaka High Court on behalf of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman challenging the legality of the formation
of the tribunal. He was assisted in conducting legal proceedings in the special tribunal by Abdus
Salam Khan, Ataur Rahman Khan, and others. The government lawyers leading the case were
the former foreign minister Manzur Quader and Advocate General TH Khan. Justice SA
Rahman, the Chairman of the three-member tribunal, was a non-Bangali. The other members
MR Khan and Maksumul Hakim were Bangalis. The government was bent on identifying Sheikh
Mujibur Rahman as a seperatist and an Indian agent thereby arousing public support against him.
But the approvers on the witness-box declared that the government had compelled them by threat
and persecution to submit false evidence in its favour. Thus the governmental machination
against the accused got exposed. By this time the Sarbadaliya Chhatra Sangram Parishad
supported by maulana abdul hamid khan bhasani organised mass movement against the
conspiracy of the government and demanded immediate withdrawal of the case and release of all
prisoners including Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
At a point when the streets of Dhaka became a hot bed of turmoil, Sergeant Zahurul Haq, 17th
accused in the case, was mercilessly shot to death while in confinement in Dhaka Cantonment.
The news of his death led a furious mob to set fire to the State Guest House as well as other
buildings. S.A Rahman, Chairman of the tribunal, and Manzur Quader, chief lawyer on the
government side, who were then residing in the guest house, evacuated secretly. Some of the
files concerning the case were burnt to ashes. In the face of the mass movement, the Ayub
government was ultimately compelled to withdraw the Agartala Conspiracy Case on 22 February
1969. All the accused, including Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, were released unconditionally. On the
following day (23 February), a grand public reception was accorded to the accused at Paltan
Maidan in Dhaka where Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was vested with the appellation of
'Bangabandhu'.

Fall 2016
14. 11-Point Movement of the studentsSalient Features and their significance;
Eleven Points Programme
Eleven Points Programme a charter of demand framed as a remedy to acute economic disparity
between East and West Pakistan and as a programme for putting an end to the despotic Ayub
regime. The Six-points Movement of Awami League under the leadership of Bangabandhu
sheikh mujibur rahman initiated in 1966, sustained a temporary pause consequent upon the en-
masse arrest of the Awami League leaders including Bangabandhu, institution of agartala
conspiracy case in 1968 and repression on the Awami League activists. The situation led to the
formation of Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) and the Democratic Action Committee
(DAC). But when PDM and DAC ultimately failed to intensify the movement against the
autocratic Ayub government, the students of Dhaka University organised a united movement in
1968 which soon turned into a mass movement. In October 1968, the East Pakistan Students
League and the Menon and Matia group of East Pakistan Students Union formed a political
alliance. These two student organisations jointly formed the 'Chhatra Sangram Parishad' in
January 1968 and declared an eleven points charter of demand.
To abandon the policy of provincialisation of the financially solvent colleges and to

1 (a)
deprovincialise the colleges hitherto provincialised including the Jagannath College.
To establish schools and colleges throughout the province especially in rural areas for
ensuring wider scope for spread of education and to give early approval to the schools and
(b) colleges established by private initiative. To establish adequate number of engineering colleges,
polytechnic, technical and commercial institutes for providing wider scope for technical
education.
To open IA, ISc, ICom and BA, BSc, BCom night classes in second shift in colleges of the
(c)
province and to open MA and MCom classes in night shift in the established colleges.
(d) To reduce 50% of the tuition fee and to increase the number of scholarship and stipend. Award of
scholarship and stipend to any student shall not be seized for his participation in student
movement.
To pay 50% of the charges of hall, dining hall and canteen of hostels by the government as
(e)
subsidy.
(f) To solve accommodation problem in halls and hostels.
To arrange for teaching at all levels of education through the medium of mother tongue. To
introduce Bangla as the medium of exchange in offices and courts. To arrange for sufficient
(g)
number of experienced teachers in all the educational institutions. To enhance the salary of the
teachers, and to ensure right of expression of their free opinion.
To provide for tuition-fees free and compulsory education upto class viii. To expand the scope for
(h)
female education.
To establish medical university, and to fulfill the demands of the medical students, such as
abolition of automation system, closing of system of admission by nomination, annulment of
(i)
Medical Council Ordinance, elevation of dental college to full-fledged college, etc. To fulfill all
the demands of the nurse-students.
To abolish automation system in engineering education, annulment of 10% and 75% rule, proper
(j) arrangement of central library, and to fulfill all demands of the engineering students including
demand for introduction of class gradation in final year.
To give facilities of condensed course to the polytechnic students and to issue diploma only on
(k)
the basis of semester examinations having the Board final examination system withdrawn.
To fulfill immediately all the demands of the students of Textile, Ceramic, Leather technology
and Art College. To fulfill ten points demand of the IER, and to fulfill all the demands of the
(l)
social welfare students, MBA students and of law students. To bifurcate the Commerce
Department as separate faculty in all the universities including the Dhaka University.
To fulfill the legitimate demands of the students of agricultural schools and colleges, and to fulfill
(m) all the demands of the agricultural students including the demand for condensed course of
agricultural diploma students.
To arrange for tickets at 50% concession to the students travelling on train, steamer and launch on
display of their identity card. Concession is to be made admissible in monthly tickets also. As in
West Pakistan, the students should be allowed to travel any where within the town at 10 paisa
(n) fare. Concession in fare at the rate of 50% should be allowed in bus journey in remote areas.
Adequate number of buses should be arranged for the school and college going female students.
The students attending as spectators at any sports and cultural functions arranged by the
government or any semi-government concerns, should be entitled to 50% concession in tickets.
(o) To arrange for surety of job.
To annul the defamed university ordinances and to ensure full autonomy to the educational
(p)
institutions including the universities.
To reject the National Education Commission Report and the Hamoodur Rahman Commission
Report, representing an authentic document of astringent education policy of the ruling class, and
(q)
to introduce people-oriented and scientific education system for the greater interest of the student
community and the people.
To establish parliamentary democracy through direct election on adult franchise. To promote

2. liberty of speech, personal liberty and liberty of press. To withdraw prohibitive order imposed
upon the Ittefaq.
3. To give full autonomy to East Pakistan on the basis of fulfillment of the following demands:
The constitutional structure of the country shall be a federation of states and the power of the
(a)
legislature shall be supreme.
The jurisdiction of the federal government shall be limited to defence, foreign policy and
(b)
currency, and the power of the federating states shall be supreme in all matters.
Common currency shall be in circulation in two wings of the country having the system under the
jurisdiction of the centre. But there should be specific provision in the Constitution so that the
(c) currency of East Pakistan cannot be laundered to West Pakistan. Under this system there shall be
a federal reserve bank in Pakistan. There will be two separate reserve banks in two wings, and
separate economy for East Pakistan shall have to be introduced.
The fixation of all kinds of taxes, land revenue and duties, and the collection of such taxes shall
be vested with the regional government. The Federal government shall have no power to fix and
(d) impose any tax. A fixed portion of the revenue collected by the regional government shall
immediately be deposited to the federal fund. Mandatory rules on the reserve banks to that end
shall be incorporated in the Constitution.
Each of the federating states shall maintain separate accounts of external trade, and the remittance
earned through external trade will lie with the federating states. The federating states shall
provide for the necessary foreign currency to the federal government equally or as prescribed in
(e) the specific Article of the Constitution. The inter states import and export of inland commodities
shall be free of custom duties. Provision shall have to be made in the Constitution guaranting the
exclusive right of the federating states in executing trade agreements with the foreign states,
establishing trade mission abroad, and in conducting import and export trade.
To provide East Pakistan with an authority of forming a militia or para-military Raksi Bahini. To
(f)
establish ordnance factory and the naval headquarters in East Pakistan.
To constitute sub-federation by giving autonomy to all the provinces including Beluchistan,
4.
North-West Frontier Province and Sind of West Pakistan.
5. To nationalize bank, insurance, jute trade and large-scale industries.
To reduce the rate of land revenue and taxes imposed upon the peasants, and to exempt arrear
land tax and outstanding debt. To annul the certificate system and to stop the repression of the
6.
tahsildars. To fix the minimum price of jute at taka 40 per maund and to ensure legitimate price of
sugar-cane.
To pay legitimate wage and bonus to the labourers and to arrange for their education, housing,
7. medical treatment etc. To withdraw all black-laws detrimental to the interest of the labourers, and
to ensure their right to strike and right to trade union activities.
To take steps towards flood control measures in East Pakistan, and to ensure overall utilization of
8.
water resources.
9. To withdraw Emergency Act, Safety Act and other repressive Acts.
To annul SEATO, CENTO agreements, Pak-American Military Pact and to ensure non-aligned
10.
independent and neutral foreign policy.
To release immediately all the students, labourers, peasants, political activists and leaders,
11. detained in different jails of the country, to repeal warrant and hulia, and to withdraw all the cases
instituted on political grounds including the Agartala Conspiracy Case.
The Six Points demand of Awami League had its wide reflection on the Eleven Points demand of
the Chhatra Sangram Parishad. The demands relating to the interest of the Bangali middle class
peasants and workers were also included in the Eleven Points demand. Consequently, the Eleven
Points movement addressed wide public support in East Pakistan, and the leadership of the anti-
Ayub movement virtually came within the grip of the student leaders. The student movement
was initiated in October 1968, reached its climax in January 1969, and by mid January
culminated into a mass movement. The Eleven Points movement of the students had direct
contribution towards preparing the background of the War of Liberation
Fall 2016
15. Mass Upsurge, 1969
Mass Upsurge, 1969' started with the student unrest of 1968 against the tyrannical rule of ayub
khan, President of Pakistan. The movement soon engulfed the whole of the then East Pakistan,
peasants, artisans, workers joined the movement almost en masse. Due to continuous exaction of
undue demands the labouring class of the industrial belts and low and medium income groups
soon turned the movement into a struggle for economic emancipation. The racial repression and
the deprivation of the Bangalis within the frame work of Pakistan and, to the contrary, starting
from the language movement the feeling of separate identity together with struggle for autonomy
had direct influence on the mass upsurge of 1969. Indeed, this mass upsurge was the greatest
mass awakening ever since the creation of Pakistan.
The student agitation of 1968 turned into a mass upsurge when Maulana abdul hamid khan
bhasani asked his followers to besiege Governors House, and formulated and declared his other
programmes. As a part of joint programmes the National Awami Party (NAP) of Maulana
Bhasani, East Pakistan Workers' Federation of Toaha and East Pakistan Peasants' Association led
by Abdul Huq arranged a public meeting at Paltan Maidan to observe the Repression Resistance
Day on 6 December 1968. After the meeting was over, a huge procession 'gheraoed' the
Governor's House. The Maulana declared a Hartal the next day following the clash between the
people and the police. On the call of the main opposition parties namely two factions of NAP
(Bhasani and Muzaffar), awami league, People's Party, Nezam-i-Islam, Jama't-i-Islami etc a
hartal was observed throughout East Pakistan on 8 December. Repression Resistance Day was
very successfully observed throughout the province on 10 December at the call of Awami
League (pro-six point). On the 14th the gherao programme was declared by the NAP (Bhasani).
Accordingly the programme was launched with the gherao of the bungalow of the DC of Pabna
on the 29 December 1968.
On 4 January 1969 leaders of the East Pakistan Students Union (Menon Group), East Pakistan
Students League, East Pakistan Students' Union (Matia Gr.) and a section of the National
Students' Federation formed the Students' Action Committee (SAC) and declared their 11-point
Programme. The 11 Points included the Six Points of Awami League as declared by sheikh
mujibur rahman including provincial autonomy, the demands centring round students' own
demands as well as the demands relating to the problems of the workers. As a matter of fact the
step the student leaders took through the 11-Point programme was timely and appropriate. On
the basis of these points the important opposition parties could be united on a minimum point of
agreement to continue with the movement against Ayub regime. Moreover the demand for
Sheikh Mujib's release and withdrawal of the agartala conspiracy case began to get the utmost
priority. Together with the Dhaka University Central Students' Union (DUCSU) the student
leaders of SAC holding different positions throughout East Bengal played a very important role
in the 1969 mass upsurge.
Immediately after the 11-Point programme had been launched on 8 January 1969 eight political
parties, including Awami League and NAP (Muzaffar) formed the Democratic Action
Committee (DAC). They demanded Federal form of government, election on the basis of
universal adult franchise, immediate withdrawal of emergency and release of all political
detainees including Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Khan Abdul Wali Khan and Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.
They took the decision to invigorate the movement to achieve their goal. But some rightist
parties in the DAC refused to support the 11-Point programme of the SAC. In spite of that the
movement gradually got momentum and the spirit of 11- points reached every nook and corner
of the province. Even a portion of the pro-government student front NSF came forward with their
22-point programme and openly opposed the government. To voice the protest against
government repression the students arranged a meeting at the Dhaka University campus and
resolved to bring out a procession. In the procession police opened fire and Asaduzzaman, a
leader of the Students Union (Menon), was killed.
The death of Asad stirred the entire nation and the movement took the shape of a national
upsurge. The situation of Dhaka went beyond control of the police when Matiur, a student of
class IX, died of police firing on 24 January and Rustam was stabbed to death. Army was
deployed in the city and curfew was imposed for an indefinite period. Indiscriminate firing of the
army and the EPR caused death to a woman while sucking her baby. The incidence caused
widespread repercussions in the socio-political arena. Sergeant Zahrul Huq, an under-trial
prisoner in the Agartala Conspiracy Case, died of bullet injury in the Dhaka Cantonment on 15
February 1969.
The death of an under-trial prisoner was so provocative that Maulana Bhasani declared from a
public meeting held that very evening that there will be no payment of taxes if the 11-point
demands were not fulfilled and all political prisoners were not released within two months. He
further declared, if necessary, Sheikh Mujib would be forcibly taken out of jail repeating what
happened at the falling of the Bastille during the French Revolution. After the meeting people
began to set on fire the houses of the ministers. On 18 February 1969 Dr Mohammad
Shamsuzzoha, Proctor of the Rajshahi University, was bayoneted to death. The news spread like
wild fire throughout the country. Thousands of people thronged the Dhaka streets and highways
ignoring curfew.
The Shaheed Day of 1969 imbued the people with a new spirit of opposing tyranny. In a seminar
arranged at the Teacher Student Centre and presided over by Professor Abdul Hye it was
resolved that the movement for language based nationality would continue. Amidst strong
popular demand Ayub had to give way and declare that he would not contest the next
Presidential Election. The same day Sheikh Mujib and the other accused in the Agartala
Conspiracy Case and 34 political detainees were released.
In this struggle for democracy and endeavour to get rid of tyranny the toiling masses of the rural
areas did not stop at merely chanting slogans against oppressive government but also raised their
voice against the oppressing class or its representatives. The situation took such a dimension that
in many cases the peasants, with the assistance of students, killed cattle lifters, burnt them or set
their houses on fire, crippled the thieves and robbers and sometimes even killed them. In several
places the students with the assistance of peasants put on trial the local tax-collectors, the
subordinate police and their officers, circle officers and moved them around market places
garlanding them with shoes. Students exacted from them the amount they had taken as bribes,
sometimes they were fined. Students forced chairmen and members of union councils to resign,
removed brothels and wiped out liqueur shops. In the urban areas corrupt officials were bodily
manhandled, their record books ransacked and sometimes even set on fire. Low-income groups
and mid-level employees chanted for their long cherished but unfulfilled demands and joined the
processions in the highways, thousands of workers used the gherao movement as the fruitful
means of achieving their demands.
In these circumstances Sheikh Mujib came out of jail and declared his intention to join the
Round Table Conference (RTC) summoned by Ayub. He asked the people to maintain peace and
order. Maulana Bhasani, on the other hand, refused to join the RTC and was dubbed as the
'prophet of violence' when he, as per his usual thoughts and principles, declared the 1969 upsurge
as the struggle between the oppressor and the oppressed. In the long run the strongman of
Pakistan, General Ayub Khan, had to hand over power to General Yahya Khan, chief of Pakistan
Army. Martial Law was re-imposed, but simultaneously it was agreed that elections would be
arranged soon on the basis of universal adult franchise, and parliamentary democracy would be
introduced.
Fear of police and civil and military bureaucrats minimised to a very great extent from the minds
of the people, and in the estimation of the people the bureaucrats lost much of their image and
importance especially in the rural areas. Moreover, class consciousness grew and advanced a
step forward. The demand for a separate state became stronger than ever before among the
people of Eastern Bengal. Bangali nationalism became sufficiently strong to sustain during the
war of liberation in 1971.
Timeline of events in 1969
4 January: Shorbodolio Chatro Shongram Porishad (The All Party Student Action
Committee) puts forth its 11-point agenda.
78 January: Formation of a political coalition named Democratic Action Committee
(DAC) to restore democracy.
20 January: Student activist Asaduzzaman dies as the police opens fire on demonstrators.
24 January: Matiur, a teenager activist, is gunned down by the police.
15 February: Sergeant Jahurul Haq, one of the convicts of Agartala Conspiracy Case, is
assassinated in the prison of Kurmitola Cantonment.
18 February: Dr. Shamsuzzoha of Rajshahi University is killed as the police open fire on
a silent procession in Rajshahi.
21 February: Withdrawal of Agartala Conspiracy Case.
23 February: Sheikh Mujibur Rahman is accorded a grand reception, where he is given
the title Bangabandhu (friend of Bengal).[1]
1013 March: Ayub Khan calls for a round-table meeting with the opposition.
24 March: Ayub Khan hands over power to General Yahya Khan, the army Chief of
Staff.

Fall 2016
16. Pakistani general election, 1970

Pakistani general election, 1970
The Pakistani general election of 1970 (Bengali: , ), held on

7 December of that year, was the first general election held in Pakistan (East and West Pakistan).
Voting took place in 300 parliamentary constituencies of Pakistan to elect members of the
National Assembly of Pakistan, which was then the only chamber of a unicameral Parliament of
Pakistan.
Background
On 23 March 1956, Pakistan removed the status of a Dominion of the British Commonwealth
and became an Islamic republic after framing its own constitution. Although the first general
election were scheduled for early 1959, severe political instability led President Iskander Mirza
to abrogate the constitution on 7 October 1958. Mirza imposed martial law and handed power to
the Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistan Army, General Muhammad Ayub Khan. After
assuming presidency, President Ayub Khan promoted himself to the rank of Field marshal and
appointed General Muhammad Musa Khan as the new Commander-in-Chief.
On 17 February 1960, President Ayub Khan appointed a commission under Muhammad

Shahabuddin, the Chief Justice of Pakistan, to report a political framework for the country. The
commission submitted its report on 29 April 1961, and on the basis of this report, a new
constitution was framed on 1 March 1962. The new constitution, declaring the country as
Republic of Pakistan, brought about a presidential system of government, as opposed to the
parliamentary system of government under the 1956 Constitution. The electoral system was
made indirect, and the "basic democrats" were declared electoral college for the purpose of
electing members of the National and Provincial Assemblies. Under the new system, presidential
election were held on 2 February 1965 which resulted in a victory for Ayub Khan.
As years went by, political opposition against President Ayub Khan mounted. In East Pakistan,
leader of the Awami League, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, one of the key leaders to rally opposition
to President Ayub Khan. In 1966, he began the Six point movement for Bengali nationalism. In
1968, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was charged with sedition after the government of President
Ayub Khan accused him for conspiring with India against the stability of Pakistan. This led to an
uprising in East Pakistan which consisted of a series of mass demonstrations and sporadic
conflicts between the government forces and protesters. In West Pakistan, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto,
who served as foreign minister under President Ayub Khan, resigned from his office and
founded the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in 1967. The left-wing, socialist political party took up
opposition to Khan President Ayub Khan as well.
Ayub Khan succumbed to political pressure on 26 March 1969 and handed power to the
Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistan Army, General Agha Muhammad Yahya Khan. President
Yahya Khan imposed martial law and the 1962 Constitution was abrogated. On 31 March 1970,
President Yahya Khan announced a Legal Framework Order which called for direct elections for
a unicameral legislature. The integrated province of West Pakistan, which was formed on 22
November 1954, was abolished and four provinces were retrieved: Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan
and the North-West Frontier Province. The principles of representation was made on the basis of
population, and since East Pakistan had more population than the combined population of the
four provinces of West Pakistan, the former got more than half seats in the National Assembly.
A month before the election, the Bhola cyclone struck East Pakistan. This was the deadliest
tropical cyclone in world history, killing on the order of 500,000 people. The Pakistan
government was severely criticised for its response.
Parties and candidates
The general elections of 1970 are considered one of the fairest and cleanest elections in the
history of Pakistan, with about twenty-four political parties taking part. The general elections
presented a picture of a Two-party system, with the Awami League, a Bengali nationalist party,
competing against the extremely influential and widely popular Pakistan Peoples Party, a leftist
and democratic socialist party which had been a major power-broker in West Pakistan.
Election campaign in East Pakistan
The continuous public meetings of the Awami League in East Pakistan and the Pakistan Peoples
Party in Western Pakistan attracted huge crowds. The Awami League, a Bengali nationalist
party, mobilised support in East Pakistan on the basis of its Six-Points Program (SPP), which
was the main attraction in the party's manifesto. In East Pakistan, a huge majority of the Bengali
nation favoured the Awami League, under Shaikh Mujibur Rahman. The party received a huge
percentage of the popular vote in East Pakistan and emerged as the largest party in the nation as a
whole, gaining the exclusive mandate of Pakistan in terms both of seats and of votes.
The Pakistan Peoples Party failed to win any seats in East Pakistan. On the other hand, the
Awami League had failed to gather any seats in West Pakistan. The Awami League's failure to
win any seats in the west was used by the leftists and democratic socialists led by Zulfikar
Bhutto who argued that Mujib had received "no mandate or support from West Pakistan"
(ignoring the fact that he himself did not win any seat in East Pakistan).[1]
The then leaders of Pakistan, all from West Pakistan and PPP leaders, strongly opposed the idea
of an East Pakistani-led government.[1] Many in Pakistan predicted that the Awami League-
controlled government would oversee the passage of a new constitution with a simple majority.[1]
Bhutto uttered his infamous phrase "Udhar tum, idhar hum" (there you, here me) thus dividing
the Pakistan first time orally.
The same attitudes and emotions were also felt in East Pakistan whereas East-Pakistanis
absorbed the feeling and reached to the conclusion that Pakistan had been benefited with
economic opportunities, investments, and social growth would swiftly depose any East
Pakistanis from obtaining those opportunities.[1]
Some Bengalis sided with the Pakistan Peoples' Party and had voiced no support for the Awami
League, supporting tacitly or openly Bhutto and the democratic socialists, such as Jalaludin
Abdur Rahim, an influential Bengali in Pakistan and mentor of Bhutto[1] who was later thrown
into jail by Bhutto, Ghulam Azam.
Several notable people from West Pakistan supported handing over power to the Awami league,
such as the poet Faiz Ahmad Faiz and rights activist Malik Ghulam Jilani, father of Asma
Jahangir and G.M Syed the founder of Sindhi nationalist party Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz
(JSQM).
Elections in West Pakistan
However, the political position in West Pakistan was completely different from East Pakistan. In
West Pakistan, the population was divided between different ideological forces. The right-wing
parties, led under Abul Maududi, raised the religious slogans and initially campaigned on an
Islamic platform, further promising to enforce Sharia laws in the country. Meanwhile, the
founding party of Pakistan and the national conservative Pakistan Muslim League, led by
Pakistan Movement Bengali activist Nurul Amin, campaigned on a nationalist platform,
promising to initiate the Jinnah reforms as originally envisioned by Jinnah and others in the
1940s.
The dynamic leadership and charismatic personality of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was highly active and
influential in West Pakistan during these days. Bhutto's socialistic ideas and the famous slogan
"Roti Kapra Aur Makaan" ("Food, Clothing and Shelter") attracted the poor communities,
students, and working class. The democratic socialist, leftist, and marxist-communist masses
gathered and united into one platform under Bhutto's leadership. Bhutto and the socialist-leftists
appealed to the people of the West to participate and vote for the Peoples Party for a better future
for their children and family. For the first time in the history of Pakistan, the leftists and
democratic socialists, united under the leadership of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, participated in the
elections as one strong power. As compared to the right-wing and conservatives in West
Pakistan, Bhutto and his allied leftists and democratic socialists won most of the popular vote,
becoming the pre-eminent players in the politics of the West.
Nominations
A total of 1,957 candidates filed nomination papers for 300 National Assembly seats. After
scrutiny and withdrawals, 1,579 eventually contested the elections. The Awami League ran 170
candidates, of which 162 were for constituencies in East Pakistan. Jamaat-e-Islami had the
second-highest number of candidates with 151. The Pakistan Peoples Party ran only 120
candidates, of which 103 were from constituencies in the Punjab and Sindh, and none in East
Pakistan. The PML (Convention) ran 124 candidates, the PML (Council) 119 and the PML
(Qayyum) 133.
Voter turnout
The government claimed a high level of public participation and a voter turnout of almost 63%.
The total number of registered voters in the country was 56,941,500 out of which 31,211,220
were from the Eastern Wing, while 25,730,280 from the Western Wing.
Results
National Assembly
Party Votes % Seats
Awami League 12,937,162 39.2 160
Pakistan Peoples Party 6,148,923 18.6 81
Jamaat-e-Islami 1,989,461 6.0 4
PML (Council) 1,965,689 6.0 2
PML (Qayyum) 1,473,749 4.5 9
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam 1,315,071 4.0 7
Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan 1,299,858 3.9 7
PML (Convention) 1,102,815 3.3 7

National Awami Party 801,355 2.4 6
Pakistan Democratic Party 737,958 2.2 1
Other parties 387,919 1.2 0
Independents 2,322,341 7.0 16
Total 33,004,065 100 300
Nohlen et al.[2]
Provincial Assemblies
East Pakistan
After all 300 constituencies had been declared, the results were:
Party Seats Seat change
Awami League (AL) 288
Pakistan Democratic Party (PDP) 2
Convention Muslim League (CML) 1
National Awami Party (W) (NAP-W) 1
Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) 1
Others 1
Independent 7
Total 300 N/A
288 12
AL Other
Punjab
Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) 113
Qayyum Muslim League (QML) 6
Council Muslim League 6
Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan (JUP) 4
Pakistan Democratic Party (PDP) 4
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) 2
Others 1
Independent 28
Total 180 N/A
113 15 6 46
PPP CML QML Other
Sindh
Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan (JUP) 7

Others 1
Independent 14
Total 60 N/A
28 7 5 12
PPP JUP QML Other
North-West Frontier Province
Council Muslim League 2
Others 0
Independent 6
Total 40 N/A

13 10 4 13
NAP-W QML JI Other
Balochistan
Others 2
Independent 5
Course Code: HIS 103 (sec-1)
Fall 2016
17. Why Pakistan has been broken down in 1971? (Problem of National Integration in
PakistanSocio-economical and Political Disparity between the East and West Pakistan)
There are many reasons behind it like below
1) Disintegrations in Culture, Politics and Economies

2) Political and Economic Exploitation
3) Political and military ambition of the then West Pakistanis
4) Lack of trust
5) Mentality of the west Pakistanis
In 1947, the British India had been divided into two countries based on two nations theory. One
part became India, the secular one and other part emerged as Pakistan, based on the
religion of Islam. The distance of the two wings (provinces) of Pakistan was huge, more than
1,500 km and India being lain down between those two wings. Geographically unshaped and
discontented, Pakistan emerged as a sovereign country in the region based on the sentiment of
Islam. The majority people of Pakistan were Muslims (85.9% in 1951) in belief and other portion
mainly of Hindus.
Muslims were afraid to be merged into the overwhelmingly majority of Hindus in India. The
Hindus were the most progressive in all spheres of the state, they were mostly highly educated,
cultural and advanced in economic conditions than those of Muslims. Hence, they (under the
leadership of Muslim League) demanded separate sovereign country for the Muslim majority
portion and the result of that was Pakistan.
But from the very beginning, the West Pakistani establishment tried to exploit Bengalis in every
sector of the state. They adopted the policy to dominate them in politics as well as in economic
sector too. So, the dream of the Bengali nation in the eastern part of Pakistan, were faded out
rapidly. Firstly, they got shocked in the name of state language, Mohammad Ali Jinnah declared
in Dhaka in 1948 that Urdu would be the only state language for Pakistan, though the majority
were the Bengali (56.40% in 1951) and their language, culture and literature were too strong
and rich in the region. On 21 February 1952, Pakistan police shot down some agitators in
Dhaka while they were demanding Bangla as the state language along with Urdu. This
incidence turned Bengali to the Bengali nationalism. Thus the political disintegration had been
started in Pakistan.
The economic policy was the total violation of parity in the provinces. The West Pakistani
establishment adopted the policy to exploit the Bengali in distribution of budget, foreign aid,
grants, loans and state revenue in the development sectors and they grabbed major portion of
the financial flow for the west. Their adopted policy was so much tricky and exploiting type in
character that the Bengali had started to demand their equality in the form of autonomy by
expressing the Six Points demand under the leadership of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. The
following 3 tables (Table-1 - 3) have been revealed the actual scenarios of the economic
exploitation by the West Pakistani establishment.
Table-1: Distribution of central government's revenue expenditure,
1947-1948 to 1960-1961 (Note: 1 crore =10 million).
Sector East Pakistan West Pakistan Unallocable
Rs. In %of Rs. In %of Rs. In %of
Crore Total Crore Total Crore Total
Revenue expenditure
including working expenses 269.00 12% 995.00 45% 952.00 43%
of commercial departments
Revenue expenditure
excluding working expenses 86.00 5% 616.00 34% 1,138.00 61%
of commercial departments
Source: "Pakistan: failure in national integration" by Rounaq Jahan, p. 34. (Adapted from East Pakistan,
Planning Department, Economic Disparities Between East and West Pakistan (1963), p. 17).
The most of the un-allocable portion of the Government revenue had been used in the west
wing and for the Army of Pakistan.
Table-2: Central government development outlay, 1947-48 to 1960-1961
Sector East Pakistan West Pakistan

Total Per Total Per
(Rs. in Capita (Rs. in Capita
Crore) (Rs.) Crore) (Rs.)
Investment 172.00 38.00 430.00 117.00
Loans 184.00 40.00 224.00 61.00
Grants-in-aid 76.00 15.00 101.00 28.00
Source: "Pakistan: failure in national integration" by Rounaq Jahan, p. 34 (Adapted from East Pakistan,
Planning Department, Economic Disparities Between East and West Pakistan (1963). P.18.
Table-3: Foreign aid and loans 1947-48 to June 30, 1960
Sector East West

Center Total
Pakistan Pakistan
Rs. In % of Rs. In % of Rs. In % of Rs. In
Crore Total Crore Total Crore Total Crore
Foreign
93.89 17% 335.22 62% 113.03 21% 542.14
Development aid
U.S. commodity
129.00 30% 262.00 64% 18.00 6% 409.00
aid
Source: "Pakistan: failure in national integration" by Rounaq Jahan, p. 35 (Adapted from East Pakistan,
Planning Department, Economic Disparities Between East and West Pakistan (1963), p. 21)
The 'center portion' of the above table (table-3) had been spent mainly for the west wing of
Pakistan.
In the political sector, Bengalis were neglected by the West Pakistani establishment. Though the
Bengalis were the majority population in Pakistan, political power remained firmly in the hands
of West Pakistanis. But according to the straightforward system of representation based on
population, the political power would have been concentrated in East Pakistan. After the
assassination of Pakistans first Prime Minister, Liaquat Ali Khan in 1951, Pakistan army was
getting stronger and stronger to grab the power.
Another alarming thing had been noticed to the East Pakistanis that whenever one of them,
such as Khawja Nazimuddin, Mohammad Ali Bogra, or Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy was
elected as Prime Minister of Pakistan, he were swiftly deposed by the largely West Pakistani
establishment. The military dictatorships of Ayub Khan and Yahya Khan, both West Pakistanis,
only widen the fear feelings of the East Pakistanis.
The basic democracy of Ayub Khan (27 October 1958 25 March 1969) was nothing but a trick
to establish the military regime (which was dominated by the West Pakistanis) on strong feet in
Pakistan and naturally, East Pakistanis could not accept that doctrine in heart and soul. Rather
they saw it as an effort to produce some agents or touts in the society to strengthen the hands
of the military regimes in Pakistan. In the Liberation War of Bangladesh, 1971 the leaders of
Muslim League and Jamat-e-Islam proved themselves as the die-hard supporters of
Pakistan Army and their establishment. They directly took part in the mass killings of the
civilians, mass destruction of the infra-structures of East Pakistan (Bangladesh), plundering,
raping on behalf of the Pakistan's brutal army.
Actually Ayub Khan, like other West Pakistani establishment, did not believe in democracy and
they knew that, if democracy prevailed in Pakistan, the political power would be in the hand of
East Pakistanis. In that context, the Awami League produced their most popular Six Points
demand in front of the people to establish a separate economy and administration (almost full
autonomy) for the East Pakistan.
In that period, the military regime banded the songs of Rabindranath Tagor, the most respected
poet and literate of Bengali nation, in the state-owned media (Radio and TV), which actually
made the gap widen between East Pakistanis and West Pakistanis.
The representation of East Pakistanis in the military sector in Pakistan was also very poor. The
West Pakistanis controlled the power of recruitment in the army and they did not want to create
better positions for the East Pakistanis. The table-4 & 5 showed the poor representation figure
of the East Pakistani in Pakistan military.
Table-4: East Pakistani representation in the military establishment, 1963 (percentage of total)
Sector Commissioned Junior Warrant Other Ranks

Officers
Officers Commissioned
Officers
Army 5% 7.40% - 7.4%
Air Force 17% - 13.20% 28.0%
Branch Officers Chief Petty Officers Petty Officers Leading Seamen

and below
Navy 5% 10.4% 17.3% 28.8%

Source: Pakistan, National Assembly, Debates, March 8, 1963. PP. 30-31 (from the book Pakistan:
failure of national integration by Rounaq Jahan, University Press Limited, pp. 62).
Table-5: Military elite in Pakistan, July 1955 (no. of officers).
Service East Pakistan West Pakistan
Army 14 894
Navy 7 593
Air Force 60 640
Source: Dawn (Karachi). Adapted from the book of Rounaq Jahan, Pakistan: failure of national
integration University Press Limited, pp. 25).
In the administrative sector, the representation of East Pakistan was poor too. The below table
(table-6) shows the actual figures of the representation in the Administrative sector of East
Pakistan.
Table-6: East-West representation in the higher ranks of the Central Secretary, 1955.
Rank East West East

Pakistan Pakistan
% of Total
Secretary -- 19 --
Joint Secretary 3 38 7.3%
Deputy Secretary 10 123 7.5%
Undersecretary 38 510 7.0%
Source: "Pakistan: failure in national integration" by Rounaq Jahan, p. 26 (Adapted from:
Pakistan, Constituent Assembly, Debates. Vol.I, January 17, 1956. P. 1844)
The exploiters (West Pakistanis) never believed the East Pakistanis at all and they acted as
colonialist and by hook or by crook, they tried to keep East Pakistan just as their colony.
The situation further deteriorated after the general election of 1970. In that election, Awami
League won the fresh majority and became eligible to form the Government in Pakistan. But the
Pakistani military authority and their political leaders, like Zulfikar Ali Bhutto denied to allow
them to form the government.
National Council Election, 1970
The election was held on 7 December 1970. The total voters were 29,479,386 and the casting
votes were 17,005,163 (57.68%), the valid casting votes were 16,454,278.
The summary of the National Council Election, 1970

Sl. Political Party Total Seats Percentage
No. candidates captured of total
casting
vote
1 Awami League 162 160 74.9%
2 PDP 79 1 2.9%
3 Niajm-e-Islami 49 0 0%
4 Jamaat-e-Islami 70 0 6%
5 Pakistan Muslim League (Convention) 93 0 2.8%
6 Pakistan Muslim League (Kou) 50 0 1.6%
7 Pakistan Muslim League (Kayum) 65 0 1%
8 National Awami Party (Wali) 39 0 1.8%
9 Independent (politician) 114 1 3.4%
Provincial Council Election, 1970

The election was held on 17 December 1970. The percentage of casting votes was (57.69%),
and the number of reserved women seat was 10.
The summary of the Provincial Council Election, 1970
Sl. Political Party Total Seats Percentage Symbol

No. Candidates Captured
1 Awami League 300 288 89% Boat
2 PDP - 2 1%
3 Niajm-e-Islami - 1 -
4 Jamaat-e-Islami - 1 3%
Pakistan Muslim League

5 - 0 1%
(Convention)
6 Pakistan Muslim League (Kou) - 0 0.05%
Pakistan Muslim League

7 - 0 0.05%
(Kayum)
8 National Awami Party (Wali) - 1 0.9%
9 Independent (politician) - 7 5%
In these elections, Sheikh Mujib emerged as an undisputed leader of the East Pakistanis with
268 of the 279 seats in the East Pakistan Provincial Assembly going to the Awami League.
At this stage, the situation reached the climax and in the face of their demand to form the
government, Yahya Khan declared the state of emergency and attacked the East Pakistanis in
Dhaka on 25 th March, 1971 under the code name "Operation Search Light" to eliminate AL
and its supporters and brutally killed around 7,000 people in a single night and around 30,000
people in Dhaka within a week. Their systematic slaughtering and ethnic cleansing had been
carried out till 16 December, 1971.
Within 9 months' time (from March 25 to December 16, 1971), those hyenas slaughtered around
3.0 million people and they raped around 200,000-400,000 women in the name to protect
Islam in Pakistan!
After the brutal attack in East Pakistan, to support this dirty war of West Pakistanis, Zulfiqar Ali
Bhutto told in a press meeting on 26 March, 1971, "God has saved Pakistan!".
They torched the villages after villages, destroyed roads, railways, buildings and bridges
unanimously. Around 10.0 million people had to take refuge in the neighboring India.
This incident pined the last pin on the coffin of the joint Pakistan and ignited in the struggle of
the East Pakistanis to establish their legal demand and turned it to the independence of East
Pakistan as "Bangladesh". But Bangladesh met up the prices of the independence by the huge
death of its people in the hand of those hyenas of West Pakistani army and their collaborators
(Razakar/Al-Bador/Al-Shams, etc. - mainly from Jamat-e-Islam and Muslim League) of East
Pakistan.
Golam Azam Motiur Rahman Ali Ahsan Mohammad

Nizamee Mujahid
Head of Al-Bador, Head of Al-Bador, East
Head of Collaborators Pakistan, 1971 Pakistan, 1971
of Pakistan, 1971
Not only that the Bengali nation lost more than 1,000 of their most prominent and literate
persons, intellectuals, professionals and scientists in the hands of their collaborators (Al-
Bador and Al-Shams - from the 'Islamic Chhatro Sangha' / 'Islamic Students Organization',
the students' wings of Jamat-e-Islam, Pakistan) under the direct supervision of General Rao
Farman Ali (a notorious butcher of West Pakistan) just 3-2 days prior to their surrender in
Bangladesh.
The butchers did it systematically to make Bangladesh intellectual-less to stop the future
progress of Bangladesh, who could guide newly born Bangladesh in the forthcoming time.
The killing squads of Al-Bador and Al-Shams picked up the progressive minded intellectuals
and professionals from their houses and killed them brutally and unmercifully mostly in
several places in the Dhaka City, like at Rayer Bazar, Mirpur, Pallabi, etc.
Now Bangladesh is liberated one and a sovereign country in the World, but the Bengali of
East Bengal (Bangladesh) paid the prices for their liberation with huge deaths and pains in
the hands of those hyenas of Pakistan Army and their collaborators.

Fall 2016
18-19. Understanding Bengali Nationalism: Political Basis of Bengali Nationalism

Bengali nationalism is rooted in the expression of pride in the history and cultural, intellectual
and revolutionary heritage of Bengal. The region's territory is divided between Bangladesh and
the Indian state of West Bengal and the southern part of the Indian state of Assam, called Barak
Valley . Arising in the 19th century with the Bengal Renaissance and the Indian independence
movement, it would be the central influence in the Bengali Language Movement, the Bangladesh
Liberation War and the creation of Bangladesh (Country of Bengal) in 1971.
Early history
Bengali nationalism is rooted in the expression of pride in the history and cultural heritage of
Bengal. In what is described as the Bengal Renaissance, the introduction of Western culture,
science and education led to a major transformation and development of Bengali society. Bengal
became a centre of modern culture, intellectual and scientific activities, politics and education
under British Raj.
The first social and religious reform movements such as the Brahmo Samaj and Ramakrishna
Mission arose in Bengal, as did national leaders and reformers such as Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Sri
Aurobindo, Ramakrishna Paramhansa and Swami Vivekananda. Bengali literature, poetry,
religion, science and philosophy underwent a massive expansion with the works of Bankim
Chandra Chatterjee, Debendranath Tagore, Michael Madhusudan Dutt, Sharat Chandra
Chattopadhyay, Rabindranath Tagore, Satyendra Nath Bose, Jagdish Chandra Bose and Kazi
Nazrul Islam.
The Young Bengal, and Jugantar movements and newspapers like Amrita Bazar Patrika led the
intellectual development of India. The Calcutta-based Indian National Association and the
British Indian Association were the earliest political organisations in India.
Partition of Bengal (1905)
The first Bengali nationalist agitation emerged over the 1905 Partition of Bengal by British
authorities. Although the partition was supported by Bengali Muslims, a large majority of
Bengalis protested the partition and participated in civil disobedience campaigns such as the
Swadeshi movement and mass boycott of European goods. Seeking a united Bengal and rejecting
British hegemony, Bengalis also spearheaded an emerging revolutionary movement, which
assumed a central role in the national independence struggle.
Bengal became a strong base of the Indian struggle for independence, giving rise to national
political leaders such as Bipin Chandra Pal, Khwaja Salimullah, Chittaranjan Das, Maulana
Azad, Subhas Chandra Bose, his brother Sarat Chandra Bose, Syama Prasad Mookerjee, A. K.
Fazlul Huq, Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy the latter two would become important leaders of
the Pakistan movement.
United Bengal
As the Hindu-Muslim conflict escalated and the demand for a separate Muslim state of Pakistan
became popular amongst Indian Muslims, the partition of India on communal lines was deemed
inevitable by mid-1947. To prevent the inclusion of Hindu-majority districts of Punjab and
Bengal in a Muslim Pakistan, the Indian National Congress and the Hindu Mahasabha sought the
partition of these provinces on communal lines. Bengali nationalists such as Sarat Chandra Bose,
Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, Kiran Shankar Roy, Abul Hashim, Satya Ranjan Bakshi and
Mohammad Ali Chaudhury sought to counter partition proposals with the demand for a united
and independent state of Bengal. Ideological visions for a "Greater Bengal" also included the
regions of Assam and districts of Bihar.
Suhrawardy and Bose sought the formation of a coalition government between Bengali Congress
and the Bengal Provincial Muslim League. Proponents of the plan urged the masses to reject
communal divisions and uphold the vision of a united Bengal. In a press conference held in
Delhi on April 27, 1947 Suhrawardy presented his plan for a united and independent Bengal and
Abul Hashim issued a similar statement in Calcutta on April 29. A few days later, Sarat Chandra
Bose put forward his proposals for a "Sovereign Socialist Republic of Bengal." With the support
of the British governor of the Bengal province, Frederick Burrows, Bengali leaders issued the
formal proposal on May 20.
The Muslim League and the Congress issued statements rejecting the notion of an independent
Bengal on May 28 and June 1 respectively. The Hindu Mahasabha also agitated against the
inclusion of Hindu-majority areas in a Muslim-majority Bengal, while Bengali Muslim leader
Khawaja Nazimuddin and Maulana Akram Khan sought the exclusion of Hindu-majority areas to
establish a homogenous Muslim Pakistan. Amidst aggravating Hindu-Muslim tensions, on June
3 British viceroy Lord Louis Mountbatten announced plans to partition India and consequently
Punjab and Bengal on communal lines, burying the demand for an independent Bengal.
Partition of Bengal (1947)
In 1947, in line with the Partition of India, Bengal was partitioned between the Hindu majority
west and Muslim majority East. East Bengal became part of the Islamic state of Pakistan while
West Bengal became part of the Republic of India.
Language movement
The Language movement was a political and cultural agitation in East Pakistan that centred on
the recognition of the Bengali language as an official language of Pakistan and a broader
reaffirmation of the ethno-national consciousness of the Bengali people. Discontent against
Pakistan's "Urdu-only" policy had spilled into mass agitation since 1948 and reached its
climactic strength after police fired upon and killed student demonstrators on February 21, 1952.
After the creation of Pakistan in 1947, the central government under Muhammad Ali Jinnah
ordained Urdu to be the sole national language, even though the Bengali-speaking peoples
formed a majority of the national population. He did so because Urdu was a neutral language - it
was not the mother tongue of any one of Pakistan's ethnicities. The policy, compounded by
sectional tensions served as a major provocation of political conflict. Despite protests in 1948,
the policy was enshrined into law and reaffirmed by national leaders, including several Bengali
politicians.
Facing rising tensions, the government in East Pakistan outlawed public meetings and
gatherings. Defying this, the students of Dhaka University and other political activists started a
procession on February 21. Near the current Dhaka Medical College Hospital, police fired on the
protesters and numerous protesters, including Abdus Salam, Rafiq Uddin Ahmed, Abul Barkat,
and Abdul Jabbar were killed.
The deaths of the students served to provoke widespread strikes and protests led mainly by
Bengali political parties such as the Awami League (then Awami Muslim League). The central
government relented, granting official status for Bengali. The Language movement served as a
catalyst for the assertion of the Bengali cultural and national identity within Pakistan.
Creation of Bangladesh
The Language movement and its fallout had created substantial cultural and political animosity
between the two wings of Pakistan. Despite constituting a majority of the Pakistani population,
Bengalis constituted a small part of Pakistan's military, police and civil services. Ethnic and
socio economic discrimination against Bengali people aggravated and agitations arose in East
Pakistan over sectional bias, neglect and insufficient allocation of resources and national wealth.
Steeped in Perso-Arabic culture, West Pakistanis saw Bengali culture as too closely associated
with Hindu culture.[citation needed] One of the first groups demanding the independence of East
Pakistan was the Swadhin Bangal Biplobi Parishad (Free Bengal Revolutionary Council). Under
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the Awami League became more secular in character, changing its
name from Awami Muslim League to just Awami League. and launched the Six point
movement demanding substantial political, administrative and economic autonomy for East
Pakistan.
Seeking democracy, a separate currency and balanced sharing of wealth and resources, Mujib
also sought the recognition of the term "Bangla-desh" to describe the eastern wing of Pakistan,
instead of East Pakistan, thus emphasising the Bengali Identity of the people of East Pakistan.
Mujib was arrested by Pakistani forces in 1966 and tried for treason in what became the Agartala
Conspiracy Case. Following violent protests and disorder, Mujib was released in 1968. In the
elections of 1970, the Awami League won an outright majority in the Parliament of Pakistan.
When Pakistan's president Yahya Khan and West Pakistani politician Zulfikar Ali Bhutto
resisted Mujib's claim to form the government, sectional hostility escalated significantly.
Before his arrest on the night of March 25, 1971, Mujib issued a call for Bengalis to fight for
their independence; the message was conveyed over Shadhin Bangla Betar Kendro by Major
Ziaur Rahman on March 27 and the independent state of Bangladesh was officially declared by
the Awami League's government-in-exile in Mujibnagar. Mujib's trademark "Joy Bangla"
(Victory to Bengal) salute became the rallying cry of Bengali nationalists, who mobilised to form
the Mukti Bahini guerrilla force, which received training and equipment from the Indian
government. Indian intervention at the height of the liberation war would eventually lead to the
surrender of Pakistani forces and the establishment of the Bangladeshi state on December 16.

Fall 2016
20. Liberation War of 1971: Non-cooperation MovementQuest for constitutional

solutionHistoric 7th March Speech of Bangabandhu;
The Bangladesh Liberation War also known as the Bangladesh War of Independence, or simply
the Liberation War in Bangladesh, was a revolution and armed conflict sparked by the rise of the
Bengali nationalist and self-determination movement in East Pakistan and the 1971 Bangladesh
genocide. It resulted in the independence of the People's Republic of Bangladesh. The war began
after the Pakistani military junta based in West Pakistan launched Operation Searchlight against
the people of East Pakistan on the night of 25 March 1971. It pursued the systematic elimination
of nationalist Bengali civilians, students, intelligentsia, religious minorities and armed personnel.
The junta annulled the results of the 1970 elections and arrested Prime Minister-elect Sheikh
Mujibur Rahman.
Rural and urban areas across East Pakistan saw extensive military operations and air strikes to
suppress the tide of civil disobedience that formed following the 1970 election stalemate. The
Pakistan Army created radical religious militias the Razakars, Al-Badr and Al-Shams to
assist it during raids on the local populace. Members of the Pakistani military and supporting
militias engaged in mass murder, deportation and genocidal rape. The capital Dhaka was the
scene of numerous massacres, including the Dhaka University killings. An estimated 10 million
Bengali refugees fled to neighbouring India, while 30 million were internally displaced.
Sectarian violence broke out between Bengalis and Urdu-speaking immigrants. An academic
consensus prevails that the atrocities committed by the Pakistani military were a genocide.
The Bangladeshi Declaration of Independence was proclaimed from Chittagong by members of

the Mukti Bahini the national liberation army formed by Bengali military, paramilitary and
civilians. The East Bengal Regiment and the East Pakistan Rifles played a crucial role in the
resistance. Led by General M. A. G. Osmani and eleven sector commanders, the Bangladesh
Forces waged a mass guerrilla war against the Pakistani military. They liberated numerous towns
and cities in the initial months of the conflict. The Pakistan Army regained momentum in the
monsoon. Bengali guerrillas carried out widespread sabotage, including Operation Jackpot
against the Pakistan Navy. The nascent Bangladesh Air Force flew sorties against Pakistani
military bases. By November, the Bangladesh forces restricted the Pakistani military to its
barracks during the night. They secured control of most parts of the countryside.
The Provisional Government of Bangladesh was formed on 17 April 1971 in Mujibnagar and
moved to Calcutta as a government in exile. Bengali members of the Pakistani civil, military and
diplomatic corps defected to the Bangladeshi provisional government. Thousands of Bengali
families were interned in West Pakistan, from where many escaped to Afghanistan. Bengali
cultural activists operated the clandestine Free Bengal Radio Station. The plight of millions of
war-ravaged Bengali civilians caused worldwide outrage and alarm. The Indian state led by
Indira Gandhi provided substantial diplomatic, economic and military support to Bangladeshi
nationalists. British, Indian and American musicians organised the world's first benefit concert in
New York City to support the Bangladeshi people. Senator Ted Kennedy in the United States led
a congressional campaign for an end to Pakistani military persecution; while US diplomats in
East Pakistan strongly dissented with the Nixon administration's close ties to the Pakistani
military dictator Yahya Khan.
India joined the war on 3 December 1971, after Pakistan launched preemptive air strikes on
North India. The subsequent Indo-Pakistani War witnessed engagements on two war fronts. With
air supremacy achieved in the eastern theatre and the rapid advance of the Allied Forces of
Bangladesh and India, Pakistan surrendered in Dacca on 16 December 1971.
The war changed the geopolitical landscape of South Asia, with the emergence of Bangladesh as
the seventh-most populous country in the world. Due to complex regional alliances, the war was
a major episode in Cold War tensions involving the United States, the Soviet Union and the
People's Republic of China. The majority of member states in the United Nations recognised the
Bangladeshi republic in 1972.
Non-Cooperation Movement, 1971 The mass movement initiated under the directives of
Bangabandhu' Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in the then East Pakistan against the Pakistan
government which continued from 2 March to 25 March 1971. This movement was directed for
autonomy of East Pakistan as against the administration of the centre. On 7 March, Bangabandhu
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman declared the programme of non-cooperation movement through his
guideline speech delivered in the Race Course Maidan. Apart from this, Awami League
organised this movement through various instructions for its activists. Awami League achieved
absolute majority in the election of 1970. But instead of inviting Awami League to form the
government, Yahya Khan, the President of Pakistan, postponed the session of the National
Assembly on 1 March 1971 for on indefinite period. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman termed this
decision as 'unfortunate', and in protest he called hartal in Dhaka on 2 March and in the whole of
East Pakistan on 3 March. People at large started non-cooperation movement under the
leadership of Awami League in order to establish their rights. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman gave a
clarion call for non-cooperation movement against the dilly-dally attitude of the military junta to
transfer power on the basis of election, and for direct non-cooperation of Pakistan People's Party,
the major political party of West Pakistan. This movement spread over the whole of East
Pakistan. The fight for liberation started as a consequence of non-cooperation movement and the
nine months war resulted in the emergence of independent sovereign Bangladesh.
At the outset of non-cooperation movement the student organisations formed the Swadhin
Bangla Chhatra Songram Parishad on 2 March. The flag of independent Bangladesh was hoisted
in the students gathering at Dhaka University. Lt General Shahibzada Yakub Khan, the
provincial martial law administrator, was vested with the responsibility of Governor of East
Pakistan in place of Vice Admiral SM Ahsan. The military government imposed restriction on
the newspapers by proclamation of ordinance. Besides, curfew was imposed from 7 pm to 7 am.
The programme of non-cooperation was announced on behalf of Awami League through a press
release. Hartal was called from the day following in all the government offices, secretariat, High
Court and subordinate courts, semi-government and autonomous bodies, PIA, railway and other
means of communications, industrial and commercial organisations. A pamphlet of Purba Bangla
Sramik Andolon urged upon Sheikh Mujib to establish an independent state through armed
struggle. Besides NAP, Jatiya Sramik League expressed their solidarity with the movement.
NAP (M) and Jatiya League held protest meetings at Paltan and Baitul Mokarram respectively.
Chhatra Sangram Parishad declared Swadhinatar Ishteher at Paltan Maidan on 3 March in
presence of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. The pamphlet upheld the demand for establishing an
independent and sovereign state named 'Bangladesh' with three goals: Development of the
language, literature and culture of the Bangalis, removal of disparity and establishment of
democracy. As a programme of the movement, proposal was placed for suspending the payment
of land revenue and taxes, and for armed struggle. The poem of Rabindranath Tagore 'Amar
Sonar Bangla... was selected as the national anthem of the independent Bangladesh. National
mourning day was observed all over the province on 3 March, the day on which the National
Assembly was scheduled to be in session. Half-day hartal was declared everyday beginning from
6 March. The observance of hartal continued throughout East Pakistan. People from all walks of
life including labourers, officials, students and teachers, lawyers, artists and litterateurs joined
the movement. The government with the help of the army and para military forces tried to curb
the movement. A large number of people were killed or wounded by army firing in Dhaka,
Tongi, Chittagong, Rajshahi, Jessore, Khulna and in other places of the province. On 4 March,
Moulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhasani demanded the right of the Bangalis on the basis of Lahore
Resolution. PDP and Jamaat-e-Islami discarded the proposal of President Yahya Khan for a
Round Table Conference scheduled to be held on 12 March. Air Marshall (Retd) Asgar Khan,
chief of Tehriq-e-Ishteqtal Party, urged upon the government to transfer power to Awami League
in no time. Apart from this, Baluchistarn NAP in protest to the postponement of session of the
National Assembly called hartal there on 12 March. On this day, East Pakistan Journalist Union
expressed their support to the non-cooperation movement. On the same day Sahibzada Yakub
Khan, the Governor of East Pakistan and Martial Law Administrator, resigned his post. On 5
March, the Awami League activists staged demonstration with lathis in hand. Chhatra League,
Bangla Chhatra League and Students Union performed gaibana Janaza in memory of the martyrs.
Pakistan Writers Guild, East Pakistan Government College Teachers Association staged
demonstration on this day. The reaction shown by Awami League was termed as unreasonable
by the Pakistan People's Party. President Yahya on 6 March again called the session of the
National Assembly to be held on 25 March. But the Bangalis turned furious consequent upon the
appointment of Lt General Tikka Khan as the governor of East Pakistan, and the speech of
Yahya Khan to the nation supporting the ruthless brutality of the government upon the activists
of the movement. On that day, Sheikh Mujib had a meeting with the party high command and the
leaders of the Chhatra League. The Jatiya League under the leadership of Ataur Rahman Khan,
NAP under Muzaffar Ahmed, Wali Ahad and labour leader Kazi Jafar Ahmad organized separate
public meetings under their party banners and had a call for continuing the movement. The
Union of Journalists, teachers association, Mahila Parishad, Students Union, Krishak Sramik
Samajbadi Dal staged protest meetings. On 7 March, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman delivered a pre-
scheduled speech in the Race Course with guidelines for movement. In the speech he highlighted
four vital points: a) withdrawal of martial law, b) retreat of the army to the barrack, c) to
investigate into the killing of the people in the province and d) transfer of power to the elected
representatives.
Besides, on the same day he declared 10-point programme of the movement for the following
week. He declared the closure of all offices, courts and educational institutions sine die. The
government press note accounted that 172 persons were killed and 358 persons were injured
during the six days of non-cooperation movement. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman made a clarion call
to the people to get them ready for liberation movement and to make the utmost sacrifice.
The Non-Cooperation Movement got new momentum after 7 March. All the departments of the
government of East Pakistan began to follow the instructions of the Awami League. The Purba
Bangla Samanvaya Committee of the Communist revolutionaries urged upon the people to
establish independent Bangladesh through guerilla fighting. On the same day Golam Azam,
Ameer of East Pakistan Jamaat-e-Islami, criticised the People's Party and Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.
On 8 March, Tajuddin Ahmad on behalf of the Awami League refuted the government press note
and termed it as sheer falsehood. Chhatra League resolved the formation of Swadhin Bangladesh
Chhatra Sangram Parishad. Instruction was given to form eleven members Sangram Parishad in
the grass root level consisting of a convenor, one secretary and nine members. On this day the
Forward Student Block distributed a leaflet proposing to form Bangla Mukti Front with an object
of establishing independent socialist Bangladesh. Leaflet on technique of guerilla warfare was
also distributed on the same day. PDP chief Nurul Amin and Muslim League leader Abdus Sabur
Khan urged for immediate transfer of power. On 9 March, Tajuddin Ahmed proclaimed 16
instructions on behalf of Awami League as guideline for civil administration. At this stage of
non-cooperation movement, the Chief Justice B.A Siddiqui expressed reluctance to conduct oath
of newly appointed Governor Lt General Tikka Khan. Ataur Rahman Khan urged upon Sheikh
Mujib to form the national government. Maulana Bhasani declared 14 points of NAP and asked
for movement for independence under Sheikh Mujib. East Pakistan Communist Party (Marxist-
Leninist) had a call to the people to liberate the country through guerilla warfare instead of non-
cooperation movement. Besides, the Police, EPR, Intelligence Bureau and CID were asked to
disrupt their relation with the government. On 10 March, the actor-actresses and the technicians
under the leadership of Golam Mostafa and Khan Ata staged demonstration under the banner of
Bikshubdha Shilpi Samaj. Second class employees of the civil service expressed their allegiance
to Awami League. To confront the movement, the government by promulgating martial law
regulations declared acts of damaging government properties directly or indirectly and
obstructing the movement of the armed forces as punishable offence. On 11 March, Tajuddin
Ahmad proclaimed more instructions regarding the conducting of economic activities.
Movement spread over in each and every educational institutions of the province. Poet Ahsan
Habib, artist Joynul Abedin etc denounced their titles conferred upon by the government.
Students and youth of East Pakistan started taking armed preparation and armed training.
Agitation started among the Bangali soldiers, para-military force such as EPR, Police, Ansar in
East Pakistan. Resistance committees were formed in every district, sub-division, thana and
union. The administrative structure of the whole province was shattered. The offices and courts,
bank, insurance companies ceased to work and realization of land revenue and taxes was
stopped. The government instructed the officers and staff to join their offices by proclaiming
new orders and circulars. But the movement went on uninterrupted by violating the orders of the
government. Non-cooperation movement got wide publicity not only at home but abroad also.
On 11 March, the UN Secretary General U Thant instructed all the staff of the United Nations to
report to the headquarters of the United Nations.
On 12 March, Awami League had an instruction to its activists to form sangram committee in
each union. The CSP officers and first class EPCS officers of East Pakistan rendered their full-
throated support to non-cooperation movement. The employees of government, semi government
offices and of the autonomous bodies joined the movement. The cinema hall owners of East
Pakistan announced to keep the cinema halls closed for an indefinite period. On 13 March, the
government through a martial law regulation instructed the defence personnels to join their
offices on 15 March at 10 am failing which they would be dismissed from service and would
face court martial. On 14 March, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in Karachi demanded transfer of power to
the majority parties in east and west wing of Pakistan, which added new dimension to the
movement. The West Pakistan leaders like former governor Azam Khan, NAP leader Wali Khan,
Jamiatul Ulama-e-Islam leader Mufti Mahmud, Council Muslim League leader Miah Momtaz
Daulatana, Sardar Shawkat Hayat Khan, Maulana Shah Ahmad Nurani, Jamal Mohammad
Koreja of Convention Muslim League, Abdul Gafoor of Jamaat-e-Islami, Sardar Moula Bakhsh
Sumro expressed their support to Sheikh Mujib and demanded transfer of power. But Abdul
Qayyum Khan of Muslim League criticized the activities of Awami League.
Sheikh Mujib, in response to army instruction made a vow at the cost of life to continue the
movement in order to attain independence so that the next generation may lead a life in liberty
with self respect. On that day, Tajuddin Ahmad on behalf of Awami League declared 35 points
instruction for conducting the affairs of the government. Chhatra Sangram Parishad, as a part of
containing the smuggling of wealth to West Pakistan installed check posts in several places of
Dhaka. The newspapers of Dhaka published joint editorials under the caption 'Avi mgq 'bB'
'Time is running out'. Nurul Amin, Abul Hashim, Wali Khan criticised dual majority theory of
Bhutto and commented that the implementation of the theory would invite disintegration of
Pakistan.
After the directives of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman the direct control of the Pakistan government
over East Pakistan was virtually ceased. The control of Awami League was established
everywhere save and except the army. Due to extreme pressure of the movement the government
took a decision to have discussion with the political parties. President Yahya Khan came to
Dhaka on 15 March accompanied by the Principal Staff Officer Lt General SGM Pirzada, Major
General Khodadad Khan, Major General Golam Umar, Justice AR Cornelius, MM Ahmad,
Deputy-Chairman of Planning Commission and Colonel Hasan. Yahya-Mujib discussion started
in Dhaka on 16 March. But non-cooperation movement was continuing beyond the discussion
table. Sheikh Mujib had discussion with the Awami League leaders. On 17 March discussion
was again held. But neither the government nor the Awami League disclosed anything in detail.
Maulana Bhasani, on this day from a public meeting in Chittagong urged upon the people to
observe 23 March as 'Swadheen Purbabangla Dibash' instead of observing the day as National
Day of Pakistan. A five member enquiry committee was formed by the government consisting of
a Justice nominated by the Chief Justice of High Court, an army officer of the rank of a
brigadier, a CSP officer, one police officer and an officer of the EPR of the rank of a colonel to
make an enquiry into the reasons of calling of the army and the killing of the people.
On 18 March, Awami League rejected the enquiry committee formed to submit report to the
army authority. On the other hand, a separate three-member enquiry committee was formed
consisting of Captain Monsur Ali, Khondakar Mostaq Ahmad and Abidur Reza. Syed Nazrul
Islam, in protest against firing at Tejgaon, cautioned the concerned that Bangalis would not
tolerate this kind of provocation. On this day there was no discussion between Yahya and Sheikh
Mujib. On 19 March, Yahya-Mujib meeting was held and it was decided that Yahya-Mujib
meeting would take place on the following day with the advisors of both the parties. Advisors of
both parties had a separate meeting. AR Cornelius, Lt General Peerzada and Colonel Hasan on
behalf of the President and Syed Nazrul Islam, Kamal Husain and Tajuddin Ahmad on behalf of
the Awami League participated in the meeting. It was informed that they had this meeting to
formulate the basis of discussion to be followed. When the discussion was going on the Pak
army fired on the common people in Rangpur and Syedpur. But the people at Joydevpur created
resistance in the face of firing of the Pak army. Bangali soldiers protested while being attempted
to be disarmed.
On 20 March, Sheikh Mujib along with six party leaders Syed Nazrul Islam, Tajuddin Ahmad,
Kamal Hosain, Khondakar Mostaq Ahmad, AHM Qamaruzzaman and M Mansur Ali, and Yahya
Khan with his representatives AR Cornelius, Lt General Peerzada and Colonel Hasan had two
discussion meetings. Sheikh Mujib informed of some progress in the dialogue and of the
scheduled meeting with the President and the advisors on the following day. On this day the
government instructed the civilians to surrender their licenced arms to the concerned police
stations. Sheikh Mujib had meeting with Momtaz Daulatana, Mufti Mahmud and others.
In the Yahya-Mujib meeting on 21 March Sheikh Mujib was assisted by Tajuddin Ahmad.
Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto came to Dhaka with 12 of his advisors to attend the dialogue. Sheikh Mujib
sent a messenger to Maulana Bhasani. Bhasani had a call to the people in a meeting at polo
ground in Chittagong to participate in the one point programme under the leadership of Awami
League. National Awami Party arranged street meetings for mobilizing the observance of
Swadheen Purba Bangla Dibash on 23 March and the Students League had similar programme
for the observance of Defence Day.
On 22 March, the President again postponed the session of the National Assembly through a
press release. A discussion meeting of Sheikh Mujib, Yahya Khan and Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was
held. Four advisors of the President and 5 jurists of the Peoples Party also had a discussion
meeting. They opposed to the demand of the Awami League for withdrawal of martial law and
transfer of power before the session of the National Assembly on the plea of legal complicacy.
Besides, President Yahya had discussion meeting with other leaders from West Pakistan.
The Chhatra Sangram Parishad observed 23 March as Protirodh Dibash (Defence Day) and NAP
(Bhasani) as Swadheen Purba Bangla Dibash. The flag of independent Bangladesh was hoisted
throughout the whole of East Pakistan. The members of the Jai Bangla Bahini saluted the new
flag in Dhanmondi in presence of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. NAP (Bhasani), Jatiya League,
student organisations and majority political parties of East Pakistan participated in the movement
for the establishment of an independent state. The President cancelled his scheduled speech on
the occasion of National Day because of political instability. As a part of Yahya-Mujib parley, a
discussion meeting was held between the discussant of Awami League and advisors of the
President. The Awami League representatives for discussion included Syed Nazrul Islam,
Tajuddin Ahmad, Khondaker Mostaq Ahmad and Kamal Hosain while the advisors of the
President included AR Cornelius, SGM Peerzada and Colonel Hasan. On this day the
representatives of Awami League submitted the draft of the proposed constitution. The draft
Constitution based on 6 point programme recommended that defence, external trade, foreign
affairs, currency, citizenship, central loan, standard of weight and measurement, central asset,
inter-provincial and international communication would be under the jurisdiction of the central
government, and the matter beyond this inventory would be under the jurisdiction of the
province. They had discussion meeting again in the evening on the economic aspects of the draft
constitution.
On 24 March, two sessions of discussion meeting took place between the representatives of both
parties regarding economic issues of the draft constitution. During the discussion while Awami
representatives proposed insertion of 'confederation' instead of 'federation' in the draft
constitution, the government party protested and termed it as a basic change in the principles of
Awami League. On this day the experts from both the parties completed discussion on all the
Articles and Schedules of the draft. Thereafter Tajuddin Ahmad in a statement said that since
opinion has been already submitted on the table, there is no need for further discussion on the
part of Awami League. He expressed his anxiety at the military activities in East Pakistan. In a
press conference Sheikh Mujib uttered a note of caution that the Bangalis would not yield to any
decision under pressure. He instructed to carry on the movement with more determination. A
discussion took place between Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and Yahya Khan on this day. But majority of
the West Pakistani politicians, experts and advisors left East Pakistan on that day.
On 25 March, in a press release some addition and alteration were made in the administrative
instructions made earlier by Awami League. In Chittagong port, army fired on the people
creating resistance against the unloading of arms from the Pakistani ship 'Swat'. As a
consequence demonstration took a violent shape and in various places of the province firing took
place and curfew was imposed. As a protest against firing of the army in Syedpur, Rangpur and
Joydevpur, Awami League called dawn to dusk hartal on 27 March throughout the province. On
this day the scheduled meeting for submitting the final draft of the constitution to the President
was not held. Without giving any solution to the crisis the President left Dhaka secretly on 25
March.
The Pakistan army started indiscriminate attack on the people in the whole province including
Dhaka on the night of 25 March under their operation searchlight programme. The Non-
cooperation movement came to on end through the proclamation of independence
7th March Speech of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
The 7th March Speech of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was a speech given by Sheikh Mujibur
Rahman, a Bengali nationalist leader and the founding father of Bangladesh, on 7 March 1971. It
was given at the Ramna Race Course in Dhaka to a gathering of over two million people during a
period of escalating tensions between East Pakistan and the powerful political and military
establishment of West Pakistan. The speech inspired the Bengali people to prepare for a war of
independence amid widespread reports of armed mobilization by West Pakistan.
In the speech, Sheikh Mujib proclaimed: "Our struggle is for our freedom. Our struggle is for our
independence." (Bengali: " ,
"). He announced a civil disobedience movement in the province, calling for "every house
to turn into a fortress". The Bangladesh Liberation War began 18 days later, when the Pakistan
Army launched Operation Searchlight against Bengali civilians, intelligentsia, students,
politicians, and armed personnel.
Background
Pakistan was created in 1947, during the Partition of India, as a Muslim homeland in South Asia.
Its territory comprised most of the Muslim-majority provinces of British India, including two
geographically and culturally separate areas, one east of India and the other west. The western
zone was popularly (and, for a period, officially) called West Pakistan; the eastern zone (modern-
day Bangladesh) was called East Bengal and then East Pakistan. West Pakistan dominated the
country politically, and its leaders exploited the East economically, leading to popular
grievances.
When East Pakistanis, such as Khawaja Nazimuddin, Muhammad Ali Bogra, and Huseyn
Shaheed Suhrawardy, were elected Prime Minister of Pakistan, they were swiftly deposed by the
predominantly West Pakistani establishment. The military dictatorships of Ayub Khan (27
October 1958 25 March 1969) and Yahya Khan (25 March 1969 20 December 1971), both
West Pakistanis, worsened East Pakistanis' discontent.
In 1966, the Bangladesh Awami League, led by Sheikh Mujib, launched the Six Point Movement
to demand provincial autonomy for East Pakistan. The Pakistani establishment rejected the
league's proposals, and the military government arrested Sheikh Mujib and charged him with
treason in the Agartala Conspiracy Case. After three years in jail, Mujib was released in 1969,
and the case against him was dropped in the face of mass protests and widespread violence in
East Pakistan.
In 1970, the Awami League, the largest East Pakistani political party, won a landslide victory in
national elections, winning 167 of the 169 seats allotted to East Pakistan and a majority of the
313 seats in the National Assembly. This gave it the constitutional right to form a government.
However, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party and a member of the
Sindhi ethnic group, refused to allow Sheikh Mujib to become prime minister. Instead, he
proposed having two prime ministers, one for each wing.
Negotiations began in Dhaka between the two sides. In January 1971, after the first round of
negotiations, President Yahya Khan promised in the Dhaka airport that Sheikh Mujib would be
the next prime minister and that the newly elected National Assembly would convene on 3
March 1971. However, Bhutto was vehemently opposed to a Bengali becoming prime minister,
and he began a campaign of racially charged speeches across West Pakistan to invoke fear of
Bengali domination. He warned West Pakistani MPs-elect not to travel to the East. Fearing a
civil war, Bhutto secretly sent an associate, Mubashir Hassan, to meet with Sheikh Mujib and
members of his inner circle. It was decided that Sheikh Mujib would serve as prime minister,
with Bhutto as president. These talks were kept hidden from the public and from the armed
forces. Meanwhile, Bhutto pressured Yahya Khan to take a stance.
On 3 March, the convening of the National Assembly was postponed until 25 March, leading to
an outcry across East Pakistan. Violence broke out in Dhaka, Chittagong, Rangpur, Comilla,
Rajshahi, Sylhet, and Khulna, and the security forces killed dozens of unarmed protesters. There
were open calls for Sheikh Mujib to declare independence from Pakistan, and the Awami League
called a large public gathering at Dhaka's Ramna Race Course on 7 March to respond.
The speech
Sheikh Mujib's speech started: "Today, I appeared before you with a heavy heart. You know
everything and understand as well. We tried our best but the streets of Dhaka, Chittagong,
Khulna, Rajshahi, and Rangpur have been dyed red with the blood of our brethren. People of
Bangladesh today want freedom. They want to survive. They want to have their rights. What
wrong did we do?"
He mentioned four conditions for joining the National Assembly on 25 March:
1. The immediate lifting of martial law;

2. The immediate withdrawal of all military personnel to their barracks;
3. The immediate transfer of power to elected representatives of the people;
4. A proper inquiry into the loss of life during the conflict.
He also gave several directives for a civil disobedience movement, instructing that:
1. People should not pay taxes;

2. Government servants should take orders only from him;
3. The secretariat, government and semi-government offices, and courts in East Pakistan
should observe strikes, with necessary exemptions announced from time to time;
4. Only local and inter-district telephone lines should function;
5. Railways and ports could continue to function, but their workers should not cooperate if
they were used to repress the people of East Pakistan.
The speech lasted about 19 minutes and concluded with, "Our struggle, this time, is a struggle for
our freedom. Our struggle, this time, is a struggle for our independence. Joy Bangla!" It was a de
facto declaration of Bangladeshs independence.
International media had descended upon East Pakistan for the speech amidst speculation that
Sheikh Mujib would make a unilateral declaration of independence from Pakistan. However,
keeping in mind the failures of Rhodesia's unilateral declaration of independence and of the
Biafra struggle in Nigeria, he did not make a direct declaration. Nevertheless, the speech was
effective in giving Bengalis a clear goal of independence.

Fall 2016
21. Genocide of March 25 and the beginning of the Liberation War
Operation Searchlight was a planned military operation carried out by the Pakistan Army to curb
the Bengali nationalist movement in the erstwhile East Pakistan in March 1971, which the
Pakistani state justified on the basis of anti-Bihari violence by Bengalis in early March. Ordered
by the central government in West Pakistan, this was seen as the sequel to "Operation Blitz"
which had been launched in November 1970. The original plan envisioned taking control of the
major cities on March 26, and then eliminating all opposition, political or military, within one
month. President Yahya Khan at a conference in February 1971 said "Kill three million of them
and the rest will eat out of our hands." Prolonged Bengali resistance was not anticipated by the
Pakistani military leaders. The main phase of Operation Searchlight ended with the fall of the
last major town in Bengali hands in mid-May. The operation also precipitated the 1971
Bangladesh genocide and caused roughly 10 million refugees to flee to India as well as the death
of up to 3,000,000 civilians. Bengali intelligentsia, academics and Hindus were targeted for the
harshest treatment, with significant indiscriminate killing taking place. These systematic killings
enraged the Bengalis, who declared independence from Pakistan, to establish the new state of
Bangladesh.
The violence resulting from Operation Searchlight led to the war of liberation by the Mukti
Bahini against Pakistani "occupation" forces in Bangladesh. Following the ill-fated Operation
Chengiz Khan, Indian intervention resulted in the Pakistani Army's unconditional surrender to
the joint command of the Indian Army and Mukti Bahini on December 16, 1971.
Operation Searchlight: March 25
This is a brief description of the units engaged and the result of Pakistani military action from
March 25 until April 10, when the operation was supposed to end. This only covers events in the
areas that were the major focus of Operation Searchlight, not the Bengali resistance throughout
East Pakistan. In some areas, Pakistani assault and mass murders started clashes with the Bengali
forces on 25 March. In other areas, no clashes took place until as late as the 30 March.
Pakistani troops in Dhaka, commanded by Maj. Gen. Farman, had the following objectives:
Impose curfew at 0110 hrs and close telephone/telegraph/radio station and shut all
presses down
Seal off the city by taking over road, rail and river communication and patrol river
Arrest Sheikh Mujib and 15 top Awami League leaders during operation
Conduct house to house search in Dhanmondi and Hindu areas
Subdue Dhaka University, EPR HQ and Rajarbagh police line, disarm 2nd and 10th EBR
Take over and protect Ammunition factory at Gazipur and Arms depot at Rajendrapur.
Pakistani forces: In addition to the Eastern Command HQ, the headquarters of the 14th division
and the 57th brigade were also located in Dacca cantonment. The regular army units present
were: the 57th Brigade containing: 18th and 32nd Punjab (C.O: Lt. Col. Taj) regiments, 13th
Frontier Force regiment, 22nd Baluch regiment, 604th Intelligence unit and the 31st Field
Artillery Regiment (CO: Lt. Col. Zahid Hassan). 14th division HQ had the following units
attached to it: 43rd Light Ack-Ack regiment (CO: Lt. Col. Shaffat Ali - Pakistani), elements of
the 3rd Commando Battalion (CO: Lt. Col. Z.A. Khan - Pakistani), 19th Signal Regiment (CO:
Lt. Col. Ifthekhar Hussain -Pakistani) and the 149th infantry workshop. PAF personnel were
stationed at the Tejgaon Airport. A squadron of at least 14 M24 Chaffee tanks from the 29th
Cavalry regiment was stationed in Dhaka along with 2 Tank troops with 6 PT-76 tanks. In
addition to these units, other support elements (engineering, supply and medical units) of the
57th brigade, the 14th division and the Eastern Command HQ were located in Dacca.
Bengali forces: The 10th EBR, called National Service Battalion had a few trainers under the
command of Lt. Col Moyeeduddin Ahmed, a Bengali officer. 2,500 EPR troops were attached
with the EPR HQ (the 13th, 15th and 16th wings, plus the EPR HQ wing and signals wing) at
Pilkhana. Each EPR wing contained 3 companies, although most EPR troops were at Pilkhana, 2
companies were deployed in Mirpur, two at the President house and one at the Governor house
in the city. W. Pakistani Brig. Nissar Ahmad Khan was the director general of all EPR while Lt.
Col. Anwar Hossain Shah (W. Pakistani) commanded EPR Dhaka sector troops. The Rajarbag
police line housed at least 2,000 armed police. 2nd EBR (C.O: Lt. Col. Rakib - Bengali) was at
Joydevpur to the north of Dhaka, with one company in Tangail and one at Mymensying and a
small detachment at Gazipur. EPR 2nd wing HQ (C.O - Capt. Qamar Abbas - W. Pakistani) was
also at Mymensingh, containing no Bengali officers.
Course of events: Pakistani plan of action for Dhaka, as drawn up by Maj. Gen. Farman, was:
1. 13th Frontier Force to stay in cantonment as reserve and provide security

2. 43rd Light Ack Ack regiment was to secure Tejgaon airport
3. 22nd Baluch regiment would disarm the EPR and seize wireless at Pilkhana EPR HQ
4. 32nd Punjab was to neutralize Rajarbag Police line
5. 18th Punjab was to fan out and secure Nawabpur and old Dhaka
6. 31st Field was to secure Second capital, Mohammadpur and Mirpur
7. A platoon from 3 SSG was to capture Sheikh Mujib
8. 22nd Baluch and 32nd Punjab was to neutralize Dhaka University rebels
9. 22 Baluch would be reinforced at Pilkhana
Bengali EPR officers were detained by the Pakistanis in Pilkhana and the troops were mostly
ordered to stand down and relax, while 22nd Baluch took over security duties at Pilkhana on
March 25 morning hours. Rumor spread in the city after dusk that Yahia Khan had left and
Awami League volunteers put up makeshift barricades in the streets, but these did not cause any
significant delay to Pakistani troop movements. The volunteers manning the barricades were the
first civilians to be shot by Pakistani troops. Although the operation was to start at 0110 hours,
Pakistani troops moved out at 11:30 PM from Dacca cantonment as the Pakistani field
commander wished to cut the reaction time of the Bengali forces. The army was given a 6-hour
deadline to achieve its goal in Dhaka. Pakistani Army troops quickly shut off all communication
channels in Dacca before commencing the operation.
The 10th Bengal was easily disarmed in the cantonment and later eliminated. The 31st Field was
deployed in the second capital of Dacca city itself and secured the northern part of the city. The
commandos, accompanied by Major Belal and Lt. Col. Z.A. Khan easily captured Sheikh
Mujibur Rahman at the beginning of the crackdown, but most of the Awami League senior
leadership save one managed to evade capture and left the city by 29 March. The audio tape
containing all these were done by the siblings, resident of Khilgaon Chowdhury Para area,
Dacca. Belal's troop was referred as Belal boys. The capture of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was
announced to all units (perhaps) "The big bird has been caged". The death of Commodore
Moazzem Hossain was announced in Urdu. The military were searching for Tajuddin and Bhuiya
and they were announcing that any building shown hoisting black flag or Bangladeshi flag will
be knocked down. They referred to Bengali as "Native Language". One copy of this tape is given
to Muktijuddho Jadughor, but the original is retained by the brother of the two siblings - Dr.
Mozammel Hussain.
22nd Baluch at the EPR HQ attacked and subdued the disorganised resistance of the mostly
disarmed EPR after an all night battle. Pakistanis captured the EPR troops posted at Mirpur, the
President House and the Governor house without resistance, but many managed to flee while
some were executed.
Contingents from the 18th and 32nd Punjab regiments assaulted the Dacca University area,
subdued the light resistance from the Awami League volunteers, killed unarmed students present
in the resident halls, also murdered some professors, then moved on to attack the Hindu areas
and the old town on the morning of March 26. The Police at Rajarbag, aided by Awami League
volunteers, put up a stout resistance, but were eventually overcome and most survivors were
captured or scattered. Pakistani forces had used artillery and armour liberally, disregarding
civilian safety altogether during the operation. The city was secured before dawn and a curfew
was imposed. Surviving EPR and police fled the city, some crossed the Buriganga river to gather
at Jingira. Sporadic attacks on the army took place during March 26-April 5, but barring the
failure to arrest Awami league leaders, the army had achieved its objectives. Pakistani soldiers
had also destroyed the Shaheed Minar, offices of The Daily Ittefaq, Daily People and the Kali
temple at Ramna, none of which had any military value.
Captured Bengali soldiers, EPR and police personnel were either executed or imprisoned without
trial. From March 26 to April 6, in an operation dubbed "GREAT FLY-IN" PIA Boeings and C
130 Transports would fly the 9th (made of the 27th, 313ed and 117th Brigades)and 16th (34th
and 205th bdes) divisions (a total of 5 Brigade HQs, containing 16 infantry battalions) to Dacca,
and elements of these formations would be flown to various locations in East Pakistan to
reinforce Pakistani garrisons. 2 Mortar batteries and 2 wings each of EPCAF and West Pakistan
Rangers, accompanied by a considerable number of Tochi and Thal Scouts were also deployed.
PAF No. 6 Squadron had 9 C-130B/E Hercules Aircraft available in March 1971. 5 C-130B and
1 C-130E were employed to transfer troops from West to East Pakistan under Operation Great
Fly-In. After March 25, two C-130B planes were stationed in Dhaka. PIA fleet had 7 Boeing 707
and 4 Boeing 720 planes, 75% of PIA transport capacity was also used to ferry troops from West
Pakistan.
Pakistan army lifted the curfew for 2 hours on 27 March, when thousands of civilians left Dacca
for the countryside. Pakistani troops began to move out of the city after March 26, taking up
positions at Demra to the east, Tongi to the north and Narayangaung to the south to block road
access to the city. By April 10, Pakistani Army had taken over the area between the Padma River
to the south and Tangail-Narshindi to the north.
Mymensingh-Joydevpur
The 2nd EBR was posted in Joydevpur to the north of Dhaka, and had detachments posted in the
Gazipur Ordnance factory (which had a small arsenal)and Rajendrapur Munitions factory (also
housed an ammunition depot). Pakistani planners had feared that this unit could launch attacks
on Dhaka Airport or the cantonment itself and disrupt the operation during the early hours of
March 25/26, when Dhaka garrison had no reserve forces to spare. Although Lt. Col. Masoudul
Hosssain Khan had informed Maj. K M Shafiullah of the Pakistani crackdown on March 26 via
telephone, the unit did not take any action until March 27. Pakistani troops took control of the
Rajendrapur factory on March 26 and began to replenish munitions from that depot.
EPR 2nd wing (4 companies, one in Mymenshing, while other were posted to the north at
Naqshi, Karaitoli and Lengura) was HQed at Mymenshing, along with a company of 2 EBR and
a mixed company of W. Pakistani soldiers. The Pakistani unit attacked the EPR company on
March 27 but was wiped out on March 28, while other 2nd Wing companies neutralised
Pakistani soldiers (either arrested them and sent them across the border or killed them) and
deployed in towns to the east and west of Mymensingh by March 29. The 2nd EBR, under Major
Shafiullah, revolted on 27 March, partially looted the Gazipur armory and regrouped at
Mymensingh on 30 March. Shafiullah took command of 2nd EBR and 7 EPR companies (4 from
2nd wing and 3 made out of EPR, police, Mujahid and Answer personnel), and deployed his
forces at Tangail, Bahadurabad, Sirajgaung, and Gaffargaon by March 30. 3 EPR companies
were sent to Dacca to conduct sneak attacks, while the 2nd EBR moved via Kishorgaung and
Narshindi to attack Dacca. Maj. Shafiullah canceled this plan on 31 March and joined the forces
of Khaled Mosharraf north of Comilla with the 2nd EBR troops. Major Shafiullah deployed his
forces as follows: 1 Company each at Narshindi, Ashuganj, Azabpur, Brahmanbaria, Sarail,
Taliapara, 2 EBR HQ at Teliapara, and 1 company sent to Shadipur in Sylhet, and 1 to
Chittagong to help Major Zia.
Pakistani forces (27th Brigade) moved north from Dacca on April 1, one column headed for
Tangail while the other for Narshindi. EPR forces ambushed them near Tangail, but Pakistanis
broke through despite heavy casualties and Tangail fell on April 9. Two columns headed north
from Tangail, one towards Jamalpur and the other towards Mymensingh. Despite being
repeatedly ambushed by Bengali forces, Jamalpur fell on April 14 and Mymensingh by April 22.
PAF bombed Narshindi on April 6, dispursing the EPR forces, and the army column (31st
Baluch) attacked EPR positions near Narshindi on 8 April. This was repulsed, but the next
attack, aided by artillery and Saber jets, broke through on April 9 and Narshindi fell on April 12.
Mopping up action was conducted by the 27th Brigade, which secured Mymensingh, Sylhet and
part of Comilla division by June.
Chittagong housed the only oil refienry in East Pakistan, had a large fuel depot, was the largest
seaport and MV Swat, with 9000 tons of arms and ammunition was in port. Bengali units
substantially outnumbered the West Pakistani Chittagong garrison, which was a cause of concern
for Pakistani planners. Bengali officers of EPR and EBR had discussed a preemptive strike on
Pakistan forces, but the senior Bengali officers (Lt. Col M.R. Choudhury -Chief Instructor,
EBRC) and Major Ziaur Rahman (2IC, 8 EBR), dissuaded Captain Rafiq (Sector Adjutant, EPR)
from rebelling in the belief that the Pakistani army would not take action against civilians, but
confirmed that they would revolt in case of any Pakistani attack. Attempts to unload arms and
ammunition from MV Swat were a partial failure during March 20-25th, as civilian protestors
blocked any attempt to take the arms to the cantonment and many were shot by the army. Brig.
Mazumdar was relieved of his post because of this failure.
Pakistani units were given the following objectives in Chittagong:
Disarm EBRC units, 8 EBR, EPR and police units

Seize police armory, radio station and telephone exchange
Liaise with Pakistani Navy
Arrest Lt. Col. M.R. Choudhury and Awami League leaders.
The Chittagong garrison was to be reinforced by the bulk of 53rd Brigade troops from Comilla
on March 26.

Fall 2016
22. Bangladeshi Response: Declaration of Independence of Bangladeshthe Mujibnagar

GovernmentFreedom Fighters
Background
After the Awami League had won a decisive majority (capturing 167 out of 313 seats) in the
1970 Pakistan parliamentary elections, the Bengali population expected a swift transfer of power
to the Awami League based on the Six Point Programme. On February 28, 1971, Yahya Khan,
the President of Pakistan, under the pressure of PPP of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, postponed the
national assembly meeting scheduled for March. The Pakistan Peoples Party had already started
lobbying to weaken the stand of Sheikh Mujib, and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was heard saying that he
wanted the Bengalis to stay away. The Awami League, in response to the postponement,
launched a program of non-cooperation (largely outlined in the March 7th Awami League rally)
which was so successful that the authority of the Pakistan government became limited to the
cantonments and government institutions in East Pakistan. Clashes between civilians and the
Pakistani Army, and between Bengali and Bihari communities erupted and became
commonplace. President Yahya Khan flew to Dhaka to hold talks with Sheikh Mujibur Rahman,
leader of the Awami League, in March, and was later joined by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, then the
leader of Pakistan Peoples Party, which had secured the second largest share of seats (81 out of
300) in the elections. Unwilling to transfer power to East Pakistan as demanded by Awami
League (fearing a transfer of power would weaken or destroy the federation), or to lose face by
backing down in face of the non-cooperation movement, the Pakistani generals, most of which
including Gul Hassan Khan supported the Pakistan Peoples Party, finally decided on a military
crackdown.
After the convening of the National Assembly was postponed by Yahya Khan on March 1, ethnic
Biharis in East Pakistan, who supported West Pakistan, were targeted. In early March 1971 300
Biharis were killed in rioting by mobs in Chittagong. The Government of Pakistan used the
'Bihari massacre' to justify its military intervention in East Pakistan on March 25, when it
initiated Operation Searchlight.
Prior to the launch of the operation, a final meeting was held in General Headquarters (GHQ).
Martial Law Administrator of East Pakistan and unified Commander of Pakistan's Eastern
Military High Command Vice-Admiral Syed Mohammad Ahsan objected to the pre-planned
operation. Air Commodore Mitty Masud also objected to the operation, fearing that violence
would provoke East-Pakistan into more violence. However, under pressure during the meeting
from Pakistan's Army and Air Force's general, General Yahya Khan gave orders to his Army and
Air Force commanders to launch the operation. Disheartened and isolated, Admiral Ahsan
resigned, in protest, from his position as Martial Law Administrator, unified commander of
Eastern Military High Command, and the navy. With operation came in effect, Air-Commodore
Mitty Masud too resigned from the Air Force and as Commander of Eastern Air Force Command
(EAFC).
Declaration of Independence
26 March In a message form, bangabandhu sheikh mujibur rahman declared independence. The
message is said to have been made available to EPR shortly after midnight and it was duly
broadcast through EPR radio communication system. Because the system was VHF frequency
crystal controlled, not very many people did listen to the declaration. The message went:
This may be my last message, from today Bangladesh is independent. I call upon the people of
Bangladesh wherever you might be and with whatever you have, to resist the army of occupation
to the last. Your fight must go on until the last soldier of the Pakistan occupation army is
expelled from the soil of Bangladesh and final victory is achieved.
Major ziaur rahman of East Bengal Regiment declared independence the following day (27
March);'
I Major Zia, Provisional Commander-in-Chief of the Bangladesh Liberation Army, hereby
proclaims, on behalf of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the independence of Bangladesh.
'I also declare, we have already framed a sovereign, legal Government under Sheikh Mujibur
Rahman, which pledges to function as per law and the constitution. The new democratic
Government is committed to a policy of non-alignment in international relations. It will seek
friendship with all nations and strive for international peace. I appeal to all Government(s) to
mobilige (sic) public opinion in their respective countries against the brutal genocide in
Bangladesh. The Government under Sheikh Mujibur Rahman is sovereign (and) legal
Government of Bangladesh and is entitled to recognition from all democratic nations of the
world.
30 March From the Shadhin Bangla Betarkendra Major Ziaur Rahman again declared that the
Pakistan army, air force and navy had launched a combined operation against the civilian and
killing people indiscriminately. He announced,
I once again request the United Nations and the big powers to intervene and physically come to
our aid. Delay will mean massacre of additional millions.
10 April Many elected members of the National Assembly (MNAs) and Provincial Assembly
(MPAs) assembled in Kolkata and formed themselves into a Constituent Assembly in exile and
drafted the Proclamation of Independence, which was ceremoniously declared on 17 April at
Baidyanathtala (renamed Mujibnagar after the proclamation, a border area in present Meherpur
district), where Yusuf Ali, an MNA read out the Proclamation of Independence. The early part of
the Proclamation states the background of the War of Liberation. Then it goes:
'We the elected representatives of the people of Bangladesh, as honour bound by the mandate
given to us by the people of Bangladesh whose will is supreme duly constituted ourselves into a
Constituent Assembly, and having held mutual consultations, and in order to ensure for the
people of Bangladesh equality, human dignity and social justice, declare and constitute
Bangladesh to be sovereign Peoples' (sic) Republic and thereby confirm the declaration of
independence already made by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and do hereby affirm and
resolve that till such time as a Constitution is framed, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
shall be the President of the Republic and that Syed Nazrul Islam shall be the Vice-President of
the Republic, and that the President shall be the Supreme Commander of all the Armed Forces of
the Republic...'
Retrospection A close examination of the developments of events, incidences and episodes from
the earliest days of Pakistan to the announcement of the Six-Point Programme by the Awami
League chief Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 1966, people's response to general elections of 1970
and subsequent developments and eventual declaration of independence indicate that Muslim
nationalism, the basis of Pakistan nationalism, was eroding fast from the very next year of the
foundation of Pakistan and that the idea of independence for Bangladesh was evolving over time
and gaining momentum after the general elections of 1970.
The December elections (1970) made Sheikh Mujib the sole spokesman of the Bengalis. Mujib
got the mandate of his people to restructure the Constitution of Pakistan on the basis of Six
Points. After the elections the Six-point formula became a legal document, a 'Bill of Rights' for
the Bengali nation as a whole. Moved by the mandate, the elected representatives, like their
counterparts at the Tennis Court Oath of the similarly placed Third Estate on the eve of the
French Revolution, took a solemn oath at Ramna Race Course to the effect that they' would
never budge from the Six-point formula and Eleven-point programmes while framing the new
constitution for Pakistan.
Since the Oath Day (3 January 1971) Bangabandhu was never tired of reiterating it throughout
the post election period until the last moment of the so-called dialogue. His dream was to make
Pakistan a federation of states according to the letter and spirit of the Lahore Resolution (1940).
The idea of 'states' in the text of the Lahore Resolution was reduced to a 'state' later on without
taking any prior consent from the elected representatives of the people. Sheikh Mujib wanted to
mend it and make it 'states' within the framework of the supra state of Pakistan.
Soon Mujib faced some theoretical difference on his federalist concept from the collective
student leadership. They were inclined to believe that Mujib's scheme was too visionary, too
unworkable. They developed a parallel political creed based on Bengali nationalism. For the
Bengalis, they envisioned a new identity: Padma Meghna Jamuna Tomar Amar Thikana, a new
nationhood. But developing such a nationalist ideology did not really mean to challenge the
leader's main political tenets. It was only an alternative programme pursued with silent consent
of the leader. If Six-point failed, one point, independence, must prevail. With his charisma and
consummate skill, Mujib could maintain a balance between the militant nationalist aspirations of
the younger generations on the one hand and the moderate federalists, on the other.
From 1 March, 1971 it became crystal clear to the nationalist activists and politically conscious
masses that Pakistan military and political vested interests were not in the mood to honour the
electoral verdict. It could readily be perceived that the West Pakistan's hegemonistic relations
with East Pakistan over the last decades obtained such a complexity that it was practically
impossible on the part of the military and civil elites to descend from their dominant position and
agree to reshape the relations with the Bangalis in equal terms. To them, Six point formula meant
allowing the Bangalis to demolish their dominant status first, and dissolve Pakistan next. For
them the hard reality was to proceed for maintaining the given power structure with East
Pakistan, if possible, and abandoning the sinking boat, if their attempt to salvage it failed.
Under the circumstances, nationalist activists, particularly student leadership, began to assert
themselves and resolved to make East Pakistan independent from Pakistan through an armed
struggle. The struggle got a good trial from the mass uprising of early 1969. Releasing Sheikh
Mujib by means of warlike mass mobilization symbolized the burying of the concept of Pakistan
and formal launching of Bangali nationalism, which was emerging underneath since the
language movement. It is during the mass upsurge of 1969 that student and youth leadership got
ascendancy in politics. Most of the senior leaders were in jail and consequently it was the
students and youth who took the command in mobilizing the masses. The student leadership
proved to be highly imaginative and inventive in thought and dynamic in action. They
constituted Sangram Parishad at all levels of schools, colleges and universities. All peasant and
labour fronts also formed Sangram Parishads. Many of the nationalist slogans and symbols used
during the non-co'operation movement and during the war of liberation and even now were
coined by student leaders during the stirring mass movement of 1969.
The nation-building processes deepened and acquired high velocity from 1 March, 1971.
Circumstances so turned out since then that public mood began to shift from Six points to one
point of students, complete independence. Apparently it looks contradictory that while Sheikh
Mujib was trying to work out a peaceful solution to the crisis through dialogue, his nationalist
student followers were putting pressure on him to declare independence outright.
The contradiction, however, appears to be more apparent than real. Bangabandhu's politics of Six
points and student politics for outright independence became, in fact, symbiotic in relation. The
Bangabandhu needed students as a pressure group and the students needed the Bangabandhu for
protection. That Mujib was not unwilling to accept radical nationalist ideas of students is borne
out by the facts that he very readily and enthusiastically used the nationalist prose and idioms
invented by students in his public speeches ever since his acquittal from the agartala conspiracy
case. He accepted with pride the nationalist title of Bangabandhu from student leadership. He
also accepted and used the stirring slogan Jai Bangla and he never missed to mention eleven
points when he spoke of his six points. It may be noted that though the slogans, idioms and
symbols of the militant nationalist students were not strictly consistent with the six point political
thought of the Bangabandhu, they regularly met him and had political discourse with him
without having any disagreeable turn out ever.
The nationalist students and youth developed the concept of Bangali nationalism, gave a name to
the perceived Bangali nation state and they also provided the theoretical basis of the perceived
nation-state-Bangali nationalism, socialism, secularism and democracy. They gave a name to the
nation- Bangladesh, a name that hitherto existed as a loose literary expression only, not as the
concept of a nation. They invented a national slogan, Jai Bangla. They also made a father of the
nation in the person of their leader, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman whom they hitherto adorned with a
nationalist title, Bangabandhu. They made a flag for the nation, which they hoisted at Dhaka
University at the time of their first declaration of independence on 2 March 1971. They also
selected a national anthem for the nation: Amar Sonar Bangla.
All these icons and idioms of Bangladesh of pre-26 March are still venerated and sanctified by
the nation, but with only one exception. It is the question of the declaration of independence. The
series of open and opaque declarations of independence made by student leadership, public
leaders of most political brands, sangram parishads, labour and peasant leaderships and so on are
no pompous rhetoric historically.
Independence as a discourse became universal to the Bangali public from 1March,1971. The
government did not treat these otherwise politically blasphemous declarations and slogans as
seditious, because there was no government to question their bona fide, because the local and
national Sangram Parishads brought the governance under their own control. From March 1 to
25 March, nothing moved without their sanctions and directions. The nationalist student
leadership followed the Bangabandhu during the non-cooperation movement extremely
faithfully, but with a difference. The Swadhin Bangla Kendriya Chhatra Sangram Parishad and
the hierarchic Chatra Sangram Parishads and other sangram parishads were openly in favour of
outright independence, while the Bangabandhu was in favour of six points and dialogue. But
both Bangabandhu and student leadership declared the army-led government illegitimate and its
control over the country was reduced to cantonments only.
Therefore, by confirming the date of independence of Bangladesh with effect from 26 March
1971, the elected and revolutionary government of Mujibnagar had perhaps ignored the virtual
independence achieved by the people before 26 March. The historic fact is that all the prose and
idioms that the Mujibnagar Government used were all coined and used by student and youth
leaderships ever since 1969. The name of the nation as Bangladesh, slogan of the nation as Jai
Bangla, father of the nation and his title Bangabandhu, national flag, national anthem, etc were
all used during the non-cooperation movement. Ignoring the pre-26 March revolution is to ignore
the very basis of the war of liberation and to ignore the theoretical and practical builders of the
war of liberation.
In deciding the national Independence Day, the Mujibnagar government could have used
profitably either of the two historic models before them. One is the model of the American
Revolution. While all protests and dialogues with the centre failed, the elected deputies of the
colonies met at Pennsylvania on July 4 and declared independence with effect from that date.
The Bangladesh elected deputies could have done the same when they met at Mujibnagar on
April 10. Alternatively, they could have used the model of the French Revolution. Storming the
Bastille prison (an old fort then used as a prison) by the crowds on 14 July 1789 has been made
the National Day for France, because the episode of storming the prison house by the agitating
people on that day was symbolized by the Revolutionaries as the beginning of the end of the
despotic French Monarchy and assertion of liberty, equality and fraternity by the people.
Releasing Sheikh Mujib on 22 January 1969 by a mass uprising symbolized the end of Ayubean
despotism and victory of the people. If primacy could be given to sovereign will of the people,
this day is arguably the most significant for the inauguration of the Bangladesh nation-building
journey. Next most suitable day was possibly the great seventh march address by Bangabandhu
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Another very significant day to demonstrate people's power and will
was 23 March. On that day, national flag was hoisted on the tops of most houses and offices of
Bangladesh, ceremonial parade was held, and the national flag accompanied by national anthem
was hoisted and saluted ceremonially. All marks of independence were visible on that day.
Independence seemed so real on that day that the Awami League organ Jai Bangla asserted that
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman declared independence on 23 March. The declaration
drafted in legal form and signed by M.Yusuf Ali was printed in its issue of 11 May 1971. This
claim, however, went out of currency later.
To historians and social scientists, the politics of the declaration of independence thus presents
an interesting but enigmatic issue. In the current debate among politicians, the greatest
importance is attached to who declared independence on 26 March 1971. Questions are not
asked as to who prepared the ground for it, who prepared the substructure on which the
superstructure was built. Contemporary history is essentially the voice of the people in power.
That explains why declarer of independence changes in the school text books with the change of
regime. Who decides it finally? For judgment history always takes note of a range of time, never
of a point of time, which is ephemeral and momentary, and thus bears least historical
significance. The nation building processes of Bangladesh are still active, and so are all these
differences of opinions among the public leaders. But at least some issues of our history of
independence are now beyond dispute. These are Sheikh Mujib's contributions to the unfolding
of Bangali aspirations, identity and nationalism, and contributions of the most dynamic collective
student leadership to the conceptualization and formalization of the nationalist struggle for
independence. [Sirajul Islam]
Mujibnagar Government
Mujibnagar Government the government constituted at Mujibnagar to conduct the Bangladesh

war of liberation, formed on 10 April 1971 after the declaration of independence on 26 March
1971. The Mujibnagar government headed by tajuddin ahmad took oath on 17 April 1971 at
Mujibnagar. This government had also been known as Mujibnagar Government in-exile, as the
activities of the government had been conducted from outside of the territory of Bangladesh.
Formation of the government On 10 April a government was formed consisting of the top
ranking leaders of awami league. The oath taking ceremony of the government took place on 17
April at Baidyanathtala, in the district of Meherpur. The oath taking ceremony was conducted by
Abdul Mannan MNA and the proclamation of independence was read out by Professor
mohammad yusuf ali. In this place a guard of honour was given to syed nazrul islam, the Acting
President of the newly formed government.
Assignment of portfolios Although the government was formed on 10 April and its oath was
taken on 17 April 1971, the portfolios were assigned among the ministers on 18 April. The
incumbents of the government were:
Bangabandhu
Sheikh Mujibur President
Rahman
Vice President, (Entrusted with the powers, functions and responsibilities

Syed Nazrul Islam
of the President since the President himself was then detained in Pakistan).
Prime Minister, In charge of Defence, Information, Broadcasting and

Communications, Economic Affairs, Planning Division, Education, Local
Tajuddin Ahmad
Government, Health, Labour, Social Welfare, Establishment as well as
other affairs the responsibility of which was not yet entrusted to any one.
Khondakar Mostaq
Minister, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Law and Parliamentary Affairs.
Ahmad
M Mansur Ali Minister, Ministry of Finance, Industry and Commerce.
AHM Minister, Ministry of Home, Civil Supplies, Relief and Rehabilitation,

Qamaruzzaman Agriculture.
Mujibnagar government was divided into fifteen ministries and divisions. Besides, some
divisions were placed under the Cabinet. The functions of the ministries and divisions were:
Ministry of Defence Staff MAG Osmany, Commander-in-Chief; SA Samad, Defence Secretary;

Colonel Abdur Rab, Chief of Staff. The Ministry of Defence divided the war zone into eleven
sectors and appointed a sector commander for each of the sectors. But there was no sector
commander for sector No 10 or naval sector. Commandos used to fight under the command of
the concerned sector commander whenever and wherever they carried out the operation in a
particular sector. Besides, there were three brigades called Z force, K force and S force. Major
Ziaur Rahman, Major Khaled Mosharraf and Major Km Shafiullah were the commanders of the
brigades respectively.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs sought to obtain support of the foreign governments and people at
large for the cause of liberation of Bangladesh by establishing Bangladesh mission abroad and by
sending diplomatic emissaries to various countries. With this end in view diplomatic missions
were established in Kolkata, Delhi, London, Washington, New York, and Stockholm. Diplomatic
delegations were sent to the UNO, Afghanistan, Syria, Lebanon, Nepal, Srilanka, Burma,
Thailand and Japan for gaining their support to the liberation war.
Ministry of Finance, Industry and Commerce was headed by M Mansur Ali and Khondaker
Asaduzzaman was its secretary.
Cabinet Secretariat placed various proposals about the operation of the liberation war to the
cabinet meeting, implementation of' the decisions of the meeting, and monitoring and recording
these decisions. HT Imam was the secretary of the ministry.
General Administration Division was formed under the Ministry of Establishment to deal with
appointment, transfer, promotion and framing of service rules. Nurul Qader was the secretary of
the Establishment Division.
Zonal Administrative Council was formed under General Administration Division. Nine
administrative zones with a chairman for each were' formed to look after administration of
lubrication war activities. Each zone had a headquarters, and a chairman.
Ministry of Health and Welfare worked under a Director General. Later the position of the
Director General was elevated to the status of a secretary. The functions of the health department
was divided into two sectors: a) to impart medical treatment to the freedom fighters under the
army ie under the Ministry of Defence and b) to render medical treatment to such civilians or
persons who did not participate in the liberation war directly with arms.
Ministry of Information and Broadcasting played important role to build up public opinion in
favour of the liberation war. This ministry used to perform its functions through four divisions:
a) Radio (swadhin bangla betar kendra), b) Films, c) Publications, d) Fine arts and design.
Ministry of Home was responsible for maintaining law and order in the liberated areas. This
ministry selected the uniform, badge and monogram of the Bangladesh police force. Abdul
Khaleque was made the first IG of the police and was later appointed as home secretary.
Relief and Rehabilitation Division was created under the supervision of the Ministry of Home
and Ministry of' Relief with a view to rehabilitate the refugees taking shelter in India.
Parliamentary Affairs Division worked under the ministries of Foreign Affairs and Law and
Parliamentary Affairs. The main task of this division was to solve various problems of the
members of Provincial and National Assembly and to engage them in various activities.
Agriculture Division worked for finding ways and means for taking measures to overcome food
crisis by increasing food production in the post-war Bangladesh, introducing scientific
cultivation and providing loans to farmers under easy terms in view of the wartime losses.
Freedom Fighters,
The Mukti Bahini as Freedom Fighters, or Liberation Forces; also known as the Bangladesh
Forces) is a popular Bengali term which refers to the guerrilla resistance movement formed by
the Bangladeshi military, paramilitary and civilians during the War of Liberation that
transformed East Pakistan into Bangladesh in 1971. An earlier name Mukti Fauj was also used.[6]
On 25 March 1971 Sheikh Mujibur Rahman issued a call to the people of East Pakistan to
prepare themselves for an all-out struggle. Later that evening resistance demonstrations began,
and the military began full-scale retaliation with Operation Searchlight, which continued through
May 1971
A formal military leadership of the resistance was created in April 1971 under the Provisional
Government of Bangladesh. The military council was headed by General M. A. G. Osmani and
eleven sector commanders. The Bangladesh Armed Forces were established on 4 April 1971. In
addition to regular units, such as the East Bengal Regiment and the East Pakistan Rifles, the
Mukti Bahini also consisted of the civilian Gonobahini (People's Force). The most prominent
divisions of the Mukti Bahini were the Z Force led by Major Ziaur Rahman, the K Force led by
Major Khaled Mosharraf and the S Force led by Major K M Shafiullah. Awami League student
leaders formed militia units, including the Mujib Bahini, the Kader Bahini and Hemayet Bahini.
The Communist Party of Bangladesh, led by Comrade Moni Singh, and activists from the
National Awami Party also operated several guerrilla battalions.
The Mukti Bahini has been compared with the French Resistance as both fought for liberation of
their countries and the Viet Cong as a popular resistance movement. Using guerrilla warfare
tactics, it secured control over large parts of the Bengali countryside. It conducted successful
"ambush and sabotage" campaigns, and included the nascent Bangladesh Air Force and the
Bangladesh Navy. The Mukti Bahini received training and weapons from India, where people in
the eastern and northeastern states share a common Bengali ethnic and linguistic heritage with
East Pakistan. During the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, the Mukti Bahini became part of the
Bangladesh-India Allied Forces. It was instrumental in securing the Surrender of Pakistan and
the liberation of Dacca and other cities in December 1971.
Organization
The "Mukti Bahini" was divided into two groups; the "Niomito Bahini" or "regular forces"
who came from the paramilitary, military and police forces of East Pakistan, and the
Gonnobahini or "people's forces" who were civilians. These names were given and defined
by the Government of Bangladesh. The Indians referred to the Niomito Bahini as "Mukti Fauj",
and the Gonnobahini were called "freedom fighters".
Background
East Pakistan campaigned against the usage of Urdu as the sole official language of Pakistan.
The Awami League had won the majority in the 1970 Pakistan election. Sheikh Mujibur
Rahman, as the leader of the Awami League, was prevented from forming a government.
Bengali was the only language in Pakistan not written in the Persian-Arabic script. The
administrative change that merged the administrative provinces of West Pakistan into one "unit"
caused great suspicion in East Pakistan. Pakistan's unwillingness to give autonomy to East
Bengal and Bengali nationalism are both cited as reasons for the separation. The 1970 Bhola
Cyclone had caused the death of 500,000 people while the infrastructure, transport and other
services were severely damaged.The central government of Pakistan was blamed for the slow
response and misuse of funds. It created resentment in the population of East Pakistan. The
resentment allowed Awami League to win 160 of the 162 parliamentary seats allocated to East
Pakistan which made Awami League the majority party in the 300 seat parliament of Pakistan.
After 1971 elections, Yahya Khan hoped for a power sharing agreement between Mujib and
Bhutto, though talks between them did not result in a solution. Mujib wanted full autonomy,
Bhutto advised Yahya to break off talks. In March, General Yahya Khan suspended the National
Assembly of Pakistan.
On March 7, 1971, Sheikh Mujib made his now famous speech in Ramna Race course
(Suhrawardy Udyan) where he declared The struggle this time is for our freedom. The struggle
this time is for our independence. East Pakistan television broadcasters started broadcasting
Rabindranath songs, a taboo in Pakistan, while reducing the air-time of shows from West
Pakistan. Civilian interaction decreased with the Pakistan Army and they were increasingly seen
as an occupying force, while local contractors stopped providing supplies to the Pakistan Army.
The Pakistan Army also tried to disarm and dismiss personnel of Bengali origin in the East
Pakistan Rifles, the police and the regular army. The Bengali officers mutinied against the
Pakistan Army, and attacked officers from West Pakistan. The Pakistan Army's crackdown on
the civilian population had contributed to the revolt of East Pakistani soldiers. The East Pakistani
soldiers moved to India and formed the main body of Mukti Bahini. Sheikh Mujib on 26 March
1971 declared the independence of Bangladesh, while Pakistan's president Yahya Khan declared
Mujib a traitor during a national broadcast on the same day. The Pakistan Army moved infantry
and armored units to East Pakistan in preparation for the coming conflicts.
On March 25, martial law was declared, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was arrested and Operation
Searchlight started in East Pakistan. Foreign journalists were expelled and the Awami League
was banned. Members of the Awami league, the East Pakistan Rifles, the East Bengal Regiment
and others thought to be disloyal to Pakistan were attacked by the Pakistan army. The survivors
of the attack would form the backbone of the Mukti Bahini. When the Pakistan Army started the
military crackdown on the Bengali population, they did not expect prolonged resistance. Five
battalions of the East Bengal Regiment mutinied and initiated the war for liberation of
Bangladesh.
On March 27, Major Ziaur Rahman declared Bangladesh's independence from Pakistan and
fought his way out of Chittagong City with his unit of Bengali soldiers. The East Pakistan Rifles
and the East Pakistan Police suffered heavy casualties while challenging the Pakistan Army in
Dhaka, where West Pakistani forces began the 1971 Bangladesh genocide with the massacre at
Dhaka University. Civilians took control of arms depots in various cities and began resisting
Pakistani forces with the acquired weapons supply. Chittagong experienced heavy fighting
between rebel Bengali military units and Pakistani forces. The Bangladeshi Declaration of
Independence was broadcast from Kalurghat Radio Station in Chittagong by Major Rahman on
behalf of Sheikh Rahman.
Bengali forces took control of numerous districts in the initial months of the war, including
Brahmanbaria, Faridpur, Barisal, Mymensingh, Comilla and Kushtia among others. With the
support of the local population, many towns remained under the control of Bengali forces until
April and May 1971. Notable engagements during this period included the Battle of Kamalpur,
the Battle of Daruin and the Battle of Rangamati-Mahalchari waterway in the Chittagong Hill
Tracts.
On April 18, Deputy High Commission of Pakistan in Kolkata defected and hoisted the flag of
Bangladesh. On April 17, the Mujibnagar Government was formed.
During May, Foreign Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto asked General Yahya Khan to hand over
power in West Pakistan to his party. Khan refused on the grounds that doing so would support
the view of Mukti Bahini and the Provisional Government of Bangladesh that East Pakistan was
a colony of West Pakistan. Tensions were raised when Bhutto told his followers that "by
November [he] would either be in power or in jail".
On June 9, Mukti Bahini members hijacked a car and launched a grenade attack on Dhaka
Intercontinental Hotel, office of Pro-Junta Morning Post and the house of Golam Azam.
JulyNovember
July
The Mukti Bahini divided the war zone into eleven sectors. The war strategy included a huge
guerrilla force operating inside Bangladesh that targeted Pakistani installations through raids,
ambushes and sabotaging West Pakistani-controlled shipping ports, power plants, industries,
railways and warehouses. The wide dispersion of West Pakistani forces allowed Bengali
guerrillas to target smaller groups of enemy soldiers. Groups ranging in size from five to ten
guerrillas were assigned specific missions. Bridges, culverts, fuel depots and ships were
destroyed to decrease the mobility of the Pakistan Army. However, the Mukti Bahini failed in its
Monsoon Offensive after Pakistani reinforcements successfully countered Bengali engagements.
Attacks on border outposts in Sylhet, Comilla and Mymensingh had limited success. The training
period slowed the momentum of the Bangladesh Forces, which began to pick up after August.
After the monsoon, the Mukti Bahini became more effective while the Indian army created a
number of bases inside East Pakistan for the Mukti Bahini. The railways in East Pakistan were
almost completely shut down due to the Mukti Bahini's sabotage. The provincial capital, Dhaka,
had become a ghost town with gun-fire and explosions heard throughout the day.
August
After a visit to East Pakistan refugee camps in India in August 1971, Ted Kennedy believed that
Pakistan was committing a genocide. Golam Azam called for Pakistan to attack India and to
annex Assam in retaliation for India providing help to the Mukti Bahini. Azam accused India of
shelling East Pakistani border areas on a daily basis. Oxfam predicted the deaths of over one
hundred thousand children in refugee camps and that more could die from food shortages in East
Pakistan because of the conflict.
September
Regular Mukti Bahini battalions were formed in September 1971, increasing the effectiveness of
the Mukti Bahini. Sabotage and ambush missions continued to be carried out, demoralising the
Pakistan army.
October
In October, conventional Bangladesh Forces mounted various successful offensives, capturing 90

of the 300 border outposts. The Mukti Bahini intensified guerrilla attacks inside Bangladesh
while Pakistan increased reprisals on Bengali civilians, though the movement of Mukti Bahini
into, out of, and inside East Pakistan became easier and more common.
November
In November, Indian involvement increased, with the Indian artillery and Indian Air force
providing direct cover for the Mukti Bahini in some offensives. Attacks on infrastructure and the
increase in the reach of the provisional government weakened the control of the Pakistan
government.
Air operations
The Bangladesh Air Force (BAF) was established on 28 September 1971 under the command of
Air Commodore A. K. Khandker. It initially operated from a jungle airstrip near Dimapur in
Nagaland, India. When taking over liberated territories, the Bangladesh Forces gained control of
World War II airstrips in Lalmonirhat, Shalutikar, Sylhet and Comilla in November and
December. The BAF launched "Kilo Flights" under the command of Squadron Leader Sultan
Mahmud on December 3, 1971. Sorties by Otter DHC-3 aircraft destroyed Pakistani fuel
supplies in Narayanganj and Chittagong where targets included the Burmah Oil Refinery,
numerous ships and oil depots.
Naval Operations
The Bangladesh naval forces took shape in July. Operation Jackpot was launched by the
Bangladesh Forces on August 15, 1971. Bangladesh Navy commandos sunk vessels of the
Pakistan Navy in Mongla, Chittagong, Chandpur and Narayanganj. The operation was a major
propaganda success for Bangladeshi forces, as it exposed to the international community the
fragile hold of the West Pakistani occupation. The Bangladesh Navy commandos targeted patrol
craft and ships carrying ammunition and commodities. With Indian aid, the Mukti Bahini
acquired two vessels, the Padma and Palash, which were retrofitted into gunboats with mine-
laying capabilities. The boat crews extensively mined the Passur River in the Sundarbans,
reducing the ability of Pakistani forces to operate from the Port of Mongla but were mistakenly
bombed by Indian Air Force troops that resulted in the loss of both vessels and some of the lives
of the Mukti Bahini and Indian personnel on board. The developing Bangladesh Navy carried out
attacks on ships and used sea mines to prevent supply ships from docking in East Pakistani ports.
Frogmen were deployed to damage and sabotage ships.
Organization
M. A. G. Osmani, a Bengali veteran of British Raj forces in World War II and Pakistan army,
established the Bangladesh Armed Forces on April 4, 1971. The Provisional Government of
Bangladesh placed all Bangladeshi forces under the command of Osmani, who was appointed as
the defense minister with the rank of Commander-in-Chief as a four star general. Osmani
designated the composition of the Mukti Bahini into several divisions. It included the regular
armed forces which covered the Army, Navy and Air Forces; as well as special brigades
including the Z Force. Paramilitary forces, including the East Pakistan Rifles and police, were
designated as the Niyomito Bahini (Regular Forces). They were divided between forward
battalions and sector troops. Another civilian force was raised and known as the Gonobahini
(People's Forces) consisting of lightly trained civilian brigades under military command; the
Gonobahini also consisted of battalions created by political activists from the pro-Western
Awami League, the pro-Chinese and socialist National Awami Party, led by Maulana Abdul
Hamid Khan Bhashani, and the pro-Soviet Communist Party of East Pakistan
The guerrilla movement was composed of three wings: well-armed Action Groups which took
part in frontal attacks; military intelligence units; and guerrilla bases. The first conference of
sector commanders was held during July 1971, starting on July 11 and ending July 17. Prominent
sector commanders included defector officers from the Pakistan Armed Forces, including Major
Ziaur Rahman, Major Khaled Mosharraf, Major K M Shafiullah, Captain A. N. M. Nuruzzaman,
Major Chitta Ranjan Dutta, Wing Commander M Khademul Bashar, Major Nazmul Huq, Major
Quazi Nuruzzaman, Major Abu Osman Chowdhury, Major Abul Manzoor, Major M. A. Jalil,
Major Abu Taher and Squadron Leader M. Hamidullah Khan. The Mujib Bahini was led by
Awami League youth leaders Sheikh Fazlul Huq Moni, Tofael Ahmed and Abdur Razzak. An
Australian war veteran, William A. S. Ouderland, organized guerrilla warfare in Dacca and
provided vital intelligence to the Bangladesh Forces. He was awarded the Bir Protik for his
actions by the government of Bangladesh. Left-wing politicians Kader Siddique, Hemayet Uddin
and Moni Singh created several guerrilla units. Kader Siddique operated in the Tangail District.
Hemayet was a former soldier in East Pakistan and his Bahini was raised almost entirely on local
supplies. Moni Singh was a communist leader in East Pakistan.
The Independent Bangladesh Radio Station was one of the cultural wings of the Mukti Bahini.
The Bangladesh liberation movement released five prominent propaganda posters which
promoted the independence struggle irrespective of religious affiliations and gender. One of the
posters famously portrayed Pakistan's military ruler, Yahya Khan, as a demon. The Mukti Bahini
operated field hospitals, wireless stations, training camps and prisons.
Equipment
The Mukti Bahini benefited from the early control of Pakistani arms depots, which were
overtaken by Bengali forces during March and April 1971. The Mukti Bahini purchased large
quantities of military-grade equipment through the arms market in Calcutta, including Italian
howitzers, Alouette III helicopters, "Dakota" DC-3 aircraft and "Otter" DHC-3 fighter planes.
The Mukti Bahini also received a limited supply of equipment from the Indian military, as New
Delhi allowed the Bangladeshi forces to operate an independent weapons supply through
Calcutta Port. The Mukti Bahini used Sten Guns, LeeEnfield rifles and Indian-made hand
grenades.
The launch of Operation Chengiz Khan by West Pakistan on North India finally drew India into
the Bangladesh conflict and a joint command structure was established between the Bangladeshi
and Indian forces. Three corps of the Indian Armed Forces were supported by three brigades of
the Mukti Bahini and the Bengali guerrilla army. The Mukti Bahini and its supporters guided the
Indian army and provided them with information about Pakistani troop movements. The Indian
and Mukti Bahini greatly outnumbered the three Pakistani army divisions of East Pakistan. The
Battle of Sylhet, the Battle of Garibpur, the Battle of Boyra, the Battle of Hilli and the Battle of
Kushtia were major joint engagements for the Bangladeshi and Indian forces, who swiftly
captured surrounding land by selectively engaging or bypassing heavily defended strongholds.
For example, the Meghna Heli Bridge airlifted Bangladeshi and Indian forces from
Brahmanbaria to Narsingdi over Pakistani defenses in Ashuganj. The cities of Jessore,
Mymensingh, Sylhet, Kushtia, Noakhali and Maulvi Bazar quickly fell to the Mukti Bahini-
Indian joint forces. In Dhaka, the Pakistan Army and its supporting militias began the mass
murder of Bengali intellectuals and professionals in a final attempt to eliminate the Bengali
intelligentsia. Both the Mukti-Bahini-Indian forces, the Pakistani Army and its allies were
accused of looting, rape and violence on the civilian population belonging to their respective
opponents. The Mukti Bahini liberated most of the Dhaka District by mid-December. In Western
Pakistan, Indian forces advanced deep into Pakistani territory as the Port of Karachi was
subjected to a naval blockade by the Indian Navy. Pakistani generals surrendered to the Mukti
Bahini-Indian forces in Dhaka on December 16, 1971.

Fall 2016
23. The Price We Paid: War Victims and War Damage of 1971.
Genocide
we were told to kill the hindus and Kafirs (non-believer in God). One day in June, we
cordoned a village and were ordered to kill the Kafirs in that area. We found all the village
women reciting from the Holy Quran, and the men holding special congregational prayers
seeking Gods mercy. But they were unlucky. Our commanding officer ordered us not to waste
any time.
Confession of a Pakistani Soldier
It all started with Operation Searchlight, a planned military pacification carried out by the
Pakistan Army started on 25 March, 1971 to curb the Bengali nationalist movement by taking
control of the major cities on March 26, and then eliminating all opposition, political or military,
within one month. Before the beginning of the operation, all foreign journalists were
systematically deported from Bangladesh. The main phase of Operation Searchlight ended with
the fall of the last major town in Bengali hands in mid May.
According to New York Times (3/28/71) 10,000 people were killed; New York Times (3/29/71)
5,000-7,000 people were killed in Dhaka; The Sydney Morning Herald (3/29/71) 10,000
100,000 were killed; New York Times (4/1/71) 35,000 were killed in Dhaka during operation
searchlight.
The operation also began the 1971 Bangladesh atrocities. These systematic killings served only
to enrage the Bengalis, which ultimately resulted in the secession of East Pakistan later in
December, 1971. The international media and reference books in English have published
casualty figures which vary greatly; 200,0003,000,000 for Bangladesh as a whole.
There is only one word for this: Genocide.
Genocide in Bangladesh, 1971
The mass killings in Bangladesh (then East Pakistan) in 1971 vie with the annihilation of the
Soviet POWs, the holocaust against the Jews, and the genocide in Rwanda as the most
concentrated act of genocide in the twentieth century. In an attempt to crush forces seeking
independence for East Pakistan, the West Pakistani military regime unleashed a systematic
campaign of mass murder which aimed at killing millions of Bengalis, and likely succeeded in
doing so.
In national elections held in December 1970, the Awami League won an overwhelming victory
across Bengali territory. On February 22, 1971 the generals in West Pakistan took a decision to
crush the Awami League and its supporters. It was recognized from the first that a campaign of
genocide would be necessary to eradicate the threat: Kill three million of them, said President
Yahya Khan at the February conference, and the rest will eat out of our hands. (Robert Payne,
Massacre [1972], p. 50.) On March 25 the genocide was launched. The university in Dacca
(Dhaka) was attacked and students exterminated in their hundreds. Death squads roamed the
streets of Dacca, killing some 7,000 people in a single night. It was only the beginning. Within
a week, half the population of Dacca had fled, and at least 30,000 people had been killed.
Chittagong, too, had lost half its population. All over East Pakistan people were taking flight,
and it was estimated that in April some thirty million people [!] were wandering helplessly
across East Pakistan to escape the grasp of the military. (Payne, Massacre, p. 48.) Ten million
refugees fled to India, overwhelming that countrys resources and spurring the eventual Indian
military intervention. (The population of Bangladesh/East Pakistan at the outbreak of the
genocide was about 75 million.)
The Guinness Book of Records lists the Bangladesh Genocide as one of the top 5 genocides in
the 20th century.
The gendercide against Bengali men
The war against the Bengali population proceeded in classic gendercidal fashion. According to
Anthony Mascarenhas:
There is no doubt whatsoever about the targets of the genocide. They were: (1) The Bengali
militarymen of the East Bengal Regiment, the East Pakistan Rifles, police and para-military
Ansars and Mujahids. (2) The Hindus We are only killing the men; the women and children
go free. We are soldiers not cowards to kill them I was to hear in Comilla [site of a major
military base] [Comments R.J. Rummel: One would think that murdering an unarmed man was
a heroic act (Death By Government, p. 323)] (3) The Awami Leaguers all office bearers and
volunteers down to the lowest link in the chain of command. (4) The students college and
university boys and some of the more militant girls. (5) Bengali intellectuals such as professors
and teachers whenever damned by the army as militant. (Anthony Mascarenhas, The Rape of
Bangla Desh [Delhi: Vikas Publications, 1972(?)], pp. 116-17.)
Mascarenhass summary makes clear the linkages between gender and social class (the
intellectuals, professors, teachers, office bearers, and obviously militarymen
can all be expected to be overwhelmingly if not exclusively male, although in many cases their
families died or fell victim to other atrocities alongside them). In this respect, the Bangladesh
events can be classed as a combined gendercide and elitocide, with both strategies
overwhelmingly targeting males for the most annihilatory excesses.
London, 6/13/71). The Sunday Times..The Governments policy for East Bengal was spelled
out to me in the Eastern Command headquarters at Dacca. It has three elements:
1. The Bengalis have proved themselves unreliable and must be ruled by West Pakistanis;
2. The Bengalis will have to be re-educated along proper Islamic lines. The Islamization of the
masses this is the official jargon is intended to eliminate secessionist tendencies and provide
a strong religious bond with West Pakistan;
3. When the Hindus have been eliminated by death and fight, their property will be used as a
golden carrot to win over the under privileged Muslim middle-class. This will provide the base
for erecting administrative and political structures in the future.
Bengali man and boys massacred by the West Pakistani regime.
Younger men and adolescent boys, of whatever social class, were equally targets. According to
Rounaq Jahan, All through the liberation war, able-bodied young men were suspected of being
actual or potential freedom fighters. Thousands were arrested, tortured, and killed. Eventually
cities and towns became bereft of young males who either took refuge in India or joined the
liberation war. Especially during the first phase of the genocide, he writes, young able-
bodied males were the victims of indiscriminate killings. (Genocide in Bangladesh, in Totten
et al., Century of Genocide, p. 298.) R.J. Rummel likewise writes that the Pakistan army
[sought] out those especially likely to join the resistance young boys. Sweeps were conducted
of young men who were never seen again. Bodies of youths would be found in fields, floating
down rivers, or near army camps. As can be imagined, this terrorized all young men and their
families within reach of the army. Most between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five began to flee
from one village to another and toward India. Many of those reluctant to leave their homes were
forced to flee by mothers and sisters concerned for their safety. (Death By Government, p. 329.)
Rummel describes (p. 323) a chilling gendercidal ritual, reminiscent of Nazi procedure towards
Jewish males: In what became province-wide acts of genocide, Hindus were sought out and
killed on the spot. As a matter of course, soldiers would check males for the obligated
circumcision among Moslems. If circumcised, they might live; if not, sure death.
Robert Payne describes scenes of systematic mass slaughter around Dacca (Dhaka) that, while
not explicitly gendered in his account, bear every hallmark of classic gender-selective
roundups and gendercidal slaughters of non-combatant men:
In the dead region surrounding Dacca, the military authorities conducted experiments in mass
extermination in places unlikely to be seen by journalists. At Hariharpara, a once thriving village
on the banks of the Buriganga River near Dacca, they found the three elements necessary for
killing people in large numbers: a prison in which to hold the victims, a place for executing the
prisoners, and a method for disposing of the bodies. The prison was a large riverside warehouse,
or godown, belonging to the Pakistan National Oil Company, the place of execution was the
river edge, or the shallows near the shore, and the bodies were disposed of by the simple means
of permitting them to float downstream. The killing took place night after night. Usually the
prisoners were roped together and made to wade out into the river. They were in batches of six or
eight, and in the light of a powerful electric arc lamp, they were easy targets, black against the
silvery water. The executioners stood on the pier, shooting down at the compact bunches of
prisoners wading in the water. There were screams in the hot night air, and then silence. The
prisoners fell on their sides and their bodies lapped against the shore. Then a new bunch of
prisoners was brought out, and the process was repeated. In the morning the village boatmen
hauled the bodies into midstream and the ropes binding the bodies were cut so that each body
drifted separately downstream.
Strikingly similar and equally hellish scenes are described in the case-studies of genocide in
Armenia and the Nanjing Massacre of 1937.
How many died?
Bangladeshi authorities claim that 3 million people were killed, while the Hamoodur Rahman
Commission, an official Pakistan Government investigation, put the figure as low as 26,000
civilian casualties. The fact is that the number of dead in Bangladesh in 1971 was almost
certainly well into seven figures. It was one of the worst genocides of the World War II era,
outstripping Rwanda (800,000 killed) and probably surpassing even Indonesia (1 million to 1.5
million killed in 1965-66).
As R.J. Rummel writes:
The human death toll over only 267 days was incredible. Just to give for five out of the eighteen
districts some incomplete statistics published in Bangladesh newspapers or by an Inquiry
Committee, the Pakistani army killed 100,000 Bengalis in Dacca, 150,000 in Khulna, 75,000 in
Jessore, 95,000 in Comilla, and 100,000 in Chittagong. For eighteen districts the total is
1,247,000 killed. This was an incomplete toll, and to this day no one really knows the final toll.
Some estimates of the democide [Rummels death by government] are much lower one is
of 300,000 dead but most range from 1 million to 3 million. The Pakistani army and allied
paramilitary groups killed about one out of every sixty-one people in Pakistan overall; one out of
every twenty-five Bengalis, Hindus, and others in East Pakistan. If the rate of killing for all of
Pakistan is annualized over the years the Yahya martial law regime was in power (March 1969 to
December 1971), then this one regime was more lethal than that of the Soviet Union, China
under the communists, or Japan under the military (even through World War II). (Rummel,
Death By Government, p. 331.)
People regard that the best option is to regard 3 million as not an absolute but an arbitrary
number. The proportion of men versus women murdered is impossible to ascertain, but a
speculation might be attempted. If we take the highest estimates for both women raped and
Bengalis killed (400,000 and 3 million, respectively); if we accept that half as many women were
killed as were raped; and if we double that number for murdered children of both sexes (total:
600,000), we are still left with a death-toll that is 80 percent adult male (2.4 million out of 3
million). Any such disproportion, which is almost certainly on the low side, would qualify
Bangladesh as one of the worst gendercides against men in the last half-millennium.
Rape victims or war heroes: war women in Bangladesh
Hundreds of thousands of women were raped during the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971. As
the country celebrates 40 years of independence, these victims of war, known as Birangonas,
continue to suffer.
In Bengali, the word Birangona means "brave woman." The Bangladeshi government gave this
title to women who were raped by the Pakistani army in the nine months of the Liberation War
of 1971. But the title has come to mean "dishonored" or "violated woman" and is synonymous
with rape, abortion, suicide and war. According to Bangladeshi freedom fighters, the Pakistani
army raped over 200,000 women during the war. Many of them migrated to India to give birth,
while many committed suicide after being rejected by their families.
Aleya Begum often breaks down when she tells the story of how she was kidnapped at the age of
13 along with her sister Laily. She was repeatedly gang raped for seven months by the Khans, as
the Pakistani Army was called.
"The Khans tied our hands, burned our faces and bodies with cigarettes. There were thousands of
women like me. They gang raped us many times a day. My body was swollen, I could barely
move. They still did not leave us alone. They never fed us rice, just gave us dry bread once a day
and sometimes a few vegetables. Even the Biharis, who supported the Pakistani army, tortured
us. We tried to escape but always failed. When the girls were of little use they killed them."
Brave girls are 'bad girls'
Begum was also shot but she was rescued by the freedom fighters, known as Muktiyudhas. She
returned home five months pregnant. But the baby died after birth. "I was branded as a bad girl.
They called us names. I could not stand the humiliation and insults of the villagers. I moved to
Dhaka. I worked there as a maid and did odd jobs."
When Begum got married she did not share her story with her husband. Even now, she is afraid
people will make fun of her past. She says her husband abused her and threw her out of the house
when he found out about her past. Then, she says, "my daughter fought with him and he finally
relented. He asked me never to discuss this with anyone." She is angry that the government has
done nothing for the Birangona's rehabilitation. "We did not get any compensation. There is too
much pain in my heart. What is the value of my life? What did I get out of this life? People
always look down upon us. So why bother telling anyone?"
A forgotten story
Her sister Laily Begum was pregnant when the Pakistani Army kidnapped her. She lost the baby
in captivity and later fought with the freedom fighters. But she says her contribution still remains
unacknowledged.
"We lost everything, our reputation, children, husbands, homes, we did not want them to get
away with it. There was hatred in our hearts, we were determined to kill the Khans and save the
country. We fought with the Himayat Bahini. But nobody remembers us. Where is our name in
history? Which list? Nobody wants to thank us. Instead we got humiliation, insults, hatred, and
ostracism."
Aleya Begums 15-year-old daughter Asma Akter Eka says society may be ashamed but she is
very proud of her mother and aunt. She has composed a song about how no one sees the pain in
the heart of the daughter of a Birangona. Very few women have come forward with their stories.
If anything, the Birangonas have only received sympathy and pity. But they want society to
recognize them as war veterans and honor them like war heroes.
Who was responsible?
For month after month in all the regions of East Pakistan the massacres went on, writes Robert
Payne. They were not the small casual killings of young officers who wanted to demonstrate
their efficiency, but organized massacres conducted by sophisticated staff officers, who knew
exactly what they were doing. Muslim soldiers, sent out to kill Muslim peasants, went about their
work mechanically and efficiently, until killing defenseless people became a habit like smoking
cigarettes or drinking wine. Not since Hitler invaded Russia had there been so vast a
massacre. There is no doubt that the mass killing in Bangladesh was among the most carefully
and centrally planned of modern genocides. A cabal of five Pakistani generals orchestrated the
events: President Yahya Khan, General Tikka Khan, chief of staff General Pirzada, security chief
General Umar Khan, and intelligence chief General Akbar Khan. The U.S. government, long
supportive of military rule in Pakistan, supplied some $3.8 million in military equipment to the
dictatorship after the onset of the genocide, and after a government spokesman told Congress
that all shipments to Yahya Khans regime had ceased. (Payne, Massacre, p. 102.)
The genocide and gendercidal atrocities were also perpetrated by lower-ranking officers and
ordinary soldiers. These willing executioners were fuelled by an abiding anti-Bengali racism,
especially against the Hindu minority. Bengalis were often compared with monkeys and
chickens. Said Pakistan General Niazi, It was a low lying land of low lying people. The Hindus
among the Bengalis were as Jews to the Nazis: scum and vermin that [should] best be
exterminated. As to the Moslem Bengalis, they were to live only on the sufferance of the
soldiers: any infraction, any suspicion cast on them, any need for reprisal, could mean their
death. And the soldiers were free to kill at will. The journalist Dan Coggin quoted one Punjabi
captain as telling him, We can kill anyone for anything. We are accountable to no one. This is
the arrogance of Power. (Rummel, Death By Government, p. 335.)
Pakistani Army Desecrated Churches in 1971

Eyewitness accounts
The atrocities of the razakars in killing the Bengalis equaled those of their Pakistani masters. An
excerpt from an article written in the Azad, dated January 15, 1972, underscores the inhuman
atrocities of the Pakistani troops and their associates, the razakar and al-Badr forces:
.The people of Narail can bear witness to the reign of terror, the inhuman atrocities, inflicted
on them after (General) Yahya let loose his troops to do what they would. After March 25, many
people fled Jessore in fear of their lives, and took refuge in Narail and its neighboring localities.
Many of them were severely bashed by the soldiers of Yahya and lost their lives. Very few
people ever returned. Bhayna is a flourishing village near Narail. Ali Akbar is a well-known
figure there. On April 8, the Pakistani troops surrounded the village on the pretext that it was a
sanctuary for freedom fighters. Just as fish are caught in a net so too were the people of this
village all assembled, in an open field. Then everyone- men, women, and childrenwere all
forced to line up. Young men between the ages of 25 and 30 were lined up separately. 45 people
were shot to death on the spot. Three of Ali Akbars brothers were killed there. Ali Akbar was
able to save himself by lying on the ground. But no one else of that group was as fortunate.
Nadanor was the Killing field. Every day 20 to 30 people were taken there with their hands tied
behind their backs, and killed. The dead bodies would be flung into the river. Apart from this, a
slaughter house was also readied for Bengalis. Manik, Omar, and Ashraf were sent to Jessore
Cantonment for training and then brought to this slaughter house. Every day they would
slaughter 9 to 12 persons here. The rate per person was Taka ten. On one particular day, 45
persons were slaughtered here. From April 15 to December 10, the butchery continued. It is
gathered that 2,723 people lost their lives here. People were brought here and bashed, then their
ears were cut off, and their eyes gouged out. Finally they were slaughtered : The Chairman of
the Peace Committee was Moulana Solaiman. With Dr. Abul Hussain and Abdul Rashid
Mukhtar, he assisted in the genocide. Omar would proudly say, During the day I am Omar, at
night I am Shimar( legendary executioner famous for extreme cruelty). Dont you see my
dagger? There are countless Kafirs (heretics) on it.
Chuknagar: The largest genocide during the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971
Chuknagar is a small business town located in the Dumuria Thana of Khulna district and very
close to the India Bangladesh border. In 71 thousands of refugees gathered in Chuknagar to go to
Kolkata. According to a conservative account around ten thousand people were in Chuknagar
waiting to cross the border.
In the early morning of May 10, the fatal day around 10am two trucks carrying Paki troops
arrived at Kautala (then known as Patkhola). The Pakis were not many in number, most possibly
a platoon or so. As soon as the Paki trucks stopped, the Pakis alighted from the truck carrying
light machine guns (LMGs) and semi automatic rifles and opened fire on the public. Within a
few minutes a lively town turned into a city of death.
The accounts of the two hundred interviewees were same. They differed only in details. There
were piled up dead bodies. Dead Kids on dead mums laps. Wives hugging their beloved
husbands to protect them from killer bullets. Dads hugging their daughters to shield them.
Within a flash they all were just dead bodies. Blood streamed into the Bhadra river, it became a
river of corps. A few hours later when the Paki bastards ran out of bullets, they killed the rest of
the people with bayonet.

Fall 2016
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North South University

Department of History and Philosophy

1. Bengal to BangladeshGeographical FeaturesLand and People;

4. Origin of Two Nation TheoryMohammad Ali JinnahNawab Sir Salimullah;

5. The Lahore Resolution (1940)BackgroundProvincial AutonomyRole of A. K. FazlulHaq;

7. Language Movement of 1948 and 1952BackgroundRole of Students21st February 1952

9. Constitution of 1956NatureDifficulties in implementation;

11. Constitutionof1962Principal FeaturesProvincial Autonomy QuestionStruggle for

13. Agortola ConspiracyBackgroundRole of Pakistan Government and the Resistance of the

14. 11-Point Movement of the studentsSalient Features and their significance;

16. Election of 1970Election Manifesto of Awami LeagueOverwhelming Victory of Awami

17. Problem of National Integration in PakistanSocio-economical and Political Disparity between

18. Understanding Bengali Nationalism: Political Basis of Bengali Nationalism;

20. Liberation War of 1971: Non-cooperation MovementQuest for constitutional solution

21. Genocide of March 25 and the beginning of the Liberation War;

22. Bangladeshi Response: Declaration of Independence of Bangladeshthe Mujibnagar

Badruddin Umar The Emergence of Bangladesh: Class Struggles inEast Pakistan,

Aveyjgbmyi Avng` Avgvi `Lv ivRbxwZi cvk eQi

North South University

1. Bengal to BangladeshGeographical FeaturesLand and People;

1. Origin of the name of the Bengal

4. Geographical Divisions according to the position of its rivers

5. General natural conditions

People and Races

Origin of the People of Bengal

Pre Aryan People

People under the Palas

South Indian blood

North South University

3. Politics of Partition of Bengal (1905) and Its ResultFoundation of All India

North South University

4. Origin of Two Nation TheoryMohammad Ali JinnahNawab Sir Salimullah

In 1948, Jinnah said:

Aspects of the theory

Pakistan, or The Partition of India (1945)

In 1944, Jinnah said:

In an interview with the British journalist Beverley Nichols, he said in 1943:

Savarkar's opposition to the formation of Pakistan

Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan's opposition to the partition of India

Ethnic and provincial groups in Pakistan

Post-partition perspectives in India

Muhammad Ali Jinnah

5. The Lahore Resolution (1940)BackgroundProvincial AutonomyRole of

The background to the Act

1. Principle of Partition of India was accepted by the British Government

Salient features of the Act

7. Language Movement of 1948 and 1952BackgroundRole of Students21st February

North South University

9. Constitution of 1956NatureDifficulties in implementation;

Constitution of Pakistan of 1956

To frame a Constitution for the country, and

Written Constitution - This is a written and lengthy document.

The Bengalis were underrepresented in the National Assembly.

North South University

11. Constitution of 1962Principal FeaturesProvincial Autonomy QuestionStruggle

3.1 Title of the State:

3.2 Presidential System:

3.3 Powers of the president:

3.4 Legislative powers:

3.5 Financial powers:

3.7 Principles of policy:

3.8 Fundamental Rights:

3.9 Political Parties: