The conversation
Bangladesh at 50: a nation created by violence and still bearing scars from a troubled birth
Children from Bangladesh during the celebration of Independence Day in Dhaka in 2012. AP Photo / Pavel Rahman On March 26, it is 50 years since the beginning of the liberation war in Bangladesh, a bloody nine-month campaign launched on December 16, 1971. a peaked with the independence of the country. a violent birth, with some roots in the partition of India in 1947 – when Pakistan was created as a separate nation. When the British Empire left the subcontinent, an estimated 200,000 to 1.5 million people died in sectarian violence related to the division and 10 million to 15 million were displaced by force. The newly independent Pakistan consists of two separate geographical areas, separated by more than a thousand kilometers of Indian territory. Although both regions include significant Muslim populations, western Pakistan consists largely of Punjabi, Pashtuns, Sindhis, Baloch and other smaller ethnic groups. In contrast, the population of East Pakistan, which has become present-day Bangladesh, was predominantly ethnic Bengali, as the area was formerly part of the Indian region of Bengal. As a scholar of conflict, I argue that each of these factors – particularly the differences in language and political and economic inequalities – laid the foundation for Bangladesh’s independence struggle. This history still has an impact today. Deepening of fault lines From an early age, the issue of language was difficult. In 1948, the founding leader of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, emphasized that only Urdu, spoken by Muslims in the north and northwest of British India, should be the state language of the country. Bangla, which is overwhelmingly spoken by East Pakistanis, is considered a ‘non-Muslim’ language by West Pakistani leadership. The only Urdu policy aimed to create a single identity from two culturally distinct regions united by a common religion – Islam. More broadly, it was aimed at consolidating the national identity of the newly independent Pakistan. In East Pakistan, the declaration was followed by the ban on Bengali books, songs and poetry by Bengal Nobel Prize winner Rabindranath Tagore. Bangla language as a medium of instruction and primary way of teaching was also banned. All currency and official documents, including stamps and railway tickets, were printed in Urdu. The language ban has deepened tensions between West and East Pakistan. An important reason for this was large economic differences between the two regions. West Pakistan controlled the country’s industry and trade, while East Pakistan was mainly the supplier of raw materials, creating a situation of unequal exchanges. In 1959-60, per capita income in western Pakistan was 32% higher than in eastern Pakistan. By 1969-70, it was 81% higher in western Pakistan. Investment policies, including in education infrastructure, have consistently benefited Western Pakistan. East Pakistani had little access to the central government, which was located in the western Pakistani city of Islamabad. They were severely under-represented in politics. West Pakistan’s political leadership did not see Bengal as ‘real’ Muslims. Both in political circles and socially, Bengali cultural practices were seen as a lower social status. Mass uprising Attempts to “Islamize” East Pakistanis by the Urdu and “purify” Bengali culture of “Hindu influences” led to massive violent protests and strikes. On February 21, 1952, students and other activists launched a language movement called “Bhasha Andolon”, which demanded that Bangla be recognized as the state language for East Pakistan. Thousands of school and university students protested and challenged section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Act, which prohibits the gathering of five or more people and the holding of public meetings. The oppression that followed claimed several lives. From 1950 to 1969, it also caused a growing movement for autonomy across eastern Pakistan. A mass uprising in 1969 was brutally put down by the police and led to the introduction of martial law. In 1970, a devastating cyclone called ‘Bhola’ claimed 300,000 to 500,000 lives in eastern Pakistan. The indifferent response of the West Pakistani government has further fueled tensions. A major turning point came the same year when the only political majority party in East Pakistan, led by Bengali politician Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, won a landslide victory in the national election. The Pakistani leadership was reluctant to accept the results because they did not want an East Pakistani political party at the head of the federal government. This led to the beginning of a civil disobedience movement in East Pakistan. As demand for Bengali autonomy increased, the Pakistani government launched Operation Searchlight, a military operation to crush the emerging movement. According to journalist Robert Payne, it killed at least 7,000 civilians in Bengal – both Hindus and Muslims – in one night. On March 26, Bangladesh was declared independent and the war of liberation began. The violent birth of Bangladesh The liberation war was mostly waged by civilians – men and women, Muslims, Hindus and non-Bengali natives. Bangladesh’s independence struggle took place in the broader context of the Cold War, which meant that external actors were involved in the conflict. During the Cold War, India had an alliance with the Soviet Union, while the United States had an alliance with Pakistan to counter Soviet influence in South Asia and to protect its geostrategic interests vis-à-vis Afghanistan and China. When the Pakistani army intensified its campaign to suppress the independence movement, it did so with the knowledge and support of the Nixon government. The Pakistani army and its local collaborators targeted specifically Hindus, who in the 1961 census represented 18% of the 50 million inhabitants of eastern Pakistan. It is estimated that ten million Bengal refugees have become refugees in India. A further 20 million were displaced internally. It is estimated that 200,000 to 400,000 Bengali women were systematically raped. Independent research estimates 500,000 to 1 million people died in the genocide campaign. The government in Bangladesh maintains that 3 million Bengals died in the war. On December 3, India officially entered the war on the side of Bangladesh. Ten days later, in one of the last military operations, more than 300 Bengali academics, doctors, engineers, journalists, artists and teachers – both Hindus and Muslims – were killed by Pakistani soldiers and their local collaborators. On December 16, 1971, the Pakistani army surrendered to the Indian Army and marked it as Bangladesh’s victory day. Challenges today Shortly after his independence, in a meeting between US International Development Agency officials and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, Bangladesh was described as a ‘basket case’. Years of economic inequality, the cyclone in 1970 and the war left more than 70% of the population below the poverty line. In the 50 years since its independence, however, Bangladesh has made some significant progress. It tackled child deaths, gender aggressively. inequality and economic development. Today, with a booming economy, it is on course to graduate from the category of the United Nations which are the least developed countries. Nevertheless, Bangladesh still faces major challenges. Violence against women and girls, corruption and lack of freedom of the press remain serious concerns The country is based on the principles of secularism and today faces an increase of Islamists. The divide between those who participated in the independence struggle and those who collaborated with the Pakistani army still forms the political landscape of Bangladesh today. This article was published by The Conversation. , a non-profit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. It was written by: Tazreena Sajjad, American University School of International Service. Read more: Coronavirus includes Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh’s cramped, unprepared camps. I visited the Rohingya refugee camps and here is what Bangladesh is doing right. Tazreena Sajjad does not work, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization wishing to benefit from this article, and has not disclosed any applicable commitments outside of their academic appointment.