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The Pakistani period, 1947–71

Although the boundaries of East Bengal were based ostensibly on religion, they did not entirely reflect it. Owing to disagreements between the Hindu and Muslim contingents of the commission tasked with delimiting the province, the frontiers were ultimately determined by the head of the commission, Sir Cyril Radcliffe. Excluded wholly or partly from East Bengal were such Muslim majority districts as Murshidabad and Nadia; included, however, were Khulna, which was nearly half Muslim, and the Chittagong Hill Tracts, where Muslims constituted only a small fraction of the population. Even Sylhet, a predominantly Muslim district of Assam that joined Pakistan through a referendum, lost a part of its territory to India. The partition catalyzed large-scale migration on both sides of the new boundary as hundreds of thousands of people who believed themselves to be members of a threatened minority moved into what they perceived as a place of refuge. Along with Muslim Bengalis arriving in East Bengal from Hindu majority districts, there were many Muslims who came from other parts of India, mostly from Bihar.

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Pakistan began as a parliamentary democracy with a constituent assembly that was charged with the dual function of drafting a constitution and serving as the new country’s legislative body; however, overbearing central leadership eventually nullified the system. Failing to earn the support of Jinnah, who had become the first governor-general of Pakistan, Suhrawardy stayed in India to work with Gandhi for communal harmony, and Khwaza Nazimuddin became chief minister of East Bengal. In the central government (based in the western wing of Pakistan) Bengalis held the majority in the legislative branch but had little representation in the executive. Physically and linguistically separated, the two parts of Pakistan had only tenuous links; their overriding common interest was fear of Indian domination. Jinnah and his advisers believed that unification might be achieved through a common language, Urdu, which was used in the army and administration. By 1948, however, Bengalis had begun to resent the nonacceptance of Bengali as an official language, the domination of the bureaucracy by non-Bengalis, and the appropriation of provincial functions and revenue by the central government.

During Jinnah’s tenure as governor-general, he maintained a powerful central government under his authority. When Jinnah died in 1948, Nazimuddin became governor-general, but the real power lay with Liaquat Ali Khan, the prime minister. When Liaquat was assassinated in October 1951, Nazimuddin succeeded him as prime minister and installed Ghulam Mohammad, a Punjabi, as governor-general. Ghulam Mohammad consolidated a coalition of civil and military forces in the central government and secured a virtual transfer of power from the politicians to the coalition, first by dismissing Nazimuddin (who still had a majority in the legislature) in 1953 and then by dismissing the entire constituent assembly shortly after the general elections of 1954. In those elections, almost all the seats had been won by the United Front, a coalition of opposition parties led largely by Fazl ul-Haq and his revamped Peasants and Tenants Party (now called the Peasants and Workers Party) and by Suhrawardy, who had made a comeback with a new party, the Awami League. In 1955 Ghulam Mohammad left office, and Maj. Gen. Iskandar Mirza, who had served both as governor in East Bengal and as a central minister, took office as governor-general. Under Mirza, East Bengal was renamed East Pakistan.

Pakistan in 1956 at last adopted a constitution in which both the eastern and western wings of the country were equally represented. The new constitution also gave the federal government wide powers. Mirza became president and was obliged to appoint Suhrawardy, heading an Awami League coalition, as prime minister; by late 1957, however, Mirza had orchestrated Suhrawardy’s exit from office. In December of that year Firoz Khan Noon became the prime minister, with support from the Awami League.

In 1958 the government of Pakistan came under military control, and Mirza was exiled. The elite civil servants assumed great importance under the military regime, which adversely affected the country’s eastern wing. In 1947 there had been very few Bengali Muslims in the Indian Civil Service (ICS), whereas the western wing had produced several dozen. Although equal recruitment from the two wings was national policy, by 1960 only about one-third of the members of the Civil Service of Pakistan (successor to the ICS) were Bengalis. Moreover, the military installations were concentrated in West Pakistan, as was the bulk of economic aid and development.

Bengali discontent festered, finding a voice in Mujibur Rahman (popularly known as Sheikh Mujib). Like previous leaders, Mujib belonged to a landed family. He had been one of the founders of the Awami League in 1949 and became its leading figure after Suhrawardy’s death in 1963. A superb organizer and orator who was jailed repeatedly by the military, Mujib acquired an aura of martyrdom. Following a 1965 clash between India and Pakistan, primarily over control of territories in the Kashmir region of the western Himalayas, he announced a historic six-point demand for East Pakistani autonomy. When in December 1970 Yahya Khan, president of Pakistan and commander in chief of the armed forces, ordered elections, Mujib’s essentially separatist Awami League won 167 of the 169 seats allotted to East Pakistan in the National Assembly. This gave the league an overall majority in a chamber of 313 members. In West Pakistan the Pakistan People’s Party, led by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, won 81 of 144 seats; Bhutto consequently saw himself as Mujib’s rival.

Throughout March 1971 Pres. Yahya Khan negotiated at length with Mujib in Dhaka while government troops poured in from West Pakistan. Then, on March 25, the army launched a massive attack; destruction was immense, and many students were among the casualties. Mujib was arrested and flown to West Pakistan. Most of the Awami League leaders fled, set up a government-in-exile in Calcutta (Kolkata), and declared East Pakistan the independent state of Bangladesh. Internal resistance was mobilized by some Bengali units of the regular army. Among the most notable of the resistance leaders was Maj. Zia ur-Rahman, who held out for some days in Chittagong before the town’s recapture by the Pakistani army. He then retreated to the border and began to organize bands of guerrillas. A different resistance was started by student militants, among whom Abdul Kader Siddiqi, with his followers, known as Kader Bahini, acquired a reputation for ferocity.

Some 10 million Bengalis, mainly Hindus, fled over East Pakistan’s frontier into India while the Indian government watched with alarm. The Awami League, which India supported, was a moderate middle-class body like the Congress Party; many guerrillas, however, were leftist and a cause of concern. With some of the major world powers taking sides—the United States and China for a united Pakistan, and the Soviet Union and India for an independent Bangladesh—the Indian army invaded both the western and eastern wings of Pakistan on December 3, 1971. The Pakistani defenses surrendered on December 16, ensuring Bangladesh’s independence. A few days later, Yahya Khan was deposed in Pakistan and replaced by Bhutto; Mujib was released from jail and returned to Dhaka to a hero’s welcome.

Bangladesh since independence
In January 1972 Mujib was installed as the first prime minister of the new parliamentary government of Bangladesh, and Abu Sayeef Choudhury became president. Still troublesome, however, were various local paramilitary forces, known as Razakars, that supported the Pakistani cause. The Bengali Razakar force was called Al-Badr, while the Urdu-speaking force was known as Al-Shams. As Bangladeshi retribution against these pro-Pakistani forces ensued, Urdu speakers—known as Biharis, though most had been born locally rather than in Bihar—fled into enclaves where their numbers gave some security; nevertheless, many were killed. Hundreds of thousands of Biharis were placed in overcrowded refugee camps, where decades later many still awaited asylum in Pakistan.

Bangladesh’s constitution of 1973 provided for a secular state, a parliamentary form of government, a bill of rights, and a strong commitment to local government. Acceptance by the international community, however, presented a challenge. The initial application of Bangladesh to join the United Nations was vetoed by China; it was not until 1974 that Bangladesh was admitted to the organization. The new country confronted many other problems as well, including the restoration of transportation, communication, and international trade networks; the rehabilitation of the power supply; the revitalization of education, health, and population programs; and the resumption of agricultural and industrial production.

Elections held in 1973 gave Mujib a landslide majority, but the euphoria soon evaporated. Following a policy of economic socialism, the state had absorbed industries and businesses abandoned by Pakistanis, but economic troubles persisted. Prices escalated, and in 1974 scarcities were exacerbated by a great famine with a massive death toll. Faced with crisis, Mujib abridged freedoms and became a virtual dictator; corruption and nepotism reached new depths. On August 15, 1975, Mujib was assassinated along with most of his family. Right-wing pro-Pakistan army officers were behind the killing; some politicians also were involved in the conspiracy, and there were allegations of outside support. Unsure of their hold, the armed forces split into rival factions.

Another coup, in November 1975, brought Maj. Gen. Zia ur-Rahman into power. Once a freedom fighter, Zia now took an anti-India posture and favoured pro-Pakistan elements. In an effort to legitimize his power, he held a referendum in May 1977, received a vote of confidence, and assumed the office of president in 1978. After ensuring his control over the armed forces, Zia lifted martial law the following year. Although accused on some fronts of institutionalizing corruption in politics, Zia made notable achievements in the reconstruction and development of Bangladesh. He strengthened the military, empowered the bureaucracy, and improved law and order while emphasizing food production, irrigation, primary education, and rural development. He also initiated economic cooperation with nearby countries—efforts that led to the organization of the South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation in 1985. Nevertheless, military coup attempts continued, and on May 30, 1981, he was assassinated in Chittagong by some army officers.

The military high command in Dhaka did not lend support to the actions of the officers at Chittagong, and the conspirators were executed. Meanwhile, the civilian vice president, Abdus Sattar, was confirmed as president by a nationwide election in 1981, but he was ill, and real power was exercised by Lieut. Gen. Hussein Mohammad Ershad and a National Security Council. On March 24, 1982, Ershad ejected Sattar and took over as chief martial-law administrator. In December 1983 he assumed the office of president. To validate his authority he called elections for a National Assembly, and he formed his own National Party (Jatiya Party). In the election of May 1986, which was boycotted by many opposition parties, the National Party won most of the seats in the legislature.

Confident that the army was now under control, Ershad withdrew martial law later that year and called for a presidential election in October. Once again, the main opposition parties—the Awami League, now led by Mujib’s daughter Sheikh Hasina Wazed, and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), headed by Khaleda Zia ur-Rahman, wife of the slain president—boycotted the election, and Ershad received the overwhelming majority of the vote.

The opposition parties began a campaign of strikes and demonstrations to force Ershad’s resignation. In the late 1980s the poor state of the country’s economy brought greater pressure on Ershad, and in December 1990, after weeks of violent anti-government demonstrations, he finally agreed to step down. A caretaker government, headed by Chief Justice Shahabuddin Ahmed, was chosen by the opposition parties. In parliamentary elections held just two months later, the BNP emerged as the single largest block, and Khaleda became prime minister.

Among Khaleda’s achievements in office were the reinstatement through constitutional amendment of a parliamentary (as opposed to presidential) form of government and the advancement of the country’s economic and educational reform programs. Her tenure as prime minister was hampered, however, by strikes instigated by the Awami League and other opposition parties and by a cyclone in 1991 that killed some 130,000 people. The opposition frequently called for Khaleda’s resignation, demanding that a caretaker government be appointed and new elections held, but Khaleda resisted. In February 1996 general elections were held, and the BNP won an overwhelming victory; however, it was a hollow triumph, as only a small percentage of eligible voters had cast ballots, heeding a boycott called by the Awami League. Finally bowing to public pressure, Khaleda resigned about six weeks after the elections in favour of a caretaker government. In subsequent elections in June, the opposition swept to power, and Mujib’s daughter Hasina became prime minister

The political situation did not improve much during Hasina’s tenure in office. The BNP regularly boycotted the parliament, and anti-government demonstrations were common. The country also was beset in 1998 by a disastrous monsoon that flooded some two-thirds of Bangladesh’s territory for two months and left more than 30 million people homeless. On other fronts, the government made progress in its relations with India, signing a treaty for sharing water from the Ganges River; it negotiated an agreement (opposed by the BNP) for guerrillas seeking greater autonomy for the indigenous population in the Chittagong Hill Tracts to surrender their arms after a 20-year insurgency; and the economy (particularly agriculture) showed some signs of improvement. In 2001 Khaleda, promising to eliminate corruption, was returned to office, her BNP and its allies capturing more than two-thirds of the seats in the legislature. The victory, however, did little to curb the tense relations between the BNP and the Awami League.

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