Culture Post 2: Liberation of Bangladesh
I knew the general reason for the liberation of Bangladesh, but I wanted to learn more about it and become familiar with the context so I researched the liberation of Bangladesh from Pakistan.
Pakistan was essentially created on the Indian Subcontinent in order to reconcile with the vast religious differences between the Muslims and Hindus. In 1946, Pakistan officially became its own state including part of the the other side of India, which would eventually become Bangladesh. East Pakistan, as it was known, faced oppression and injustices from West Pakistan, creating grievances towards them. One of the catalyst for the Bangladesh liberation movement was with declaring Urdu as the official language of Pakistan, discluding Bengali entirely although 56% of the population spoke Bengali. Proposing Urdu and Bengali as the official language became rejected and Jinnah, the leader of the Muslim League, asserted that Urdu would be the official language despite any disagreements. Bengali was rejected since it derived from Sanskrit and thus had more "Hindu roots" whereas Urdu had Arabic and Persian incorporated in the language. By discluding Bengali when it was the mainly spoken in East Pakistan, it effectively removed them from participating in Pakistani affairs/rule as Urdu was a foreign language to them. On February 21, 1952, the conflict regarding the language escalated when seven students were killed during a language protest. This day is considered one of the most important days in Bangladesh history as it invoked a greater sense of nationalism regarding the Bengali identity and separating the people from West Pakistan even more. Aside from language, West Pakistan was the governing state of East Pakistan and thus controlled the economic aspects of the state. Though East Pakistan was more rich in resources and earned more, they received less revenue (about 25%) than the West. There were events that shaped the liberation movement, but in the end when West Pakistan began to see its grip slipping from East Pakistan, it attempted to reclaim it by appointing a governor, Tikka Khan, but he was denied entry. Sheikh Muzibur Rahman, the leader of the Awami League that wanted autonomy for East Pakistan, rallied the Bangladeshi people and all the events culminated into a war. India allied with Bangladesh to fight for their liberation and with their more sophisticated weapons and guerilla war training, Bangladesh won the war against East Pakistan within 13 days and seceded in December 16, 1971. It was one of the bloodiest and shortest wars in history.
Sources:
http://www.virtualbangladesh.com/history/overview_akram.html
http://www.astronomy.ohio-state.edu/~nahar/cv/bdliberation-essay8.pdf
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