Bangladesh became one of the youngest major nation states following a pair of twentieth century secessions from India (1947) and Pakistan (1971). The region's history combines Indo-Aryan, Assamese, Munda, Dravidian, Mughal, Persian, Turkic and British influences. Bangladesh's territory became part of the state of Bengal as part of the Mughal Empire for two centuries and also during the succeeding two centuries of British rule. During the twentieth century, its resilient inhabitants seem to have suffered one trauma after another. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (Mujib) led the nation to independence in 1971, but he and his successor Ziaur Rahman (Zia) were both assassinated only in a span of six years. Their legacies (and families) define Bangladesh's faltering democracy to this day.
The exact origin of the word Bangla or Bengal is unknown, though it is believed to be derived from the Dravidian-speaking tribe Bang that settled in the area around the year 1000 BCE.
As the independence movement throughout British-controlled India began in the late nineteenth century gained momentum during the twentieth century, Bengali politicians played an active role in Gandhi's Congress Party and Jinnah's Muslim League, exposing the opposing forces of ethnic and religious nationalism. By exploiting the latter, the British probably intended to distract the independence movement, for example by partitioning Bengal in 1905 along religious lines (the split only lasted for seven years). At first the Muslim League sought only to ensure minority rights in the future nation. But after faring poorly in the 1936 elections, in 1940 Jinnah shifted decisively towards the idea of a separate Islamic Pakistan. Non-negotiable was the inclusion of the Muslim parts of Punjab and Bengal in this new state. The stakes grew as a new Viceroy Mountbatten was appointed expressly for the purpose of effecting a graceful British exit. Communal violence in Noakhali and Calcutta sparked a surge in support for the Muslim League, which won a majority of Bengal's Muslim seats in 1946. Accusations have been made that Hindu and Muslim nationalist instigators were involved in the latter incident.
British India was partitioned and the independent states of India and Pakistan were created in 1947; the region of Bengal was divided along religious lines. The predominantly Muslim eastern half of Bengal became the East Bengal (later renamed East Pakistan) state of Pakistan and the predominantly Hindu western part became the Indian state of West Bengal.
Pakistan's history from 1947 to 1971 was marked by political instability and economic difficulties. In 1956 a constitution was at last adopted, making the country an "Islamic republic within the Commonwealth". The nascent democratic institutions foundered in the face of military intervention in 1958, and the government imposed martial law between 1958 and 1962, and again between 1969 and 1971.
Almost from the advent of independent Pakistan in 1947, frictions developed between East and West Pakistan, which were separated by more than 1,000 miles of Indian territory. East Pakistanis felt exploited by the West Pakistan-dominated central government. Linguistic, cultural, and ethnic differences also contributed to the estrangement of East from West Pakistan.
When Mohammad Ali Jinnah died in September 1948, Khwaja Nazimuddin became the Governor General of Pakistan while Nurul Amin was appointed the Chief Minister of East Bengal. Nurul Amin continued as the Chief Minister of East Bengal until 2 April1954. The abolition of the Zamindari system in East Bengal (1950) and the Language Movement were two most important events during his tenure.
The Language Movement began in 1948 and reached its climax in the killings of 21 February1952, and ended in the adoption of Bangla as one of the state languages of Pakistan. The question as to what would be the state language of Pakistan was raised immediately after its creation.
The central leaders and the Urdu-speaking intellectuals of Pakistan declared that Urdu would be the state language of Pakistan, just as Hindi was the state language of India. Bengalis strongly resisted attempts to impose Urdu as the sole official language of Pakistan. The students and intellectuals of East Pakistan, however, demanded that Bangla be made one of the state languages, which was the native language of the majority (54% native speakers as opposed to 7% native Urdu speakers) in the whole of Pakistan anyway.
After a lot of controversy over the language issue, the final demand from East Pakistan was that Bangla must be the official language and the medium of instruction in East Pakistan and for the central government it would be one of the state languages along with Urdu. 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.
Notable pledges contained in the 21-points were: * making Bangla one of the state languages * autonomy for the province * reforms in education * independence of the judiciary * making the legislative assembly effective, etc.
The United Front won 215 out of 237 Muslim seats in the election. The ruling Muslim League got only nine seats. Khilafat-E-Rabbani Party got one, while the independents got twelve seats. Later, seven independent members joined the United Front while one joined the Muslim League.
There were numerous reasons for the debacle of the Muslim League. Above all, the Muslim League regime angered all sections of the people of Bengal by opposing the demand for recognition of Bangla as one of the state languages and by ordering the massacre of 1952.
The United Front got the opportunity to form the provincial government after winning absolute majority in the 1954 election. Of the 222 United Front seats, the Awami Muslim League had won 142, Krishak-Sramik Party forty eight, Nezam-i-Islam]nineteen and Ganatantri Dal thirteen.
The major leaders of the United Front were Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy and Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhasani of Awami Muslim League and AK Fazlul Huq of Krishak-Sramik Party. Suhrawardy and Bhasani did not take part in the election and Fazlul Huq was invited to form the government. But a rift surfaced at the very outset on the question of formation of the cabinet. The unity and solidarity among the component parties of the United Front soon evaporated. Finally, on 15 May, Fazlul Huq arrived at an understanding with the Awami Muslim League and formed a 14-member cabinet with five members from that party.
But this cabinet lasted for only fourteen days. The Muslim League could not concede defeat in the elections in good grace. So, they resorted to conspiracies to dismiss the United Front government. In the third week of May, there were bloody riots between Bengali and non-Bengali workers in different mills and factories of East Bengal. The United Front government was blamed for failing to control the law and order situation in the province.
Fazlul Huq was then quoted in an interview taken by the New York Times correspondent John P Callaghan and published in a distorted form that he wanted the independence of East Bengal. Finally, on 29 May1954, the United Front government was dismissed by the central government and Governor's rule was imposed in the province, which lasted till 2 June1955.
Curiously enough within two months of his sacking, Fazlul Huq was appointed the central Home Minister. As Home Minister, Fazlul Huq utilised his influence to bring his party to power in East Bengal. Naturally, the United Front broke up. The Muslim members of the United Front split into two groups. In 1955 the Awami Muslim League adopted the path of secularism and non-communalism, erased the word 'Muslim' from its nomenclature and adopted the name of Awami League. (Source: Banglapedia.)
Great differences began developing between the two wings of Pakistan. While the west had a minority share of Pakistan's total population, it had the maximum share of revenue allocation, industrial development, agricultural reforms and civil development projects. Pakistan's military and civil services were dominated by the fair-skinned, Persian-cultured Punjabis and Afghans. Only one regiment in the Pakistani Army was Bengali. And many Bengali Pakistanis could not share the natural enthusiasm for the Kashmir issue, which they felt was leaving East Pakistan more vulnerable and threatened as a result.
After the Awami League won all the East Pakistan seats of the Pakistan's National Assembly in the 1970-71 elections, West Pakistan opened talks with the East on constitutional questions about the division of power between the central government and the provinces, as well as the formation of a national government headed by the Awami League.
The talks proved unsuccessful, however, and on March 1, 1971, Pakistani President Yahya Khan indefinitely postponed the pending national assembly session, precipitating massive civil disobedience in East Pakistan.
In March 4, a group of students, lead by Abdur Rob, of Dhaka University raised the new (proposed) flag of Bangla.
In March 7, there was a historical public gathering in Paltan Maidan to hear the guideline for the revolution and independence from Shaikh Mujib, the frontier leader of movement that time.Though he avoided the direct speech of independent as the talks were still on table, he influenced the mob to prepare for the separation war. The speech without the script is still an epic speech for the war of libaration. A hit dialog of that speech is, "Now the revolution for independence, now the revolution for freedom...".
After the military crackdown by the Pakistan army since the night of March 251971 Sheikh Mujib Mujibur Rahman was arrested and the political leaders dispersed, mostly fleeing to neighbouring India where they organized a provisional government afterwards. The people were at a loss. At this crucial moment with a sudden forced political vacuum, the Eighth East Bengal Regiment under the leadership of Major Ziaur Rahman revolted against the Pakistan Army and took up the Bangladesh flag as its mainstay on the night of March 26 - March 271971. Major Zia declared the independence of Bangladesh.
The Bangladesh Government was formed in Meherpur, adjacent to Indian boarder. There the war plan was sketched.A war force was stublished named "Muktibahini". M.A.G. Osmani was assigned as the Chief of the force. The land sketched into 11 sectors under 11 sector commanders.Mejor Ziaur Rahman was the sector commander of Chittagong-Comilla region.
The training and most of the arms-amunations were arranged by the Meherpur government which were supported by India.
As fighting grew between the army and the Bengali Mukti Bahini ("freedom fighters"), an estimated ten million Bengalis, mainly Hindus, sought refuge in the Indian states of Assam, Tripura and West Bengal.
The crisis in East Pakistan produced new strains in Pakistan's troubled relations with India. The two nations had fought a war in 1965, mainly in the west, but the refugee pressure in India in the fall of 1971 produced new tensions in the east. Indian sympathies lay with East Pakistan, and on December 31971, India intervened on the side of the Bangladeshis. On December 161971, Pakistani forces surrendered, and Bangladesh ("Country of Bangla") was finally established the following day. The new country changed its name to Bangladesh on January 11, 1972 and became a parliamentary democracy under a constitution. Shortly thereafter on March 19 Bangladesh signed a friendship treaty with India.
In January 1975 economic and political difficulties led to Sheikh Mujib's assumption of the presidencey with greatly increased powers. On August 15, 1975, he was killed in a military coup.
Following two further coups (November 3 and November 6), Major General Ziaur Rahman emerged as de facto ruler, assuming the presidency in April 1977. In May 1981, Zia in turn fell victim to a failed coup attempt; ten months later, on March 24, 1982, Lt. General Hossain Mohammad Ershad took power, holding office until his resignation (December 6, 1990) amid corruption allegations.
Democracy was restored in 1991. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) of Khaleda Zia, General Zia's widow, won power in the elections held in February 1991. The next election in June 1996 was won by the rival Awami League under Mujib's daughter Sheikh Hasina. In 2001, a four-party alliance including Khaleda Zia's BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami, returned to power after a landslide victory in the polls.
From 20 May to 6 June, nearly 1.8 million garment workers of Bangladesh concentrated in industrial areas in and around the capital Dhaka engaged in a series of simultaneous massive wildcat strikes. During this period, especially from May 20 to May 24 when garment workers' revolt was at its peak, workers of nearly 4000 factories struck work. These workers, and other workers from the industrial suburbs, continuously demonstrated and blocked highways connecting industrial suburbs to the capital Dhaka and Dhaka to other cities â€" Mymensingh,Gazipur,Narayanganj, Ashulia, and Chittagong etc. In the face of this mass revolt, the government resorted to massive repression. In the first one week, as per official figures, at least 3 workers were shot dead, 3000 injured and several thousands were put into prisons. Till 6-7 June, Workers in different Export Processing Zones (EPZ) and industrial areas continued to engage in wild cat strikes and demonstrations â€" most garment factories remained closed. The state proclaimed that factories will open only from 8th June once order is fully restored.
