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East Pakistan

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Template:Historic Pakistan East Pakistan was a former province of Pakistan which existed between 1955 and 1971. It replaced the former province of East Bengal and occupied the area now known as Bangladesh.

Post Independence

When British India was partitioned in 1947, into the independent states of Pakistan and India, Bengal was split between them. The western part belonged to India with the eastern part becoming East Bengal with a population composition of:

The latter formed one of the vital provinces of unified Pakistan. The other four Pakistani provinces (West Punjab, Sindh, Baluchistan, and the Northwest Frontier Province) were positioned on the other side of India, forming West Pakistan.

After independence from British rule, East Bengal was dominated and neglected by the Pakistani government, which was dominated by the Pakistani military, which mostly belonged to West Pakistan. A major cause of resentment among the Bengalis was economic exploitation. For example, between 1948 and 1960, East Pakistan's export earnings had been 70% of national total, while it only received 25% of the earnings. Between 1950 and 1970, only 34% of the development expenditure was spent in East Bengal despite having more than half the population [1]. Growing tensions led to the One-Unit Policy, implemented in 1955, which abolished the provinces. Under this policy, West Punjab, Balochistan, Sindh, and the Northwest Frontier were merged under the nominal designation of West Pakistan and East Bengal became East Pakistan.

Tensions peaked in 1971, following the cancellation by Pakistani President Yahya Khan of election results that gave the Awami League a majority in the parliament. The Awami League won almost all the seats in East Pakistan, but none in West Pakistan. East Pakistan had more than half the parliamentary seats because it was home to more than half the population. Although the Awami League was in a position to form a government without any coalition partner, it was forced to start negotiations with the Pakistan Peoples Party which had won most of the seats in West Pakistan. The negotiations failed and a 'military government' cancelled the results of the elections in 'East Pakistan'. Under the leadership of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Bangladesh began its struggle for independence. The official onset followed a harsh repression carried out by the Pakistan army on Bengali civilians on 25th March, 1971, with an estimated 1-1.5 million Bengali deaths during the war [2].

Independence of Bangladesh

See also: Bangladesh Liberation War

The tension between East and West Pakistan reached a climax when in 1970 the Awami League, the largest East Pakistani political party, led by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, won a landslide victory in the national elections. The party won 167 of the 169 seats allotted to East Pakistan, and thus a majority of the 300 seats in the National Assembly. This gave the Awami League the constitutional right to form a government. However, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the leader of the Pakistan People's Party, refused to allow Rahman to become the Prime Minister of Pakistan. This finally convinced the East that independence was necessary.

As the crisis grew more dire, General Yahya Khan declared at a meeting of the military top brass: "Kill 3 million of them and the rest will eat out of our hands." Accordingly, on the night of 25th March 1971, the Pakistani Army launched Operation Searchlight to "crush" Bengali resistance in which Bengali members of military services were disarmed and killed, students and the intelligentsia systematically liquidated and able-bodied Bengali males just picked up and gunned down.[3] On the same day, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, being identified as a major influencer of the Bengalis, was arrested by the Pakistani Government.

On 26th March 1971, the day after the military crackdown on civilians in East Pakistan, Major Ziaur Rahman declared the independence of Bangladesh on behalf of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. This started the Bangladesh Liberation War in which the Mukti Bahini, joined by 400,000 Indian soldiers in December, faced the Pakistani Army of 100,000. On 16th December 1971, the Pakistani Army surrendered to the Mitro Bahini (Allied Forces of Bangladesh Forces and Indian Army). Bangladesh quickly gained recognition from most countries and with the signing of the Shimla Accord, the most of the countries accepted the new nation. Bangladesh joined the United Nations in 1974.

Government of East Pakistan

On 14th October 1955, the last governor of East Bengal (Amiruddin Ahmad) became the first Governor of East Pakistan. At the same time the last Chief Minister of East Bengal became the first Chief Minister of East Pakistan. This system lasted until the military coup of 1958 when the post of Chief Minister was abolished in both East Pakistan and West Pakistan. From 1958 to 1971 the administration was largely in the hands of the President of Pakistan and the Governor of East Pakistan who at times held the title of Martial Law Administrator.

Tenure Governor of East Pakistan
14th October 1955 - March 1956 Amiruddin Ahmad
March 1956 - 13th April 1958 A. K. Fazlul Huq
13th April 1958 - 3rd May 1958 Hamid Ali (acting)
3rd May 1958 - 10th October 1958 Sultanuddin Ahmad
10th October 1958 - 11th April 1960 Zakir Hussain
11th April 1960 - 11th May 1962 Lt Gen Mohammad Azam Khan
11th May 1962 - 25th October 1962 Ghulam Faruque
25th October 1962 - 23rd March 1969 Abdul Monem Khan
23rd March 1969 - 25th March 1969 Mirza Nurul Huda
25th March 1969 - 23rd August 1969 Muzaffaruddin (martial law administrator)
23rd August 1969 - 1st September 1969 Sahabzada Yaqub Khan (martial law administrator)
1st September 1969 - 7th March 1971 Syed Mohammad Ahsan
7th March 1971 - 31st August 1971 Tikka Khan (martial law administrator)
31st August 1971 - 14th December 1971 Abdul Motaleb Malik
14th December 1971 - 16th December 1971 A. A. K. Niazi (martial law administrator)
16th December 1971 Province of East Pakistan dissolved
Tenure Chief Minister of East Pakistan Political Party
August 1955 - September 1956 Abu Hussain Sarkar Krishan Sramik Party
September 1956 - March 1958 Ata-ur-Rahman Khan Awami League
March 1958 Abu Hussain Sarkar Krishan Sramik Party
March 1958 - 18th June 1958 Ata-ur-Rahman Khan Awami League
18th June 1958 - 22nd June 1958 Abu Hussain Sarkar Krishan Sramik Party
22nd June 1958 - 25th August 1958 Governor's Rule
25th August 1958 - 7th October 1958 Ata-ur-Rahman Khan Awami League
7th October 1958 Post abolished
16th December 1971 Province of East Pakistan dissolved

Transportation

The creation of East Pakistan as part of Pakistan created problems of transportation both for India and especially Pakistan. While the former had its train links from Assam and Bengal rerouted through the Chicken's Neck and had to reroute all the road links via the same route increasing costs, the issue for Pakistan was far worse. With no direct road link to West Pakistan, the bulk of the transportation had to take place over the water route that had to go around Sri Lanka to reach a Pakistani port. The only other means for a faster transport was through the prohibitive airline links, which also irregular since in the case of any war or strained relations between India and Pakistan, airlinks were the first to be severed by India, putting even greater pressure.

See also

References

  1. ^ Bangladesh Liberation War
  2. ^ War Statistics
  3. ^ "South Asia". Asia Times Online. Retrieved 2005-06-23.
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