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Leading to Genocide and War

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The 1970 Bhola Cyclone was a natural disaster that had many political affects in Bangladesh and essentially sparked a genocide and war. After Pakistan was formed after the partition with India in 1947, it had with it, East Pakistan, which is present-day Bangladesh. The United Nations defines a natural disaster as “the consequences of events triggered by natural hazards that overwhelm local response capacity and seriously affect the social and economic development of a region.”[1] Like after many natural disasters, in the case of the 1970 Bhola Cyclone, the aftermath and political unrest resulted in the state taking steps to better prepare them for another natural disaster of the sort, with new precedents, laws, leaders, or regimes.

After East Pakistan was established with Pakistan, it had formed its own language and culture because of the distance it was from its central government (Pakistan). Pakistan had made Urdu the national language, which created a difficult language barrier between the two regions.[2] When Pakistan received information about the Bhola cyclone, they did not take the necessary precautions and warnings to East Pakistan, because of political conflicts (i.e., discriminating against the citizens of East Pakistan due to race, religion, culture, among other reasons), faulty equipment, and mishandling of information.[3][4] As for the aftermath, Pakistan's performance was less than par after the storm left the region of East Pakistan. "The national government response was poor, incompetent, and indifferent."[5] Pakistan refused to acknowledge the severity of the storm, although approximately 500,000 people died.[6][7] Pakistan's President Yahya Khan made a brief visit while passing through the area from China, exemplifying a nonchalant attitude attributed towards Pakistan.[8] Multiple agencies and multiple countries, including India tried to offer aid, however Pakistan handled the efforts poorly and refused aid from other countries, India especially, in the forms of helicopters, mobile hospitals and relief supplies.[9][8]

The government's response to the the Bhola Cyclone in East Pakistan was a factor in the next election, in which East Pakistani parties won, specifically the Awami League,[10] from which, East Pakistani citizens expected a transfer of power. However, President Yahya Khan decided to negotiate with the East Pakistani parties.[11] When that went awry, Pakistan started a military massacre which initiated Operation Searchlight, a "a pre-emptive strike against the Awami League, and other perceived opponents, including members of the intelligentsia and the Hindu community, who at that time made up about 20% of the province's 75 million people."[12][13] This led to the 1971 Bangladesh Genocide and, ultimately, the Bangladesh Liberation War, from which, East Pakistan became Bangladesh, its own independent, sovereign country. In the midst of the crisis between the two regions, parts of then-East Pakistan were still struggling to receive aid, reconstruction, and rehabilitation.[7] Agencies that could have been of service in the city of Dacca were shut down due to attacks,[7] foreign personnel and agencies giving aid to the regions affected by the natural disaster were finding ways out of the country due to the proliferation of the Bangladesh Liberation War, ultimately creating 10 million refugees fleeing to India and 30 million internally displaced persons.[14]

Suggestions

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This could probably be merged into the political consequences tab, but summarized. .Here's the content from that section and some potential ways to merge in the information:

The Awami League, headed by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, swept to a landslide victory in the national elections in December 1970, in part because of dissatisfaction over failure of the relief efforts by the national government. The elections for nine national assembly and eighteen provincial assembly seats had to be postponed until January 18 as a result of the storm.[15]

The government's handling of the relief efforts only helped to fuel the bitterness felt in East Pakistan, which was already exacerbated by language and cultural barriers between the two regions.[2] The lack of precautions and warnings from the central government also had an impact, as citizens in East Pakistani believed that this was due to political conflicts, faulty equipment, and mishandling of information.[3][4] Relief funds only slowly got through, and transport was slow in bringing supplies to the devastated regions, and the government's reaction to the storm's fatalities and refusal of aid from other countries caused tensions to rise. This resulted in foreign personnel evacuating in March and as the situation deteriorated further due to failed negotiations with the East Pakistani parties,[11] these tensions resulted in the creation of Operation Searchlight, a "a pre-emptive strike against the Awami League, and other perceived opponents, including members of the intelligentsia and the Hindu community, who at that time made up about 20% of the province's 75 million people."[12][13] This led to the 1971 Bangladesh Genocide and ultimately the Bangladesh Liberation War and the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, from which East Pakistan became Bangladesh, its own independent, sovereign country. This marked one of the the first times that a natural event helped to trigger a civil war.[16]

While this isn't perfect, this could be a way to incorporate more about the genocide into the article. Feel free to make tweaks to this as you see fit, of course. Shalor (Wiki Ed) (talk) 14:11, 24 April 2017 (UTC)


  1. ^ "Natural Disasters, Conflict, and Human Rights: Tracing the Connections | Brookings Institution". Brookings. 2017-02-27. Retrieved 2017-02-27.
  2. ^ a b Helal, Bashir Al. "Language Movement". Banglapedia. Asiatic Society of Bangladesh. Retrieved 25 February 2017.
  3. ^ a b Staff writer (December 1, 1970). "East Pakistan Failed To Use Storm-Warning System". New York Times.
  4. ^ a b "Cyclone Alert Plan Failed: Aid Official". Chicago Tribune.
  5. ^ Carroll, Al (2014). Presidents' Body Counts: The Twelve Worst and Four Best American Presidents Based on How Many Lived or Died Because of Their Actions. Virginia: Lulu Press, Inc. p. 121.
  6. ^ Staff writer (December 1, 1970). "East Pakistan Failed To Use Storm-Warning System". New York Times.
  7. ^ a b c Durdin, Tillman (March 11, 1971). "Pakistanis Crisis Virtually Halts Rehabilitation Work in Cyclone Region". The New York Times.
  8. ^ a b "Pakistan relief program flounder as toll mounts". The Daily Tribune. Wisconsin Rapids, WI. Associated Press. November 23, 1970. p. 3. Retrieved February 25, 2017 – viaNewspapers.com
  9. ^ "East Pakistan: The Politics of Catastrophe". Time.
  10. ^ "Bangladesh Awami League". Bangladesh Awami League.
  11. ^ a b Srivastava, A.L. "India". ENCYCLOPÆDIA BRITANNICA.
  12. ^ a b Dummett, Mark. "Bangladesh war: The article that changed history".
  13. ^ a b Ganguly, Sumit (2002). Conflict Unending: India-Pakistan Tensions Since 1947. Columbia University Press. p. 60. ISBN 978-0-231-12369-3.
  14. ^ Samuel; Paul Robert Bartrop, Steven L. Jacobs. Dictionary of Genocide: A-L. Volume 1: Greenwood. p. 34. ISBN 978-0-313-32967-8
  15. ^ Jin Technologies (June 1, 2003). "General Elections 1970". Story of Pakistan. Retrieved April 15, 2007.
  16. ^ Olson, Richard (February 21, 2005). "A Critical Juncture Analysis, 1964-2003" (PDF). USAID. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 14, 2007. Retrieved April 15, 2007.
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