When was bangladesh created

Both in political circles and socially, Bengali cultural practices were considered of a lower social status. On Feb. Thousands of school and college students protested, defying Section of the Criminal Procedural Code, which prohibited assembly of five or more people and holding of public meetings.

The crackdown that followed claimed several lives. From to it also galvanized a growing movement for autonomy across East Pakistan. A mass uprising in was brutally put down by police and led to the imposition of martial law.

The indifferent response of the West Pakistan government further inflamed tensions. A big turning point came the same year when the sole majority political party in East Pakistan, led by Bengali politician Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, won a landslide victory in national elections.

The Pakistani leadership was reluctant to accept the results because it did not want an East Pakistani political party heading the federal government. This resulted in the start of a civil disobedience movement in East Pakistan. According to journalist Robert Payne, it killed at least 7, Bengali civilians — both Hindus and Muslims — in a single night. On March 26, Bangladesh was declared independent and the liberation war began.

The liberation war was fought mostly by civilians — men and women , Muslims, Hindus and non-Bengali Indigenous people. When the Pakistani military intensified its campaign to quell the independence movement, it did so with the knowledge and support of the Nixon administration. An estimated 10 million Bengalis became refugees in India. A further 20 million were internally displaced. At midnight on March 25, Pakistan unleashed genocide in Bangladesh.

Refugees streamed into India. India stood by Bangladesh in its freedom struggle and one must salute the contribution of Indira Gandhi — as well as of the Indian Army — in winning liberation for Bangladesh. As the genocide began on the night of March is commemorated as the day of liberation. The Pakistani supremacy lasted two and a half decades — religion and the two-nation theory fell on the way.

He declared Urdu the state language of West and East Pakistan. He forgot that the people of East Pakistan did not speak Urdu — they spoke Bangla. A common religion cannot unite countries and nations. Despite his wisdom and astuteness as a politician he was blind to this issue. The Constitution of Bangladesh had four main principles — democracy, socialism, secularism and Bengali nationalism.

However, all four have disappeared after the assassination of Bangabandhu. Democracy remains, in name only. Elections take place though. Islam became the state religion. Political parties did not protest. That tradition continues. She had pledged, before coming to office, to restore the four main principles of the Constitution, but has refrained from doing so.

In fact, she leans more on Islam, Islamic countries and Islamic parties. It witnessed the assassination of Bangabandhu, the reigns of two military dictators, the formation of SAARC at the initiative of Ziaur Rahman, a military coup and the assassination of Ziaur Rahman, three caretaker regimes, governments headed by two women prime ministers, the rise of nearly a hundred political parties, all mostly Islamic.

The focus in Dhaka will be on the courage and resilience of the Bangladeshi people who overcame the genocidal onslaught of the Pakistani army against its then co-nationals. It will also be on Sheikh Mujibur Rehman whose birth centenary Bangladesh is currently celebrating.

He embodied the aspirations of the then East Pakistani people for equality within Pakistan, and as that prospect became remote, for throwing off the West Pakistani yoke. Also, later in the year, as India marks the golden jubilee of its victory in the War, how will it honour the leader who led the country with skill and iron determination to victory against very great odds? Her later mistakes cannot take away her achievement.

Whenever people look back to the events of , their attention is claimed by the success of the Indian Army or shifts to the controversies generated by the Simla Agreement of July Consequently, the political and diplomatic successes of , which provided the foundation for military achievements, have fallen into the crevices of public memory. But first, how should the events of be evaluated in strategic terms, both on account of their challenges and opportunities?

Since , has the country been confronted by an overall threat that can compare to that difficult year? Howsoever strategic experts view these different situations, there is little doubt that was a supremely difficult year which required flawless coordination of all aspects of national power. These included military and diplomatic and also political to ensure unity and social cohesion as the country navigated the enormous obstacles that came its way.

Indian actions led to basic changes in the map of the Indian subcontinent. The independence of Bangladesh also eroded the view that religion by itself can be a lasting glue for nationalism, thereby destroying the two-nation theory. When negotiations failed, the army began an unrestrained massacre of the Bangladeshi people on the night of March 25, It especially targeted the Hindu population.

Refugees started to pour into India, and by the time armed hostilities began in December, around one crore had come into India. It was an intolerable strain. India had gone through political turmoil with a split in the Congress in and elections called by Indira Gandhi were held in March, which she swept. As the refugees began to cross over, people demanded military intervention to stop the slaughter.

The military made it clear that it would take months to prepare and would prefer to wait till November, when the weather would permit quick and decisive action to liberate Bangladesh. Diplomatic work was also necessary to prepare the ground for the intervention, especially as it became clear that the US was against the break-up of Pakistan. China, too, made threatening noises. The top leaderships of both countries were personally grateful to Yahya Khan for his role in enabling their initial contacts in secrecy.

In this international situation, India took the precaution of securing Soviet support through a friendship treaty which implicitly ensured its support against aggression.