East Pakistan to Bangladesh

Role of Identity Politics in Dismantling of a Nation

Abstract

This paper aims to trace the events leading up to the liberation of East Pakistan and the creation of Bangladesh. The principal argument of the paper is the issue of identity and how it plays a role in influencing the political climate of a newly independent nation. The paper analyzes the events leading upto the first democratic elections in Pakistan and how it culminated into the 1971 Indo-Pak war which eventually led to the creation of the newly independent nation of Bangladesh. This paper explains the philosophical basis of partition which carved out Pakistan on religious basis, i.e. the two nation theory and how religion ceased to serve as a primary identity post partition. The paper analyzes the chief differences between Urdu and Bengali language as a whole and the idea of purity. The imposition of Urdu as the national language of Pakistan in 1952 led to the reactionary movement of Bengali nationalism, not unlike the one caused by Lord Curzon via the partition of Bengal in 1905. The paper also analyzes the role played by the Indian government and the motivation behind military intervention in the liberation of Bangladesh. The paper finally attempts to analyze how a country formed on communal basis dismantled due to linguistic differences.