Keywords
1971
Bangladesh Independence
Identity Politics
How to Cite
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.
References
1. Absar, Nurul. 2014. “Muslim Identity, Bengali Nationalism: An Analysis on Nationalism in Bangladesh.” Academic Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, March. https://doi.org/10.5901/ajis.2014.v3n1p439.
2. Anderson, Benedict. 2006. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. Verso.
3. Bagchi, Jasodhara. 1990. “Representing Nationalism: Ideology of Motherhood in Colonial Bengal.” Economic and Political Weekly 25 (42/43): WS65–71.
4. Bangash, Yaqoob Khan. 2018. “Language, Identity and the State in Pakistan, 1947-48.” Journal of Political Studies, June, 199–199.
5. “Bangladesh Documents: Volume One | The University Press Limited.” n.d. Accessed March 11, 2022. http://www.uplbooks.com/book/bangladesh-documents-volume-one.
6. Beteille, Andre. 1969. “The Autobiography of an Unknown Indian. By Nirad C. Chaudhuri. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1968. Xii, 506 Pp. Paper. $2.75.” The Journal of Asian Studies 28 (3): 626–626. https://doi.org/10.2307/2943205.
7. Bharadwaj, Prashant, Asim Ijaz Khwaja, and Atif R. Mian. 2009. “The Partition of India: Demographic Consequences.” SSRN Scholarly Paper ID 1294846. Rochester, NY: Social Science Research Network. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1294846.
8. Bose, Neilesh. 2015. “The Book Review - Review of Recasting the Region: Language, Culture, and Islam in Colonial Bengal (Oxford University Press, 2014) by Amit De.” The Book Review, January. https://www.academia.edu/10079328/
9. The_Book_Review_review_of_Recasting_the_Region_Language_Culture_and_Islam_in_Colonial_Bengal_Oxford_University_Press_2014_by_Amit_De.
10. Bose, Sarmila. 2005. “Anatomy of Violence: Analysis of Civil War in East Pakistan in 1971.” Economic and Political Weekly 40 (41): 4463–71.
11. “Census of India: Census Reports 1931.” n.d. Accessed March 1, 2022. https://censusindia.gov.in/Census_And_You/old_report/Census_1931_tebles.aspx.
12. Chakrabarty, Bidyut. 2003. “An Alternative to Partition: The United Bengal Scheme.” South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies 26 (2): 193–212. https://doi.org/10.1080/085640032000089744.
13. Chatterji, Joya. 2002. Bengal Divided Hindu Communalism and Partition, 1932-1947. Cambridge University Press.
14. “Constituent Assembly of Pakistan Debates.” 1948. Vol. 2, Ser. 2.
15. Dutt, Vidya P. 1984. India’s Foreign Policy. Delhi: Vikas Publishing House Private Limited.
16. Franda, Marcus. 1972. “Population Politics in South Asia: Refugees and Migration Patterns in Northeastern India and Bangladesh.” South Asia Series Volume XVI.
17. Gellner, Ernest, and Director of the Center for the Study of Nationalism Ernest Gellner. 1983. Nations and Nationalism. Cornell University Press.
18. Jabeen, Mussarat, Amir Ali Chandio, and Zarina Qasim. n.d. “Language Controversy: Impacts on National Politics and Secession of East Pakistan.” South Asian Studies, 26.
19. “Journal of Political Studies - Vol. 25, No. 1, 2018.” n.d. Accessed March 5, 2022. http://pu.edu.pk/home/journal/6/V25_Issue_1_2018.html.
20. Maron, Stanley. 1955. “The Problem of East Pakistan.” Pacific Affairs 28 (2): 132–44. https://doi.org/10.2307/3035377.
21. Marwah, Onkar. 1979. “India’s Military Intervention in East Pakistan, 1971–1972.” Modern Asian Studies 13 (4): 549–80. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0026749X00008465.
22. Murshid, Navine. 2011. “India’s Role in Bangladesh’s War of Independence: Humanitarianism or Self-Interest?” Economic and Political Weekly 46 (52): 53–60.
23. Nanda, Ved P. 1972. “Self–Determination in International Law: The Tragic Tale of Two Cities–Islamabad (West Pakistan) and Dacca (East Pakistan)*.” American Journal of International Law 66 (2): 321–36. https://doi.org/10.2307/2199032.
24. Palit, D K. 1972. The Lightning Campaign: Indo-Pakistan War 1971. New Delhi: Thompson Press.
25. Raghavan, Srinath. 2013. 1971: A Global History of the Creation of Bangladesh. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
26. “Remembering the War of 1971 in East Pakistan | Opinions | Al Jazeera.” n.d. Accessed March 5, 2022. https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2019/12/16/remembering-the-war-of-1971-in-east-pakistan.
27. Sarma, Chandan Kumar. n.d. “Understanding Communal Violence in India: A Review of New Perspectives.”
28. Saunders, Harold H. 2014. “What Really Happened in Bangladesh: Washington, Islamabad, and the Genocide in East Pakistan.” Edited by GARY J. BASS. Foreign Affairs 93 (4): 36–42.
29. “Simla Agreement July 2, 1972.” n.d. Accessed March 11, 2022. https://mea.gov.in/in-focus-article.htm?19005/Simla+Agreement+July+2+1972.
30. Sisson, Richard, and Leo E. Rose. 1990. “War and Secession: Pakistan.” India, and the Creation Of.
31. Varshney, Ashutosh. 2008. “The Idea of Pakistan.” India International Centre Quarterly 35 (3/4): 2–21.
32. Zaidi, Z. H., M. Akram Shaheedi, and Quaid-i-Azam Papers Project, eds. 1993. Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah Papers. 1st ed. Islamabad : Pakistan: Quaid-i-Azam Papers Project, National Archives of Pakistan ; Distributed by Oxford University Press.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Copyright (c) 2022 JASSSR