Proto-history and Pre-history
Geological
evidence indicates that much of Bangladesh was formed 1 to 6.5 million
years ago during the tertiary era. Human habitation in this region is,
therefore, likely to be very old. The implements discovered in Deolpota
village in the neighbouring state of West Bengal suggest that
paleolithic civilization in the region existed about one hundred
thousand years ago. The evidence of paleolithic civilization in
Bangladesh region is limited to a stone implement in Rangamati and a
hand axe in the hilly tip of Feni district. They are likely to be 10,000
to 15,000 years old. New stone age in the region lasted from 3,000 B C
to 1,500 B C. Neolithic tools comparable to Assam group were found at
Sitakunda in Chittagong. Hand axes and chisels showing close affinity to
neolithic industries in West Bengal, Bihar and Orissa have been
discovered at Mainamati near Comilla. The thinly forested laterite hills
in eastern Bengal dotted with fertile valleys provided a congenial
environment for neolithic settlements. However, the archaeological
evidence on transition from stone age to metal age in this region is
still missing.
Political Dynamics in Ancient Bengal (326 B.C. to 1204 A.D.)
The
earliest historical reference to organized political life in the
Bangladesh region is usually traced to the writings on Alexander's
invasion of India in 326 B.C. The Greek and Latin historians suggested
that Alexander the Great withdrew from India anticipating the valiant
counter attack of the mighty Gangaridai and Prasioi empires which were
located in the Bengal region. It is not, however, clearly known who
built these empires. Literary and epigraphic evidence refer to the rise
and fall of a large number of principalities in the region which were
variously known as Pundra Vardhana (northern Bangladesh), Gauda (parts
of West Bengal and Bangladesh), Dandabhukti (southern West Bengal),
Karna Subarna (part of West Bengal), Varendra (northern Bangladesh),
Rarh (southern areas of West Bengal), Summha Desa (south-western West
Bengal), Vanga (central Bangladesh), Vangala (southern Bangladesh),
Harikela (North-East Bangladesh), Chandradwipa (Southern Bangladesh),
Subarnabithi (central Bangladesh), Navyabakashika (central and southern
Bangladesh), Lukhnauti (North Bengal and Bihar) and Samatata (Eastern
Bangladesh)
There are
two schools of opinion regarding the political evolution of ancient
Bengal. According to one school, the Bangladesh region in the ancient
period was an integral part of mighty empires in north India. These
historians maintain Gangaridai and Prasioi empires were succeeded by the
Mauryas (4th to 2nd century B.C.), the Guptas (4th-5th century A.D.),
the empire of Sasanka (7th century A.D.), the Pala empire (750-1162
A.D.), and the Senas (1162-1223 A.D.). Specially, the Pala empire which
lasted for more than four hundred years and reached its zenith in eighth
and ninth centuries under the leadership of Dharmapala and Devapala is
cited as an example of Bengal's political genius. The revisionist
historians are of the opinion that the traditional interpretation
overstates the role of all-India empires in the political life of the
Bangladesh region. They maintain that epigraphic evidence suggests that
only some of the areas which now constitute Bangladesh were occasionally
incorporated in the larger empires of South Asia. In their view,
political fragmentation and not empire was the historical destiny of
Bangladesh region in the ancient times. Inscriptions attest to the
existence of a succession of independent kingdoms in southern and
eastern Bengal. These local kingdoms included the realms of Vainyagupta
(6th century), the Faridpur kings (6th century), the Bhadra dynasty
(circa 600-650 A D), Khadaga dynasty (circa 650-700 AD), Natha and Rata
dynasty (750-800 A D ), the rulers of Harikela (circa 800-900), Chandra
dynasty (circa 900-1045 A D), Varman dynasty (circa 1080-1150 A D), and
Pattikera dynasty (circa 1000-1100 A D).
Opinions
differ on the reasons for political fragmentation in Bengal. Some
scholars attribute it to Bangladesh's topography specially to
difficulties in negotiating its swamps and marshes, its unending maze of
rivers and creeks and dislocations caused by the Bengali rainy season.
Others emphasize the frontier character of the region which attracted
from north India a continuous stream of rebel, heretics, and malcontents
who destabilized the political life. Some scholars maintain that
political fragmentation was fostered by a lack of corporate life at the
village level. Specially, the village organizations were weakest in the
eastern and southern areas; the corporateness of villages gradually
increased in the western areas. Political fragmentation was, therefore,
endemic in eastern and southern areas which now constitute Bangladesh.
The primacy
of the individual in social life and the concomitant institutional
vacuum in Bangladesh region was not, however, an unmitigated
shortcoming. The weakness of social, political and economic institutions
provided a congenial environment for freedom of religion. The Buddhist
rulers continued to rule Bengal long after the resurgence of Brahmanism
in the rest of north India. Nowhere in South Asia were the deviations
from the Brahmanical orthodoxy so glaring as in the Bengal zone. The
esoteric cults like Vajrayana, Shajayana, Kalachakrayana, Nathism, the
Bauls and the folk cults flourished in pre-Muslim Bengal. Throughout
history, small kingdoms blossomed and withered like wild flowers in this
region. In an environment characterized by weak political institutions,
heresy, heterodoxy and alien faiths thrived in defiance of the
Brahmanical orthodoxy.
Contribution of Bangladesh to Ancient Civilisation
Bangladesh
is the frontier of South Asian civilization. It is the natural bridge
between South and South East Asia. Because of its location, Bangladesh
was the intermediary in trade and commerce between the South Asian
sub-continent and the Far East. This region, as a distinguished
historian observed, "played an important part in the great cultural
association between the diverse civilizations of Eastern and South
Eastern Asia which forms such a distinguished feature in the history of
this great continent for nearly one thousand and five hundred years."
Tradition
has it that Sri Lanka was colonized by a Bengalee Prince Vijayasingha
who established the first political organization in that island.
Gadadhara, another Bengalee, founded a kingdom in the Madras state in
South India
Bangladesh
region also played a seminal role in disseminating her beliefs, art and
architecture in the wider world of Asia. The Bengali missionaries
preached Mahayana Buddhism in the Indonesian archipelago. Kumaraghosha,
the royal preceptor of the Sailendra emperors of Java, Sumatra and
Malaya peninsula, was born in Gauda. The Bengali scholar Santirakshit
was one of the founders of the Buddhist monastic order in Tibet. The
great Buddhist sage Dipankara Srijnana, also known as Atish (10th-l1th
century) reformed the monastic order in Tibet. The Bengalee scholars
Shilabhadra, Chandragomin, Abhayakaragupta, Jetari and Jnanasrimitra
were venerated as great theologians in the Buddhist world.
Ancient
Bangladesh also witnessed the flowering of temple, stupa and monastic
architecture as well as Buddhist art and sculpture. There was
discernible influence of the Pala art of Bengal on Javanese art. There
was a close affinity between the scripts used on certain Javanese
sculptures and proto-Bengali alphabet. A group of temples in Burma were
built on the model of Bangladeshi temples. The architecture and
iconographic ideas of Bengal inspired architects, sculptors and artists
in Cambodia and the Indonesian archipelago. The influence of Pala art in
Bengal could be easily traced in Nepalese and Tibetan paintings, as
well as in Tang Art of China.
Evolution of Mediaeval Bengal (1204-l757)
The Middle
age in Bengal coincided with the Muslim rule. Out of about 550 years of
Muslim rule, Bengal was effectively ruled by Delhi-based all India
empires for only about two hundred years. For about 350 years Bengal
remained virtually independent. The Muslim rule in Bengal is usually
divided into three phases. The first phase which lasted from 1204 to
1342 witnessed the consolidation of Muslim rule in Bengal. It was
characterized by extreme political instability. The second phase which
spanned the period 1342 to 1575 saw the emergence of independent local
dynasties such as the Ilyas Shahi dynasty (1342-1414), the dynasty of
King Ganesha (1414-1442) and Husain Shahi dynasty (l493-1539). The third
phase which lasted from 1575 to 1757 witnessed the emergence of a
centralized administration in Bengal within the framework of the Mughal
empire. The Mughal viceroys in Bengal curbed the independence of
powerful landlords who were known as Bara Bhuiyas and suppressed the
Portuguese pirates who frequently interfered with the flow of foreign
trade.
There were
two major achievements of Muslim rule in the region. First, prior to
Muslim rule in this area, Bengal was an ever-shifting mosaic of
principalities. The natural limits of Bengal were not clearly perceived
till its political unification by the Ilyas Shahi rulers in the
fourteenth century. The political unification of Bengal was thus a gift
of the Muslim rulers. Secondly, the political unity fashioned by the
Muslim rulers also promoted linguistic homogeneity. Unlike their
predecessors, the Muslim rulers were ardent patrons of Bengali language
and literature. Prior to Muslim rule, the Bengali vernacular was
despised for its impurities and vulgarities by Hindu elites who were the
beneficiaries and champions of Sanskrit education. The spread of Islam
challenged the spiritual leadership of upper caste Hindus. The intense
competition between Islam and resurgent Hinduism in the form of
Vaisnavism for capturing the imagination of unlettered masses resulted
in an outpouring of their stirring messages in the vernacular.
The Muslim
rule in Bengal also witnessed the gradual expansion of Islam in this
region. Contrary to popular beliefs, the Muslim rulers in Bengal were
not in the least idealists and proselytizers; they were primarily
adventurers whose sole aim was to perpetuate their own rule. The
preponderance of the Muslims in Bangladesh region stands out in striking
contrast to signal failure of the Muslims in converting local people in
other parts of north and south India. The distribution of Muslims in
different regions of South Asia clearly contradicts the hypothesis that
the patronage of the temporal authority was the most crucial variable in
the spread of Islam. If this hypothesis was correct there would have
been Muslim preponderance in areas around the seats of Muslim rule in
North India. The fact that the Muslims remained an insignificant
minority in the Delhi region where they ruled for more than six hundred
years clearly suggests that Islam in South Asia was not imposed from
above. In Bengal also, the share of Muslims in the total population was
higher in areas remote from the seats of Muslim rule.
Islam was
propagated in the Bangladesh region by a large number of Muslim saints
who were mostly active from the fourteenth to sixteenth centuries. Among
these missionaries Hazrat Shah Jalal, Rasti Shah, Khan Jahan Ali,
Shaikh Sharafuddin Abu Tawamah, Shah Makhdoom Ruposh, Shaikh Baba Adam
Shahid, Shah Sultan Mahisawar, Shaikh Alauddin Alaul Huq, Shah Ali
Bagdadi, etc. deserve special mention. While similar Muslim missionary
activities failed in other regions of South Asia, Islam ultimately
succeeded in penetrating deeply into Bengal because the social
environment of this region was congenial to the diffusion of a new
religion. In much of South Asia, strong village communities were
impenetrable barriers to the spread of alien faiths.
In Bengal,
the corporateness of village institutions was weak in eastern areas; it
gradually increased towards the western areas. The distribution of
Muslim population also followed similar spatial pattern in this region.
The Muslims in Bengal were concentrated in the eastern areas and the
share of Hindu population was much higher in western areas.
The Muslim
rule in Bengal contributed to economic polarization and cultural
dichotomy. Except the brief interludes of the northern Indian empires,
pre-Muslim Bengal was ruled by local potentates. Most of the Muslim
rulers either acted as agents of Delhi or tried to use Bengal as a
stepping stone for attaining political authority in Delhi. Economic
exploitation intensified during this period owing to transfer of
resources to north India. The main victims of this exploitative system
were locally converted Muslims and low caste Hindus. The sole aim of the
Muslim rulers was to mobilize as much resources as possible. The size
of the immigrant Muslim ruling elite was small. Furthermore, different
factions of the ruling elite did not trust each other. Consequently,
Muslim rule in Bengal became, in effect, a coalition of immigrant
Muslims and upper caste Hindus
The gradual
process of conversion to Islam in Bengal resulted in an intense
interaction between Islam and Hinduism. At the folk level, however,
there was less confrontation and more interaction between Hinduism and
Islam. A syncretic tradition developed around the cult and pantheons of
pirs. The actual practices of local Muslim converts were an anathema to
both Hindu and Muslim religious leaders. The orthodox Hindus, despite
their political reconciliation with Muslim rulers, despised the local
Muslims as untouchables (Mlechhas). The Muslim religious leaders were
equally scornful of the customs and practices of local converts. Hated
by immigrant religious leaders for their ways of life and by the local
aristocracy for their adherence to an alien faith, local converts faced a
dichotomy of faith and habitat which found expression in an emotional
conflict between religion and language. This dichotomy can be traced in
Bengali literature as early as the fourteenth century. 'Those who are
born in Bengal but hate Bengali language", asserted the seventeenth
century poet Abdul Hakim "had doubtful parentage. Those who are not
satisfied with their mother tongue should migrate to other lands".
The Glory that was Mediaeval Bengal
The
Bangladesh region reached the zenith of economic affluence during the
mediaeval period. It was known as one of the most prosperous lands in
the world. The Moorish traveller Ibn Batuta who visited Bengal in the
fourteenth century described Bengal as the wealthiest and cheapest land
of the world and states that it was known as "a hell full of bounties".
In the same vein, the seventeenth century French traveller Francois
Bernier observed: "Egypt has been represented in every age as the finest
and most fruitful country in the world, and even our modern writers
deny that there is any other land so peculiarly favoured by nature; but
the knowledge I have acquired of Bengal, during two visits paid to that
Kingdom inclines me to believe that pre-eminence ascribed to Egypt is
rather due to Bengal".
Because of
her fertile land and abundance of seasonal rainfall, Bengal was a
cornucopia of agricultural products. Famines and scarcity were virtually
unknown as compared to other areas of Asia. Bengal was the focal point
of free trade in the Indian Ocean since the 14th century. She was the
virtual store-house of silk and cotton not only of India and
neighbouring countries but also of Europe. The Dhaka region used to
produce the finest cotton in the world. A very large quantity of cotton
cloth was produced in different areas of Bengal. The best and well-known
variety of textile was muslin produced in Dhaka. Some of the muslins
were so fine that, as the seventeenth century traveller Tavernier notes,
"even if a 60 cubit long turban were held you would scarcely know what
it was that you had in your hand". Some of the muslins were so fine that
a full size muslin could be passed through a small ring. Bangladesh
also had extensive export of silk clothes. According to Tavernier,
Bengal silks were exported to other parts of India, Central Asia, Japan
and Holland. The Bangladesh region was also one of the largest producers
of sugar. The sugar from this region used to be exported to other parts
of South Asia and the Middle East.
British Rule in Bangladesh (1757-1947)
The
greatest discontinuity in the history of Bengal region occurred on June
23, 1757 when the East India Company - a mercantile company of England
became the virtual ruler of Bengal by defeating Nawab Siraj-ud Daulah
through conspiracy. Territorial rule by a trading company resulted in
the commercialization of power. The initial effects of the British rule
were highly destructive. As the historian R.C. Dutt notes, "the people
of Bengal had been used to tyranny, but had never lived under an
oppression so far reaching in its effects, extending to every village
market and every manufacturer's loom. They had been used to arbitrary
acts from men in power, but had never suffered from a system which
touched their trades, their occupations, their lives so closely. The
springs of their industry were stopped, the sources of their wealth
dried up". The plunder of Bengal directly contributed to the industrial
revolution in England. The capital amassed in Bengal was invested in the
nascent British industries. Lack of capital and fall of demand, on the
other hand, resulted in deindustrialization in the Bangladesh region.
The muslin industry virtually disappeared in the wake of the British
rule.
In the long
run, the British rule in South Asia contributed to transformation of
the traditional society in various ways. The introduction of British
law, a modern bureaucracy, new modes of communication, the English
language and a modern education system, and the opening of the local
market to international trade opened new horizons for development in
various spheres of life. The new ideas originating from the West
produced a ferment in the South Asian mind. The upshot of this ferment
were streams of intellectual movements which have often been compared to
the Renaissance. Furthermore, the Pax Britannica imposed on South Asia
created an universal empire that brought different areas of the
sub-continent closer to each other.
The British
rule in Bengal promoted simultaneously the forces of unity and division
in the society. The city-based Hindu middle classes became the fiery
champions of all-India based nationalism. At the same time, the British
rule brought to surface the rivalry between the Hindus and Muslims which
lay dormant during the five hundred years of Muslim rule. The class
conflict between Muslim peasantry and Hindu intermediaries during the
Muslim rule was diffused by the fact that these intermediaries
themselves were agents of the Muslim rulers. Furthermore, the scope of
exploitation was limited in the subsistence economy of pre-British
Bengal.
The
economic exploitation of the British provoked an intense reaction
against the Raj in Bengal. However, the grievances against the British
rule varied from community to community. The Hindu middle class, which
styled itself as the bhadralok, was the greatest beneficiary of the
British rule. The Hindu middle class primarily originated from trading
classes, intermediaries of revenue administration and subordinate jobs
in the imperial administration. On the contrary, the establishment of
the British rule deprived the immigrant Muslim aristocracy (ashraf) of
state patronage. The immigrant Muslim - upper caste Hindu coalition
which characterized the Muslim rule was replaced by a new entente of the
British and the caste Hindus. The new land settlement policy of the
British ruined the traditional Muslim landlords. The Muslim aristocracy
which had hitherto been disdainful of their native co-religionists
sought the political support of the downtrodden Muslim peasantry (atraf)
who were exploited by Hindu landlords and moneylenders. The Muslim
elite in Bengal manipulated to their advantage the social insecurity of
the less privileged without giving up their exclusiveness.
The
conflict between Muslim peasants and Hindu landlords was reinforced by
the rivalry between Hindu and Muslim middle classes for the patronage of
the imperial rulers. In the nineteenth century, both Hindu and Muslim
middle classes expanded significantly. The Muslim middle class did not
remain confined to traditional aristocracy which consisted primarily of
immigrants from other Muslim countries. The British rule in Bengal
contributed to the emergence of a vernacular elite from among locally
converted Muslims in the second half of the nineteenth century. This was
facilitated by a significant expansion of jute cultivation in the
Bangladesh region. The increase in jute exports benefited the surplus
farmers (Jotedars) in the lower Bengal where the Muslims were in a
majority. The economic affluence of surplus farmers encouraged the
expansion of secular education among local Muslims. For example, the
number of Muslim students in Bengal increased by 74 percent between
1882-83 and 1912-13.
Faced with
the economic and cultural domination of the Hindu intermediaries in
Bengal (bhadralok), the ashraf (traditional Muslim aristocracy), the
newly created Muslim jotedars who constituted the vernacular elite and
Muslim peasants (atraf) closed ranks. Despite their outward unity, the
coalition of various Muslim interest groups in Bengal was fragile. The
interests and ideological orientations of these groups were dissimilar.
Unlike the jotedars and peasants, the ashraf in Bengal spoke Urdu. The
vernacular Muslim elites and peasants in Bengal wanted agrarian reforms;
the ashraf was a staunch proponent of absentee landlordism. The Muslim
vernacular elite and atraf identified themselves with the local culture
and language, the ashraf was enthralled by Islamic universalism. The
internal contradictions of the Muslim society in Bengal were naturally
mirrored in their political life.
Initially,
the leadership of the Muslim community in Bengal belonged to ashraf for
two reasons. First, the size of the vernacular elite was too small in
the beginning of the twentieth century and the vernacular elite itself
tried to imitate the traditional aristocracy. Secondly, because of the
institutional vacuum in the rural areas, it was very difficult to
mobilise politically Muslim masses in the Bengal region. The easiest
means of arousing such masses was to appeal to religious sentiments and
emotions. In this charged atmosphere the natural leadership of the
Muslim masses in Bengal lay with the immigrant ashraf who monopolized
the religious leadership.
The rivalry
between Muslim ashraf and Hindu bhadralok first surfaced in the
political arena, when the British partitioned the province of Bengal in
1905 for administrative reasons. The nascent Muslim middle class under
the leadership of the Muslim Nawab of Dhaka supported the partition in
the hope of getting patronage of the British rulers. To the Hindu
bhadralok who had extensive economic interests on both sides of
partitioned Bengal, the move to separate the Bengali-speaking areas in
East Bengal and Assam was a big jolt. They viewed it as a sinister
design to weaken Bengal which was the vanguard of struggle for
independence. The bhadralok class idolized the "Golden Bengal". Though
initially the anti-partition movement was non-violent, the dark anger of
the Hindu middle class soon found its expression in terroristic
activities. The emotionally charged atmosphere culminated in communal
riots. The partition of Bengal ultimately turned out to be a defeat for
all. The Raj had to eat the humble pie and annul the partition in 1911.
To the Muslims, the annulment of the partition was a major
disappointment. It virtually shook their faith in the British rulers. To
the Hindu bhadralok of Bengal, the annulment was a pyrrhic victory.
"The net result of these developments in Bengal during the first decade
of this century, so far as the bhadralok leadership of Bengal was
concerned, lay in the exposure of its isolation, its inner
contradictions and the essentially opportunistic character of its
politics".
The
communal politics of confrontation and violence which erupted during the
partition of Bengal was interrupted by a brief honeymoon during the
non-cooperation movement led by the Indian National Congress and the
Khilafat movement of the Indian Muslims in the second decade of 20th
century. Bengal witnessed in the twenties the emergence of the
charismatic; leadership of Chitta Ranjan Das who had the foresight to
appreciate the alienation of the Muslim middle classes. In 1923 Das
signed a pact with Fazlul Huq, Suhrawardy and other Muslim leaders. This
pact which is known as the Bengal Pact provided guarantees for due
representation of Muslims in politics and administration. The spirit of
Hindu-Muslim rapprochement evaporated with the death of C.R. Das in
1925. However, even if Das were alive he might not have succeeded in
containing the communal backlash. The communal problem was not unique to
Bengal, it became the main issue in all India politics. As the communal
tension mounted in the 1930s, the Muslim ashraf in Bengal which had
close ties with the Muslim leadership in other parts of the
sub-continent pursued a policy of communal confrontation.
The Road to Pakistan
The
Pakistan Resolution of 1940 at Lahore was the outcome of the political
confrontation between Hindus and Muslims. The Lahore Resolution demanded
that geographically contiguous units "be demarcated into regions which
should be constituted with such territorial readjustments as may be
necessary so that the areas in which the Muslims are numerically in a
majority should be grouped to constitute "Independent States" in which
the constitutional units be autonomous and sovereign". From the
constitutional point of view, the Lahore Resolution asserted that South
Asia consisted of many nations and not of two nations. It was, in
effect, a blueprint for the balkanization of South Asia and not merely
for its partition into two units.
The fervour
for the Lahore Resolution sprang not merely from the disillusion of the
Muslims with the Hindu leadership. It was also facilitated by the
vagueness of the Resolution which promised everything to everybody. The
vernacular Muslim elites in Bengal maintained that the Lahore Resolution
was legally a charter for a Muslim dominated independent and sovereign
Bengal. The immigrant Muslim ashraf in Bengal thought that the Lahore
Resolution was a mandate for merging geographically dispersed Muslim
majority areas into an Islamic state. Ultimately the demands of the
vernacular Muslim elite for an independent Bengal was opposed by both
the ashraf and the Hindu middle class. Ironically the formal decision
for partition of Bengal was taken not by Muslim but by Hindu leaders who
fought for an undivided Bengal four decades ago.
The
partition of the South Asian sub-continent into two independent states
in 1947 was a defeat for the British policy. It partially undid the
PaxBritannica which was the greatest achievement of the Raj.
Nevertheless, the partition forestalled the balkanization of the
sub-continent which would have swept away the entire political structure
which was so labouriously built by the British rulers. The eastern
areas of Bengal were constituted into a province of Pakistan and her
political boundaries were drawn up arbitrarily.
The Birth
of Bangladesh and Resolution of the Identity Crisis Pakistan, which
emerged constitutionally as one country in 1947, was in fact "a double
country", the two wings were not only separated from each other by more
than one thousand miles, they were also culturally, economically and
socially different. "The cure, at least as far as the East Bengalis were
concerned, proved to be worse than the disease".
The
relationship between the East and the West wings of Pakistan was the
mirror image of the Hindu-Muslim relations in the undivided
sub-continent. The creation of East Pakistan did not resolve the
identity crisis of the majority people in the Bangladesh region. The
political leadership in Pakistan was usurped by the ashraf and their
fellow-travellers. The spread of secular education and monetization of
the rural economy swelled the ranks of the vernacular elite who was
intensely proud of the local cultural heritage. This compounded the
dichotomy of language and religion. As a recent scholar rightly
observes, "The Bengali love affair with their language involves a
passionate ritual that produces emotional experiences seldom found in
other parts of the world". The Language Movement during 1948-52 which
demanded the designation of Bengali as the state language of Pakistan
undermined the authority of the ashraf and reinforced the role of the
vernacular elite. In British India, the Muslims of Bengal united under
the banner of Islam to escape from the exploitation of Bengali Hindus
who shared the same mother tongue. In the united Pakistan, the Bengalis
of East Pakistan reasserted their cultural and linguistic identity to
resist the exploitation of their co-religionists who spoke in a
different language. Though history repeated itself in Pakistan, the
lessons learnt from Hindu-Muslim confrontation were forgotten. Neither
in undivided India nor in united Pakistan, the dominant economic classes
agreed to sacrifice their short-term interests. Democratic verdicts
were brushed aside and economic disparity between the two wings widened
under the aegis of military dictatorships in Pakistan.
The
disintegration of united Pakistan is not, therefore, in the least
surprising. However, the way in which Bangladesh was born is unique to
South Asia. Bangladesh was the product of a sanguinary revolution. The
Pakistan army had to be defeated physically in 1971 to establish the new
state. The birth of Bangladesh resolved the dichotomy between religion
and habitat, and between extra-territorial and territorial loyalties by
recognizing both the facts as a reality in the life of the new nation.
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Source :
BANGLADESH TOWARDS 21ST CENTURY , published by the Ministry of
Information, Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh.
