The 9 Month War of Secession; Pakistan, India and the nation of Bangladesh

A fight which started for the equal rights of East Pakistani population turned out to be one of the major wars in the history of South Asia in 1971. This is the conflict in which 3 million people were killed (Genocide, 1971, 2009) and hundreds of thousands of women were raped by the West Pakistani military (Bangladesh and Pakistan: The Forgotten War, 2009). Though the number of casualties varies according to different estimates, it was the biggest massacre after World War II, a genocide which people don’t talk about anymore, a forgotten war. It wasn’t only a common genocide, but also a policide as well as a cultural genocide.

In 1947, the nation of Pakistan and India was formed based on religious lines. Culturally homogenous population was divided by boundaries, Punjab at the west and Bengal at the east of India. Though they were divided on similar grounds, i.e. religion, there is a difference among these two partitioned lands. While Punjab, was part of the mainland Pakistan, and shared common cultural ties with the rest of West Pakistan; Bengali populated East Pakistan was hundreds of miles away, with India in the middle. Even though Bengalis in East Bengal were majority Muslims, they shared a Bengali cultural life which was similar to both Hindus and Muslims

Muslim majority East Bengal voted to be part of Dominion of Pakistan while Hindu majority West Bengal remained part of India. Muslim Bengalis realized their mistake relatively soon when in 1952 the Pakistan government tried to impose Urdu as the only national language, a language which was only spoken by 7% of the total Pakistani population (Sisson & Rose, 1991). Bengali students revolted thoroughly. This was the beginning of the revolution; a new form of Bengali nationalism was in the air. The Pakistani government based in West Pakistan was incapable of realizing their mistakes. They didn’t realize the resentment they were creating among Bengalis in East Bengal. All the conflicts of ideas began to grow; ethnic, religious and ideological as well as governmental and economic. At one stage, Bengalis asked for autonomy, which angered West Pakistan, who was stubborn enough to continue with their mistakes in dealing with national policies. The economic condition worsened after the 1970 cyclone which affected East Pakistan (renamed from East Bengal in 1955). In spite of Awami League (based in East Pakistan) winning the all Pakistan election, Sheik Mujib, was not allowed to become the prime minister of Pakistan (1971 India-Pakistan War, 2008). Tired of being dominated, East Pakistanis protested. Ayub Khan, the president of Pakistan out of frustration did the gravest mistake. On 25th March 1971, West Pakistan military mercilessly attacked the civilians in Dhaka which was called Operation Searchlight and arrested Sheik Mujib (Genocide, 1971, 2009). As a counter, East Pakistan declared independence on 26th March, forming the nation of Bangladesh, (which means the land of Bengalis). A civil war broke out in one of the world’s poorest nation followed by 9 months of suffering. Bengalis were hardly allowed to join the Pakistani army, so it was the general masses that started the guerilla war along with the handful who were formally trained. They were known as “Mukti bahini”, Bengali word for freedom fighters while to the West Pakistanis, they were simply terrorists.

When the situation got worse, scared Bengalis started to take refuge in West Bengal, India, it was the biggest exodus since World War II of 10 million people. The sheer number of refugees affected the economy of West Bengal, which made India concerned about the issue. India supported the Bengali cause against their archenemy Pakistan. They fought against each other in 1965 as well. It wasn’t long before the superpowers started taking interest in this development, mainly U.S.A., China on Pakistan’s side and U.S.S.R. on India’s side, for these superpowers this was a proxy war, power politics at a soaring level. It should be noted that this period between U.S.A and U.S.S.R. was called the Cold War, where both of the superpowers had ideological differences. So, their involvement is not a coincident, but rather based on their foreign policies. (Goldstein & Pevehouse, 2008)

On December 3rd when Pakistan attacked Indian airbases (1971: Pakistan intensifies air raids on India, 1971), at the same evening Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi, declared war on Pakistan. Before this, India was supporting the militia “Mukti bahini” with arms and training. The next day U.S.A. proposed a draft resolution for cease fire and the removal of Indian forces without any luck due to U.S.S.R’s veto in the UN. (Jayapalan, 2001). India used the strategy of compellence. It strengthened the new Bangladeshi position of having an ally fighting along with them. Bengalis found alliance cohesion with Indians fighting the common enemy. Just after 13 days of India joining the war, Pakistan surrendered on 16th December (1971 War, 2009). A new sovereign nation was born, People’s Republic of Bangladesh. It was a bloody but absolute victory, with huge number of casualties. Wars of secession tend to have a huge human capital and economic loss; on Pakistan’s side it was huge economic loss, along with almost half of its territory seceded. It is clear that Pakistani government lacked in statecraft and their power strategies completely failed.

A conflict like this is important to study because wars affect human beings, in the worst possible way. As an international relation student I believe that the study of human conflicts in different regions based on different issues would help us to understand conflicts better and gather the knowledge to solve them before huge losses incur if not that at least become informed citizens, rather than only concentrating on Western history of conflict. Politics is just like water, when there is a ripple in a water container, it slowly spreads all over, even the slightest one. The protest for rights of Bengalis was very strong in that sense, which turned into an international issue of security.



Bibliography

1971: Pakistan intensifies air raids on India. (1971). Retrieved November 14, 2009, from BBC:
http:news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/3/newsid_2519000/2519133.stm

Sisson,R., & Rose, L. E. (1991). War and Secession: Pakistan, India, and the Creation of Bangladesh. University of California Press.

Jayapalan, N. (2001). Foreign Policy Of India. Atlantic Publishers & Distributors.

1971 India-Pakistan War. (2008). Retrieved November 15, 2009, from SAPRA India Foundation:
http://subcontinent.com/1971war/origins.html

Goldstein, J.S., & Pevehouse, C.J. (2008). International Relations: Brief Fourth Edition. Pearson-Longman.

1971 War. (2009). Retrieved November 15, 2009, from Pakistan Army:
http://www.pakistanarmy.gov.pk/AWPReview/TextContent.aspx?pld=197&rnd=446

Bangladesh and Pakistan: The Forgotten War. (2009). Retrieved November 14, 2009, from TIME:
http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1844754_1772105,00.html

Genocide, 1971. (2009). Retrieved November 13, 2009, from Banglapedia: http://www.banglapedia.org/httpdocs/HT/G_0075.HTM

Hello everyone!!! I wrote this article a few days back for my International Relations class. Its about the 1971 war. The article is brief, my word limit was 1000 yet I tried to cover as many points possible... So.. hope you guys read....and review....I dont mind honest opinions...:P....

Note: I refer East Pakistanis as East Bengalis and Bengalis at different parts of the article. After the war of independence they were called Bangladeshis. In the same manner the area of Bangladesh I have referred to as East Pakistan (until 1971) and East Bengal (until 1955).