Farhana Naznin

The Language movement is one of the most significant incidents in Bangladesh’s history because the movement was the first step towards getting an independent Bangladesh. The movement basically began establish Bangla, the mother tongue of the majority in Bangladesh (then East Pakistan) as a state language. It was a struggle to protect cultural identity from government suppression. It laid the foundation of nationalism and paved the way for the birth of Bangladesh eventually.

While the name of Salam, Rafique, Barkat, Jobbar is attached to language movement because of their sacrifice for the Bangla language, there are number of women activists who also sacrificed.

Women actively participated in the movement-at a time when society was largely conservative. Conventional historical narratives have overshadowed the heroic deeds of women.

Later, women came forward to fill up the void in leadership when male leaders were imprisoned or had to go into hiding to avoid police arrest. Women were the first to defy curfew under section 144 on the fateful February 21, 1952.

In this write-up we’ll tell the tale of some of the women, who had immense contribution and sacrifice for this language movement, along with others.

Pratibha Mutsuddi –Student of Chittagong College (1951) and Dhaka University (1954), member of Students’ Federation, participated in demonstrations held in Chittagong city protesting the firing on students in Dhaka in 1952. They were arrested for breaking Section 144 during 21 February, 1955.

Mamtaj Begum –Headmistress of Narayanganj Morgan Girl’s School. Arrested for organizing demonstration protesting police killings of language activists, she refused the government’s offer to sign a mercy petition admitting mistake in exchange for her freedom. She was jailed for over a year, she lost her job and was disowned by family. She Died all alone at the young age of 37.

Rawshan Ara Bachchu –Member of Democratic Progressive Student Front, spoke in favor of women’s participation in politics in a radio program in April, 1950. She was one of the forerunners to deny the curfew in DU Campus on 21 February, 1952. She was also involved in the students’ movement for a pro-people education policy.

Anwara Khatun — one of the members along with Maulana Tarkabagish who famously staged walkout as a protest against Chief Minister Nurul Amin’s inaction during February 21 police firing. She moved a resolution in the East Bengal Legislative Assembly on February 22, 1952 demanding the unconditional release of all arrested for language protest and compensation to the victims. She led Awami League during 1966 when male leadership was imprisoned for the 6-points.

Some of the identified female activists were Dr. Halima Khatun, Dr. Sufia Khatun, Nurunnahar Kabir, Fazilatunnesa, Safia Khatun, Sofia Khan, Zulekha, Sara Taifur, Rani Bhattachariya, Manjushree Sen, Sufia Ahmed, Nuri Sufia Ibrahim, Begum Zobeda Khatun Chowdhury, Zakia Sultana Bulu Rabeya Chhomela Foujia Begum and Feroja Saleha Halima. Apart from them, there were also some female activists who still remain unidentified.

The language movement – The movement of existence, the movement of consciousness

Women were at the forefront of the language marches, defying the pointed guns of the Pakistan Army and police. Although women were not evaluated in that way.

Analyzing the social history of East Bengal from 1948 to 1952, it can be seen that women’s participation in the language movement was a revolutionary step in the conservative social background of that time.

After the partition of the country in 1947, participation in women’s movement and struggle began through written efforts. At that time women’s mouthpiece Begum Patrika expressed their attitude on language question through various articles, letters, editorials etc. The writings of Mohesna Islam, Begum Afsarunnesa, Nikhil Banga Muslim Chhatra League Women’s Organization Editor Mrs. Rukia Anwar etc. In the post-partition situation of the country, the prominent people gave the memorandum demanding to make Bengali the state language, among the women who gave signatures were Anwara Khatun, Lily Khan, Leela Roy, Rukia Anwar and others. The contribution of Begzadi Mahmuda Nasir, Mumtaz Begum, Maleka, Sultana Razia Afroza, Khaleda Khanum etc. in making the language movement successful in 1952 is undeniable. Nadira Begum and Shafia Khatun played a major role in spreading the language movement. Laila Samad, Shamsun Nahar, Shafia Khatun, Sara Taifur, Roshan Ara Bachchu, Sufia Ibrahim, Roshan Ara Rahman, Halima Khatun, Qaiser Siddiqui etc. participated in the language movement. Many of this generation are not aware of the contribution of those women.

Also read: Multilingualism, Mother Tongue and Sindhi Language

The students of Dhaka Multilingualism, Mother Tongue and Sindhi LanguageUniversity used to draw posters with different slogans to demand language in secret at night. On February 21, 1952, the women broke the police barricade by clashing with the police. Dhaka Medical College students play a special role in treating the injured. Girls go door to door to collect donations for the medical aid of the injured. A police chase keeps students to themselves. Many housewives opened ornaments to run the cost of the movement. Not only that, many women have also been jailed for being involved in the language movement. Someone lost their family. Some have been expelled from educational institutions. We don’t keep that news now. From the beginning to the end of the language movement, women played an outstanding role.

In August 1947, under the leadership of Professor Abul Kashem, ‘Tamuddin Majlis’ was formed to strengthen the demand for Bengali language. Abul Kashem’s wife Rahela, sister Rahima and Rahela’s brother’s wife Rokeya cooked and fed the protesters at their Azimpur residence for a long time. Not only that, the police surrounded the house of Abul Kashem on the 23rd of Bayannar at 4 pm. Inside, Abul Kashem and Abdul Ghafoor and others are busy publishing Sainik, the spokesperson of the language movement. Mrs. Rahela Kashem had a long argument with the police against the police trying to enter the family home at night when the police repeatedly knocked on the door.

And on this occasion Abul Kashem and others managed to escape by climbing the back wall. Then the police went inside and left without seeing anyone. At the beginning of the language movement, this contribution of women in Andaramahal played an important role in advancing the movement’s later programs. Because if Abul Kashem and others were arrested that night, the propaganda might have stopped. The contribution of women is neglected.

On Thursday, January 31, 1948, at an all-party meeting at Dhaka’s Bar Library, Eden College student Mahbuba Khatun said, “If necessary, girls will sacrifice their blood to accept the demand of making Bengali the national language.At the beginning of the movement, such a bold statement from a girl’s mouth played a special role in motivating the workers. Later, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman wrote in his autobiography about the events of 1948, “Hundreds of student activists started picketing Eden Building… and other places from the early hours of March 11.” … At 8 am in front of the post office, the students were violently lathi-charged. … Some students were also beaten up. … The East Pakistan Legislative Assembly was then in session. …Anwara Khatun and many others strongly protested (at the session) against the Muslim League Party.” When Jinnah’s proclamation was reiterated by Khwaja Nazimuddin on January 27, 2012, the students played a brave role in building the main field of the Great Ekush. Dhaka University and Eden College students collected money and wrote posters throughout the night to strengthen the movement. On February 21, the main task of breaking the police barricade was done by Roshan Ara Bachchu and some other students. Because many of the first two groups of 10 people were arrested. Students jumped over and over the barricade. Later, the students came out in the third group and started pulling the barricades. On that day many girl students were injured in police lathi charge and tear shells. Among them were Roshan Ara Bachchu, Sara Taifur, Borkha Shamsun, Sufia Ibrahim, Suraiya Dolly and Suraiya Hakim.

Also read: International Mother Languages Day: Using Technology for Multilingual Learning – Challenges and Opportunities

On that day, Anwara Khatun, a member of the East Bengal Legislative Council, said in a protest speech, “Mr. Speaker, the girls were injured in the lathi charge of the police.”… The total number of girls injured is 8. The cabinet has created such a climate that even girls are being assaulted. Outside Dhaka, women were subjected to police torture while joining the language movement. Everyone knows about Mumtaz Begum of Narayanganj. At one stage of the torture, her husband divorced her under the pressure of the government. Teens like Mumtaz Begum’s student Ila Bakshi, Benu Dhar and Shabani were also arrested by the police. Saleha Begum of Kulaura, Moulvibazar, Sylhet, when she was a class 10 student of Mymensingh Muslim Girls School, hoisted the black flag in memory of language martyrs. He was expelled from the school for three years on the orders of DC DK Pawar for this crime. Saleha Begum was no longer able to study.

The biggest event in women’s participation in the language movement took place on 21 February 1952. On that day, 21 students of Dhaka University were arrested for violating Section 144. Among them are Laila Noor, Pratibha Mutsuddi, Roshan Ara Benu, Farida Bari, Jahrat Ara, Kamrun Nahar Laili, Hosne Ara, Farida Anwar and Talea Rahman. At that time, female university students had to speak to men with the proctor’s permission and in front of the proctor.

The women of the village were imprisoned behind the veil. At such a time, pushing the social, religious, institutional and state barriers, women came down on the streets to demand Bengali language – it was a big deal. Apart from the police barricade, the students did not have much of a barrier. There were many risks for women to participate in the movement. Women joined men in the movement to demand the uplift of the mother tongue, ignoring these serious problems. Women also played a leading role in the language struggle but for unknown reasons that role remains unacknowledged.

The names of women language activists are hardly mentioned. It is the demand of the time to present the history of language struggle to the new generation properly. It is our moral responsibility to present to the new generation the courageous women who have made outstanding contributions to the language movement in spite of all the odds.

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Courtesy: Daily Observer Dhaka and The Country Today

The post Women’s role in Bangla language movement first appeared on Sindh Courier.

Nazarul Islam

When a loved one passes away, the intensity of shock triggers rippled waves of grief. To most of us, the event is life’s unforgettable, shocking moment —the harbinger of a heart breaking separation. The moral of my story: All people die, yet not all people live! Do they really fade away?

My loving, caring patron and well-wisher of the past, Mirza Nasir Hossain (MNH) had lived a full life! He had packed so much of this into his many eventful decades as a mentor, colleague, benefactor, a dedicated husband, a devoted parent, an educator and above all a genuine friend. I can vouch with certainty, that he displayed a genuine interest in the welfare, education and progress of so many young people that he met or had known.

He never forgot names. He was soft spoken, and graceful, always chipping in, a word or two of fond advice. Time and tide do take the toll of even the wisest and the bravest. Even during his weak and painful moments, I am sure, Nasir Bhai had the heart to laugh at his critics who fallaciously saw his impact and influence receding with age. I had last met him in 2012, at his Nazimabad home. He had lost weight, and looked feeble. Yet his vibrant voice recoiled intensely to keep the conversation going loud. He wanted to know how I had fared in life. I defended myself: ‘I have moved on. I live and work in the US’. It was a painful goodbye.

He was mindful of a silent struggle for freedom floating in the backwaters of the mighty rivers Padma and Meghna

My close proximity with him had enabled me to observe his preferences. I was inspired by his unending struggle against hypocrisy and how in all his dispositions, he had valued time. He wanted himself and his followers get things organized and finish work, in time. He had traveled to Europe, USA and the world, chased his dreams, engaged with people, and debated hotly in the backdrop of most burning issue of those times—the rising anarchy in East Pakistan. He was mindful of a silent struggle for freedom floating in the backwaters of the mighty rivers Padma and Meghna.

Often he would lament how the wrong policies of the rulers had disenfranchised the minds of the East Pakistani Bengalis, who continued to live in disbelief a thousand miles away. Could they have been the fateful children of a lesser god? Nasir Bhai was a patron of learning and skills, and blessed with God’s gift of foresight. Yet he never refrained from putting one foot in front of the other, battling what he knew from the start—a war against those who could not appreciate the rise of a hard working ‘west Pakistani’, in good light. At the end of the day, he had mixed with his Bengali friends, which he always did with grace, dignity, integrity and courage.

One of his favorite haunts was Dacca’s famous ‘Casbah’ restaurant, located in Jinnah Avenue. This was a noisy place visited by the city’s educated elitists which offered good food and ‘chai’. It boasted of people who spoke their minds, politics, economics and ideologies and freely outpoured their rage as debates progressed through the stages of public tolerance. Almost every day, the conversation here had focused on how the largest province of the country was being denied their due share, compared to their Muslim brothers in the West Pakistan. Nasir Bhai’s closest friends were Bengalis.

When sentiments got awry and overheated at the Casbah, and slips of tongue had got the better share of grievances and outbursts, he somehow knew it was time for intervention. He would wink at Burro Bhai, a highly educated and well versed local landlord who would then tactfully step in, in his bid to lower the temperature with his sweet and sour interpolations, cracks and jokes while good old Nasir Saheb footed the bill for the best of the noisy participants. In no time, the crowd would disperse, till the next gathering, the next outbursts and the consequent interventions. Wasn’t he a great peacemaker, on his own accord and at his own cost?

Nasir Bhai was humble and down to earth, a man of true merits which were further marked by his love for his family, particularly his son and daughter, his love of marsias, and devotional music. Obviously, this had included life-long love of learning, his love of better Chinese cuisine, his acceptance of everyone and refusal to judge or dismiss anyone, his enjoyment of good company and of hearing and telling stories.

In his rather happy time on this earth, Nasir Bhai’s journey was like a rock thrown into a lake – sending ripples ever outward into the future. Your addiction doesn’t define you. He was an avid reader, a writer, a traveler, an orator, an educator, a thinker and above all a never-say-die community well-wisher. He simply loved good ideas, and his friendships and family had ignited the hearth that was his heart!

Each one of us who knew him, had liked him in more ways than one. The end of Nasir Bhai’s life has portrayed death truthfully. He died in the middle of his life, in the middle of a sentence.

Sadly, without Mirza Nasir Hossain, our lives became empty and my small world has become immensely poor.

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The Bengal-born writer Nazarul Islam is a senior educationist based in USA. He writes for Sindh Courier and the newspapers of Bangladesh, India and America. He is author of a recently published book ‘Chasing Hope’ – a compilation of his articles.

The post Mirza Nasir Hossain: The Man and the Myth first appeared on Sindh Courier.

DHAKA

The historic Six-Point Day, marking the demand for autonomy of the then East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, is being observed today (June 7) across the country in a befitting manner.

On June 7 in 1966, Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman launched a massive movement against the misrule of the then Pakistan government on the basis of the 6-point demand, the Magna Carta of the Bengalis, demanding autonomy for the then East Pakistan.

Eleven people, including Manu Mian, Shafique and Shamsul Haque, were gunned down by the police and paramilitary EPR on June 7, 1966 in Dhaka and Narayanganj during a hartal (Strike) called for the release of Bangabandhu and other leaders detained for launching the Six-Point Movement against the then barbaric ruling clique.

Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman launched his historic six-point political and economic program in Lahore on February 5 in 1966, aiming at attaining greater autonomy for the then East Pakistan in the backdrop of exploitation and discrimination by the then Pakistani rulers.

The six-point demands were creating provisions in the constitution for a Federation of Pakistan in its true sense based on the Lahore Resolution that the federal government will deal with only two subjects: Defence and Foreign Affairs, introduction of two separate, but freely convertible currencies for East and West Pakistan, vesting the power of taxation and revenue collection with the federating units, maintaining two separate accounts for the foreign exchange earnings of the two wings and creation a separate militia or paramilitary force for East Pakistan.

President Mohammed Shahabuddin and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina issued separate messages on the eve of the six-point day.

In his message, President Shahabuddin paid rich tributes to the memories of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and all who embraced martyrdom for implementing the six-point demand.

Terming the historic six-point demand as the milestone in the history of the country’s liberation and independence struggles, he said the independence of Bengali nation is an outcome of long struggle.

The President said the movement, which was initiated in 1948 with the demand for recognition of Bangla as a state language, had successfully culminated through the 1952 Language Movement creating the foundation of Bengali nationalism.

Later, Bangabandhu placed the historic six-point demand in Lahore in 1966 for autonomy of Bengali nation in continuation of formation of Juktofront in 1954, movement against autocratic rule in 1958 and 1962 Education Commission movement, he added.

Through the six-point demand, Shahabuddin said, Bangabandhu presented political, economic, social and cultural interests, including along with administrative structure, powers of the central government, monetary policy, revenue and tax policy, foreign trade and the formation of regional forces, of East Bengal.

The President said the six-point demand contained the framework of independence and autonomy of Bengali nation.

After the announcement of six-point demand, he said, the Pakistani rulers tortured Bangabandhu inhumanly and repeatedly arrested him, but could not deter him from the six-point demand.

Under his (Bangabandhu) leadership, the movement of realizing demands gained momentum and spread throughout Bangla within a short time, the President said, adding the ruling clique took strict measures, including arrests and torture, to suppress the six-point movement.

On June 7 in 1966, 11 people embraced martyrdom and many were injured and arrested in Dhaka and Narayanganj as police opened fire while Awami League was observing a province-wide general strike in support of the six-point demand, Shahabuddin said.

The historic six-point is not only the charter for emancipation of Bengalis rather it is the source of inspiration for movement for emancipation of the repressed and persecuted people all over the world, the he added.

“I believe that the young generation will be inspired with patriotism by learning from Bangabandhu’s six-point demand,” the President said and urged all to fulfill Bangabandhu’s dream of building a happy and prosperous ‘Sonar Bangla’ free from hunger and poverty.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, in her message, paid glowing tributes to the memories of all martyrs of the struggle for independence including those of the June 7 and said that this historic day is an unforgettable and significant day in the history of Bangladesh.

“Today is June 7, the Six-Point Day. The important chapter of the historic movement for six-point demand, declared by the greatest Bengali of all time, Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, was started on this day in 1966,” she said on the eve of the Six-point day.

Noting that the six-point movement declared by the Father of the Nation got a new dimension on June 7 in 1966, the premier said police and the then EPR had opened fire on unarmed people during observing a hartal called by Awami League to realize the six-point demand, the charter of freedom of the Bengali nation.

Eleven people, including Manu Mian, Abul Hossain, Shafique and Shamsul Haque, had embraced martyrdom in Dhaka and Narayanganj on that day, Sheikh Hasina said.

Under the leadership of Bangabandhu, the undisputed leader of Bengalis, the outline of independence was drawn up with the unwavering support of this country’s people for the six-point demand, she said, adding, through the six-point movement, the seeds of freedom sprouted.

In the continuation of the six-point movement, Bengali’s struggle for autonomy turned into a independence movement, the Prime Minister said, adding that in continuation of the 11-point movement based on six-point, the Mass Uprising of 1969 started, the people of Bangla got absolute majority in the general elections of 1970 and finally an independent and sovereign Bangladesh emerged on the world map through the victory in the Great Liberation War of 1971.

Sheikh Hasina said the Awami League (AL) government, being imbued with the spirit of all democratic movements and struggles including the historic June 7, is firmly committed to keep intact the democratic rights of the people.

“We are working to take the country forward with the spirit of the Liberation War and reach the benefits of independence to all people of the country,” she added.

In the last 14 and a half year, the premier said, her government has made unprecedented development in the country. Bangladesh has now earned the status of developing country from least developed country (LDC), she added.

“Let’s, being imbued with the spirit of the great Liberation War, we unitedly fight against any conspiracy to protect the continuity of the country’s development and democracy and build the country as the developed-prosperous and modern-smart Sonar Bangladesh dreamt by the Father of the Nation by 2041,” Sheikh Hasina said.

Marking the historic Six-Point Day, ruling Awami League (AL), its associate bodies and like-minded socio-cultural organizations have drawn up elaborate programs.

The AL’s programs include hoisting of the national and party flags atop Bangabandhu Bhaban at Dhanmondi and central office in the capital and all unit offices across the country in the early morning tomorrow.

Leaders and workers of AL and its front organizations will place wreaths at the portrait of Bangabandhu at Bangabandhu Bhaban in the city’s Dhanmondi area at 7 am.

Besides, AL will organize a discussion at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre (BICC) in the city at 3.30pm tomorrow to mark the day.

AL President and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will chair the discussion.

AL General Secretary and Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader, in a statement, urged all district, city, upazila, municipality, union and ward units of the party and its associate and like-minded bodies as well as the people to observe the day across the country in a befitting manner through different programs keeping similarity with the central ones.

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Courtesy: Daily Sun, Dhaka

The post Bangladesh Observes Historic 6-Point Day first appeared on Sindh Courier.

Layli Uddin

Introduction

By 1974, the dreams and hopes of liberation in Bangladesh had soured: unemployment, hunger and political repression were in full force. Anthony Mascarenhas, one of the first journalists to alert the world about the scale of massacre committed by the Pakistani army against the Bengali population in 1971, described the Rakkhi Bahini, an elite paramilitary force established after the independence of Bangladesh in the same year, as “a private army of bully boys not far removed from the Nazi Brown Shirts”. They were used by the new regime led by the Awami League to crush opponents and critics. In time, Mascarenhas wrote: “it completely terrorized the people”. By the end of 1973, politically motivated murders committed by the Rakkhi Bahini had crossed the 2000 mark. Many of those killed were said to be Maoist enemy agents, but often on fairly spurious grounds such as “found carrying Chinese wireless sets”. Why was the Awami League so worried? The answer to that goes back before 1971, to stories that hint at the different possibilities that the ruling party in East Pakistan at the time, the Awami League, had been well aware of, and needed to suppress.

One such story emerged in my conversation with a man who was 8-9 years old in 1970-1971. He remembered Maulana Bhashani’s posters and young people carrying the little red book in their pockets in his hometown in the outskirts of Dhaka. Then there are the stories of the strange and cryptic shab-e-namas (night messages) that appeared on the walls of Dhaka and elsewhere just before the war, demanding a North Bengal province. Finally, there are the stories of rallies in early 1971, where young men and women donned red caps and shouted out “jatir pita” (father of the nation) at Bhashani. These stories may seem unremarkable, but they suggest to me that there were multiple “fathers” involved in the unmaking of Pakistan and making of Bangladesh. They suggest that Bhashani inhabited political spaces and constituencies that were not encapsulated or accommodated within the politics practiced by the Awami League or Mujibur Rahman, widely considered the founding father of Bangladesh. On the contrary, these stories suggest Bhashani’s constituencies encroached upon and threatened to overwhelm and overturn the Awami League’s future plans for the new nation-state. The paper will show how Mujib’s nationalism was just one of the currents in East Pakistan over this period, the other provided by Bhashani was the articulation of a radical, progressive and transnational vision of freedom, justice and equality.

Bhashani was a venerated pir, peasant leader and politician of colonial Assam and Bengal and postcolonial East Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Who was Maulana Bhashani?

Maulana Bhashani’s life, hitherto, has received little curiosity or attention from academics, despite having been such a heavy weight figure in South Asian Muslim politics and beyond. Who was Bhashani? Bhashani (1880-1976) was a venerated pir, peasant leader and politician of colonial Assam and Bengal and postcolonial East Pakistan and Bangladesh. He was a scourge of colonial and postcolonial regimes. President of the provincial Assam Muslim League during the colonial years, he went on to form two of the most powerful opposition parties in Pakistan, the Awami Muslim League and the National Awami Party (NAP) – the latter whose birth Ajoy Ghosh, a member of the Communist Party of India, described as an “event of historic import for the Pakistan people”. If there was an all-Pakistan figure after Jinnah, it was perhaps Bhashani. Stories about him come from both wings.

Notwithstanding, Bhashani presents a tricky and complex subject to write about for a number of reasons. How does one write about a leader who has not only left few written traces of his own ideas but appears as a figure of scorn and ridicule in official archives? Archives in the United Kingdom and the United States on East Pakistan are replete with instances of politicians, journalists and members of intelligentsia of both wings of Pakistan offering up information on Bhashani’s illiteracy, ignorance, rusticity, irrationality, on him being crude, vulgar, violent, not really a Maulana or not really a Communist, among many other things. Historians have ended up sharing the same disdain, content with their descriptions of him as a firebrand preacher or agitator.  However, if you listen closely, and I mean closely to other voices – voices that are often choked at the thought and memories of Bhashani – he becomes more than an agitator. He is the Majloom Jononeta or leader of the oppressed in Bangladesh. He is the politician who presided over one of the largest kissan (peasant) conferences in Punjab and who, quoting Iqbal, told the people to burn the land that does not feed them. He is the pir who appeared in the dreams of Bengali farmers after having flown on his boat driven by a pack of tigers to discuss the next struggle. And for the working-class Diasporas in Brick Lane or Jackson height, he is their Che, Rosa, and Malcolm X.

I want to recover Bhashani from the condescension and silence of history. I explore his role in the 1969 uprising in Pakistan, a significant moment in the unmaking of the state, leading to the victory of the Awami League in 1970 elections. I upend the conventional narrative around the 1960s and show that Maulana Bhashani was far from the weakened figure that he was made out to be. Derided by his opponents as “Mao-Lana” for his Maoist inclinations, Bhashani was nonetheless seen as having little political support or teeth.

Bhashani’s political practice

So to begin: on 5 December 1968, the plane carrying Pakistani President Ayub Khan and his entourage landed on the tarmac of Tejgaon airport in Dhaka. Ayub was guest of honor in celebrations marking Pakistan’s “Decade of Development” or as his opponents wryly put it, the “Decade of Dictatorship”. With Mujib in jail, and schools and universities closed for an indefinite period, the president was assured that the main sources of agitation in East Pakistan had been tamed. It was a grave miscalculation. Ayub’s trip was completely overshadowed by the massive protests and hartals (strikes) that besieged Dhaka and the other areas of East Pakistan, and which signaled the first phase of the 1969 uprising in the East Pakistan province. The trouble for the administration had come from different, though not entirely unexpected, quarters.

Bhashani’s call for a hartal on 7th December 1968 was an unprecedented success. Over the next few days as strikes occurred consecutively, the newspapers’ front-page headlines screamed out to its readers, while its content provided blow-by-blow accounts of police firing, deaths and injuries, walkouts at the Legislative Assembly and Bhashani’s spectacular defiance of Section 144. The strikes were also repeated in other parts of the province such as Chittagong, Noakhali, Sylhet, Bogra and Khulna. The scale and swiftness with which they took place and the wholeheartedness with which people responded to them even surprised NAP members. Thus, contrary to impressions of Bhashani as a politically passive and agreeable figure to the regime, who was famously reported to have said to his followers “Do not Disturb Ayub”, a different archive in the 1960s suggest that Bhashani was actually stealthily organizing and mobilizing peasant constituencies in North Bengal and labour constituencies as well through boat tours and political assemblies, building up his network of murids (disciples) and Marxists for the very purpose of mobilizing them to fight for their freedom, equality and dignity. All of which gave him, in December 1968, an advanced insight into the readiness of certain sections of Pakistan’s population for battle.

Over the 1960s, Bhashani engaged in several innovative practices that were intended to organize and mobilize his constituent groups to bring about a form of Islamic Socialism or at least prepare the way for it.  Though I do not want to draw a strong correlation, Bhashani’s encounters with left-leaning activists and leaders in Europe, the World Peace Council, China, and Havana were to leave a strong impression on his politics. Bhashani held Islamic Socialism as the antithesis to imperialist depredations. Unlike Mujib’s Six-Point program, which sought greater freedom for the Bengali populace at large, Bhashani offered the peasants and workers a model that primarily spoke to their material and spiritual emancipation and made them central to its realisation.

Bhashani did this in several ways. First, through the introduction of new relationships and linkages, which brokered the most unlikely of alliances between Bhashani’s murids and the Marxist workers of NAP, Krishak Samiti, and Mazdoor Foundation and legitimated the existence of the “other” in one another’s worlds. This he did through the modification, if not complete innovation, in his relationship with his murids, particularly in the bay’ah (oath of allegiance) that they undertook over this period. The bay’ah demanded alongside the usual articles of belief in God, Prophet and the spiritual lineage, a belief in socialism. The bay’ah made a Marxist of the murid and a murid out of the Marxist.

Their common purpose not only made both groups acceptable to each other but also endowed both with an equal standing and the right to enter into the same spaces and use the language of the other.  With the Marxist workers of NAP and Krishak Samiti more frequently present at religious gatherings and mosque, the murid was to find his world equally transformed during this period. With belief in socialism now naturalised into an article of faith, the murid’s search for that deeper connection with Bhashani and God was to be found in his engagement with the external world of political activism as much as the internal world of dhikrs (chants) and muraqaba (meditation).

The second intervention Maulana Bhashani made over this period came through his introduction of new ideas, language and vocabularies in assemblies and gatherings, intended to impart to the peasant and workers a sense of their own power and dynamism.  Bhashani introduced his constituents to their new selves over this period: they were the sarbahārā (have-nots).  Though sarbahāra itself was not a new term, and regularly used in the Marxist lexicon to refer to the proletariat class, Bhashani opened it to incorporate wider and different histories, futures and icons, both sacred and profane. The sarbahāra for him constituted a class that was not defined by what they lacked, but by their ubiquitous presence across different times, geographies and civilizations, possessing the power to change the course of history.  The sarbahāra found their own champions and heroes contained within these narratives, as varied as Mao Tse Tung and Abu Dharr al-Ghifari, a companion of the Prophet and someone more significant in Shi’a than Sunni historiographies.  When a disgruntled Kazi Mohiduddin declared NAP as the “sarbahāra party, with a sarbahāra programme, holding little value for any other class”, he intended his words to shed light on why he had resigned from Bhashani’s NAP to help form the pro-Moscow NAP. What the resignation actually signaled was that Bhashani had succeeded, at least in his own rhetoric, to project the peasants and workers as constituting a well-defined and powerful class, who were capable of representing their interests and prepared to play an instrumental, if not leading, role to bring about fundamental changes to state and society.

The ghost of Bhashani

While Bhashani’s muted public pronouncements and attitude towards the Ayub regime contributed towards his diminishing importance in the political scene of Dhaka, Bhashani’s activities, particularly in North Bengal, suggest a different story altogether. His attempts to create more powerful, organized and conscious constituencies through the introduction of new alliances, histories and practices were less placatory and more defiant in their attitude to a regime that denied social, political and economic dignity and equality to its people. The success of his tactics can be seen in the desperation of Ayub. On 9th March, just weeks before he resigned, Ayub Khan’s diary entry reads “gangs of communist and terrorists on the prompting of Bhashani are raiding police stations, the houses and properties of Muslim Leaguers, and asking the chairman and members of Basic Democrats to resign (….) in consequence, most of the civil officers have left their posts and so have the local rent collectors, and their records have been burnt.” Bhashani, according to Christopher Jaffrelot, had not only managed to mobilize his Bengali base but also farmers in the Chambar district of Sindh and Hashtnagar in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP). His mobilization in both wings for a different world during the 1969 uprising and immediately after gesture to the tensions, aporias and possibilities in the unmaking of Pakistan and making of Bangladesh. Now, Bhashani’s stories either remain untold, or are spoken of in conspiratorial whispers or as the tired and aching memories of a past long gone. What we forget is that these spaces where the ghost of Bhashani lingers – the huts and homes of poor villages and chars in Bangladesh, Sindh, Baluchistan and NWFP, and the left circles and working-class Diasporas in the North – are the spaces where dreams continue to breed.

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Dr. Layli Uddin is a historian of modern South Asia and is currently working on a book on the making and unmaking of Pakistan and Bangladesh. She is also the curator of the ‘Two Centuries of Indian Print’ project at the British Library.

Courtesy: Jamhoor (Published on May 25, 2018)

The post Mao-Lana Bhashani: Maoism and the Unmaking of Pakistan first appeared on Sindh Courier.

Monitoring Desk

On 19 November 1970, a week after the tragedy, students held a march in Dhaka, the capital of Pakistan’s eastern province, protesting the slowness of the government response. A statement released by eleven political leaders in East Pakistan ten days after the cyclone hit charged the government with “gross neglect, callous and utter indifference”.

Relief work neglected

The Pakistan Red Crescent began to operate independently of the government as the result of a dispute that arose after the Red Crescent took possession of 20 rafts donated by the British Red Cross. A pesticide company had to wait two days before it received permission for two of its crop dusters, which were already in the country, to carry out supply drops in the affected regions.

A reporter for the Pakistan Observer spent a week in the worst hit areas in early January and saw none of the tents supplied by relief agencies being used to house survivors and commented that the grants for building new houses were insufficient. The Pakistan Observer regularly carried front page stories with headlines like “No Relief Coordination”, whilst publishing government statements saying “Relief operations are going smoothly.”

In January (1971), the coldest period of the year in East Pakistan, the National Relief and Rehabilitation Committee, headed by the editor of The Daily Ittefaq (Dainik Ittefaq), said thousands of survivors from the storm were “passing their days under [the] open sky”. A spokesman said families who were made homeless by the cyclone were receiving up to 250 rupees (£30 in 1971, £200 in 2007) to rebuild, but that resources were scarce and he feared the survivors would “eat the cash”.

Maulana’s mass rally attended by 50,000 people

The most scathing Bengali criticism of West Pakistan had in fact emanated not from Sheikh Mujib’s Awami League, but from the 90-year-old veteran NAP leader Maulana Bhashani, known as the “Lal Mullah” (Red Mullah) because of his egalitarian-leftist views. The Maulana declared, as early as September 1970, that if concrete steps were not taken to correct interregional inequalities and provide greater protection for East Pakistan from natural woes, it would be forced to separate and befriend whomever it wanted. He also called for “complete financial autonomy” for East Pakistan.

The Maulana, grievously ill and under treatment at a nursing home in Dhaka, famously ignored his physicians’ advice, dropped his political work and rushed to Manpura, the worst affected part of Bhola, after an arduous journey by train, motor launch, country boat, and sometimes on foot. Here he comforted the bereaved and railed against central government’s hard-heartedness and indifference.

When news of the cyclone and pictures of the dead bodies were published in newspapers, it created a huge uproar in East Pakistan. At that time, Moulana Bhashani was in hospital in Dhanmondi, Dhaka. Bhashani was so sick that the doctors had almost declared him clinically dead.

On 12 November 1970, the same day the cyclone hit the country at night, I went to the hospital to see Moulana. I met Aziz Bhai, (Doctor Aziz, ex Minister) and I asked him about his health and he replied ‘very critical, anything can happen any time’. I stayed there till midnight.

On the morning of 13 November 1970, I rushed to the hospital and stepped into his room to discover the Moulana awoken from deep slumber, as if through a miracle. The attending nurse called the doctor. Bhashani looked at the door and asked for the newspaper, but nobody dare to give it to him.

But when he asked for it repeatedly and looked at me askance, I ultimately gave him the newspaper I was carrying with me. The paper was full of pictures of dead bodies and included the whole story of how the then East Pakistan was neglected by the Pakistani military junta. After reading and seeing it, Moulana Bhashani was so furious that he shouted ‘I will go there to see how cyclone devastated the areas and what the government did’. All the doctors attending to him said ‘you can’t go Huzur; your health condition does not permit that’. He did not listen to anybody and right away told somebody to pack up his personal belongings and then just set about to visit the cyclone-affected areas. We all are God’s creation but Moulana Bhashani was an extraordinarily blessed person who looked younger than his age and could travel great lengths even at old age.

Everywhere he went he delivered fiery speeches against the military junta and provided hope and inspiration to people. All of his speeches were extraordinary. He visited all the affected areas including Barisal, Patuakhali, Sirajganj, Noakhali, Chattragram and Dhaka.

Exposed to the aftermath of the country’s greatest human tragedy caused by nature, the Maulana was reportedly seen ‘weeping like a child’ many times during the tour.

Returning to Dhaka on 22 November 1970, Maulana Bhashani held a press conference to inform the people, both at home and abroad, about the colossal scale of the tragedy. He made emotional appeals to people all around the world to help the afflicted people whilst condemning the Islamabad-based central government for not having “cared to visit the hapless citizens of the East”. The next day (23 November 1970) the no-nonsense Maulana said “Assalamu’alaikum” to West Pakistan in a mammoth public rally held in Paltan Maidan – the traditional forum for public dissent – and attended by 50,000. ‘Assalamu’alaikum’ is an Arabic term meaning ‘Peace be upon you’ and used by Muslims to greet and say goodbye to each other.

During his speech, Maulana Bhashani described graphically the extent of devastation caused by the natural calamity to the public: how 1,000,000 – 1,200,000 human beings had been killed by the cyclone, how their homesteads and livestock had been washed away, how nearly 400,000 mutilated bodies of men, women and children, along with hundreds of mutilated livestock, were still lying under the open sky and, how the survivors were struggling for their lives without food and shelter.

Maulana Bhashani argued that past events and current government indifference to cyclone victims by way of suppressing the news and distancing itself from the miseries of the Bengalis at the time of their greatest misfortune proved Pakistan had by then become ‘anachronistic and pointless’ and thus declared “Independent East Pakistan”.

Swadhin Purbo Pakistan Zindabad (Long live independent East Pakistan)

Maulana Bhashani’s concluding remark in Dhaka’s Paltan Maidan on 23 November 1970

The Maulana also demanded the president’s resignation, and announced that his NAP party would not participate in the upcoming general and provincial elections. He questioned the ethics of election campaigns at a time when people needed aid.

Maulana Bhashani had already boycotted the election. The tragedy of the cyclone only provided an excuse for his pre-existing stance against the election.

His famous speech was epitomized in the poem “Safed Panjabi” (White Panjabi) by notable Bengali poet Shamshur Rahman. The poet was so moved by the tragedy and Bhashani’s speech that it inspired him to write the poem as a reference to the white clothing adorned by the Maulana as he delivered his speech.

Sheikh Mujib’s frustration further intensifies student’s sentiment

Three days after the Maulana’s declaration, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman also voiced his anger in a press conference. Coming back from his trip to the cyclone-torn areas, Sheikh Mujib called a press conference at Hotel Shahbag, Dhaka, on 26 November 1970. He came in and sat on the seat reserved for him, flanked by Tajuddin Ahmad to his right and Syed Nazrul Islam to his left. Dr. Kamal Hossain and other leaders were seated in the back row. He declared that the government’s failure to help cyclone victims represented a failure of Pakistan more than of Yahya Khan’s regime. Asked if he was considering secession, he replied, “Not yet”. His ‘autonomy not independence’ stance was supported by some pro-Awami League newspapers in the eastern wing, which also criticized Maulana Bhashani for his pronouncement of ‘independence’ three days earlier.

As Bangabandhu greeted his audience and began speaking, a storm of flash bulbs went off against the constant clicking of cameras. Bangabandhu expressed his grief for the loss of hundreds of thousands of people and their properties. He went on with great pain, as he described the miserable plight of those who were still alive.

He scathingly criticized the neglect and apathy of the human crisis by the central and provincial governments of Pakistan. He then explained how the Six-Point Charter, drawn by the Awami League, was essential and could have helped the people during such a tragedy. He stressed that if there was autonomy in East Pakistan, this kind of calamity could have been better managed. We wouldn’t have to look for help from a Central Government that rests peacefully thousands of miles away.

I have demanded regional autonomy, not independence.

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on 26 November 1970 when asked about his stance on the independence of East Pakistan

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East Pakistan must achieve self-rule by ballot if possible, and by bullet, if necessary.

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman defiant stance just like Maulana Bhashani

Maulana Bhashani’s and Sheikh Mujib’s public declaration gave the student protest more momentum and on 4 December 1970, few days after their rallying cry, the Chhatro League (Student League) demanded the release of political prisoners and raised two new slogans: “Peasants and workers: take up arms to make Bangladesh independent!” and “Raise a Ganabahini (People’s Force) to make Bangladesh independent!”

The administration has failed. That is the most important thing. And why they fail? I say their intention was not good. Otherwise, why did the Central Government failed to send helicopters from West Pakistan to East Pakistan? Tell me, the helicopters can come from UK, can come from USA, can come from other further countries, why helicopters can’t come from West Pakistan to East Bengal?

Can anybody justify it? Any government can justify it?

Sheikh Mujib criticizes Pakistani government for their failure to provide relief support

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About Maulana Bhashani

Known around the subcontinent for his selflessness character and solidarity with the oppressed people,  Bhashani was the founder and president of the Pakistan Awami Muslim League which later turned into Bangladesh Awami League. He was also founder the National Awami Party (NAP). Some of his fellows called him as ‘The Red Maulana’ due to the involvement of communist and left politics.

Early Life

Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani was born on December 10, 1880, in Sirajganj, British India (Bangladesh) to Haji Sharafat Ali Khan and Ms. Mojiron Bibi. He studied at the Deoband Madrasah between 1907 and 1909. He was the youngest child of five siblings born to his parents. At early childhood, his father died and a few days later mother along with two brothers also died. Following the lost his nearest relatives, he passed a few days under his uncle.

Political Career

Bhashani began his career journey as a primary school teacher at Kagmaree, Tangail. In 1917, he joined the Nationalist party as an activist led by Desbandhu Chittaranjan Das. Two years later, he joined Indian National Congress in 1919. Following the year, he was arrested and imprisoned. He participated in Das’s Non-cooperation movement against British Imperialism eventually suffered imprisonment with numbers of followers. In 1930, he joined Muslim League and elected MLA in Assam Legislative Assembly from Dhubri. He was elected president of Muslim League in 1944.

After separation of India and Pakistan he established Pakistan Muslim League on June 23, 1949, he was the founder president and Shamsul Huq was the first general secretary of the party.  He formed the ‘All Party Language Movement Committee’ demanding of Bangla will be a national language in Pakistan. Removing ‘Muslim’ he renamed the Awami Muslim League as the Awami League in 1953. Following the year, he went to Stockholm and barred returning to East Pakistan by Iskander Mirza branded as a communist. In 1957, at the Kagmaree Conference of Awami League, he clued the separation of Pakistan stated ‘Walakumusalam’.

He protested against government ban against Rabindranath Tagore and to withdraw the Agartala Conspiracy Case and for the release of Sheikh Mujib.

Liberation War

During the liberation war, he requested to China to help in the liberation war of Bangladesh but the county didn’t give an answer. He also requested Russia to take a step against the killing of civilians in Bangladesh by Pakistanis. He was an advisor of the Mujibnagar Government.

Personal Life

Bhashani married Alema Khatun, a daughter of Jamidar Shamsuddin Ahmed Chowdhury, in Joypurhat. He also married more two times due to political purpose. Hamid Khan died on November 17, 1976, in Dhaka aged 96 and resting at Santosh, Tangail.

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Courtesy: Londoni (The Londoni website was officially launched on 26 March 2012 – on the 41st birthday of Bangladesh – with the intention of providing the English-speaking global community with insight into the vibrant culture and mammoth history of Bangladesh –  Abdus Samad (Jaber), Founder of Londoni Worldwide Limited)

The post Maulana Bhashani was the first to declare ‘Independence’ of East Pakistan first appeared on Sindh Courier.

Dr. Rajkumar Singh        

As administrative divisions formed a basic tier of the government at independence in 1947, the new nation of Pakistan was comprised by two wings-the eastern and western, separated by India. At the time three of the provinces of Pakistan were subdivided into ten administrative divisions. The single area in the east wing called East Bengal had four divisions-Chittagong, Dacca, Khulna and Rajshahi. The province of West Punjab had four divisions – Lahore, Multan, Rawalpindi, and Sargodha. The North-West Frontier Province had two divisions-Dera Ismail Khan and Peshawar. The hasty partition of the Indian subcontinent in August 1947 not only intensified the existing mutual suspicions and fears but also gave birth to many new complex problems. Compared to India, these problems were far more numerous and onerous for Pakistan as India was not only an ‘ongoing concern’ but also inherited a well-developed administrative setup (Cheema, 1990). In the circumstances, Pakistan, the new state, was not only confronted with the important task of setting up an administrative structure but also faced almost chaotic conditions in those areas that formed Pakistan. Also, the August and September of 1947 had given the worst possible start to these two Dominions who faced the massive problem of resettling the refugees and resolving the question of migrants’ property.

In 1950 the North-West Frontier Province was expanded to include the small states of Amb and Phulra, and the name of West Punjab province was changed to Punjab. The Baluchistan States Union was formed in 1952 by the four princely states of Southwest Pakistan.

After independence between August 1947 and March 1948, the rulers of princely states such as Bahawalpur, Khairpur, Kalat, Las Bela, Kharan, Makran, Phulra, Amb, Swat, Dir, Chitral, Hunza and Nagar acceded their states to Pakistan, giving up control of their external affairs, while all retaining internal self-government, at least to begin with. Stages lost this until and by 1974 all of these states had been fully integrated into Pakistan. In 1948, the area around Karachi was separated from Sind Province to form the Federal Capital Territory. In 1950 the North-West Frontier Province was expanded to include the small states of Amb and Phulra, and the name of West Punjab province was changed to Punjab. The Baluchistan States Union was formed in 1952 by the four princely states of Southwest Pakistan. Thus, between 1947 and 1955, Pakistan comprised five provinces East Bengal, West Punjab, Sind, North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) and Baluchistan with one territory called Federal Capital Territory. The Baluchistan States Union formed in 1952 was made combining Kalat, Kharan, Las Bela and Makran and used the flag of Kalat.

Initiation of One Unit Scheme

Initially, in 1930, Sir Mohammad Iqbal conceived the idea of Pakistan by uniting the four states of the northwestern British Empire, the partition of the subcontinent was the result of Pakistan movement led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah and came into existence on 14 August 1947. Since then, the country had been without a consolidated written constitution, and all Pakistani state affairs had been run under constitutional acts of British Indian Empire enacted in 1935 and 1947. The Government had prolonged difficulty in administrating East Bengal, with its border with Eastern India, and the four provinces, which border Western India, Iran, China, and Afghanistan. Thus keeping in view the administrative difficulties the idea of ‘One Unit System’ was conceived by Malik Ghulam, the then Governor General of Pakistan, whose drafting was completed by Prime Minister Mohammad Ali Bogra who had made the first official announcement on 22 November 1954. The National Assembly of Pakistan passed a bill merging of all West Pakistan into a single province on 30 September 1955, and finally, it was implemented on 14 October 1955. Earlier in 1954, Prime Minister Mohammad Ali Bogra praised the idea and said, ‘There will be no Bengalis, no Punjabis, no Sindhis, no Pathan, no Balochis, no Bahawalpuris, no Khairpuris. The disappearance of these groups will strengthen the integrity of Pakistan. Iskander Mirza who put forward the bill in the Assembly also gave following reasons:

It would end the curse of provincial prejudices.

It would allow the development of backward areas.

It would reduce administrative expenses.

It would make it easier to draw up a new constitution.

It would give East and West Pakistan maximum autonomy.

As a follow up of the plan after the general election of 1954, the four provinces and Tribal areas were merged in the western wing. The region was composed of twelve divisions, and the provincial capital was established at Lahore. The province of East Bengal, now Bangladesh, was renamed as East Pakistan with the provincial capital at Dacca. The federal government moved the country’s capital in 1958 from Karachi to Rawalpindi while the national legislature moved to Dacca.

West Pakistan formed a single and united political entity but with marked linguistic and ethnic distinctions. The One Unit policy was regarded as an administrative reform that would reduce expenditure and help eliminate racial and parochial prejudices. However, with the military coup of 1958, trouble loomed for the province when the office of Chief Minister was abolished, and the President claimed executive power over West Pakistan.

Effects on Administration

Also, one potential factor of this growing tendency was the landslide victory of the United Front. As a result, there emerged a possibility that the desire of the civil and military bureaucracy to keep a strong center within their fold might be thwarted should the smaller provinces side with Bengal. The formation of a ‘One Unit’ would give the center a greater chance of arm twisting to get favorable decisions from one provincial assembly rather than dealing with three provinces (Punjab, Sindh, and NWFP), one chief commissioner’s provinces (Baluchistan) and numerous princely states. Overall impacts of the ‘One Unit System’ were;

Although Political benefits were going in favor of West Pakistan yet the people of different provinces of West Pakistan protested against this new scheme and insisted on the separate, distinct identities of regional cultures of the provinces.

The objectives mentioned as a cause of the “One Unit” were not met.

Expenditures were not controlled and limited. Additionally, some related issues were aroused. Remote areas of the country were ignored, and some local problems emerged with high intensity.

The objectives of One Unit could not be achieved. Instead, the power concentrated in few hands; hence the demand for the restoration of small provinces came up through various movements.

In East Pakistan, many political parties and groups questioned the principle of parity between the two wings and perceived that the whole of West Pakistan is together against East Pakistan. These facts increased the sense of alienation among them.

Ironically, after the East broke away to form Bangladesh, the Punjab province insisted that politics in the rump West Pakistan now be decided by a straightforward vote, since Punjabis were more numerous than the other groups, such as Sindhis, Pathans or Baloch.

The ‘One Unit Scheme’ sustained the highly centralized and bureaucratic political order that suffered from a legitimacy crisis in the NWFP and Sindh. Some leaders of Baluchistan, too, opposed the ‘One Unit Scheme.’

Since our leaders failed to apprehend the plural nature of the culture of our country and since they did not identify themselves with the actual national identity, so the consequent identity crises, at last, resulted in the separation of East Pakistan in 1971.

After all the one unit system remained to enforce from 1955 to 1970. Although it was brought to reduce expenditure and to eliminate provincial prejudices, the military coup of 1958 signaled difficulties when the first military President, Ayub Khan, abolished the office of Chief Minister of West Pakistan in favor of Governor’s rule. In 1960 the federal capital moved from Karachi to Rawalpindi and later to Islamabad when Constitution finished in 1966. Eventually, in 1970, the one unit system of West Pakistan was abolished by President Yahya Khan, and four new provinces were created along with some changes in Pakistani Kashmir.

Evaluation

Overall, ‘One Unit’ created more problems internally in West Pakistan, even the disparity between West and the East was neither removed nor was any other issue was resolved. At the time of division of land between the two Dominions in 1947, it was crystal clear that East Pakistan was 1000s kilometer far from West Pakistan. West Pakistan was itself divided into four provinces while West Pakistan was considered one province. It was difficult for east Pakistani to be prosperous with privileges which it had. There were a lot of hurdles between the two including language and sharing of power. This apart West was more developed, and it had a strong military and bureaucracy. Despite goodwill regarding ‘One Unit’ on the part of Government, the fact cannot be denied that merging of the provinces created further troubles and tribulations. The circumstances of one unit could not bring prosperity and development in the country.

Even recently in October 2011. The Dawn, in a Flashback: ‘One Unit’ termed the period ‘a dark chapter’ in the history of Pakistan. It viewed the system especially in the context of Sindh province which had already suffered the effects of a similar system during its 89-year annexation (1847-1936) by the Bombay Presidency. It wrote, ‘After independence, a group of politicians backed by vested interests was determined to exploit the resources of Sindh on one pretext or the other. The scheme of One Unit was not a new one. Right from the inception of Pakistan, vested interests had their eyes set on Sindh’s natural resources, but they could not put their plans in action as long as Quaid-i-Azam was alive. Right after his death, plans were set afoot’ (The Dawn, 16 October 2011). The idea of implementing it was raised time and again including one in 1949 on the floor of the first Constituent Assembly. Later it got the favor of General Ayub Khan, who is one of the cabinet meetings in the capacity of commander-in-chief and defense minister, expressed his opinion on One Unit plan by saying that he planned to make West Pakistan one province. General Iskander Mirza who finally piloted the ‘One Unit’ bill too said that it was a road roller and any small stone coming in the way would be crushed. At the time and in afterward, in the absence of a Constituent Assembly, provincial assemblies were the only forums to pave the way for the One Unite Scheme and the only weighty opposition it would invite from the Sindh province. As expected, agitation against the scheme was begun by lawyers, students, writers, and peasants but brute force crushed it and ultimately the federal government of the time succeeded in managing the bill passed by the provincial assemblies of all provinces including the Sindh.

The evaluation and analysis of ‘One Unit System’ that worked in Pakistan from 1955 to 1970 is still active and Naazir Mahmood in an article in The News on 26 July 2015 reminded in context of present-day democracy in Pakistan that forms 1947 to 1955, in all 22 provincial cabinets were dismissed or forced to resign-five in East Bengal, four in Punjab, four in NWFP, and eight in Sindh. No government was changed through a no-confidence vote in the provincial legislatures. Most governments were removed while they commanded the majority support in-house and were forced out at the behest of the central powers that be (The News, 26 July 2015). Even before the civil-military became unbalanced in nascent Pakistan, the fundamental province antagonism had started shattering the dream of a decent democracy. At the juncture, it was wrong to suggest that the entire Muslim League was in favor of an active center, but actually, the gang of four comprising Ghulam Mohammad, Major General Iskander Mirza, General Ayub Khan and Chaudhary Mohammad Ali was adamant to have an active center in Pakistan. Those who tried to stand firm for the protection of provincial rights were shown the door and declared as traitors working against the national interest. In a nutshell, the scheme was a campaign of a few against the will and interest of general public which cast a dark shadow over the administrative setup of the then infant nation called Pakistan.

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Courtesy: South Asia Journal (Published on June 19, 2018)

The post One Unit Scheme of Pakistan, 1955-1970 revisited first appeared on Sindh Courier.

Prabhat Singh

Nikunj Bhowmick, who lives in a refugee settlement near the north Indian city of Bareilly, clings to two of his belongings, which connect him to his past. One is a certificate of registration, dated November 19, 1956, and issued by the superintendent of Ranigachi camp in the state of West Bengal. The other is a two-stringed musical instrument, called dotara, which he made for himself.

The instrument consoles his soul, and the certificate validates his existence in an adopted country. However, the piece of paper is also a constant reminder of scars that the new generation is hardly aware of.

A resident of Bhudiya Colony, around 55 miles from Bareilly city, Bhowmick is one of the millions of Bengali-speaking refugees from East Pakistan who crossed the border due to communal violence around the time of the partition of the erstwhile British India. East Pakistan came to be known as Bangladesh after its liberation from Pakistan in 1971 and is now home to the world’s fourth-largest Muslim population.

In 1948, Nikunj was about 23 when he left his native village Babuganj in Barisal, with his wife and a son. He stayed in Ranigachi refugee camp in West Bengal for eight years. He got only 16 rupees per month from the government and worked as laborer to meet the living expenses.

With his wife and three-year-old son, Bhowmick landed in West Bengal and stayed in the Ranigachi refugee camp for eight years before being rehabilitated in Bhudiya Colony. A Hindu, he escaped the atrocities that were meted out to numerous non-Muslims at the time, but he witnessed some bloody incidents. Like others, he remains traumatized by the memory.

“On the 16th of June, 1961, 160 families from camps in Calcutta were brought to Bhudiya Colony. They were from villages in Barisal, Faridpur, Mymensingh, Dhaka, and Jessore districts who came to India with a hope to start their lives afresh,” says another resident, Sukhranjan Bairagi.

Today, around 5,000 refugees from Bangladesh live in Bareilly. While only a few of the first-generation settlers are alive today, stories of arson, killing, rape, abduction, and looting still abound. However, the younger generation clearly does not wish to retain those stories in their memory. They talk more often, and more comfortably, about economic hardships and family disputes their ancestors had.

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Courtesy: The Diplomat

The post Life in a Refugee Colony in India first appeared on Sindh Courier.

Dr. Zaffar Junejo

(Author’s Note: One Unit was dissolved on 1st July, 1970. Sindhi nation along with Bengalis, Balochis, and Pathans fought against it through platforms of cultural associations, literary organizations and political parties. By and large One Unit was opposed across Pakistan however the Anti-One Unit Movement’s epicenter was Sindh. Sindh opposed One Unit because it was considered a tool to alter its demography, grab resources and strategically control wealth of the province. Sindhi nationalists, supported by other political parties forged an association to realize one point agenda – dismantle One Unit. They carried the struggle in all odd and even situations, and bore the cost – jails, punishments, insults, life threats and issuing of ‘certificates’ of disloyalty and treachery but they continued their struggles, and got it undone – Sindh was restored with its full name, and titles.

In 2020, an idea was floated by some Sindh-lovers that Sindh has to celebrate Anti-One Unit Abolition Day as the Golden Jubilee event, just to cherish, and recall the successful struggle of Sindhi peoples. In this regard, the author intends to translate some of the basic and most relevant documents from Sindhi language into English, in sprit of celebration and remembrance. The first in the series is Saeen GM Syed’s article: One Unit Jo Qiyam: Mukhalfan Ja Khadsha and Muwafqan Ja Faidi Mean Dalil (Formation of One Unit: Opponents’ Apprehensions and Supporters’ Arguments in its favor).

The article is taken from the booklet: One Unit Ji Kahani (The Story of One Unit).  The book was authored by GM Syed and published by Yar Muhammad Ibin Hayat Panhwar, Secretary Sindh Mutaheda Mahaz, Markazi Office, Al-Khalil Building, Qazi Qayoum Road, Hyderabad. Its printer was Begum Zeenat Channa, ‘Zeenat Printers’ Khokhar Mahlo Hyderabad. Its first edition with 2000 copied came in November, 1969 – Dr. Zaffar Junejo.)

One Unit Ji Kahani (The Story of One Unit) – IX

GM Syed

Pakistan Peoples’ Party

The founder of this party is Zulifkar Ali Bhutto; he was part of General Ayub Khan’s government for eight years as a minister; he was his right hand man, and prominent worker of the Convention Muslim League. He was very much supportive of General Ayub Khan, according to Fazil-u-Qadir and others; he is answerable for following actions:

1. He even didn’t avoid suggesting that Deputy Commissioners and Police Superintendents should be nominated as office bearers for the Convention Muslim League.
2. All Mullahs and Moulvis, who are involved in politics, should be killed with bullets.
3. Muslim nation in its history has only produced two persons: One Salahuddin Ayubi and second General Ayub (Note: highlights are of author).
4. One of the lead objectives of the Convention Muslim League was the formation of One Unit; I have already discussed it in the preceding paragraphs. Now question is why he didn’t show his patriotism at that time?
5. He supported Ayub Khan against Ms. Fatima Jinnah. Although, it was known to him that Ms. Jinnah is sister of Quaid-e-Azam.
6. How he got support from capitalists and members to popularize Ayub Khan’s party.

Now the question before us is that after such services, why he was expelled from the ministry?

In the response to that question, these might be possible replies:

1. a) He opposed and exposed General Ayub Khan’s acceptance of “Tashkent Declaration” as a treason, and propagated against him. Therefore, he was ousted!
2. b) Ayub Khan’s concerns about his loyalty, the pressure of the foreign countries, or he worked against the interests of Pakistan. Therefore, he was expelled from the ministry!

Presently, he is away from influence of Ayub Khan. Therefore, he could share his side of the story. But, till now he is silent, therefore, it seems that reasons for his ousting would remain a secret.

He exposed malpractices and corruptions that happened in Ayub’s era, people agreed to him and he was opposed by none.  But, now the situation is changed, and the constitution is being framed.

Presently, the question before us is that how this young man, a resident of Sindh, a handsome person, having an attractive personality would play his role to liberate Sindh from the One Unit – it is really a serious question.

Bhutto Sahib’s following four points confuse us a lot:

1. His speech at Sindh University that he couldn’t scarify Punjab’s interests for Sindh.
2. His speech in Punjab that he is opponent of One Unit. But agreed to accept the constitution of 1956, if certain amendments are made.
3. He has never spoken a single word against the zonal federation.
4. He is against One Unit, but opposes Awami League’s ‘six point’ agenda, and he knows that it is the lead party of East Pakistan. In addition to that, he fully understands that without the support of Bengalis One Unit couldn’t be abolished.

Another concern is his workers’ indulgence in the following activities, and their attitude is beyond our understanding:

1. In his newspaper, why Pir Pagaro is being taunted?
2. Why he (Mr. Bhutto) encourages his workers to call a pious man like Muhammad Qasim as an infidel?
3. Why his workers label prominent workers of Sindh Mutaheda Mahaz as ‘Indian agents’, ‘supporters of feudal lords’, ‘maternal-grandsons of Raja Dahar’, and ‘ruins of Moen-Jo-Daro’? What is rationality to demean political workers? What holds him back to be part of Sindhi brethren’s alliance ‘Sindh Mutaheda Mahaz’? How he would be able to free Sindh from One Unit, while he opposes Bengal and small provinces’ majority, (who are against One Unit)?

It is true that in young age, emotions never create a room for rationality. However, we sincerely advise him to leave such arrogance, and join Sindh Mutaheda Mahaz. The below mentioned couplet of Shah Latif is enough to open his eyes:

مَتَو آهِين مَڇَ، ٿُلُهو ٿَو ٿُونَا هَڻِين

جَا تَو ڏِٺِي اَڇَ، تَنهَن پَاڻِيءَ پُنَا ڏِينهَڙَا

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Dr. Zaffar Junejo has a Ph.D. in History from the University of Malaya. His areas of interest are post-colonial history, social history and peasants’ history.

Click here for Part-I , Part-II, Part-III, Part-IV , Part-V , Part-VI, Part-VII, Part-VIII 

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Dr. Zaffar Junejo

(Author’s Note: One Unit was dissolved on 1st July, 1970. Sindhi nation along with Bengalis, Balochis, and Pathans fought against it through platforms of cultural associations, literary organizations and political parties. By and large One Unit was opposed across Pakistan however the Anti-One Unit Movement’s epicenter was Sindh. Sindh opposed One Unit because it was considered a tool to alter its demography, grab resources and strategically control wealth of the province. Sindhi nationalists, supported by other political parties forged an association to realize one point agenda – dismantle One Unit. They carried the struggle in all odd and even situations, and bore the cost – jails, punishments, insults, life threats and issuing of ‘certificates’ of disloyalty and treachery but they continued their struggles, and got it undone – Sindh was restored with its full name, and titles.

In 2020, an idea was floated by some Sindh-lovers that Sindh has to celebrate Anti-One Unit Abolition Day as the Golden Jubilee event, just to cherish, and recall the successful struggle of Sindhi peoples. In this regard, the author intends to translate some of the basic and most relevant documents from Sindhi language into English, in sprit of celebration and remembrance. The first in the series is Saeen GM Syed’s article: One Unit Jo Qiyam: Mukhalfan Ja Khadsha and Muwafqan Ja Faidi Mean Dalil (Formation of One Unit: Opponents’ Apprehensions and Supporters’ Arguments in its favor).

The article is taken from the booklet: One Unit Ji Kahani (The Story of One Unit).  The book was authored by GM Syed and published by Yar Muhammad Ibin Hayat Panhwar, Secretary Sindh Mutaheda Mahaz, Markazi Office, Al-Khalil Building, Qazi Qayoum Road, Hyderabad. Its printer was Begum Zeenat Channa, ‘Zeenat Printers’ Khokhar Mahlo Hyderabad. Its first edition with 2000 copied came in November, 1969 – Dr. Zaffar Junejo.)

One Unit Ji Kahani (The Story of One Unit) – VII

GM Syed

Awami League

Late Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy had launched this party. He always took care of the interests of Bengal. Therefore, he built his party on those lines, and made it popular in Bengal. However, he always thought that the military and bureaucracy have an important role in the affairs of the country.  Considering the majority of Punjabis, he was of view that that one couldn’t get power without their support. On the other hand, disputes, disagreement; disloyalty as well as treacherous-character of the small provinces’ leadership firmed his earlier opinion. We, who were opponents of One Unit, tried a lot that he should openly speak against One Unit, but we failed to get his support, and he never did it. He believed that after elections, with cooperation of one or other group from Punjab he would be able to get the power. However, the Martial Law of 1958 shattered his dream, he was shocked, and his political views changed. On 22nd September, 1962 I invited him at my Karachi bungalow, and there he was requested by majority of Sindh’s politicians to support us in getting the One Unit abolished. He agreed, but soon he died.

Afterwards, Awami League’s key leaders and active workers were imprisoned. However, we were already passing through the same situation. Last year, due to huge protests and rallies Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was freed from the jail. Soon after that he propagated his ‘six point program’ and on his own will he also included abolishing of One Unit, and restoration of the provinces in his party program.

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s such move earned him a lot of respect and good will in small provinces. In addition to that his attitude in “Roundtable Conference” also encouraged and renewed our inspiration. He came to Sindh on 10th August, 1970, and Sindh Mutaheda Mahaz warmly welcomed him, and a number of political workers joined Awami League. Apart from that Awami League and Sindh Mutaheda Mahaz also signed an agreement. Such an agreement and unity disturbed the supporters of One Unit. Till now, to ditch our agreements, too many conspiracies have been hatched.  For instance:

1. They have propagandized that Awami League’s ‘Six Point Program’ is against Islam and Quran. In this way, they are creating doubts and distrust among people of smaller provinces. On the other hand, East Pakistan’s unimportant political parties are being pumped, promoted and portrayed as big parties with an intension to disturb Awami League and lower its importance.
2. They are trying to weaken the struggle of small provinces against One Unit and create conflicts among the people by raising issues of Zonal Federation as well as representation based on population. On the other hand, they have plans to accept some demands of Awami League, and conditioned it to sign an agreement with the parties which are supporting One Unit or launching a strong opposition against Awami League, and reduce its influence and power in East Pakistan.

Considering all these factors and situations, workers of small provinces have to be vigilant. In addition to that, they have to be careful and understand that:

1. Without Awami League’s support, it is impossible to dissolve One Unit.
2. All these parties: Convention League, Council League, Pakistan Jamhoori Party and Jamaat Islami are trying utmost to retain One Unit.

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Dr. Zaffar Junejo has a Ph.D. in History from the University of Malaya. His areas of interest are post-colonial history, social history and peasants’ history.

Click here for Part-I , Part-II, Part-III, Part-IV , Part-V , Part-VI 

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‘The Pakistani government has never apologized for the genocide it committed’

Nahid Afrose Kabir, Professor of History at BRAC University, Dhaka, Bangladesh.

As we celebrate 50 years since Bangladesh’s independence, I feel proud of my Bangladeshi identity. Yet, when I (with my parents) lived in Karachi in what was then West Pakistan from 1964 to 1970, I observed first-hand how the West Pakistani government deprived the people of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) of their economic, cultural and political rights. Then from 25 March to 16 December 1971, the Pakistani military government resorted to genocide against Bangladeshis, while many Bangladeshis joined the Liberation War. India offered help to the Bangladeshis by giving them refuge and training their freedom fighters. India finally defeated Pakistan’s forces in early December 1971.

The Bangladeshis have been resilient in nation building and have made advances in many areas. Bangladesh now has a female prime minister, Sheikh Hasina. It has made progress in the field of education and excelled in cricket and the garment industry. The late Sir Fazle Abed founded the world’s largest non-government organization, BRAC, in Bangladesh. Nobel Peace Prize winner Professor Muhammad Yunus’ Grameen Bank’s microcredit system assists the poor, mostly women, to get out of poverty. Bangladesh has also accommodated about 1.3 million Rohingya refugees.

Amid the positive developments, however, there are issues to be addressed. In 1997 a peace accord was signed between the government of Bangladesh and the Chittagong Hill Tracts people. Yet there is still a heavy presence of Bangladeshi military in the Chittagong Hill Tracts and land disputes continue. The 2016 terrorist attacks on the Holey Artisan Café in Dhaka revealed that Bangladesh is vulnerable to the rise of Islamic radicalization.

Through Bangladesh’s foreign policy of ‘friendship to all, malice to none’, Bangladesh and Pakistan are trying to improve their bilateral relations. But we should never forget the genocide committed by the Pakistani military government against the people of Bangladesh in 1971. As of February 2021, the Pakistani government has not apologized for the genocide. On the war’s 50th anniversary, it is time for it to do so.

‘The “nation state” is the poisonous gift of European colonization’

Sarmila Bose, Author of Dead Reckoning: Memories of the 1971 Bangladesh War (Hurst, 2011).

The creation of Bangladesh was a missed opportunity for India to reverse the British partition of Bengal. It was an error of judgement due to India’s tendency to think in terms of how to damage Pakistan, rather than what might benefit India.

At the end of the 1971 war, Pakistan was in disarray and the Indian army was in control of the territory of East Pakistan. Had Indira Gandhi annexed it as the new state of East Bengal within the Union of India and offered Sheikh Mujib the Chief Ministership, evidence suggests he would have accepted. He had few options. India has responded with an iron fist to any secessionist tendencies within the boundaries it was bequeathed by the British, holding large swathes of territory under military occupation, without Constitutional protections. By 1975 Indira Gandhi had annexed Sikkim and broken the ‘Lion of Kashmir’, Sheikh Abdullah, who agreed to be chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir.

The creation of Bangladesh also reinforced the concept of the ‘nation state’, the poisonous gift of European colonization, rather than stimulating thinking about alternative forms of political organization. Worse, it reinforced the fallacious notion that nationhood and state formation could be based on a singular identity – ‘Bengali’ in this case, rather than ‘Muslim’, which was the basis for Pakistan. Pakistan ceased to exist in 1971, as the creation of Bangladesh destroyed its raison d’etre. But Bangladesh was no more a land for Bengalis than Pakistan was a homeland for South Asia’s Muslims. Nearly half of the world’s Bengalis did not live in East Pakistan and had no desire to become Bangladeshis, nor did Bangladesh want them. The continuing precarious position of Hindus in Bangladesh showed that being Bengali was not enough.

In 1947 many Bengali Hindus backed Partition to avoid Muslim majority rule in a democratic India. The continuation of Partition in the form of Bangladesh by a professedly secular Indian government has ultimately contributed to the political space for the rise of Hindu nationalism in India.

 ‘Refugees from the war have struggled to find a foothold in Pakistan’

Samira Shackle, Author of Karachi Vice: Life and Death in a Contested City (Granta, 2021).

The Bangladesh War of Independence has cast a long shadow across all the countries borne out of Partition and each has its own way of viewing that war and its aftermath. In Bangladesh, of course, the 1971 war is a story of liberation from an oppressor. In India, it is seen as a moment of victory. In Pakistan, it is felt as a deep loss; even today, 50 years later, it is not unusual to hear people refer to Bangladesh by its old name, ‘East Pakistan’. Yet despite that sense of loss, refugees from the 1971 war have struggled to find a foothold in Pakistan; instead they are rejected by both sides.

At the time of Partition, many Muslims from the Indian state of Bihar moved to East Pakistan. They were working class but educated and many found work on the railways or in other government jobs. The Biharis spoke Urdu and, over time, tension escalated with the local Bangla-speaking population. When war broke out, the Bihari community sided with West Pakistan. Their side lost the war, meaning that thousands were displaced for a second time. Having already left their homes in India in 1947, many migrated once again. Despite these sacrifices in the name of nation-building, in Pakistan they found a country less than willing to welcome them. Even today, many Biharis do not have full Pakistani citizenship. Thousands more have been left stranded in camps in Bangladesh; until the Supreme Court ruled in 2008 that they had the right to Bangladeshi citizenship, they were rendered stateless. Many of those who did make it to Pakistan still are.

This is echoed on the other side of the border. Millions of ethnic Bengalis sought refuge in the Indian state of Assam, but, 50 years later, they are still considered ‘foreigners’. In recent years, under a Hindu majority government, efforts in Assam to deport or detain some ethnic Bengalis have stepped up.

In both India and Pakistan, these marginalized communities are the ultimate living evidence of the communal tensions that have simmered since 1947 – tensions which have erupted into war several times and which continue to shape people’s lives profoundly.

‘Independence has not necessarily brought freedom or democracy’

Mubashar Hasan, Adjunct Fellow at Western Sydney University and author of Islam and Politics in Bangladesh: The Followers of Ummah (Palgrave Macmillan, 2020).

Though it is 50 years since the country’s creation, the momentum behind the quest for freedom and democracy for Bangladeshis had been building throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Systematic exclusionary policies imposed by West Pakistan had resulted in arrested development in the country’s East, leading to poverty, lower literacy and limited access to civil and military positions for the citizens of East Pakistan.

Added to this, restricted press freedom and the imprisonment and extra-judicial killings of activists and critics funneled mass resentment. When the Awami League (AL), which was founded by Bengali nationalists in Dhaka in 1949, won 167 of the 169 East Pakistan seats in the 1970 national election, Pakistan’s military ruler Yahya Khan repeatedly postponed the meeting of the national assembly. On 7 March 1971, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the charismatic leader of the AL, said ‘the people of Bangla want to have their rights’. It seemed the issue could not be resolved peacefully and what followed was a nine-month-long war.

In the early years of independence, the Bangladeshi economy was ruined by the war and remained underdeveloped. Yet today, 50 years after the war’s conclusion, progress has been remarkable. The government, with support from NGOs, has lifted millions out of severe poverty, increased mass literacy and reduced child mortality. Its multi-billion-dollar textile industry employs hundreds of thousands of women. Huge infrastructure projects have been completed.

Yet severe economic inequality is on the rise and Bangladeshi democracy is grossly undermined by regular state attacks on freedom of speech, academic freedom and allegations of grave human rights violations against the opposition and critics. Since 2014, the country has, in practice, been under the one-party rule of AL. Citizens, including AL supporters, are denied voting rights. It is a state of affairs, in terms of civil liberties and democracy that might remind onlookers of the situation which first prompted unrest in East Pakistan. Independence has not necessarily brought real freedom or real democracy.

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Courtesy: History Today    

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