Fall Of Dhaka

Political system in Pakistan broke down in 1971 because of output failure arising out of dissension and
conflict among East and West Pakistan.

Though separation of East Pakistan occurred in 1971, the separation’s elements had begun to work with
the emergence of Pakistan in 1947. Following were the main causes of the separation of East Pakistan.

1. Hindu Influence

The 14% Hindu population had full control over the economy of East Pakistan. They were better
educated than the native Bengali Muslims. They owned press and mass media. At First, the Hindus were
the members of the Indian National Congress but after partition they founded their own organization,
Pakistan National Congress (PAC). The members of PAC were, in fact, the political agents ofIndia in East
Pakistan.

2. Failure of Muslim League leadership in East Pakistan

The Cabinet did not pay due attention towards the problems of the people, hence its capability became
zero in the eyes of people. The selfish politicians fought among themselves for the lust of chair.

The principal leaders and groups representing East Bengal in the Muslim League came from upper-class,
land-owning, Urdu speaking families of Dhaka or the mercantile group of Calcutta. Soon after the
creation of Pakistan, the conflict between those who claimed to represent popular and more radical
factors in Bengal and those more conservative elements, began.

3. The Conflict over Language

The Bengalis took processions in favour of their Bengali language even in the life time of Quaid-e-Azam.
Although, Bengali was adopted as one of the two state languages, Governor Munim Khan banned the
broad cast of Tagots songs or poems over Dhaka Radio and prevented the imports of the Bengali books
from Calcutta.

4. Unity of Bengali Muslims and Hindus

To establish majority on Pak-legislature, they had to unite with their fellow Bengali Hindus. Therefore,
the man like H.S. Sehrwardy was a consistent advocate of joint electorates.

5. The Delay in Constitution Making Process

The delay in Constitution making process gave rise to suspicions and misunderstandings between the
people of two halves. The population of East Pakistan was 56%. The Bengalis demanded their
representation according to the percentage of population in the national assembly.

6. Presidential Form of Government

A parliamentary system could have at least partially offset West Pakistan dominance in the civil and
military services. Again the same mistake was made. Instead of opting for loose Confederate Form of
Government, the power elite decided in favour of highly centralized presidential system. The opposition
from East Pakistan was intense and un-equivocal for progressive increase in the amount of autonomy.

7. Six Point Formula of Sh. Mujeeb

The Awami League view was supported by 75% of the electorate in East Pakistan who voted in the
elections in 1970.

Pakistan shall be Federation grooming full autonomy on the basis of 6 Points to each of Federating units.
i. The character of Government shall be Federal and Parliamentary. The representation in the Federal
legislature shall be on the basis of population.

ii. The Federal Government shall be responsible only for Defence and Foreign Affairs.

iii. There shall be two separate currencies mutually or freely convertible in each wing for each region.

iv. Fiscal Policy shall be the responsibility of the Federating units.

v. Separate accounts of foreign exchange earning of each of the federating units.

vi. The units shall be empowered to maintain a Para-military fore in order to contribute towards national
security.

These were interpreted by West Pakistan as designed to bring about the disintegration of the country.

8. Role of Ruling Elite

1) Civil Service

2) Military Hierarchy

Their clear ascendancy as a ruling group had long been established, particularly since military coup of
Ayub in 1958.

· This group made all major decisions in terms of economic and defence policies.

· East Pakistan bitterly complained that there were few East Pakistani officers at highest posts of the civil
service. Until 1969 all the higher officers were from West Pakistan or had emigrated from Muslim
minority areas of India.

· Pakistan Army was recruited from 4 districts of Northern Punjab (Rawalpindi, Cambellpur, Jehlum and
Gujrat ) and two districts of NWFP (Peshawar and Kohat). 60% Army consisted of Punjabi and 35%
Pakhtoon Jawans.

· The Bengalis were still considered non-martial race.

· Separation between Ruling elite from the majority of population.

Pakistan bureaucratic and military elite were not only separated from the majority of their population
who lived in East Pakistan, but they were also separated in both social and regional terms even from the
people of regions like Sindh, Balochistan and Frontier.

9. Economic Disparity Between East and West Pakistan

· The West Pakistan elite favoured the policies of economic growth of the West Pakistan.

· The policy of industrialization through the encouragement of private sector dates back to 1948.

· Most of lucrative import licences were given to the West Pakistan.

· Share of East Pakistan was about 26% of total investment (Public and Private) during the First Five Years
Plan (1955-1960). Total revenue expenditure in East Pakistan was 2.5 billion as compared to 8.9 billion
in West Pakistan.

· The wave of resentment against this disparity had been rising since 1954 elections. But no drastic and
significant change was made in policies. This resulted into bitter-opposition and resentment towards the
central government.

· The major factor responsible for slower growth of East Pakistan was agriculture.

· Doctrine that economic inequalities were necessary for rapid economic growth of the country.

· 22 families controlled over the economy of the entire country.

· 66% Native industrial assets.

· 80% banking assets.

· 79% Insurance assets.

· Political system of Pakistan could not cope with the stresses and strains generated by native economic
policies and so eventually broke down.

10. The Failure in the Enforcement of Legal Framework Order of 1970.

· This order was drawn up to provide a basis for the elections for the creation of National and Provincial
assemblies and for the drafting of a constitution.
· National Assembly had to complete the task of framing a constitution within 120 days.

· After the original failure of the NA to meet in spring of 1971, modifications were introduced into LFO,
relieving the assembly of the responsibility of framing a constitution but conferring powers to amend
constitution.

· General Yahya Khan failed to enforce legal frame work order, and the result was the political unrest
between the 2 parts of the country.

11. The War of Power Between Bhutto and Mujeeb

The Awami League, by virtue of its over-whelming majority in election, was entitled to establish its
government, but Mr. Z.A. Bhutto having the patronage from General Yahya Khan boycotted the session
of National Assembly at Dhaka, which was postponed by General Yahya Khan. Mr. Mujeeb-ur-Rehman
alleged Yahya Khan with partiality and began to agitate the people for civil war.

12. Military Operation in East Pakistan

· Mr. Mujeeb refused to go to Islamabad.

· His home became centre of all policies and administrative affairs of East Pakistan.

· On March 23, 1971, a lot of West Pakistanis were massacred and Bangladesh Flag was hoisted instead
of Pakistani Flag. The Pakistan Day was celebrated as the Resistance Day.

· General Tikka Khan was made the Governor of East Pakistan. He successfully crushed the anti-
government elements, but could not manage the affairs properly due to the non-cooperation of Bengali
bureaucracy who were responsible for the revolt.

· The military operation brought inexpressible miseries and sufferings to the Bengalis. The result was that
Central Government deprived herself of the public support and sympathies.

13. Hijacking of Indian Plan to Lahore on Jan 30, 1971

· Hijacking if the aircraft Ganga was arranged by the Indian Intelligence Agencies as the culmination of a
series of actions taken by the Indian Government.
· Incident occurred at a time when talks were in progress between the leaders of Awami League and PPP
for the resolution of differences.

· India banned Pakistani flights over its territory to disrupt communications between two halves and
strengthened the separatist tendencies.

14. The Intrigues of the Super-Powers

Pakistan was an intimate friend of China but the super powers like America and Russia wanted to
terrorize China by surrounding it on all sides. This was not possible in case of united Pakistan.
TheUSA not only encouraged Israel, provided arms to India but also forbade Saudi Arabia and Jordan to
supply arms to Pakistan. The USA did not care for the defence treaty of 1959 (SENTO), by
whichAmerica was bound to help Pakistan in case of foreign aggression.

15. Indra Gandhi’s Successful Tour of Europe and USA

Before military invasion, Mrs. Indra Gandhi, the then Prime Minister if India, toured Europe and America,
got aid for the rehabilitation of refugees from East Pakistan and surety from US not to aid Pakistan in
case of Indian invasion. She further tarnished the image of military dictatorship of Pakistan by doing
propaganda against it.

16. Military Invasion of India

After winning political battle, the Indian Government began to send sabotagers into East Pakistan under
the title of Mukti Bahni. The insurgents created a situation favourable to the Indian invasion. Pakistan
Army fought gallantly but due to poor supply line, Pakistan Army had to surrender.

17. Misbehaviour of Pakistani Delegation at UN

Poland presented a resolution in UN for the cease-fire but it was torn into pieces by Mr. Zulifqar Ali
Bhutto, and he refused to accept cease-fire proposal. This paved the way for the separation of East
Pakistan.
Pakistan After Dismemberment

When military action was being taken out in East Pakistan, the leadership of Pakistan Peoples Party
demanded that the power should be transferred to the elected representatives in the Western Wing.
This demand was repeated time and again, but the military leadership did not accept it. However, the fall
of East Pakistan accounted for President Yahya Khan’s ouster and before that he transferred power to the
Pakistan Peoples Party. The military junta might have acted otherwise but country-wide demonstrations
left no other choice.

General public in Pakistan accused the Generals of causing the dismemberment of the country.
Therefore, PPP came out as the custodian of the democratic process. As a result of public demands,
some 43 high military officers were sacked.

In March 1972, General Gul Hamid, the Chief of the Army Staff and Air Marshal Rahim Khan, Chief of the
Air Staff were removed. Main accusation against them was that they interfered the Hamood-ur-Rehman
Commission inquiring into the Fall of Dhaka.

The PPP Government introduced a number of reforms including educational reforms. During PPP rule,
Simla Agreement (1972) was signed between India and Pakistan which on one hand settled the issue of
POW’s and occupied territories and on the other hand, it helped normalizing India-Pakistan relations.
But the greatest of all, the achievements of the first PPP Government was the framing of 1973
Constitution; the First Constitution which enjoyed popular appraisal.

Analysis
Inspite of common ideology and a common struggle for emancipation, the geographical separation of
East and West by 1000 miles exerted tremendous pressure on the two to go their own separate ways.
This was true even without any interference from India, which is considered to be the main villain and
Pakistan’s number one enemy for its part in the events which lead to fall of Dhaka. Before this dreadful
event took place, the extremists representing the spearhead of political thinking in both had already
fallen apart. Those in the West believed that East Pakistan was quite different from them both
ethnologically and linguistically. They thought that East would get out eventually and what was keeping
her in was the intelligent self interest and the apprehension that without the West she would not be
able to survive. Those in the East thought that it was the East that earned bulk of the foreign exchange
and that it is at her cost that economy of the West had been built. This ideology lead to the belief that
they can very well look after themselves and it was time that there were two separate economies and
indeed two independent states.

Man is a political animal and self government has ranked amongst the top of his priorities. No good
government can be an alternative to self government. Who could then question the birth right of the
East or West to ask for managing their affairs as they thought best. Demand for regional authority and
then independence was natural.

There were a number of factors which lead to the fall of Dhaka. We quite often see the debates on
televisions in which they try to blame one person for the fall of Dhaka. One has to understand that the
fall of Dhaka took place in 1971 but the differences had started between the East and West at the time
of inception of Pakistan. Some people take it back to the time when Urdu was made the national
language of Pakistan. One of the factors was that the pace of economic development in the East was
much slower than the West. This could not go unnoticed and their public servants, which constituted the
most powerful silent force, did not fail to see where and how. They thought that not only East Pakistan
had not been given its due share, rather it had been treated as a colony. Social and economic justice was
one of the basic demands of people and lack of complete satisfaction on that score has been the great
cause of discontent. There were a number of key players in 1971 which lead to fall of Dhaka, the
prominent ones being Mujib, Bhutto, Ayub and Yahya.

In 1966 Mujib announced his controversial six point political and economic program for East Pakistani
provincial autonomy.

On March 25, 1969, General Ayub resigned and handed over the administration to the then commander-
in-chief, General Yahya Khan who announced that he considered himself to be a transitional leader
whose task would be to restore order and to conduct free elections for a new constituent assembly,
which would then draft a new constitution. On December 7, 1970 Yahya announced plans for a national
election. The first democratic election in the history of Pakistan took place in December 1970, in which
Sheikh Mujib’s party Awami League won majority seats of 167 and Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto’s party, Pakistan
Peoples Party won only 88 seats. Awami league won not a single seat from West Pakistan and PPP met
the same fate in East wing. The military, bureaucracy, and business, all West Pakistani-dominated, were
shocked at the results because they faced the prospect that the central government’s power would be
passed away to the Bengalis, if the Awami League were allowed to shape the constitution and form a
government. The results of the election gave the Awami League the possibility of framing the
constitution according to its six point program. The election had put the Pakistani ruling elite in such a
position that, if it allowed the democratic process to continue, then it would be unable to stop the
Awami League from framing a constitution that would protect the Bengali

The month of December passed and yet there was no sign of the calling of the assembly. On the 3rd of
January 1971, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman called a massive public meeting in which he administered an oath
to the persons who had been elected to the national and provincial assemblies by which they swore
allegiance to the party’s programme for provincial autonomy. Between the election results and this
meeting apparently no effort was made by Yahya Khan to bring the leaders together for consultations,
though later when he made such efforts the Sheikh adopted hard attitude.

Yahya Khan made no announcement regarding the first meeting of National Assembly in that time. On
11th February after consulting with Bhutto, he announced that the assembly meeting will take place on
3rd March. Bhutto, on 21st February held his party convention and after the meeting he announced that
PPP will not attend the first National Assembly meeting on 3rd March. Yahya Khan scared of Bhutto’s
decision postponed the assembly meeting at the eleventh hour on 1st March. This decision from the
presidency ignited the agitation in Eastern wing. On 23rd March Yahya called all leaders meeting in
Dhaka which Mujib opposed. When West Pakistan was commemorating Republic Day, Bengalis
celebrated Resistance Day and hoisted new Bangladesh flag on their official buildings.

This serious confrontation did not go well with West Pakistan where President Yahya met Bhutto for final
fate of Awami League. On the midnight of 25th and 26th March a serious crackdown started against
Mujib and Awami League in Eastern wing on Yahya’s order. This crackdown gave rise to the revolt that
was being brewed under wraps. After this crackdown General Tikka Khan left Bangladesh and General
Amir Abdullah Niazi was made the commander-in-chief and Chief Martial administrator of East Pakistan.
Many refugee and rebels fled to India where Indian army prepared them as guerrilla force of Bengalis
known as Mukti Bahini. Indian Army trained Mukti Bahini with best military skills in fewer than six
months to force insurgency in East Pakistan. Before the declaration of war, Indian Army along with Mukti
Bahini started invading main check posts on 30th November and till 3rd December they had encircled
the Eastern wing completely. Indian Air-forces stepped in their airstrike activity and bombed Dhaka
airfield into wreckage. The armed forces of East Pakistan had to fight the war without Air Force with
Mukti Bahini and Indian Army who knew all the places of Bangladesh better than them. Since the
Pakistani forces were surrounded by Indian Army, they had no supply of food and ammunition which led
to their demoralisation. After seeing these circumstances and no support from West wing on 16th and
17th December General Niazi ordered all his brigades to tell their Indian counterparts about their
agreement of surrender. The aftermath of the war is an insulting part of our history that how General
Niazi surrendered to his Indian counterpart by giving his weapon in a public gathering where thousands
of Bengalis were gathered to celebrate their victory.

What lead to the terrible event of fall of Dhaka cannot be precisely pointed out. Similarly not one single
person can be held responsible for it. It was a complex long drawn process of 24 years of neglect,
jealousy and treachery involving different factors and huge egos of political and military actors. What
happened on the 16th December 1971 was bound to happen as it was not possible to run a country
separated by 1000 miles. However, the way it has happened is appalling and is something that could
have been avoided. If only there was political will for power sharing, we could have avoided the
bloodshed and loss of valuable human life.

The End