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South Asia
The Birth of Three Nations by Sophia Barkat As India and Pakistan mark the anniversaries of their founding this week, it's interesting to follow the timeline that lead to their Independence from the British, Portuguese and the French. The land of Buddha, Ashoka, the Vedas and the Gita, India has been around for centuries. But when we hear of India today we think in terms of the nation that emerged from four hundred years of British Oppression. So here I thought it might be useful to share a history lesson that would help us understand the birth of three nations: Indian, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Old India: The Indus Valley Civilizations are established by settlers. The cities of Mohenjodaro and Harrappa are created. The Rig Veda is compiled (1200-1000 BC) Hindu epics, Ramayana and Mahabharata are written (1000-500 BC) The Upanishads are compiled. (550 BC) Buddha is born around 600 BC. Before thirty, King Gautama leaves his kingdom, wife, thousand concubines, and life of pleasure for a life of reflection. He breaks tradition from Hindu caste system, where only people of Brahmin-birth may become priests. He revolts against Hinduism with his philosophy. By that time, India is a good 3000-5000 years old. First Buddhist Council at Vaishali. (377 BC) Alexander invades India but returns shortly. (326 BC). Reign of Ashoka, the famous Buddhist King who would become a monk and spread the religion all over Asia. (270-230 BC) First Indian Ambassador from Pandaya Dynasty is sent to Rome. (26 BC) Chandragupta establishes famous GUPTA Dynasty. India's Golden Ages begin. (320 AD) The Middle Easterns Arrive: First Zorastrian settlement (Parsi) in India, following invasion of India's Sind province by Middle Easterns. Qutub-ud-diin-Aibak, Muslim ruler, establishes Slave Dynasty in 1200 AD. Genghiz Khan invades India. 1221 AD. The White Invaders: Vasco De Gama in 1428 AD discovers the route to the Subcontinent and obtains trading rights for the Portuguese. The Moghul Dynasty established in 1526 by Babar. The English forms the East India Company in 1600 after hearing about the profits made by the Portuguese. In 1616, Sir Thomas Roe becomes English Envoy to the court of Jahangir and obtains trading concessions for the East India Company. Taj Mahal built by Shah Jahan in 1631. The French East India Company forms in 1664. French fleet raids Madras, an Indian province, in September 1746 and captures it. First Anglo-French War on Indian turf in 1748. The British Rule: Sirajuddaulah cuts down the British flag after caturing Calutta. He succeeds his grandfather Ali Vardi Khan, as the Nawab of Bengal in 1756. The betrayal by Mir Jaffar at The Battle of Plassey in 1757, marked the final victory of the British in Bengal. Tipu Sultan's gallant death on the battlefield in 1799 marked the fall of the last stronghold of Muslim might in the subcontinent. First Indian Railway in 1853. At Delhi's Red Fort on 12th May 1857, rebel troops from all over India report to the ageing Bahadur Shah and pledge allegiance to fight the British Seige, but the technological superiority of the aliens triumphed and uprising was brutally suppressed. Patriots declare War of Independence. The Muslim League and the birth of Pakistan & India: Nawab Viqar-ul-Mulk presides over a meeting of leading Muslims at Dacca on December 30, 1906 that lays the foundation of the All India Muslim League. Hindu and Muslim leaders meet at the historic session of the Congress and Muslim League at Lucknow, in December, 1916 where the Hindus agree to separate representation of the Muslim in the future legislative councils. Allama Iqbal addresses the Allahbad annual session of the Muslim Leagure, 1930. He is the first to give concrete shape to the Muslim aspirations in the subcontinent for a separate homeland and defined its geopgraphical boundaries learly and unambigously. (Muslims to break away from Indian homeland and migrate to Eastern half of Bengal and to areas West of Punjab) Choudhary Rahmat Ali first coins the word Pakistan in his pamphlet "Now or Never" in 1933. M.A.Jinnah meet with the members of All-India Muslim League in Madras, 1941, where the Pakistan Resolution was included in the constitution of the Muslim League. Muslims pledge support to Jinnah, 1943. Jinnah, Lord Mountbatten and Leaders of Congress and Akali Dal met on June 2, 1947 Jinnah announces on radio that Pakistan would come into being in August (June 3, 1947). Bengal breaks into two -- one becoming part of Pakistan, the other remaining with India. Dacca is new capital of East Pakistan. Punjab breaks into two -- one part to remain with India, the other to become part of West Pakistan. India, secular by pledge of Gandhi and Nehru, to remain a secular State. Lord Mountbatten, the last Viceroy of India, goes to Karachi for the transfer of power to the leader of the new nation. August 14th, 1947. Pakistan is born. India declares its Independence from the British Raj a day later. In 1950 India becomes a Republic. East Pakistan, West Pakistan and the Birth of Bangladesh: Communial riots spread through India. Muslims leave mainland India in late 40's and early 50's for fear of being slaughtered by Hindu neighbors, as do Hindus from areas now known as Pakistan. West Bengal and Punjab see massive bloodshed. People leaving in trains are slashed in halves during the attempt. Most flee on foot. Few are lucky to find a house to exchange with their own. But once across they are safe. In 1948, Mujibur Rahman or Bangabandhu (Friend of Bengal) took admission in the Law Department of Dacca University (East Pakistan). He founded the Muslim Students League on 4 January. He rose in spontaneous protest on 23rd February when Prime Minister Khwaja Nazimuddin in his speech at the Legislative Assembly declared : “The people of East Pakistan will accept Urdu as their state language.” Khwaja Nazimuddin’s remarks touched off a storm of protest across the country. Mujib arrested several times for protesting West Pakistan's action. 21st February, 1952 marks the turning point in the Bangla Language Movement. There is civil unrest and police action kills students and pedestrians in Dacca. Urdu, once a major spoken language in Muslim circles, takes a back-seat forever as West Pakistan's backlash is seen as encroachment on the rights of East Pakistanis. West Pakistanis see East Pakistan as betrayers of the cause. The East Pakistan Awami Muslim League is formed in lieu of separation of ideals of West and East Pakistan. Mujibur Rahman, a member, organizes protests on behalf of fourth-class workers and is arrested. An artificial famine is created by West Pakistan in East Pakistan. Mujibur Rahman jailed for protesting in 1950. He's elected General Secretary of East Pakistan Awami League in 1953. In 1970, the Awami League under Mujibur Rahman wins 167 out of 169 seats alloted to East Pakistan and out of 313 in entire Pakistan Parliament. He becomes Prime Minister by election. But instead of giving up power to Mujibur Rahman West Pakistan sends military to crush East Pakistan's political elite. Students and politically mobile groups slaughtered. Mujibur Rahman is imprisoned. Soon after entire East Pakistan goes into shock of the news of Mujibur Rahman's imprisonment and the declaration by Yahya Khan of West Pakistan to bring the "problem in East Pakistan into order", General Ziaur Rahman -- slain husband of now Prime Minister Khaleda Zia of Bangladesh -- who was Chief of Army at Chittagong, East Pakistan, declares mutiny and its allegiance to Prime Minister elect, Mujibur Rahman. Students in colleges and universities join guerilla army that would train people across the country. Political dissidents being picked up by Pakistan Army, taken for questioning at Cantonement, and seldom returned, their watches and few belongings returned to families the next day. In March 25th 1971 Mujib asks for peaceful end of conflict and transition of power to elected officials. On same day Nixon signs arms embargo against Pakistan. US illegally ships arms to West Pakistan, despite calls from US Consulate in Dacca asking for immediate assistance for Bengalis, and the ban on weapons shipments by US and 11 other nations seeking to end the conflict. Gerard Neirenberg, anti-trust lawyer turned activist, unearths illegal shipment of arms from the Nixon Administration -- http://www.negotiation.com/pdf/bangladeshIndependance.pdf. He finds that Pakistani ship docked at New York is being supplied weapons in a clandestine operation. On contacting US State Department he is dissuaded from pursuing the matter. After recording it on video he sends the information to New York TV stations that blow the cover on Nixon-Kissinger's clandestine operations. In his book, "The Trial of Henry Kissinger", by Christopher Hitchens, the author expresses Nixon Administration's reaction to the crisis in East Pakistan. "The American consulate in East Pakistan sent a cable to the State Department in April 1971 stating starkly that Pakistani military brutalities had reached a crescendo, horrifying enough to be considered genocide. Direct evidence of aerial bombardment and mass killings of Bengalis by General Tikka Khan was available with US diplomats, thanks to a radio station they ran, despite Pakistan's ban on foreign media and press. But Kissinger was not to be moved. He sent a message to President Yahya Khan congratulating Pakistan for its "delicacy and tact" in the eastern wing of the country. Knowledge of Kissinger's secret diplomacy with China via Pakistani good offices and Nixon's "tilt" against India freed Pakistani army hotheads from any moderation or inhibition in pulverizing Bengalis. Many US foreign service officers protested in memos to Kissinger that he was backing a genocidal regime, only to have their ranks demoted in the bureaucratic ladder. Kissinger nursed a deep grudge against Mujib-ur-Rehman, the freedom fighter who won Bangladesh independence with Indian help in December 1971. He began encouraging US spies and diplomats to contact Bangladeshi rightwing army officers who intended a coup. Junior and senior officer cadres plotting to overthrow Mujib checked with their US point persons in advance, and were told by "high circles" that the overthrow was "no problem". (p. 53) Predictably, US-Bangladesh and Pakistan-Bangladesh relations prospered from 1975 following Mujib's assassination, widespread human rights abuses against minorities and military capture of power in Dhaka." The war would have gone on for many years if not for the intervention of India, Russia and the US. Right about the time that Nixon was sending ship-loads of weapons to help West Pakistan to step the rebellion in East pakistan. US citizens in Philadelphia outraged by Nixon's action, were lying down at the docks, blocking the ship from leaving port. And Russia, being friends of India at the time, sent over some ships to the Chittagong Ports to block of US ships bound for the Bay of Bengal. It was turning into a Cold War situation, but luckily Pakistan and India reached an agreement for ceasefire. This was in December of '71. People were finally releaved that the war was over and ready to go on with their lives. Thousand who had fled Dhaka and the cities had returned jubilant. Bengalis held in West Pakistan. The papers were to be signed on December 16th. The Pakistani Military would be out. But then suddenly, on the nights of December 14 and 15th thousands of intellectuals were rounded up and shot. It is said that about three million Bangladeshis were killed in the war, though this number is disputed. Here's an interesting account of what Indian Admiral J G Nadkarni (retd) had to say about Nixon's role in the 1971 Pakistan-Bangladesh War: http://www.rediff.com/news/2000/dec/23nad.htm "Towards the fag end of the 1971 war President Nixon decided to send the 7th fleet to the Bay of Bengal. By the time the fleet arrived anywhere near the scene, Pakistani forces in East Bengal had surrendered. Having achieved their limited objective in the East and seeing no particular reason to prolong the war in the west, India declared a unilateral cessation of hostilities. Yet it did not stop Nixon and Kissinger to claim that the cease-fire was due to American pressure and the presence of the 7th Fleet." Thus Bangladesh was born, amidst a Cold War mirage. |
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