East Pakistan sought independence and formed Bangladesh due to political, economic, and cultural reasons: 1) West Pakistan dominated political affairs and denied East Pakistan its fair representation and share of government. 2) Economic policies benefited West Pakistan more, increasing economic disparity between the two wings. Resources from East Pakistan were used to develop West Pakistan. 3) East Pakistan had a distinct Bengali culture that was looked down upon by West Pakistan, and East Pakistanis were treated with arrogance.

1. Section 3: Chapter 13: Why did East
Pakistan seek & form Independent
State of Bangladesh

2. 1969-1971 Reasons for the Creation of Bangladesh/ Separation of East
Pakistan
Political→ W.Pak’s dominance in political affairs→most political decisions, politicians who
ruled, HQ’s of the armed forces, civil servants in W.Pak→
 more than ten years of Ayub’s rule→ a military general from W.Pak;
 rule of parity & One Unit scheme denied East .Pak its due share in govt by countering its
numerical majority (55% of total population of Pak);
 E.Pak felt undefended as most of army on West.Pak border with India
Economic→ East.Pak less developed since 1947→ economic disparity grew during
 Ayub’s reforms of 1960’s→ West.Pak benefited more from these reforms
 → West .Pak’s per capita income greater than that of East.Pak; (From 330 -373 in West pak;
in East pak, it declined from 305 – 288)
 trade of East.Pak with the Indian Bengal cut off since 1947
 →Sh.Mujeeb claimed “flight of capital” from East to West .Pak
 resources of East .Pak spent on development of West.Pak

3. 1969-1971 Reasons for the Creation of Bangladesh/ Separation of East
Pakistan
Cultural→ E.Pak people’s pride in their rich cultural heritage →art, literature,
music, dance etc→
West .Pak looked down upon Bengali culture
→ civil servants of W.Pak treated Bangalis with arrogance.

4. Post-1970 election crisis
 AL (Awami League) got majority (160/300 Seats) but W.Pak disallowed Sh. Mujeeb to
form govt in the centre
 → Z.A.Bhutto & General Yahya backed out their promise with Sh.Mujeeb to make him
President;
 start of military operation in E.Pak, March 1971 – The Operation Searchlight;
 Bengali separatist militant organization, Mukti Bahini (People’s Army) was trained &
equipped by Indain Army
 → civil war, violence, feelings of separatism grew with military operation & with the
rejection of Sh.Mujeeb’s six points
 → events escalated to 3rd Indo-Pak war, Dec 1971
 → 1600km Indian territory b/w E & W Pak made it impossible for W.Pak to win the
war →
 16 Dec 1971, Pak army surrendered before Indian army,
 Dhakka→ more than 90,000 Pak troops in Indian custody

5. Why did the victory of the Awami League
cause a constitutional crisis?
 The Awami League got a decisive majority in the 1970 elections. It won 160 out of a total
of 162 seats of East Pakistan and 300 seats of the National Assembly against the PPP of
West Pakistan that managed to win only 81 seats. Such a huge victory of the Awami
League allowed it to form the government on its own.
 In other words, the future Prime Minister and his entire Cabinet could come from East
Pakistan without involving the PPP of West Pakistan.
 Bhutto kept all his MNAs from attending the National Assembly session scheduled to be
held in Dhaka. He, in February 1971, threatened to break the legs of those who tried to
attend the session.
 This promoted anger among the Bengali MNAs as they felt betrayed. The scheduled
session of NA was thus indefinitely postponed.
 General Yahya and Mr Bhutto visited Dhaka, in March 1971, and assured Sheikh Mujeeb
that he would be the future head of state.

6.  Yahya invited Mujeeb to West Pakistan but the latter declined the offer thus losing a
good opportunity to gain popularity in West Pakistan.
 Victory of the Awami League was also problematic as it had won the election on the
basis of Mujeeb’s six points that asked for a complete internal autonomy of East
Pakistan.
 He wanted provincial governments controlling foreign trade and taxation policy.
 This would greatly reduce the funds available to the central government in West
Pakistan in addition to limiting its powers in general.
 Yahya Khan and the West Pakistani politicians were not prepared to accept such a
major change though Mujeeb believed that the six points were negotiable.
 Instead of negotiating with him, he was arrested and this marked the start of the
worst kind of constitutional crisis in the history of Pakistan