Bangladesh

Bangladesh The eastern part of Bengal, which is inhabited predominantly by Muslims. Under British influence since 1763, it formed part of the British colony of India until 1947, when India became independent and split into two parts: that granted to the Hindu majority (currently India), and that given to the Muslim minority, which became independent as West Pakistan (currently Pakistan). By the same token, in the east of the subcontinent, eastern Bengal was separated from the predominantly Hindu-populated western part of Bengal as East Pakistan.

East and West Pakistan (terms officially in use since 1956) were joined in the Union of Pakistan, even though the two parts shared relatively few traditions. As a remnant of the colonial period, East Pakistanis found little representation in the government, administration, or the higher ranks of the military of the country. These differences were epitomized in the introduction of the Urdu language as the official language of Pakistan, even though few Bengalis in East Pakistan could speak it. Demands for autonomy, articulated through the Awami League, were magnified by the (West-dominated) government's refusal to grant any recognition to East Pakistan grievances. Following the 1970 elections, which gave 160 out of 162 seats in East Pakistan to the Awami League, which was strongly committed to extensive autonomy, continued denial by West Pakistan escalated the hostility between the two parts. The Pakistani military intervened against public demonstrators, and in the brief but brutal civil war that followed, East Pakistan gained its independence as Bangladesh, largely thanks to the active intervention of the Indian military.

Bangladesh's first Prime Minister, the popular Mujibur Rahman, attempted to create a socialist economy, through establishing friendly relations with the Soviet Union, and the nationalization of industries and other economic assets, most of which had been owned by inhabitants of Pakistan. While the former halted delivery of Western aid due to the Cold War, the latter discouraged foreign investors. Economic problems were compounded by shortcomings in Mujibur's administration and the growth of public corruption. His attempt to bolster his increasingly contentious position by assuming presidential powers and creating a one-party state in 1975 was ended by his assassination in August that year. Subsequently, the army retained a very strong role in the government of the country.

Bangladesh was led from 30 November 1975 by the spirited and pragmatic General Zia-ur Rahman, who ruled the country until 1981. He founded the Bangladesh National Party (BNP), which won a relatively fair election held in 1979 with an absolute majority. The democracy thus re-established, it collapsed again upon Zia's assassination in 1981 in a failed coup, in whose aftermath the army took power, under General Ershad. Throughout the rest of the decade, he was opposed by the Awami League under Mujibur's daughter, Sheikh Hasina Wajid, and the BNP led by Zia's widow, Khaleda Zia.

When Ershad was toppled by popular demonstrations in 1990, Zia's BNP won the ensuing elections of 1991, whereupon she became the country's first Prime Minister to complete her term in office. This did not indicate a return to political calm, however, as she was bitterly opposed by the Awami League, which walked out of parliament in 1994 and subsequently confined its opposition to paralysing the country through general strikes. In 1996, the Awami League came to power after tumultuous elections, but the continued opposition of the BNP and its Islamic fundamentalist allies prolonged the polarization of domestic politics. In 2001 the BNP and its allies were returned in a landslide election victory, obtaining 47 per cent of the popular vote and a majority of parliamentary seats.

The political instability compounded the country's economic problems. The country has the world's greatest population density (except for city-states like Singapore). Its agriculture, subject to recurrent poor harvests through either drought or floods, has been unable to feed its increasing population. Its geography is entirely dominated by the Ganges delta, so that most of its territory is but a few feet above sea level, with water as the most important source of communication. The large-scale felling of forests to make space for the expanding population has led to greater erosion and a much greater vulnerability to the seasonal monsoon rains, with those in 1988 and 1991 leading to as many as one million dead between them. As a result, the political and economic limbo caused by the political polarization between secularists and fundamentalists in the 1990s led to an existential crisis, as an economy in which 80 per cent of the population lived in absolute poverty grew only slowly.