Bangladesh

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BANGLADESH

BANGLADESH When India was partitioned in 1947 into the sovereign states of India and Pakistan, Pakistan comprised two wings: East Bengal, with its capital at Dacca (Dhaka); and West Pakistan, with its capital at Karachi (later Islamabad). Though Pakistan was created on the basis of a common religion, Islam, the Bengali language and ethnic identity proved to be much stronger than religious affiliation. Resentment by Bengalis toward West Pakistanis surfaced almost immediately over the question of the use of Urdu as the national language of Pakistan. Mohammad Ali Jinnah (1876–1948), the Quaid-i-Azam (Great Leader), was heckled in March 1948 in Dacca when he insisted Urdu should remain the only national language of Pakistan. Resentment over what Bengalis regarded as economic, financial, and political domination of the East by West Pakistan's minority, Bengalis also led to increasing anatagonism. Bengalis resented what they viewed as arrogance, rooted in racism, on the part of West Pakistanis, especially Punjabis. Demonstrations in support of Bengali as a national language became violent on 21 February 1952 and led to the shooting death of Bengali students. The day came to be celebrated as "Martyrs' Day." In 1954 Bengali finally became an official language. East Bengal was renamed East Pakistan the following year, but continuing indignation over perceived economic injustice—mostly concerning the proceeds from the export of jute and tea being used disproportionately to benefit West Pakistan—continued to inflame discontent among Bengalis.

Bengali nationalist Huseyn Suhrawardy (1892–1963), who had attempted to establish a united Bengal as an independent sovereign state in 1947, founded the Awami League (People's League) Party in 1949. Sworn in as prime minister of Pakistan in 1956, he attempted to give East Pakistan greater autonomy and more financial resources, but was forced out after only thirteen months, dying in Lebanon in 1963. Bangabandhu ("Nation Unifier") Mujibur Rahman (known as Sheikh Mujib; 1920–1975) succeeded Suhrawardy as leader of the Awami League. Mujib had been imprisoned without charges for eighteen months in 1958. In 1962, when he refused to abstain from politics for five years, he was imprisoned for another six months. The Pakistani Constitution, adopted that year, gave greater power to West Pakistan at the expense of East Pakistan. In 1966, Mujib proclaimed his party's Six-Point Program, the Mukti Sanad (Charter of Freedom), which demanded a federal government that would control only foreign affairs and defense. There would be a separate currency or separate fiscal accounts, and taxation would be exacted only by the provincial governments, which would control all provincial foreign exchange earnings. A militia would be established for each province. Mujib was imprisoned in 1967 and again in 1968 in the Argatala conspiracy case when he was named as the leading figure in a conspiracy to bring about the secession of East Pakistan through the assistance of the Indian government. He was one of thirty-five accused, which included high-ranking East Pakistan civil servants. It was called Argatala because Mujib held discussion with Indian army officers there. The trial, held in open court, was a public relations disaster for the government and the case was dropped.

With the fall of the Ayub Khan (1907–1970) government (1958–1969), Mujib returned to East Pakistan a hero. In December 1970 he led the Awami League to victory in the general elections in East Pakistan, winning 167 of 169 seats. On 26 March 1971, the independence of East Pakistan as Bangladesh was announced by radio from Chittagong. Mujib was imprisoned, convicted of treason by a military court, and sentenced to death. Civil war against the Pakistani army followed, led by the Indian-trained Mukti Bahini (Liberation Force), the East Bengal Regiment, the East Pakistani police, and civilians, especially students. Atrocities against Bengali civilians were committed by the Pakistani army, and some 10 million refugees fled to India. War between India and Pakistan followed, with India's invasion of East Pakistan on 4 December 1971. India recognized the new state of Bangladesh two days later. The Pakistani army, isolated and overwhelmed, surrendered on 16 December. Bangladesh became a sovereign state with its own parliament, the Jatiyo Sangsad, the following day and adopted the taka as its currency. It was nevertheless a country near economic breakdown.

Mujibur Rahman was released from prison and received a rapturous welcome as the founder of his nation on his return. On 10 January 1972 he became Bangladesh's first prime minister. A constitution was adopted on 4 November 1972, and on 16 December he created a cabinet form of government. It was based on the four principles of Mujibbad (Mujibism): nationalism, secularism, democracy, and socialism. He amended it on 25 February 1975 to create a presidential system, with himself as president. On 7 June 1975 he made Bangladesh a one-party state and banned all existing parties. A new party, the Bangladesh Krishak Sramik Awami League (Bangladesh Peasants, Workers, and People's Party), was formed on the basis of his Awami League, but Mujib lost the support of the urban and military elite when he established an autocratic state, curtailed freedom of speech, installed his relatives in high government positions, and even created his own private army, the Jatiyo Rakkhi Bahini (National Defence Force). He was assassinated on 15 August 1975 in a military coup, the "Majors' Plot," along with over twenty members of his family and political allies. Khondakar Mushtaque Ahmed, a former colleague, was installed as president.

On 3 November 1975, Mujib loyalist Brigadier Khaled Musharraf staged a military coup, and the elderly Chief Justice Abu Sadat Mohammad Sayem was appointed president. Four days later, Musharraf was killed, and Sayem became chief martial law administrator. A year later, in November 1976, the charismatic Zia-ur Rahman, whom Musharraf had displaced as chief of staff, staged his own military coup. On 21 April 1977, Zia became president, suffered an unsuccessful army mutiny in October 1977, and in 1978 founded the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). In the election of that year he became president of the new Islamic republic. He finally reestablished law and order, and conditions in Bangladesh improved markedly. On 30 May 1981, Zia was assassinated in Chittagong by Major General Manzur Ahmed, who was killed two days later. Justice Abdus Sattar, the vice president, became the acting president. A general election was held in November 1981 and Sattar became president, but he was ousted in the military coup conducted by the chief of army staff, Lieutenant General Hussain Muhammad Ershad, on 24 March 1982. Martial law remained in place until November 1986, during which time Ershad consciously Islamized the culture and politics of Bangladesh. The Land Reforms Ordinance of 1984 gave new and significant rights to tenants for the first time.

General Ershad created his own Jatiyo Party in 1985, and it won control of Parliament in the elections of 1986 and 1988. During his presidency, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, an organization of seven South Asian nations, was founded at a meeting of foreign ministers in New Delhi in August 1983, and the inaugural meeting of heads of state and government was held in Dhaka in December 1986.

Khaleda Zia (b. 1945), the wife of Zia-ur Rahman, entered politics after his murder. She was appointed vice chairman of the BNP in March 1983 and was elected chairperson in September 1983. Over the next nine years, she led the seven-party opposition to Ershad and was detained seven times. Ershad resigned on 6 December 1990 in the face of massive movement against his administration. A caretaker government presided until the elections of 27 February 1991, when Zia was elected as the first female prime minister of Bangladesh. She won a landslide reelection on 15 February 1996, but that election was boycotted by all other parties. She then lost the election of 12 June 1996 to Sheikh Hasana Wajed's Awami League. She remained in Parliament with the largest opposition party.

Sheikh Hasana Wajed (b. 1947) is the daughter of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. She and her sister were in Germany in 1975 and had thus escaped being murdered along with their father, mother, and three brothers. She remained in exile for six years before returning in 1981 to a hero's welcome to head her father's Awami League. She was one of the leaders of the opposition until the Awami League victory in the general elections of 1996 made her prime minister. Following this victory, she became prime minister. Her government was noted for its introduction of liberal measures, including free primary education, free education for girls up to the tenth grade, and a stipend for female students, but she was faced with the determined opposition of Khaleda Zia, whose BNP formed a four-party alliance with the Jatiya Party, the Jamaat-e-Islami, and the Islam Oikya Jote. In the election of 10 October 2001 Khaleda Zia was returned to office as prime minister and Sheik Hasana entered into the opposition.

Conditions of life for Bangladeshis remain extremely difficult. The country, one of the poorest in the world, is characterized by being located mostly on the Bay of Bengal's delta. The Ganges joins the Jamuna, the main channel of the Brahmaputra, and then joins the Meghna to empty into the Bay of Bengal. About one-third of the country is flooded every year during the summer monsoon. With a population of some 145 million in 2005 and a high population growth rate, many people are landless and live on and cultivate land prone to flooding. Rice is the main crop. Two-thirds of the people are agriculturists. Water-borne diseases are prevalent, and the country suffers from a variety of serious environmental problems. Overseas Bangladeshis working in the Middle East and Malaysia remit around $2 billion annually. The cheerfulness and strength and energy of the Bangladeshis in the face of these harsh conditions is a testament to their remarkable human spirit.

Roger D. Long