The Politics Explained: Why Yahya Sent in The Troops
Pakistan, the predominantly Muslim nation which resulted from the partition of the British Raj in 1947, consists of two separate territories, divided by a thousand miles of India. West Pakistan (main city Karachi) has always been dominated by the Urduspeaking Punjabis, who run the army. East Pakistan (main city Dacca), populated by the Bengalis, with their own distinct Bengali language, covers an area of less than a fifth the size, but has a somewhat larger population than West Pakistan. Most of the nation’s Hundu minority of around eight million was concentrated in East Pakistan.
Towards the end the 1960s the discontent of the impoverished Bengalis of East Pakistan found expression in the rapid growth of the Awami League. This is devoted to achieving some degree of independence from West Pakistan. Its leader was Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. With the resignation in March. 1970, of Pakistan’s military dictator. Ayub Khan, came to the Awami League’s chance. Ayub Khan’s successor, General Yahya Khan, was determined to hand over power to a democratically elected civilian government, which would draw up a new constitution. On the principle of “One man one vote,” East Pakistan would gain a dominant say in the government, because of its greater population. This was the subsequent course of events:
December 7. 1970: The Pakistan general elections gave Sheikh Mujib’s Awami League 167 out of the 169 East Pakistan seats in the constituent assembly-an absolute majority for the whole of Pakistan. This put them within easy reach of winning home rule for the Bengalis.
February 13, 1971: President Yahya Khan announced that the constituent assembly will meet on March 3.
February 15: Z.A. Bhutto, leader of the majority party in West Pakistan, Said that he would boycott the assembly unless there was a prior agreement between East and West on a constitutional formula.
March 1 : Yahya postponed the assembly meeting. Increasingly, calls for a fully independent Bengali state in East Pakistan-Bangladesh-were heard from Bengalis. Sheikh Mujib called only for civil disobedience.
March 6: President Yahya set March 25 as a new date for the assembly meeting. March 7: Mujib said he would not attend unless martial law was withdrawn.
March 25 : West Pakistan troops struck to control Dhaka and Chittagong in anticipation of a Bengali mutiny.
March 26 : Many Bengali killed by the troops in Dacca, but elsewhere Bengalis started to massacre non-Bengalis. Refugees-including at first many Muslims-began to leave East Bengal.
March 28 – April 12: 9th and 16th divisions flown to East Bengal.
Early May: Second wave of refugees, this time overwhelmingly Hindus began to leave. May 30: Third wave of refugees pour out; cholera broke out in refugee camps.
Reference: The Sunday Times, 13 June, 1971.