Brief History of Bangladesh

Courtesy: http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Lobby/2999/history.html

India and Pakistan became independent from Britain in 1947. Land was deviled on the basis of people of different religion. Pakistan for Muslims and India for Hindus. Though it was not a wise decision to make a country with geographical long distanced for east & west Pakistan. We can also say that in 1947 the seed of Independent Bangladesh was plant because of that. From the beginning , it was called East Pakistan and West Pakistan. majority of the people of Pakistan lived in East Pakistan. But the people of this side ware always neglected by the government leading by the west side. East Pakistan was always treated as field of raw materials to run the industries of West Pakistan and in maximum time it was governed by the armed people.

Early history. Ancient Hindu epics indicate that thousands of years ago, tribal people inhabited a kingdom called Vanga in the region that is now Bangladesh. Historians know little about the region before about the 200’s B.C., when it formed part of the Maurya Empire. This empire broke up about 185 B.C., and local king then ruled Bengal. From about A.D. 320 to 500, the region was part of the Gupta Empire.

Buddhist rulers gained control of eastern Bengal in the mid-700’s. Buddhist culture spread throughout the region. After about 300 years of Buddhist rule, Hindu kings came to power. Beginning in the 1200’s, Turkish Muslims who had conquered northern India expanded their control into eastern Bengal. Independent Muslim rulers governed parts of Bengal until 1576, when the Mugul emperor Akbar conquered the region.

Mugul rule. Bengal became part of the Mugul Empire, which spread across most of what is now Afghanistan, India, and Pakistan. Muslim art and architecture flourished under Mogul rule. By about the 1600’s, most of the people of eastern Bengal had converted to Islam.

The Mugul emperors appointed governors called nawabs to rule the provinces of the empire. In the early 1700’s, the empire began to break up, partly because powerful Hindu groups in central and western India rebelled against Muslim rule. At the same time, Bengal and other provinces became increasingly independent as the nawabs took more power for themselves.

The growth fo European influence. During the 1500’s, British, Dutch, French, and Portuguese traders competed for control of the profitable trade between the East Indies and Europe. By the 1600’s, European trade settlements had been established in Bengal. At first, the Europeans met strong resistance from the provincial nawabs, who demanded taxes in return for trade privileges. But after the Mogul Empire began the weakening the 1700’s, the Europeans increased their influence. Ambitious Mogul nawabs, nobles, and generals competed for power. The Europeans took sides in many of these conflicts, offering their support in return for monopoly trade privileges and other rewards.

The East India Company was chartered by the English government in 1600 to develop trade with India and the Far East. By the mid-1700’s, the company had become the strongest trade power in Bengal. In 1757, company forces led by Robert Clive defeated the nawab of Bengal in the Battle of Pawlashee. Clive put a puppet nawab in office, but the East India Company actually ruled Bengal.

Corrupt company officials made huge profits on jute production in eastern Bengal, but they did little to improve the welfare of the people. Opposition to the company spread, not only in Bengal, but also in other areas of India the firm controlled. The discontent led to the Sepoy Rebellion in 1857. The revolt failed, but it caused the British government to take over the company in 1858. All the Indian territory threat the firm had governed became known as British India.

British India. Bengal became a province of British India. Under British rule, industrial development and educational reforms advanced rapidly in western Bengal, where most of the people were Hindus. Many Hindus gained economical and political power. But eastern Bengal, where most of the people were Muslims, remained backward and agricultural.

In 1905, the viceroy (governor) of British India divided Bengal into two sections -West Bengal and East Bengal. East Bengal became part of a new province. Many Hindu Bengalis objected to the division. The feared a loss of their economic and political power. But Muslims favored the division because they made up the majority of the province’s population. The conflict led to bloody rioting between Hindus and Muslims in Bengal. The British reversed the division in 1911, and Bengal again became a single province. But the bitterness between Hindus and Muslims remained.

Throughout British India, independence movements began to gain strength in the 1900’s. The Muslim League, a political organization formed in 1906, became the voice of India’s Muslim minority. By 1940, league leaders were demanding that a separate Muslim nation- to be called Pakistan- be created out of Indian territory. Riots between Hindus and Muslims in the 1940’s convinced government leaders that India would have to be divided. In 1947, Great Britain granted independence to India and established Pakistan as an independent nation. The British divvied Bengal between the two countries. Western Bengal became a state of India. Eastern Bengal became East Pakistan.

East Pakistan was separated from West Pakistan by about 1,000 miles (1600 kilometers) of Indian territory. The people of the two parts of Pakistan shared a common religion, but they had little else in common. They spoke in different languages and had different cultures, traditions, and physical traits. East Pakistanis made up more than half the population of Pakistan, but West Pakistanis controlled the nation’s government, economy, and armed forces. Only about a fourth of the money spent by the government went to East Pakistan. The per capita annual income of East Pakistan was less that three-fifths that of West Pakistan.

Through the years, East Pakistanis grew increasingly dissatisfied with the government of Pakistan. In November 1970, a cyclone and tidal wave struck East Pakistan and killed about 266,000 people. Many East Pakistanis accused the government of delaying shipments of relief supplies to the devastated areas.

The Mother language of 75 million people (Majority of The Country) of Pakistan was Bangla. Most of them lived in East side. Approximately 3,500 years old language and culture. Early 1950, the Pakistani Chief Marchal, General Yeahia declared Urdu as the only one National Language. Because of protesting the declaration students of Dhaka University & Dhaka Medical College were murdered like Salam, Barket, Jabbar. The whole nation burst into protest. At last he was bound to change his decision but the reaction existed until independence of Bangladesh. The government was always careless about East side to develop and to build industries.

There were two party before division of India Muslim League & Indian Congress. After divide Muslim League was divided into two part one only Muslim League and Awami Muslim League after that new party was formed called Awami League.

In December 1970, elections were held throughout Pakistan to choose an assembly that would serve as a legislature and write a new constitution. The Awami League, a party led by East Pakistan’s Sheik Mujibur Rahman (known as Sheik Mujib), won a majority of the seats. The party strongly supported increased self-government for East Pakistan.

On March 1, 1971, President Yahya Khan of Pakistan postponed the first meeting of the assembly. East Pakistanis protested, and Yahya Khan sent army troops to East Pakistan to put down the protest. Sheik Mujib was imprisoned in West Pakistan.

Civil War soon broke out The fighting began in East Pakistan after starting to kill the civilian to be afraid to protest. But the people were in cloud, they were unable to decided because the party called Awami League were in confusion and the leaders were in hide to avoid arrest and hide themselves to India to took shelter. They were in fear. Then, on the 26th March , 1971, some of the army Majors of the East Bengal Regiment decided to fight and declared East Pakistan an independent nation called Bangladesh. It was their advantage to be a army person to decide to fight for independent nation against another well trained armed forces. They formed a guerrilla army to fight the government troops.

The Declaration of Independence [Reference from The History of the Liberation Movement in Bangladesh, Author J. S. Gupta] There was an earlier broadcast of the Declaration of Independence. Very few people heard that declaration. Zia's famous "Ami Major Zia Bolchhi" message has now become a household phrase. The previous declaration was broadcast on the morning of March 26, 1971. The message went:

"Today Bangladesh is a sovereign and independent country. On Thursday night West Pakistani armed forces suddenly attacked the police barracks at Razarbagh and the EPR headquarters at Pilkhana in Dhaka. Many innocent and unarmed have been killed in Dhaka city and other places of Bangladesh. Violent clashes between EPR and Police on the one hand and the armed forces of Pindi on the other, are going on. The Bengalis are fighting the enemy with great courage for an independent Bangladesh. May God aid us in our fight for freedom. Joy Bangla."

.... It was decided that they should go back to the other side of Kalurghat bridge where rations had just been delivered to the jawans of East Bengal Regiment under the command of Major Ziaur Rahman..... As the Bengali soldiers took positions to guard the transmission center, the rebels put their heads together and secured the help of a few engineers of the Kalurghat industrial complex to convert it into a broadcasting station. As Kalurghat was getting organized into a nerve-center for coordinating the liberation struggle, Baluch troops had invaded the EBR (East Bengal Regiment) barracks where under the command of Major Zia a bloody battle raged. Major Zia had to retreat and with a battalion of troops came to Kalurghat. He was made commandant of the rebel forces at Kalurghat where the transmitter was now ready for broadcasting. Contact could not be established between the leaders of the Awami League and Major Zia broadcast a message of independence to the people of Bangladesh. At 7:45 pm on 26th March 1971, Major Zia broadcast the message which became historic in the struggle for independence.

"This is Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra. I, Major Ziaur Rahman, hereby declare at the direction of Bango Bondhu Mujibur Rahman, that the independent People's Republic of Bangladesh has been established. At his direction, I have taken command as the temporary head of the republic. In the name of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, I call upon all Bengalis to rise against the attack by the west Pakistani Army. WE shall fight to the last to free our motherland. By the grace of Allah, victory is ours. Joy Bangla."

...Major Zia's message was picked up by a Japanese ship anchored mid- stream in Chittagong harbour. When the news of this declaration was broadcast by Radio Australia, the rest of the world came to know of it...... .]

Duration of nine months war, approximately 3,000,000 (Three millions) of civilians died in that bloody fighting that followed, and millions of refugees poured into India. During the early months of the civil war, East Pakistani guerrillas also crossed into India. The government forces shelled Indian territory and followed the guerrillas across the border. Indian troops fourth border clashes with the Pakistani government soldiers. In December 1971, few thousands Indian army advanced into East Pakistan and joined the guerrillas. The combined forces of the Guerrillas and Indians overpowered West Pakistan, which surrendered on the 16th December, 1971.  

After Independence: Constitution was made and received by the previous elected (December 1970) members without any plebiscite or general referendum from the people. New election had held after 2 years in 1973 and Awami League got more than 2/3 majority. Another one party was called National Socialist Party (Jatia Sawmajtantrik Dal) got few seats. After the election Awami League has the power to change the constitution. They changed the constitution as there will be one party called Jatia Dall (National Party) in the country.

Sheik Mujib was released from prison in January 1971. He returned to Bangladesh in triumph and became the nation's first prime minister. In 1974, Bangladesh joined the United Nations (UN). Bangladesh faced staggering problems as an independent country. Millions of its people were homeless. Trade, transportation routes, and communication lines had to be restored. Hospitals, fctories, and schools had to be rebuilt. Reconstruction programs began almost immediately in a slow pace. But floods and food shortages caused widespread suffering, and charges of political corruption weakened the government. In January 1975, Bangladesh amended its Constitution to give the president all executive power. Mujib resigned as prime minister and took office as president. He soon suspended all opposition political parties and declared Bangladesh a one-party state. In August 1975, military leaders killed Mujib. They dissolved the Parliament, took control of the government, and began to rule under martial law. Ziaur Rahman (known as Zia), an army officer, became head of the martial law government in November. He took the title of president in 1977. In 1978, the people elected Zia president. In 1979, the military leaders ended martial law, and the people elected a new Parliament. Zia remained president. In 1981, rebels led by a military officer killed Zia. Vice President Abdus Sattar was elected president later that year.  

In 1982, military leaders again took control of the government of Bangladesh. Lieutenant General H.M.Ershad suspended the Constitution and established martial law under his rule. From 1982 to 1984, Ershad banned the activity of political parties. He took the title of president in 1983.] In May 1986, Ershad allowed the first parliamentary elections in Bangladesh since 1979. In November 1986, the people elected him president. Soon after, the Parliament passed a law protecting Ershad from prosecution for actions taken during the period of martial law. He then ended martial law and restored the Constitution. In August and September 1988, Bangladesh experienced one of the worst monsoon floods in its history. At one point, 75 per cent of the country was underwater. As a result of the flood, more than 2,000 people died and about 25 million others were left homeless.