University of Virginia Library

Bangla Desh: Product Of Bad Faith

the units of the proposed
Pakistan Federation would be
"sovereign and independent."

This agreement was
embodied in the Lahore
Resolution or Pakistan
Resolution in 1940 in Lahore
by the All-India Muslim
League. The resolution was
moved by the elected chief
minister of Bengal, A.K. Fazlul
Hoque, who earned the epithet
of "tiger of Bengal" for his
vigorous advocacy of the
Bengali cause.

The resolution envisioned a
confederation of two
predominantly Muslim
sovereign states, one in Bengal
and another in the region
which is now known as West
Pakistan. This resolution is the
most important document in
the history of Pakistan.

Through it the Muslims of
India declared officially their
united resolve to divide India,
and it embodies the
fundamental constitutional
provision of the basis of which
the Bengali Muslims agreed to
cooperate with the West
Pakistani Muslims in dividing
India. The movement for
Pakistan gained momentum
only when the Bengali Muslims
joined it.

The subsequent history of
the movement and of Pakistan
since its creation on August 15,
1947, was a history of bad
faith and breach of agreement
by the West Pakistani leaders.
M.A. Jinnah, a West Pakistani,
who was president of the
Muslim League, agreed to
divide Bengal and to be
satisfied with the eastern half
of the province. The western
half was to form part of India.

The elected chief minister
of Bengal, H.S. Shurawardy,
opposed but failed to prevent
the mischief. It was a
calculated step to weaken the
Bengalis. After Pakistan came
into being, the solemn
agreement to form a
confederation of sovereign,
independent units was ignored
by the West Pakistani leaders.

Over the last 24 years East
Pakistan was turned into a
colony of West Pakistan.
Democracy was never allowed
because under a democratic
system the Bengalis, who
formed 60 per cent of the
population of Pakistan, would
rule the country.

The results of the first
general election, held in
December of 1970, in which
the Awamileague, campaigning
on a platform of autonomy,
won the majority of seats in
the proposed National
Assembly, raised the prospect
of the end of exploitation of
East Pakistan and the
beginning of Bengali majority
rule.

The savage crackdown by
the East Pakistani troops on the
unarmed Bengalis to cow the
latter into submission to West
Pakistani minority rule has
drowned in blood the last
vestige of whatever link held
the two parts of Pakistan
together.