Creation of Bangladesh

[Mohammad Ali Akanda]

The Controversy over the Interpretation of the Lahore Resolution.
The Lahore Resolution (later to be known as the Pakistan Resolution) moved by Fazlul Haq at the 27th Session of the All India Muslim League, at Lahore on March 23, 1940 stated "that geographically contiguous units are demarcated into regions which should be so constituted, with such territorial adjustments as may be necessary, that the areas in which the Muslims are in a majority, as in the north-west and eastern zones of India, should be grouped to constitute independent states in which the constituent units shall be autonomous and sovereign."

 

[Neo]

As long as India avoids multilateral solutions to South Asian problems then good ideas will just be a waste of time. It is easier for India to bully and have its all its own way through bilateral negotiations.

Agreed!

 

[BanglaBhoot]

The Controversy over the Interpretation of the Lahore Resolution.
The Lahore Resolution (later to be known as the Pakistan Resolution) moved by Fazlul Haq at the 27th Session of the All India Muslim League, at Lahore on March 23, 1940 stated "that geographically contiguous units are demarcated into regions which should be so constituted, with such territorial adjustments as may be necessary, that the areas in which the Muslims are in a majority, as in the north-west and eastern zones of India, should be grouped to constitute independent states in which the constituent units shall be autonomous and sovereign."

A.K. Fazlul Haq was at the time the Chief Minister of Bengal but another equally important Bengali Muslim was H.M. Suhrawardy who in 1946 moved a resolution at the Delhi Convention of Muslim League legislators modifying the Lahore Resolution of 1940 thus amending the concept of two Muslim states to be carved out of British India.

My point is if The Lahore Resolution had been followed to its letter it would probably have saved us the tragedies of 1971 but would an autonomous and sovereign Muslim Bengal have been a viable entity with the hostile and expansionist gaze of India over looking us. Even a hint of independence saw the dissolution of Sikkim as a sovereign and independent state by India. The same fate would probably have befallen the Muslim Bengal state that would have been created out of the original Lahore Resolution.

After 1971 and 36 years later Bangladesh can stand up to India but I doubt this would have been the case if we were independent in 1947.

 

[HK-47]

we Bengalis were too different from the Pakistanis.and the Pakistani administration in west Pakistan was too oppressive and aggressive.Like how they wanted to make Urdu the sole official language in East Pakistan.and there existed an inequality between the people of the West and East.Independence was bound to happen and I am glad it did.
for the record this doesn't mean we should sever all ties with Pakistan.Look at the UK and the US;they are allies now.although I dislike Pakistan for many reasons (and also like it for some too) a good and strong relationship with Pakistan for BD is necessary.

I agree with Munshi,we should have received independence in 1947.Things would have been better now.

 

[Contrarian]

I think Munshi makes a case that it is better NOT to have recieved independence in 1947 !! He says its better the way it has been !! Getting independence from Pakistan.

 

[BanglaBhoot]

There was actually a third option in 1947 that would have allowed an independent Muslim Bengal State to exist but this idea was squashed by Nehru. I had only discussed the second of the two options in may last posting but that idea would not have given the opportunity for such a state to survive especially under Indian domination and hegemony. The third option that did come up would have given some equality between Pakistan, India and a Bengal Muslim State that none would be allowed to dominate the others. The difference that would have allowed this to happen was the proposal for a different type of constitutional structure but I do not intend to discuss this possibility any further here.

 

[niaz]

There was actually a third option in 1947 that would have allowed an independent Muslim Bengal State to exist but this idea was squashed by Nehru. I had only discussed the second of the two options in may last posting but that idea would not have given the opportunity for such a state to survive especially under Indian domination and hegemony. The third option that did come up would have given some equality between Pakistan, India and a Bengal Muslim State that none would be allowed to dominate the others. The difference that would have allowed this to happen was the proposal for a different type of constitutional structure but I do not intend to discuss this possibility any further here.

There is some truth in it. The name Pakistan has no intials for Bengal. I vaguely remember that during the discussion with one of the independence movement leaders ( I dont recall his name, it was something .... Imam. He was one of the colleagues of Quaid e Azam and I met him when he was a guest at the house of his friend who happened to be father of my class mate. This was 1957), it came out that one of the options was to form a seperate country called "Bangsam" which implied Bengal and Assam together as the Muslim majority areas on the Eastern side of British India. However there was strong opposition to this idea from the Congress. As a compromise Sylhet was removed from Assam and attached to East Bengal and together became East Pakistan. Assam minus Sylhet district was no longer Muslim majority state. Maulana Bhashani ( Red Maulana) of National Awamy Party opposed this as it meant no independent Bengal and continued in opposition to what he termed Pakistani colonialism until his death in 1976.

 

[BanglaBhoot]

Niaz,

I think your recollection and your understanding of the issues is correct.

 

[salman nedian]

for the record this doesn't mean we should sever all ties with Pakistan.Look at the UK and the US;they are allies now.although I dislike Pakistan for many reasons (and also like it for some too) a good and strong relationship with Pakistan for BD is necessary.

I would like to see your suggestions about the nature of relationship with Pakistan and how those relations can be developed!

 

[salman nedian]

Both Pak and BD will be better position economically if they can pursue to make SAARC a success. Yes there is no balance of power in SAARC as there has been in EU. And India is not generous enough for SAARC. So I think to make SAARC a success we need to find balancer. I think China will be good and also Japan. If we need to change the name from SOUTH ASIA ASSOCIATION OF REGIONAL COOPERATION to ASIAN ASSOCIATION OF REGIONAL COOPERATION we should do it.


For BD and Pak bilateral issue, as I have mentioned, should have joint venture industries as this will create win win situation.
I am impressed about Pakistan's own defense industries BD can be benefited from it.

Allah Hafeez

Amm I think if we move towards collabaration and join hands we can become the balancer in SAARC.My point of view is we should empower ourselves ,beleive on our selves and we can become a wolrd power.but right direction is needed for that.

 

[BanglaBhoot]

Greater coordination between Pakistan and Bangladesh within SAARC will benefit the entire region. I also think that Sri Lanka will be helpful in this regard as they also appear to be concerned about Indian domination. Now that China is an observer member we can make SAARC more relevant for the whole of South Asia. India may interpret this as countries trying to ganging-up against it but in reality it would help to bring greater prosperity for all.

 

[niaz]

I grew up considering Bengalis ( then East Pakistan) as my brothers and compatriots. The feelings havent changed.

Whatever happened in 1971 was a calamity and a national disgrace. Last time I was in Pakistan there were still a lot of Bengalis in Karachi. Bangla Deshis are my brothers and I would love to see visa free travel and tariff free trade between the two countries.

 

[BanglaBhoot]

I grew up considering Bengalis ( then East Pakistan) as my brothers and compatriots. The feelings havent changed.

Whatever happened in 1971 was a calamity and a national disgrace. Last time I was in Pakistan there were still a lot of Bengalis in Karachi. Bangla Deshis are my brothers and I would love to see visa free travel and tariff free trade between the two countries.

I agree with the sentiments expressed by you and I hope that we can finally move forward from 1971. While we must not forget the mistakes of the past we can learn from those. I believe that both countries have much to lose from continued hostility and much to gain from friendship and cooperation.

 

[salman nedian]

100% Agreed with Niaz and Munshi.but the question is what we can do for that?

 

[roadrunner]

The third option that did come up would have given some equality between Pakistan, India and a Bengal Muslim State that none would be allowed to dominate the others. The difference that would have allowed this to happen was the proposal for a different type of constitutional structure but I do not intend to discuss this possibility any further here.

My feelings on Bangladesh are probably pretty well known. I don't agree that Bangladesh or East Pakistan was discriminated against by West Pakistan - nor even dominated by West Pakistanis, when 3 or 4 of the prime ministers in the first 10 years of Pakistan's inception were of East Pakistani/Bengali roots. Statistics have proved that these prime ministers spent less on East Pakistan than Ayub Khan did in the 60s. Private investment was a different matter. What should have been done, the rich Muhajirs from Bharat should have been forced to live in East Pakistan or something?

I'm willing to discuss this at length, since noone has been able to disprove my case as yet + I always like a good debate and I'm not one of these docile Pakistanis you get on these types of forums that believe all the nonsense heaped on Pakistan by Bangladeshis or anyone else.