Why was the Awami League not allowed to form government in 1971?

[TopCat]

Why was the Awami League not allowed to form goverment in 1971?

The main problem was that those elections were held under hostile circumstances and no one was willing to accept other as a representative or the right to form the government at the center. Also, during those times the political leadership of both East & West Pakistan were not mature enough to show the will or ability to lead the nation.

The political parties did not have the maturity!!!! then who had this precious??? Your Yahiaaaaa Khannn ... Gosh.... Funny isnt it????

 

[TopCat]

If LFO was not legitimate, then the whole election was illegal.

You cannot have it both ways.

If you want the elections to be legal, you have to accept the LFO.

And the 6-point plan was illegal because it went against the LFO.

Either way, from a legal point of view, the 6 point plan was not implementable, and Mujib wasn't allowed to take power because he threatened to implement it.

Haven't I proved the 6 point plan was illegal? Or didn't you understand it?

Who cares which were legal or illegal.. The whole freedom fight was illegal. 1969 Peoples' revolution was illegal, 1952 Language movement was illegal. Everything we did together East and West all are illegal.. Man just wake up...

 

[BanglaBhoot]

The political parties did not have the maturity!!!! then who had this precious???

I think this point cannot be dismissed so lightly. How many political parties in Bangladesh has shown maturity in the last 37 years of our history? Similarly how many political parties in Pakistan over the last 60 years have shown maturity. The problem is that we tend to put party before nation and in the case of Bhutto and Mujib they put themselves above everything else except their own ambition and self-interest.

 

[Sheraz1]

Well wether Awami league was allowed to made Govt. or not, but there were enough things done by West for East to become a separate country. We tried to kill their mother language by imposing Urdu on them and left only jobs like peon for them in the Govt offices. The thing is if we have treated East better, things would have been different by now.

 

[leonblack08]

Well wether Awami league was allowed to made Govt. or not, but there were enough things done by West for East to become a separate country. We tried to kill their mother language by imposing Urdu on them and left only jobs like peon for them in the Govt offices. The thing is if we have treated East better, things would have been different by now.

Agree with you.

 

[azmax007]

Well wether Awami league was allowed to made Govt. or not, but there were enough things done by West for East to become a separate country. We tried to kill their mother language by imposing Urdu on them and left only jobs like peon for them in the Govt offices. The thing is if we have treated East better, things would have been different by now.

Yeah more tolerance and less censorship brings about more cooperation and development.

 

[dabong1]

I think if the Awami League won the election then it should have been allowed to form the govt.

My problem is really the allegations that west pakistan wanted to finish off the bengali language and that the bengalis where not given political postions that i have a issue with.

1.My fathers old pakistani passport has english,urdu and bengali on it......it has no punjabi,sindhi,baluchi or pushto on it.

2.The point about not having political postions is also flawed.

Prime ministers of pakistan birthplaces.

Khawaja Nazimuddin....born bengal
Muhammad Ali Bogra....born bengal
Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy...bengal
Ibrahim Ismail Chundrigar....west bengal
Nurul Amin.......born bengal

So out off the the first nine prime ministers of pakistan five where from bengal.

 

[gromell]

Read those six points. Do you think that the "unity of the Federation" would have remained intact, had he implemented schemes such as taking away all powers from the Government of Pakistan (except in defence and foreign affairs), and leaving each federal province to govern itself.

Do you not believe that this was basically breaking up Pakistan into 5 self governing provinces?

I live in Montreal, Quebec, Canada and in this country almost 80% people are anglophone(including most immigrants who use English here) and at most 20% are francophone, living mainly in Quebec and New Brunswick. Now Canada has 2 official languages-English and French, both of which have equal status. The status is so 'equal' that to be the PM of the country, the election candidate must show sufficient skill of debating in both languages. No federal judge in Ottawa can have less than fluent spoken and literature knowledge in any language of the two languages-English and French. And Canada is more united than ever. YES there was a brief scare of separation decades ago but that was when the country was in the transition from anglophone dominated federal system to more balanced one. Canada has a strong federal government looking over military and foreign relation and with a certain amount of tax coming from the provinces while provinces look after their own affairs including a provincial taxation system that does not go to the federal government and also policing is controlled by the provincial government rather than federal. This is very close to what Sheikh Mujib wanted for Pakistan. A seperate taxation system for east and west pakistan while certain portion of them going to federal government, paramilitary force for east pakistan, as east experienced the negligence in military aide in '65 war, a fair distribution of foreign money and aide. For example in Alberta the fastest growing economy provincial of Canada, when some of the money coming from exporting tasr sand petroleum to USA(Canada is the largest exporter of crude oil to USA, larger than Saudi Arab) goes to federal government and other provinces, all the big-head albertans start yelling and protesting. As a result of that(and also with the help of Conservative govt), Albertans have largely been successful of keeping the petroleum money to themselves instead of flowing the cash to other province. I do not see that happening in pre-71 Pakistan or even the current Pakistan in lights of energy sector of Baluchistan situation. Anyway I dont have much knowledge on Baluchistan as I have on Alberta so I am not going there.

Now contrast that with Pakistan's situation after 1947 separation. The great visionary Jinnah went to Dhaka University and addressing to a mass of Uni students he arrogantly declared, "Urdu and Urdu shall be the only state language of Pakistan". well most of those students could not communicate fluently in urdu, let alone write it or read it. They were educated in Bangla and English. Imams in masjids all over Bangladesh have been saying their Khutba in local Bengali since the arrival of Islam in Bengal around 1000 AD. Hence the so called theory of West Pakistanis that Urdu binds the muslims of south asia is not true for the largest ethnic muslims of South Asia-the Bengali muslims. The repression of Bangla language at the beginning of Pakistan tells us the whole game was to oppress the Bengalis, directly or indirectly. It's just an example how a simple thing could not be solved by the great politicians of Pakistan. How they could not even tolerate a simple language, how they even dared to brand a language by a particular religion! I do not see where in Islam it says that a person who speaks Hebrew as his first language can not be a good Muslim. If they really wanted a language that rightly signifies Islam(which can also be debated whether Islam could be bounded or defined merely by a language and I happened to disagree that it can be), then it had to be Arabic. However they they did not choose Arabic, just because it was not practical! Similarly it was never practical for Bengalis, hindu or muslims or Bhuddist or Christians to embrace Urdu, a language that never played any role in their literature, culture, daily life and affairs or even religion (Bengali muslims read Quran in Arabic, say surah in the prayer in Arabic, but discuss about the meaning of the Quran and teachings of Muhammad(Peace be upon him) in Bangla, just like a lot of Pakistanis would be doing the same, only instead of Bangla it would be urdu). Therefore I think it was just the self-conceit and lack of political flexibility triggered by feudal mentality that got the West Pakistani politicians and most west Pakistani public to think, even today(which shocks me!) that Sheikh Mujib's Six Points were against the betterment of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. The truth is those were some absolutely excellent political proposal that would have prospered Pakistan to only Allah Subhanawata'ala knows where!
And reading my last sentence, if you are still not sure if the destination would have been positive or negative, look at Canada.

 

[gromell]

I think if the Awami League won the election then it should have been allowed to form the govt.

My problem is really the allegations that west pakistan wanted to finish off the bengali language and that the bengalis where not given political postions that i have a issue with.

1.My fathers old pakistani passport has english,urdu and bengali on it......it has no punjabi,sindhi,baluchi or pushto on it.

2.The point about not having political postions is also flawed.

Prime ministers of pakistan birthplaces.

Khawaja Nazimuddin....born bengal
Muhammad Ali Bogra....born bengal
Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy...bengal
Ibrahim Ismail Chundrigar....west bengal
Nurul Amin.......born bengal

So out off the the first nine prime ministers of pakistan five where from bengal.

Dabong, Listen brother, one month ago, my mom found a Pakistani bank note(rupee) which my late grandfather gave her before 1971 and somehow it was there lol. And you are right-there are english, urdu and bengali written on it. no punjabi, no pashtu, no baluch or wtv. Now Bengalis comprised of about 56% of Pakistan at that time while Punjabis would be around 25% to 30% if I am not wrong, forget about counting the pashtus or baluch(You can half the percentage of them right now and get a rough estimate though) Still, Before 1956 The status of Bengali language was not recognized. There was Bengali in your dad's old passport because in February 21st, 1952, innocent students of Dhaka University and office clerks and street children had to brave bullets and die protesting against pakistan's government's decision of not letting Bangla have any official status in Pakistan. It's due to severe mass protest of Bengali population that Pakistan Government declared Bengali as one of the state languages. So you see, if your dad had a passport issued in between 1947 and 1956, there would have been no Bangla writing in it. So don't think it was a privilege gifted to Bengalis, it was achieved with blood of innocent people, which as appeared afterwards was just the starting of struggle for freedom.

And I really do not understand why pakistan always bring out the name of the PMs before 1971 and call all of them Bengalis you see in Pakistan, the main power lies in the hand of President. and those PMs were in power of the parliament for a very brief time, most of the time the country was ruled by Army generals who were never a Bengali. That was another problem as respecting the outcome of the election was always the major political problem in pre-71 Pakistan. And also out of those PMs, except for Suhrawardy, noone else is claimed by the Bangladeshis as a true Bengali(in the sense that they were just the puppet of West Pakistani politicians or military leaders) The last one, Nurul Amin, if I am not wrong was assassinated by the MuktiBahini and the teenager mukti soldier who killed him alone was decorated as a hero by the nation. I do not think that usually happens when a popular PM is assassinated

So indeed the Pakistani leaders just after partition wanted to finish off the Bengali language as Jinnah and other leaders labeled it as "hindu" language(this labeling does not have any Islamic basis and can not be justified by Islamic explanations) and not letting any real Bengali leader coming to power was the example of political repression. You have to understand the real complain of Bengalis is not about political position as political positions CAN NOT BE GIVEN but will be decided through election and deservingly bestowed upon the elected parliamentarian. The main problem was giving less government jobs to Bengalis, not just political positions.

 

[salman nedian]

I live in Montreal, Quebec, Canada and in this country almost 80% people are anglophone(including most immigrants who use English here) and at most 20% are francophone, living mainly in Quebec and New Brunswick. Now Canada has 2 official languages-English and French, both of which has equal status. The status is so 'equal' that to be the PM of the country, the election candidate must show sufficient skill of debating in both languages. No federal judge in Ottawa can have less than fluent spoken and literature knowledge in any language of English and French. And Canada is more united than ever. YES there was a brief scare of separation decades ago but that was when the country was in the transition from anglophone dominated federal system to more balanced one. Canada has a strong federal government looking over military and foreign relation and with a certain amount of tax coming from the provinces while provinces look after their own affairs including a provincial taxation system that does not go to the federal government and also policing is controlled by the provincial government rather than federal. This is very close to what Sheikh Mujib wanted for Pakistan. A seperate taxation system for east and west pakistan whil certain portion of them going to federal government, paramilitary force for east pakistan, as east experienced the negligence in military aide in '65 war, a fair distribution of foreign money and aide. For example in Alberta the fastest growing economy provincial of Canada, when some of the money coming from exporting tasr sand petroleum to USA(Canada is the largest exporter of crude oil to USA, larger than Saudi Arab) goes to federal government and other provinces, all the big-head albertans start yelling and protesting. As a result of that(and also with the help of Conservative govt), Albertans have largely been successful of keeping the petroleum money to themselves instead of flowing the cash to other province. I do not see that happening in pre-71 Pakistan or even the current Pakistan in lights of energy sector of Baluchistan situation. Anyway I dont have much knowledge on Baluchistan as I have on Alberta so I am not going there.

Now contrast that with Pakistan's situation after 1947 separation. The great visionary Jinnah went to Dhaka University and addressing to a mass of Uni students he arrogantly declared, "Urdu and Urdu shall be the only state language of Pakistan". well most of those students could not communicate fluently in urdu, let alone write it or read it. They were educated in Bangla and English. Imams in masjids all over Bangladesh have been saying their Khutba in local Bengali since the arrival of Islam in Bengal around 1000 AD. Hence the so called theory of West Pakistanis that Urdu binds the muslims of south asia is not true for the largest ethnic muslims of South Asia-the Bengali muslims. The repression of Bangla language at the beginning of Pakistan tells us the whole game was to oppress the Bengalis, directly or indirectly. It's just an example how a simple thing could not be solved by the great politicians of Pakistan. How they could not even tolerate a simple language, how they even dared to brand a language by a particular religion! I do not see where in Islam it says that a person who speaks Hebrew as his first language can not be a good Muslim. If they really wanted a language that rightly signifies Islam(which can also be debated whether Islam could be bounded or defined merely by a language and I happened to disagree that it can be), then it had to be Arabic. However they they did not choose Arabic, just because it was not practical! Similarly it was never practical for Bengalis, hindu or muslims or Bhuddist or Christians to embrace Urdu, a language that never played any role in their literature, culture, daily life and affairs or even religion (Bengali muslims read Quran in Arabic, say surah in the prayer in Arabic, but discuss about the meaning of the Quran and teachings of Muhammad(Peace be upon him) in Bangla, just like a lot of Pakistanis would be doing the same, only instead of Bangla it would be urdu). Therefore I think it was just the self-conceit and lack of political flexibility triggered by feudal mentality that got the West Pakistani politicians and most west Pakistani public to think, even today(which shocks me!) that Sheikh Mujib's Six Points were against the betterment of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. The truth is those were some absolutely excellent political proposal that would have prospered Pakistan to only Allah Subhanawata'ala knows where!
And reading my last sentence, if you are still not sure if the destination would have been positive or negative, look at Canada.

There were misunderstandings on both the sides. No one in Pakistan thinks that Urdu is the official language for Muslims. When Quaid-e-Azam said that ‘Urdu and only Urdu will be the National language of Pakistan’ he sensed the Indian motives behind the demand for Bangla as a national language, Bangla was the demand of common east Pakistanis also but Quaid-e-Azam said it so that we should not fight over national language issue b/c he knew that India will try to ignite riots on Language issue. Urdu is a language of communication which is used all over the sub continent for binding different language speakers.

I have seen old Pakistani published material and currency in which there is no discrimination among languages. Both Urdu and Bangla have been given equal representations. I can send you some old material and you can see it your self. Even I have seen some old conversation books in which it is clearly mentioned in preface that we should learn all the languages to promote national harmony.

Countries mature by time as you have given the example of Canada that the system got matured over the passage of time so fighting and separation on issues in just 24 years was also a over reacted reaction.

 

[karnivore]

So don't think it was a privilege gifted to Bengalis, it was achieved with blood of innocent people, which as appeared afterwards was just the starting of struggle for freedom.

You will be surprised my friend, how many members on this board would love to forget that part of the struggle. I seriously wonder if they are at all aware of the fact that 21st Feb is celebrated as International Language day, as a tribute to those bengali students who laid down their lives for their mother tongue.

Looking forward to see more of you.

 

[roadrunner]

And I really do not understand why pakistan always bring out the name of the PMs before 1971 and call all of them Bengalis you see in Pakistan, the main power lies in the hand of President. and those PMs were in power of the parliament for a very brief time, most of the time the country was ruled by Army generals who were never a Bengali.

Who was Iskander Mirza then? A Bengali president of Pakistan. In fact Pakistan's first ever president was a Bengali. Who was the Baloch president, or the Pakistani Punjabi one?

 

[Al-zakir]

Well I don't know about 1971 but Awami league did come to power and Mujib did become president of Bangladesh (East Pakistan). People of West Pakistan didn't have to go through tyranny and Misruled havoc created by Mujib and His hoodlums but people of BD experienced the hell environment that was created under his watch. Neither he was a credible leader nor a good Muslim. He was true pimp and stooge that took prescription from somewhere else. He was just cunning enough to use popular sentiment against west to rally needy people behind him in the name of so-called Bangalism.

Pakistan would have not last even if Awami League allowed to form government in 1971 because we give more value to our regional identity than Islam.

 

[M_Saint]

Well I don't know about 1971 but Awami league did come to power and Mujib did become president of Bangladesh (East Pakistan). People of West Pakistan didn't have to through tyranny and Misruled havoc created by Mujib and His hoodlums but people of BD experienced the hell environment that was created under his watch. Neither he was a credible leader nor a good Muslim. He was true pimp and stooge that took prescription from somewhere else. He was just cunning enough to use popular sentiment against west to rally needy people behind him in the name of so-called Bangalism.

Pakistan would have not last even if Awami League allowed to form government in 1971 because we give more value to our regional identity than Islam.

Brother Zakir,

Please note that Altaf Kalia is the new generation of Mujib, who has been playing Sindh card on and off but can't sell it well because of people's awareness and land's contaguity. If Newaz went for the final kill to oust Zardari during the last long march then he would fuel it. See, the cowardish and craftiness of the both of those two goons (Altaf, Mujib) match very well and Malus need them as oppose to Jinnah, She-re-Bangla. Anyway, Pakistan would last if proposed PAK of 1941 was delivered (Whole Bengal and Assam as a part of it), but cunning Dadas saw it detrimental to their interest and broke Bengal right before 1946's vote. And manufactured riot in Bihar to cleanse Urdu speaking Muslim-Biharis, so Muslims of Assam wouldn't reciprocrate their action for fear. Thus PAK broke up even before it came to a being. If Assam, whole Bengal and Partial Bihar were a part of Eastern front then their would be an equilibrium of different ethinicities and Islam would come to action to glue it together, so the brotherhood and bond would be stronger and IND couldn't play 'Ethinic Victimization' card but alas dream for a separate Muslim land turned out to be a 'BIG BAIT' to make us handicape for ever. IMO, It would have been better if the whole partition drama hadn't taken place at all.

 

[DarkStar]

Well wether Awami league was allowed to made Govt. or not, but there were enough things done by West for East to become a separate country. We tried to kill their mother language by imposing Urdu on them and left only jobs like peon for them in the Govt offices. The thing is if we have treated East better, things would have been different by now.

Urdu was not a west Pakistani language, nor was it an East Pakistani one. It was the language of hapless migrants, U.Pites that travelled to the West, and Biharis to the East.

Incidentally, it was also the language of the later Mughal rulers of India, as well as the adminstrative language the British used in Northern India.

It was the only language that could have been the official language, as no one province could claim it, and lord it over others. If Bangali or PUnjabi had been the official language, the partition of Pakistan would have been much sooner.

The Bangali language is a rich and respected language, yet so too PUnjabi, Sindhi, Pashto, Baluchi, Kohistani, Balti, Siraiki, Hindko, and others. To give the Bangali language the status argued for, would have done exactly that to members of other linguistic groups, which the Bangalis themselves complained about.

As for government jobs for Bengalis, then it must be known that Bengal had more educated people than West Pakistan, Bengal in Bharat is also traditionally more literate than the rest of Bharat. For this reason, East Pakistanis regularly topped Civil service and Public service examinations, giving them many high posts in West and East Pakistan. Trust me, they were anything but peons.

Sheikh Mujib's six points were in essence, a decleration of seperation and division of Pakistan, or at least perceived so by many. I guess there was a trust deficit, and the West Pakistani politicians did not trust Sheikh Mujib not to go through with it.

We as Pakistanis, might sometimes by nostalgic and sad about what happened, yet in no way are we bitter, nor do we begrudge our Bangladeshi brothers their homeland. Yet do not be upset if we take a keen interest in your affairs, it is only due to brotherly concern and shared memories.

It should be noted though, that Providence has not been kind to the three architects of the division of Pakistan. The violent deaths of Z.Bhutto, I.Gandhi, and S.Mujib might have a lesson in them for us.