The government that came into existence under the leadership of the Muslim League with the creation of Pakistan was dominated by Punjabi elements and the Sindhi, Pakhtuni, Baloch and Bengali elements were neglected. Due to this, an atmosphere of dissatisfaction against the central government started building in the whole country from the very beginning. Since both the old capital Karachi and the new capital Islamabad were built in West-Pakistan and East-Pakistan was 1600 km away from these capitals, all important positions in governance were taken over by the Muslims of Punjab.
Although Suhrawardy, a resident of East Pakistan, was also the Prime Minister of Pakistan for some time, there was no voice of East-Pakistan in the power of Pakistan. In AD 1966, Sheikh Mujib-ur-Rahman, the leader of the Awami League of East-Pakistan, opposed the military rule of President Ayub, demanding the rights of autonomous rule for the citizens of East-Pakistan. On this the government of Pakistan became enemy of Sheikh Mujib-ur-Rehman.
The Government of Pakistan accused Mujib-ur-Rehman of conspiring against the Government of Pakistan in AD 1968, in which it was said that Mujib had helped India in the Indo-China war of AD 1962 and in the Indo-Pak war of 1965. Conspired against Pakistan with the help of military officers. Due to these false allegations of Ayub Khan, hatred against Ayub Khan's government spread throughout East Bengal.
The political activities going on in East Pakistan did not have an impact on the non-Punjabi Muslims of West Pakistan. In 1967, the Foreign Minister of Ayub Khan's government and Sindhi leader Zulfikar Ali Bhutto resigned from the government and formed the Pakistan People's Party. Meanwhile, other provinces of Pakistan also demanded autonomy and it became impossible for Ayub Khan to rule the country.
On 26 March 1969, General Muhammad Yahya Khan overthrew the government of Ayub Khan and himself became the President. In this way, in Pakistan, one military rule was replaced by another military rule. The Constitution of Pakistan was again suspended on 31 March 1970.
Yahya Khan, by issuing a Legal Framework Order, decided to conduct elections in the country for a one-house parliamentary system (nandboomtans shampesanjantam). is called. Yahya Khan issued orders that the new constitution of the country would be written only after the general elections.
On 22 November 1954, 'Integrated Province of West Pakistan' by joining Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan and North-West Frontier Provinces was formed but Yahya Khan's government 'Integrated Province of West Pakistan' After dismantling it again restored the old condition. Due to this the provinces named Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan and North-West Frontier Provinces came into existence again. On 7 December 1970, under the new legal rules, elections were held for a single house for the formation of the central government in Pakistan.
'Bhola-cyclone' in East-Pakistan just a month before elections wreaked havoc. This proved to be the most frightening of the cyclonic storms ever in the world. 5 lakh people died in it. The Yahya Khan government of Pakistan did not take any steps to help the families affected by the cyclone. Due to this, the hatred already prevailing in East-Pakistan against the government led by West-Pakistan reached its peak.
By this time the population of East-Pakistan had exceeded that of West-Pakistan. Because lakhs of Hindus from West Pakistan were either killed, or they fled to India. The same was the case with the Muslims who came from India to West Pakistan. Therefore, in these elections, the Awami League, the party of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman of East-Pakistan, got an unprecedented victory.
A total of 313 seats were provided in the central house, the National Assembly, out of which 169 seats were won by the Awami League Party of East-Pakistan leader Mujibur Rahman. Similarly, out of 310 seats in the Provincial Legislative Assembly, Sheikh Mujib's party got 298 seats.
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party got 81 seats in the National Assembly and became the main opposition party. The Muslim League, which had taken Pakistan after fighting India, got shattered in these elections. In these elections, two parties contested in the name of Muslim League. Of these, the Council Muslim League got only 7 seats, and the Muslim League (Qayyum) got 9 seats.
The rest of the seats were scattered among various smaller parties. Despite the Awami League getting an absolute majority in the National Assembly, Yahya Khan did not invite the Awami League to form the government. When the Awami Party protested, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was taken prisoner. On this the people of East-Bengal started the Bengali Liberation Movement to break away from West-Pakistan under the leadership of Awami League. When Pakistan deployed army in East-Pakistan to crush this movement, a large number of refugees from East-Pakistan started coming to India.
Terrible violence took place during the liberation war of Bangladesh. To crush this movement, the Pakistan Army launched Operation Searchlight in East-Pakistan on 26 March 1971. Under the guise of this operation, the Pakistani army massacred Bengali Muslims fiercely. The fighters of an organization called Jamaat-e-Islam supported the Pakistan army in this war.
During this nine-month-long war of liberation, the Pakistani army and the fighters of Jamaat-e-Islam killed several lakhs of Bengalis and Biharis in East-Pakistan. This number is said to be between 3 lakh to 30 lakh. During this, 2 lakh to 4 lakh Bengali women were raped, in which Hindu and Muslim women became victims of rape without any distinction. In December 2011, BBC News report quoted a research as claiming that between three lakh and five lakh people died in the liberation struggle of Bangladesh. During this, some staunch religious people raised slogans that Bengali women are public property.
Due to this massacre and rapes, eight million to one crore Hindus left East-Pakistan and came to India. About 30 million people were displaced from East-Pakistan. Violent clashes also took place between Urdu-speaking Biharis and Bengali-speaking Bengalis during this period. About one and a half lakh Urdu-speaking Biharis were killed in these clashes. Another estimate put the number of Urdu-speaking Biharis who died at five lakhs.
Well-known journalist Tarek Fatah has put the number of people killed in the Bangladesh massacre of 1970 at one million. Commenting on the genocide of Bangladesh, Tarek Fateh has written- 'Bengal, which was the cradle of renaissance, was caught by murderers. Yahya Khan and his associates considered the liberation-movement of East-Pakistan as a pro-India war and attacked India to avenge it. This resulted in the Indo-Pak war of 1971 and East Pakistan became a separate nation named Bangladesh.
Sheikh Hasina's statement at the United Nations General Assembly On 22 September 2017, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina made a statement at the United Nations General Assembly that Pakistan's army carried out a heinous military operation in the year 1971, during the liberation war, the horrific massacre of three million innocent people. He said that the Parliament of Bangladesh declared March 25, 2017 as Genocide Day to pay tribute to the victims of the genocide.
The Pakistani army attacked East-Pakistan on the midnight of 25 March 1971, after which three million people died in the official 9-month war. And more than 20,000 women were exploited. Bangladesh may have separated from Pakistan, but the conditions there are no less bad than Pakistan.
In 1975, only four years after the formation of Bangladesh, the government of Sheikh Mujib-ur-Rahman was overthrown through a military coup. During this Sheikh Mujib, his wife and three sons were put to death. After a long political battle, Sheikh Hasina, the daughter of Sheikh Mujib, formed the government in Bangladesh in AD 1996, but she was also removed and imprisoned through a military coup. This Sheikh Hasina is the Prime Minister of Bangladesh at the time of writing this book, she has become the Prime Minister for the third time. There have been few democratic governments in Bangladesh while the people have suffered more from military rule and emergencies.