Nobel Prize winner Gunnar Myrdal stated in his book Asian Drama: An Inquiry

into the Poverty of Nations that “there are many Indians who still doubt that
Pakistan can hold together and who believe in particular that East Pakistan will
break away from West Pakistan.” It did break away on Dec 16, 1971 — not because
there was any structural defect in the two-nation theory, but because of our own
failings to implement it.

Almia-i-Mashriqi Pakistan’s English version, The Separation of East Pakistan: The Rise and
Realisation of Bengali Muslim Nationalism, by Zaheer Hasan was published in 1994 by Oxford
University Press. It is an analytical study of the events between 1947 and 1971 that led to the
separation of East Pakistan. The events covered are based on referenced books, documents,
official publications and — more importantly — the author’s own diary containing records of
high level meetings that he attended as a civil servant between 1954 and 1971. The book, as such,
provides an insight into the causes of East Pakistan’s separation and has remained a source of
information for commentaries, articles, editorials and research papers written in subsequent
years on the subject.

Much has been written about Zaheer’s book and its contents during last 23 years. However,
there is still some room for comment on his conclusions about the causes of the country’s
breakup. The author singularly attributes it to Bengali Muslim nationalism without
substantiating the thesis with solid arguments. The only argument given in the book is about the
election results of 1937 when Indian Muslims stood factionalised into various groups following
Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s self-imposed exile to London during 1930-1935. Zaheer would not have
come to this conclusion had he juxtaposed it with a wider perspective of historical facts around
the founding of the All India Muslim League in 1906 by Bengali leadership in Dacca [Dhaka],
with the stated objectives “to protect and advance the political rights and interests of the
Musalmans of India”, with East Bengal’s most fervent and solid support — more than that of any
of the territories later included in West Pakistan — to the Muslim League before Partition, with
the moving of the Lahore Resolution in 1940 by Bengali leader A.K. Fazlul Huq, and the solemn
resolution moved by Bengali leader Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy that “the safety, security,
salvation and destiny of the Muslim nation inhabiting the subcontinent of India lies only in the
achievement of Pakistan.” This was at a gathering in Delhi in 1946 of all elected members of the
central and provincial legislatures. The resolution was unanimously adopted. These facts hardly
indicate that East Bengal followed a stand-alone policy woven around Bengali nationalism.