PAKISTAN STUDIES

FALL OF DHAKA

PROJECT REPORT

GROUP MEMBERS:

VERNISSA WALI

RUBAB NAQVI

HAMNA TAHIR

AYESHA JAMIL
HISTORY:
Dhaka, previously spelled as Dacca in English, is the capital and one of the oldest cities
of Bangladesh. The history of Dhaka begins with the existence of urbanized settlements in the
area that is now Dhaka dating from the 7th century CE. The city area was ruled by
the Buddhist kingdom of Kamarupa before passing to the control of the Sena dynasty in the 9th
century CE. After the Sena dynasty, Dhaka was successively ruled by the Turkic and Afghan
governors descending from the Delhi Sultanate before the arrival of the Mughals in 1608. After
Mughals, British ruled the region for over 150 years until the independence of India. In 1947,
Dhaka became the capital of the East Bengal province under the Dominion of Pakistan. After
the independence of Bangladesh in 1971, Dhaka became the capital of the new state.

Inspite of common ideology and a common struggle for emancipation, the geographical
separation of East and West by 1000 miles exerted tremendous pressure on the two to go their
own separate ways. This was true even without any interference from India, which is
considered to be the main villain and Pakistan’s number one enemy for its part in the events
which lead to fall of Dhaka. Before this dreadful event took place, the extremists representing
the spearhead of political thinking in both had already fallen apart. Those in the West believed
that East Pakistan was quite different from them both ethnologically and linguistically. They
thought that East would get out eventually and what were keeping her in were the intelligent
self interest and the apprehension that without the West she would not be able to survive.
Those in the East thought that it was the East that earned bulk of the foreign exchange and that
it is at her cost that economy of the West had been built. This ideology lead to the belief that
they can very well look after themselves and it was time that there were two separate
economies and indeed two independent States.

CAUSES OF FALL OF DHAKA:

There were a number of factors which lead to the fall of Dhaka. The fall of Dhaka took place in
1971 but the differences had started between the East and West at the time of inception of
Pakistan. Some people take it back to the time when Urdu was made the national language of
Pakistan. One of the factors was that the pace of economic development in the East was much
slower than the West. This could not go unnoticed and their public servants, who constituted
the most powerful silent force, did not fail to see where and how. They thought that not only
East Pakistan had not been given its due share; rather it had been treated as a colony. Social
and economic justice was one of the basic demands of people and lack of complete satisfaction
on that score has been the great cause of discontent. There were a number of key players in
1971 which lead to fall of Dhaka, the prominent ones being Mujib, Bhutto, Ayub and Yahya.
a. Hindu influence
The 14% Hindu population had full control over the economy of East Pakistan. They were better
educated then the native Bengali Muslims. They owned press and mass media.
b. Failure of Muslim League leadership in East Pakistan.
The cabinet did not pay due attention towards the problem of the people, hence its capability
became zero in the eye of people
c. The delay in constitution making process.
It gave rise to suspicions and misunderstandings between the people of two halves.
d. Presidential form of government.
A parliamentary system could have at least partially offset West Pakistan dominance in the civil
and military services
e. Role of international Community.
1. Both, Soviet Union and America were in favor of the disintegration of
Pakistan.
2. Soviet Union openly supported India’s attack on East Pakistan.
3. America did not fulfill her promise to support Pakistan.

MAIN EVENTS:

 In 1966 Mujib announced his controversial six point political and economic program
for East Pakistani provincial autonomy.

 On March 25, 1969, General Ayub resigned and handed over the administration to
the then commander-in-chief, General Yahya Khan who announced that he
considered himself to be a transitional leader whose task would be to restore order
and to conduct free elections for a new constituent assembly, which would then
draft a new constitution.

 On December 7, 1970 Yahya announced plans for a national election. The first
democratic election in the history of Pakistan took place in December 1970, in which
Sheikh Mujib’s party Awami League won majority seats of 167 and Zulfiqar Ali
Bhutto’s party, Pakistan Peoples Party won only 88 seats.

 Awami league won not a single seat from West Pakistan and PPP met the same fate
in East wing. The military, bureaucracy, and business, all West Pakistani-dominated,
were shocked at the results because they faced the prospect that the central
 government’s power would be passed away to the Bengalis, if the Awami League
were allowed to shape the constitution and form a government.

 The results of the election gave the Awami League the possibility of framing the
constitution according to its six point program. The election had put the Pakistani
ruling elite in such a position that, if it allowed the democratic process to continue,
then it would be unable to stop the Awami League from framing a constitution that
would protect the Bengali interests.

 In 1968 the Agartala conspiracy case was filed against Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the
leader of swami league, accused was conspiring for the secession of East Pakistan
with Indian aid.

 The beginning of 1969 was culminated in the resignation of Field Marshal Ayub
Khan, the first military ruler of Pakistan.

 In 1971 on 26th march Sheikh Mujib declares the independence of Bangladesh

before his arrest by Pakistani army.

 On 3rd December 1971 Indo-Pakistan war occurred in East Pakistan to the fall of
Dhaka On 16th December.

 On 17th march 1972 Indian army leaves Dhaka and on 19th march the prime
minister of Bangladesh AND India signs the Joint River Commission bilateral working
group.

RECOMMENDATIONS:
 Pakistan could have been united today if Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, Sheikh Mujeeb ur Rehman,
and General Yahya had thought of national interest and not of their own personal
interests.
 Pakistan would have never disintegrated if we had accepted Bengali as a national
language.
 Resolution of conflict between East and West Pakistan by accepting the leader of East
Pakistan.

CONCLUSION:
 Minor misunderstanding between east and west Pakistan led to major conflicts.
 There was a lack of moral character and courage in the senior army commanders.
  The planning was hopelessly defective and there was no plan for some important areas like
Dacca.
 Thad had brought an end to the Pakistan and Pakistan was disintegrated.
 The major role in the 1971 disaster had been that of the ground forces and the strategic
concept required revision in the light of the situation but the army high command did not
carried out the in-depth analysis.
 There were a number of key players in 1971 which lead to fall of Dhaka, the prominent
ones being Mujib, Bhutto, Ayub and Yahya.

REFRENCES:

Title Author Year of publication Publisher

How Pakistan got Rao Farman Ali February 12th , 2017 Lahore:
divided Khan Jang Publishers,
1992.
Witness to surrender Siddique Salim November 13th , 1997 Urdu Movies

1971: the fall of Dacca G.D Bakshi 2017 KW Publishers Pvt

Ltd; First edition
(2018)