Independence Movement of

Bangladesh

• Mohammad Morad Hossain Khan

Assistant Professor
 Bangla Language Movement
• In February 1948 Dhirendra Nath Datta
claimed ‘Bangla’ as the official language of
Pakistan but it was rejected in the Assembly.

• On March 21 in 1948 M A Jinnah visited

Dhaka and said, ‘Only Urdu would be the
state language of Pakistan’ in a mass
gathering and March 24 at Dhaka University.

• Jinnah died in September in 1948.

Dhirendra Nath Datta
PM of Pakistan, Liaquat Ali Khan 14 August
1947 – 16 October 1951
 Liaquat Ali Khan
• He was the first Prime Minister of Pakistan,
Foreign Affairs
& Commonwealth, Kashmir Affairs and
Defence Minister.
Nawabzada Liaquat Ali Khan President
Truman
Khaza Nazimuddin 1894 – October 1964,
Prime Minister of Pakistan (1951–1953)
 Bangla Language Movement (cont.)

• Khaza Nazimuddin was the second Governor-

General of Pakistan, and later
the second Prime Minister of Pakistan as well.
Rallies at the University of Dhaka area.
Procession march held on 21 February
1952 in Dhaka
Nurul Amin: Chief Minister of East
Pakistan (14 September 1948 –
3 April 1954)
 1954 Election

• The first election for East Bengal Provincial

Assembly was held between 8 March and 12
March 1954. The Awami Muslim
League, Krishak-Sramik Party and Nezam-
e-Islam formed the United Front, on the
basis of 21-points agenda.
• The United Front was formed on December 4
in 1953.
Notable pledges contained in the 21-points of
the United Front were:

• making Bengali one of the main state

languages
• autonomy for the province
• reforms in education
• independence of the judiciary
• making the legislative assembly effective

• The United Front won 215 out of 237 Muslim

seats in the election
• Of the 222 United Front seats,
the Awami Muslim League had
won 142, Krishak-Sramik Party
48, Nezam-i-Islam 19,
and Ganatantri Dal 13.
 Pakistan-US Military Relations
• The Central Treaty Organization (also
referred to as CENTO (Central Eastern
Treaty Organization); original name
was Middle East Treaty
Organization or METO (also known as
the Baghdad Pact) was formed in 1955
by Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Turkey, and
the United Kingdom.
• It was dissolved in 1979.
 Pakistan-US Military Relations (Cont.)
• The South East Asia Treaty
Organization (SEATO) was an international
organization for collective
defense in Southeast Asia created by
the Southeast Asia Collective Defense
Treaty, or Manila Pact, signed in September
1954 in Manila, Philippines.
• The formal institution of SEATO was
established on 19 February 1955 at a meeting
of treaty partners in Bangkok, Thailand.
Field Marshal Ayub Khan (1958 – 1969)
 Ayub Khan
• Muhammad Ayub Khan was a five-star
general officer and statesman, serving as the
second President of Pakistan and its first
military dictator from 1958 until his forced
resignation in 1969. A self-appointed field
marshal, the only such five-star rank in
Pakistan's military history, he was appointed
the first chief martial law administrator by
President Iskander Mirza in 1958, a post he
retained until the promulgation of a new
constitution in 1962
 6 Points Movement
• Federation of Pakistan based on Lahore
Resolution
• Federal Govt: external affairs and defense
• Two separate, but freely convertible currencies
• The power of taxation and revenue
• two separate accounts for the foreign
exchange earnings
• a separate militia or paramilitary force for East
Pakistan.
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto 1971 to 73 PD, 1973 -77 PM
• In a speech in October 1966 Bhutto declared
the PPP's beliefs, "Islam is our faith,
democracy is our policy, socialism is our
economy”.

• On 30 November 1967 Bhutto founded the

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) at Lahore.
 1969 Movement
• 4 January: Shorbodolio Chatro Shongram
Porishad (The All Party Student Action
Committee) put forth its 11 point agenda.
• 7–8 January: Formation of a political coalition
named Democratic Action Committee (DAC) to
restore democracy.
• 20 January: Student activist Asaduzzaman
dies as the police opens fire on demonstrators.
• 24 January: Matiur, a teenager activist is
gunned down by the police.
• 15 February: Seargent Jahurul Haq, one
of the convicts of Agartala Conspiracy
Case, is assassinated in the prison of
Kurmitola Cantonment.
• 18 February: Dr. Shamsuzzoha of
Rajshahi University is killed as the police
opened fire on a silent procession in
Rajshahi.
• 21 February: Withdrawal of Agartala
Conspiracy Case.
• 23 February: Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was
accorded a grand reception, where he
was given the title Banggabandhu (The
friend of Bengal).
• 10–13 March: Ayub Khan calls for a round
table meeting with the opposition.
• 24 March: Ayub Khan handed over power
to General Yahya Khan, the army Chief of
Staff.
General Agha Md. Yahya Khan (1969-1971)
 1970 Elections & Results
• The Awami League emerged as the single
largest party in the National Assembly by
winning a majority with 160 seats (38.3%
votes), and also won 288 of the 300 seats in
the that were held simultaneously there.

• The Pakistan Peoples Party dominated in West

Pakistan, winning 81 (19.5% votes) of 138 the
seats there.
Causes of Bangladesh Liberation War
• Political: exploitation, domination
• Economic: severe exploitation and
discrimination between East and West
Pakistan.
• Cultural: ‘Urdu would be the only state
language of Pakistan’ was a blunder of
then Pakistan.
Historic 7th March 1971
Ziaur Rahman, Bir Uttam
The Liberation War of Bangladesh
in 1971 and the world
• The USA
• The USSR (now Russia)
• China
• The UK
• India and
• The UNO
Mass killing in 1971
Rayerbazar killing
 The Seventh Fleet
• The Seventh Fleet is the United States
Navy's permanent forward projection force
operating forward deployed in
Yokosuka, Japan, with units positioned near
Japan and South Korea. It is a component
force of the United States Pacific Fleet.
• At present, it is the largest of the forward-
deployed U.S. fleets, with 60 to 70 ships, 300
aircraft and 40,000 Navy and Marine Corps
personnel.
USS George Washington (CVN-73)
Yahya Khan and Richard Nixon
Bangladesh