Bryan Said:

Can someone please give me an introduction to the Bangladesh liberation war in 1971?

We Answered:

I got the following from Wikipedia: East Pakistani grievances

1. Economic exploitation West Pakistan (consisting of four provinces: Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan and North-West Frontier Province) dominated the divided country politically and received more money from the common budget than the more populous East.

2. Political differences Although East Pakistan accounted for a majority of the country's population; political power remained firmly in the hands of West Pakistanis, specifically the Punjabis. Since a straightforward system of representation based on population would have concentrated political power in East Pakistan, the West Pakistani establishment came up with the "One Unit" scheme, where all of West Pakistan was considered one province. This was solely to counterbalance the East wing's votes. Ironically, after the East broke away to form Bangladesh, the Punjab province insisted that politics in West Pakistan now be decided on the basis of a straightforward vote, since Punjabis were more numerous than the other groups, such as Sindhis, Pashtuns, or Balochs.

3. Military imbalance Bengalis were under-represented in the Pakistan military. Officers of Bengali origin in the different wings of the armed forces made up just 5% of overall force by 1965; of these, only a few were in command positions, with the majority in technical or administrative posts. West Pakistanis believed that Bengalis were not "martially inclined" unlike Pashtuns and Punjabis; the "martial races" notion was dismissed as ridiculous and humiliating by Bengalis. Moreover, despite huge defence spending, East Pakistan received none of the benefits, such as contracts, purchasing and military support jobs. The Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 over Kashmir also highlighted the sense of military insecurity among Bengalis as only an under-strength infantry division and 15 combat aircraft without tank support were in East Pakistan to thwart any Indian retaliation during the conflict.

4. Language controversy in 1948, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, Pakistan's first Governor-General, declared in Dhaka (then usually spelled Dacca in English) that "Urdu, and only Urdu" would be the sole official language for all of Pakistan. This proved highly controversial, since Urdu was a language that was only spoken in the West by Muhajirs and in the East by Biharis. The majority groups in West Pakistan spoke Punjabi and Sindhi, while the Bengali language was spoken by the vast majority of East Pakistanis. The language controversy eventually reached a point where East Pakistan revolted. Several students and civilians lost their lives in a police crackdown on 21 February 1952.

5. Response to the 1970 cyclone The 1970 Bhola cyclone made landfall on the East Pakistan coastline during the evening of 12 November, around the same time as a local high tide, killing an estimated 300,000 to 500,000 people. Though the exact death toll is not known, it is considered the deadliest tropical cyclone on record. A week after the landfall, President Khan conceded that his government had made "slips" and "mistakes" in its handling of the relief efforts for a lack of understanding of the magnitude of the disaster.

6. Earlier background: The situation reached a climax when in 1970 the Awami League, the largest East Pakistani political party, led by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, won a landslide victory in the national elections. The party won 167 of the 169 seats allotted to East Pakistan, and thus a majority of the 313 seats in the National Assembly. This gave the Awami League the constitutional right to form a government. However, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (a Sindhi), the leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party, refused to allow Rahman to become the Prime Minister of Pakistan. Instead, he proposed the idea of having two Prime Ministers, one for each wing. The proposal elicited outrage in the east wing, already chafing under the other constitutional innovation, the "one unit scheme". Bhutto also refused to accept Rahman's Six Points. On 3 March 1971, the two leaders of the two wings along with the President General Yahya Khan met in Dhaka to decide the fate of the country. Talks failed. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman called for a nation-wide strike.

7. End-game: The Bangladesh Liberation War was an armed conflict pitting West Pakistan against East Pakistan and India, that resulted in the secession of East Pakistan to become the independent nation of Bangladesh. The war broke out on 26 March 1971 as army units directed by West Pakistan launched a military operation in East Pakistan against Bengali civilians, students, intelligentsia, and armed personnel who were demanding independence from Pakistan. Members of the East Bengal Regiment, East Pakistan Rifles, East Pakistan police and other Bengali military and paramilitary forces, and armed civilians revolted to form guerilla groups and forces (generally termed as the Mukti Bahini) to fight against the army of West Pakistan. During the following months, India provided economic, military and diplomatic support to the Mukti Bahini in East Pakistan. On December 3, 1971, (West) Pakistan launched a pre-emptive attack on the western border of India, which marked the commencement of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. Finally, on December 16, 1971, the allied forces of the Indian army and the Mukti Bahini (Bangladesh Liberation Army) decisively defeated the (West) Pakistani forces deployed in the East resulting in the largest surrender, in terms of the number of POWs, since World War II.

Hope above helps.

Rachel Said:

Why do people think religions promoting vegetarianism are cowardly?

We Answered:

I don't think what type of diet they had, had any relevance to why they surrendered. This is a lifestyle and often religious choice.
What makes one brave is overcoming your fears, having a big heart and fighting for what you beleive in. I've never known hunting to be a display of bravery, but rather virility in men.
As a vegetarian, I can hardly accept the fact that millions of animals are still being hunted and bred. Though I make exception for indigenous, African, aboriginal and Inuit tribes, because they have no means of keeping food refrigerated or the technology that so many countries possess to raise so many animals.

Jerry Said:

What are the causes of the war of liberation of Bangladesh in 1971?

We Answered:

I think Nini_C above gave very simplistic version of "the causes of the war of liberation of Bangladesh in 1971". This may have come from sources linked to Pakistan as they may have tried to dilute the real reason of the 'anger' felt by the then East Pakistani (Bengali people) against the West Pakistani (mainly Punjabi and Urdu speaking people).

In fact, it was more to do with the then ruling military establishment of Pakistan who neglected the Muslim majority East Bengal since its (Pakistan) inception in 1947. Muhammad Ali Jinnah was instrumental in demanding separate homeland for the Muslims in the then un-divided India who were fighting for independence from the British rule that extended to about 200 years.

The Pakistani military junta those came to power after the assassination of civillian prime minister of Pakistan did not bother about the hopes and aspiration of the people of East Pakistan. In fact, the resentment started first when Jinnah came to East Pakistan probably in 1948 and in a public meeting declared that "Urdu and only Urdu would be the State language of Pakistan", by ignoring the fact the 99% of the then East Pakistani (now Bangladesh) were Bengali speaking populace who could hardly understand a few of the Urdu words.

The language movement was culminated that was brutally suppressed by the then Pakistani military and Para-military forces on 21st February 1952.

Btw, I was born in 1954 and saw the discrimination of Bangla speaking people living like me in West Pakistan. In shop, bazaar, bus, train or even on playing fields the West Pakistani people (right from school child to elders) would not spare us the sneer (contemptuous smile or remark; smile or speak derisively) at first available chance.

We saw 1965 war between Pakistan and India when we the Bangla speaking people were united like rock to defend Pakistan from the Indian aggressors (we were led to believe that Indians did attack first, which was later found incorrect. Army Field Marshal Ayub Khan attacked India to divert simmering discontentment against continuous military rule in Pakistan).

But after the war, Pakistani decided to arrest most popular leader of East Pakistan, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, on charge of Agartala conspiracy case when Mujib declared 6-points demands for the East Pakistani peoples emancipation from continuous poverty when raw-materials and assets from East were diverted for the benefit of the West and East Pakistan was not getting proportionate share of the wealth and other resources, even though the population of East was more than that of the West at that time. Bengalis were deprived from any good opportunities like education, training, investment, representation of Pakistan in world forum etc. Then came the civil unrest of 1969 when General Yahya Khan took power from FM Ayub Khan in a bloodless coup and declared general election in Pakistan. In the General Election the 1970 the Awami League led by Sk. Mujibur Rahman got landslide victory from East Pakistan, but Zulfiquar Ali Bhutto pf PPP could not match AL’s number of seats in the National Parliament. Sk. Mujib was to be the Prime Minister of Pakistan as per the election verdict, but luck was not favouring him as Bhutto and Yahya conspired to keep any Bengali to become PM of whole of the Pakistan. The civil unrest was going on in the Eastern wing of Pakistan then came the cyclone (as narrated by Nini_C above. That cyclone was an eye opener for the remaining illiterate but God fearing Bengalis to the fact that Pakistanis did not think that the lives of Bengalis are of any value. That event acted as a catalyst only and helped form the mood of the whole Bengali people to see the actual character of the West Pakistanis when only a few politicians showed sympathy towards Bengalis, like Khan Wali Khan of NAP (Wali) from NWFP and Air Marshal Asghar Khan of Teherik-e-Istiklal (my memory may have failed with names here) party who really showed some compassion for the political and economical depravities the Bengalis were meted out by the West Pakistani military as well as political establishments.

I would like to end here as we do not want to brood-worry or ponder (esp. resentfully) about what why and what went wrong. Since you asked it at Homework section, I thought of correcting or adding some facts known to us who were living our lives in the less-than-citizen like situation under the Pakistani regimes right from 1947.

Hope above would help you make more research and find the facts for your school work, that would come somewhere near to the history that has been recorded in so many places worldover!

Dean Said:

1971 bangladesh liberation war?

We Answered:

You may want to rephrase the question, it seems a little vague.

Gilbert Said:

I want to publish a historical true story which is struggle of the liberation war in 1971 Bangladesh.?

We Answered:

Sorry but I don't think that it would be of enough interest to enough people to make a publisher take it on.

If you want you can pay for it yourself...go to Google & search on 'Vanity Publisher'.

Brandon Said:

How does the war on terror rate against other wars?

We Answered:

It’s not that kind of war. It is more like the wars on drugs and poverty where the “enemy” is a vague and non-specific concept. Such “wars” are good for businesses that find a way to profit from them because they are wars that never can be won (or lost) and, therefore, never end.