Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dlnhk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-30T20:18:28.453Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

“A Place Insufficiently Imagined”: Language, Belief, and the Pakistan Crisis of 1971

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 March 2011

Philip Oldenburg
Get access

Abstract

The breakup of Pakistan in 1971 can be explained in pt by a failure of understanding on the part of the West Pakistani leadership of Pakistan, a seeming inability to recognize what the meaning of Pakistan was for Bengalis, and thus the cause of the demand for Bengali as a state language equal to Urdu. Exploration of the language issue in the period before and afterndependence helps to illuminate the divergence of belief about the form of the new state and the meaning of parity in representation between east and west wings of the country. The final tragedy of the attempted crushing of the movement for an autonomous Bangladesh is also in part an outcome of this pattern of belief, in particular the belief about the role of Hindus in the expression of Bengali identity.

Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of Asian Studies , Volume 44 , Issue 4 , August 1985 , pp. 711 - 733
Copyright
Copyright © The Association for Asian Studies, Inc. 1985

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

List of References

Ahmad, Jamil-ud-din, compiler. 1970. Historic Documents of the Muslim Freedom Movement. Lahore: Publishers United Ltd.Google Scholar
Ahmad, Kamruddin. 1975. A Socïo Political History of Bengal and the Birth of Bangladesh. Fourth edition. Dacca: Zahiruddin Mahmud Inside Library.Google Scholar
Ahmed, Moudud. 1978. Bangladesh: Constitutional Quest for Autonomy, 1950–1971. Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag.Google Scholar
Ahmed, Rafiuddin. 1981. The Bengal Muslims, 1871–1906: A Quest for Identity. Delhi: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Ali, Chaudhri Muhammad. 1967. The Emergence of Pakistan. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Ali, Chaudhri Muhammad. 1971. “The Unremitting Struggle with India.” In Ali 1974:373–390.Google Scholar
Ali, Chaudhri Muhammad. 1974. The Task Before Us. Lahore: Research Society of Pakistan, University of Punjab.Google Scholar
Amrita Bazar Patrika (Calcutta).Google Scholar
Ayub Khan, Mohammad. 1967. Friends Not Masters: A Political Autobiography. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Aziz, K. K. 1976. Party Politics in Pakistan, 1947–1958. Islamabad: National Commission on Historical and Cultural Research.Google Scholar
Aziz, Qutubuddin. 1974. Blood and Tears. Karachi: United Press of Pakistan.Google Scholar
Bangla Desk Documents. [1971–73] 2 vols. India. Ministry of External Affairs.Google Scholar
The Bangla Desh Papers, n.d. Lahore: Vanguard Books, Ltd.Google Scholar
Baxter, Craig. 1976. “Studies in the Development of Muslim Separatism.” In Gustafson, W. Eric, ed., Pakistan and Bangladesh: Bibliographic Essays in Social Science, pp. 1–58. Islamabad: University of Islamabad Press.Google Scholar
Baxter, Craig. 1984. “Pakistan and Bangladesh.” In Shiels, Frederick L., ed., Ethnic Separatism and World Politics, pp. 209–62. Lanham, Md.: University Press of America.Google Scholar
Baxter, Craig, and Rashiduzzuman, M.. 1981. “Bangladesh Votes: 1978 and 1979.” Asian Survey 21, 4:490–500.Google Scholar
Bhutto, Zulfikar Ali. 1971. The Great Tragedy. Karachi: Pakistan People's Party.Google Scholar
Binder, Leonard. 1963. Religion and Politics in Pakistan. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Brass, Paul. 1974. Language, Religion, and Politics in North India. London: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Callard, Keith. 1957. Pakistan: A Political Study. London: George Allen & Unwin.Google Scholar
Casey, R. G. 1947. An Australian in India. London: Hollis & Carter.Google Scholar
Chopra, Pran. 1974. India's Second Liberation. Cambridge: M.I.T. Press.Google Scholar
Choudhury, G. W. 1959. Constitutional Development in Pakistan. Lahore: Longmans, Green.Google Scholar
Choudhury, G. W. 1974. The Last Days of United Pakistan. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Collins, Larry, and Lapierre, Dominique. 1975. Freedom at Midnight. New York: Simon and Schuster.Google Scholar
Constituent Assembly of Pakistan Debates (1947–1956).Google Scholar
Coupland, R. 1944. The Future of India. Bombay: Humphrey Milford, Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Durrani, F. K. Khan. 1944. The Meaning of Pakistan. Lahore: Sh. Muhammed Ashraf.Google Scholar
Feldman, Herbert. 1975. The End and the Beginning: Pakistan, 1969–1971. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
“Genocide.” Sunday Times (London), June 13, 1971. Reprinted in U.S. Congress, Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee to Investigate Problems Connected with Refugees and Escapees, Relief Problems in East Pakistan and India, Part I: Hearing, 92nd Congress, 1st sess., June 28, 1971, Appendix 6, pp. 118–20.Google Scholar
Gordon, Leonard A. 1978. “Divided Bengal: Problems of Nationalism and Identity in the 1947 Partition.” The Journal of Commonwealth and Comparative Politics 16, 2:136–168.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hardy, Peter. 1972. The Muslims of British India. London: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Husain, Mahmud. 1970. “Dacca University and the Pakistan Movement.” In Philips and Wainwright 1970:369–373.Google Scholar
The Indian Annual Register.Google Scholar
India's Problem of Her Future Constitution. 1940?. Bombay: M. H. Saiyid.Google Scholar
Ispahani, M. A. H. 1966. Quaid-E-Azam Jinnah As I Knew Him. Karachi: Forward Publications Trust.Google Scholar
Jahan, Rounaq. 1972. Pakistan: Failure in National Integration. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Jinnah, Mahomed Ali. n.d. Speeches as Governor-General of Pakistan 1947–1948. Karachi: Ferozesons.Google Scholar
Jinnah, Mahomed Ali. n.d. 1976. Speeches, Statements, Writings, Letters, etc. Ed. Shahid, Muhammad Haneef. Lahore: Sang-e-Meel Publications.Google Scholar
Khaliquzzaman, Choudhury. 1961. Pathway to Pakistan. Lahore: Longmans.Google Scholar
Loshak, David. 1971. Pakistan Crisis. London: Heinemann.Google Scholar
Madan, T. N. 1974. “The Dialectic of Ethnic and National Boundaries in the Evolution of Bangladesh.” In Navlakha, Suren, ed., Studies in Asian Social Development, No. 2, pp. 158–83. Delhi: Vikas.Google Scholar
Maniruzzaman, Talukder. 1971. The Politics of Development. Dacca: Green Book House.Google Scholar
Marwah, Onkar. 1979. “India's Military Intervention in East Pakistan, 1971–1972.” Modern Asian Studies 14, 4:549–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mascarenhas, Anthony. 1971. “Why the Refugees Fled.” Sunday Times (London), June 13, 1971. Reprinted in U.S. Congress, Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee to Investigate Problems Connected with Refugees and Escapees, Relief Problems in East Pakistan and India, Part I: Hearing, 92nd Congress, 1st. sess., June 28, 1971, Appendix 6, pp. 120–32.Google Scholar
Memon, Muhammad Umar. 1983. “Pakistani Urdu Creative Writing on National Disintegration: The Case of Bangladesh.” Journal of Asian Studies 43, 1:105–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mujeeb, M. 1970. “The Partition of India in Retrospect.” In Philips and Wainwright 1970:406–14.Google Scholar
Nagarkar, V. V. 1975. Genesis of Pakistan. Bombay: Allied.Google Scholar
Navlakha, Suren. 1974. “Emergence of Bangladesh: A Study of Political Development in Pakistan.” In Navlakha, Suren, ed., Studies in Asian Social Development, No. 2, pp. 184–216. Delhi: Vikas.Google Scholar
Newman, K. J. 1956. Essays on the Constitution of Pakistan. Dacca: Pakistan Co-operative Book Society.Google Scholar
Nichols, Beverley. 1944. Verdict on India. London: Jonathan Cape.Google Scholar
Oldenburg, Philip. 1980. “The Breakup of Pakistan.” In Lloyd I. Rudolph et al., The Regional Imperative: U.S. Foreign Policy Towards South Asian States, pp. 143–69. New Delhi: Concept.Google Scholar
Pakistan. 1971. White Paper on the Crisis in East Pakistan.Google Scholar
Philips, C. H., and Wainwright, Mary Doreen, editors. 1970. The Partition of India: Policies and Perspectives, 1935–1947. Cambridge: M.I.T. Press.Google Scholar
Rahman, Mizanur. 1978. Emergence of a New Nation in a Multi-Polar World: Bangladesh. Washington, D.C.: University Press of America.Google Scholar
Rahman, Mujibur. 1966. 6-Point Formula; Our Right To Live. Dacca: East Pakistan Awami League.Google Scholar
Rushdie, Salman. 1983. Shame. New York: Alfred Knopf.Google Scholar
Salik, Siddiq. 1979. Witness to Surrender. Delhi: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Sayeed, Khalid B. 1967. The Political System of Pakistan. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.Google Scholar
Sayeed, Khalid B. 1968. Pakistan: The Formative Phase, 1857–1948. Second edition. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Sayeed, Khalid B. 1980. Politics in Pakistan: The Nature and Direction of Change. New York: Praeger.Google Scholar
Schanberg, Sydney H. 1971. “Hindus Are Targets of Army Terror in East Pakistan Town.” New York Times, July 4, 1971. Reprinted in U.S. Congress, Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee to Investigate Problems Connected with Refugees and Escapees, Relief Problems in East Pakistan and India, Part I: Hearing, 92nd Congress, 1st. sess., June 28, 1971, Appendix 6, pp. 152–54.Google Scholar
Sen, Shila. 1976. Muslim Politics in Bengal, 1937–1947. New Delhi: Impex India.Google Scholar
Sen Gupta, Jyoti. 1963. Eclipse of East Pakistan. Calcutta: Renco.Google Scholar
Shaikh, Farzana. Forthcoming. Islam: Ideology or Instrument? Muslims and Political Representation in British India, 1860–1946. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Sobhan, Rehman. 1973. “Negotiating for Bangla Desh: A Participant's View.” South Asia Review 4:315–326 (July 1971). Reprinted in Bangla Desh Documents, vol. 2, pp. 12–20.Google Scholar
Stephens, Ian. 1963. Pakistan. New York: Praeger.Google Scholar
Stern, Joseph J. 1971. “Growth, Development, and Regional Equity in Pakistan.” In Falcon, Walter P. and Papanek, Gustav F., eds., Development Policy II—the Pakistan Experience, pp. 8–55. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Syed, Yehia. 1976. “How Quaid-i-Azam Calmed an Indignant East Bengal.” In Shahid, M. H., ed., Tributes to Quaid-i-Azam, pp. 157–64. Lahore: Sang-e-Meel Publications.Google Scholar
Williams, L. F. Rushbrook. 1972. The East Pakistan Tragedy. London: Tom Stacey.Google Scholar
Zaidi, A. M., ed. 1979. Freedom At Last; Evolution of Muslim Political Thought in India: Volume 6. Delhi: S. Chand.Google Scholar
Ziring, Lawrence. 1971. “Politics and Language in Pakistan: Prolegomena 1947–1952.” Contributions to Asian Studies 1:109–22.Google Scholar