East Pakistan

Bangladesh, 1955–1971. Draft, not yet reviewed

East Pakistan was the eastern province of Pakistan between 1956 and 1971, restructured and renamed from the province of East Bengal and covering the territory of the modern country of Bangladesh. By 1966, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman emerged as the preeminent opposition leader in Pakistan and launched the six-point movement for autonomy and democracy. In 1970, Yahya Khan organised Pakistan's first federal general election, and the Awami League emerged as the single largest party. The military junta stalled in accepting the results, leading to civil disobedience, the Bangladesh Liberation War, 1971 Bangladesh genocide and persecution of Biharis.

Seat of power: Dhaka

No rulers documented for this era yet.

Culture

• On 21 and 22 February 1952, students from Dhaka University and Dhaka Medical College and political activists were killed when the Pakistani police force opened fire on Bengali protesters who were demanding official status for their native language, Bengali.
• The economy of East Pakistan grew at an average of 2.6% between 1960 and 1965.
• The federal government invested more funds and foreign aid in West Pakistan, even though East Pakistan generated a major share of exports.
• The Kaptai Dam was built in 1965, and the Eastern Refinery was established in Chittagong.

Picture

The Shaheed Minar in Dhaka is a national monument established to commemorate those killed during the Bengali language movement demonstrations of 1952 in then East Pakistan.

Image: Subarashitours, CC BY-SA 4.0, file

Sources

• East Pakistan (Wikipedia)
• East Pakistan (Wikidata)
• About the picture (Wikipedia)

Text adapted from the Wikipedia articles listed as sources, CC BY-SA 4.0.