Bangladesh study

1. Rise of nationalism and the
Movement for self-
determination.
Presented By
Sunjida Upama
Lecturer
Dept. of Natural Science
Port City International University
Email: rajudu88@gmail.com

2. Rise of nationalism and the
Movement for self-determination.
1.Resistance against cultural
aggression and resurgence of Bengali
culture.
2.Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the six
point movement, Reactions: Importance
and significance.
3. The Agortola Conspiracy Case 1968.

3. Resistance against cultural aggression
and resurgence of Bengali culture.
• The nationalism of a people draws its inspiration
and cohesion from the sense of belongingness and
togetherness and consciousness of common identity
which is contingent on shared experiences in history,
geography, ethnicity, religion, language and culture.
• Unfortunately, East Bengal (East Pakistan) had no
shared experience with the people of West Pakistan
excepting religion. But religion itself is of little use
unless accompanied by other integrative factors.

4. • The theory that had advanced the idea of
religion rather than language, ethnicity or
geographical frontiers as a unifying factor for
Muslims in the South Asian subcontinent, and
as justification for the creation of the
Dominion of Pakistan, was rejected in 1971
with the emergence of Bangladesh.

5. • Maulana Azad, political leader
of independent India and
prominent Urdu writer of the
20th century wrote in his
biography, "It is one of the
greatest frauds on the people
to suggest that religious affinity
can unite areas which are
geographically, linguistically
and culturally different."

6. • The antagonism shown towards the Bengali culture
by the policies pursued by the Muslim League fuelled
the language driven resistance movement.
• Bengali resistance, which resulted in the defeat of
the Muslim League in the 1954 provincial elections,
voiced the demands of the economically and
politically deprived middle-classes of East Bengal.
• By 1971, Bengali nationalism rooted in the Bengali
ethno-linguistic identity spearheaded the mass
movement in East Pakistan's struggle for autonomy
that eventually led to independent Bangladesh.

7. 2. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the six point
movement, Reactions: Importance and
significance.
• The Six Point Movement (Our
Charter of Survival) was a
movement in East Pakistan,
spearheaded by
Bongobondhu Sheikh Mujibur
Rahman, which called for greater
autonomy for East Pakistan. The
movement's main agenda was to
realize the six demands put
forward by Awami League in
Lahore the following day, February
5, 1966., to end the perceived
exploitation of East Pakistan by
the West Pakistani rulers.

8.  Background
• Following the partition of India, the new state of
Pakistan came into being. The inhabitants of East
Pakistan (later Bangladesh) made up the majority of
its population, and exports from East Pakistan (such
as jute) were a majority of Pakistan's export income.
However, East Pakistanis did not feel they had a
proportional share of political power and economic
benefits within Pakistan.
• East Pakistan was facing a critical situation after
being subjected to continuous discrimination on a
regional basis, year after year. As a result, the
economists, intelligentsia, and the politicians of East
Pakistan started to raise questions about this
discrimination, giving rise to the historic six-point
movement.

9. The Six-Point demands
included the following:
1.Pakistan would have a federal structure of government
based on spirit of the Lahore Resolution of 1940, with a
parliament elected on the basis of universal adult
franchise;
2.The central government would have authority only in
defense and foreign affairs and all other subjects would
be handled by the federating units of the state of
Pakistan;
3.There would be two freely convertible currencies for
the two wings of Pakistan or two separate reserve banks
for the two regions of the country;

10. 4.The power of taxation and revenue collection
would be vested in the federating units.
5.There would be two separate accounts for
foreign exchange reserves for the two wings of
Pakistan.
6.East Pakistan would have a separate militia or
paramilitary force as a measure of its security.

11. Importance and significance
• Ayub immediate reaction was very hostile
towards Six Point Programme. Ayub called the
formula a 'secessionist move' which would
disintegrate Pakistan. The government took Six
Point as a programme to divide Pakistan, the
implementation of which would destroy the
integrity and stability of Pakistan.
• A fearless Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was quick to
respond to such false accusations and vile
threats. In a mammoth public gathering at Paltan
Maidan, he thundered: "No amount of naked
threats can distract the deprived Bangalees from
their demand for provincial autonomy based on
their six-point plan."

12. • Neither any political party nor the central
government of Pakistan gave any detailed
explanation why they were opposed to the Six
Points Programme.
• In fact, the many forms of governmental
repression and the use of police violence against
the organisers and participants of the six-point
movement had motivated the general population
of the then East Pakistan to render their full
support for the six-point formula.

13. • the success of the six-point movement had
prompted the arrogant and debased Ayub Khan's
dictatorial regime to falsely implicate him in the
Agartala Conspiracy case.
• Subsequently, the people of the then eastern
province of Pakistan had vested their full trust in
their Bangabandhu in the general elections of
1970, that made this extraordinary man their
legitimate sole spokesperson and undisputed
leader. Indeed, it was Bangabandhu Sheikh
Mujibur Rahman, the undisputed leader of his
people, who had spearheaded Bangladesh's
struggle for full-blown independence.

14. • The historic Six-Point Demand or the Six-Point
Formula has been widely credited as the "charter
of freedom" in Bangladesh's struggle for self-
determination from Pakistan's domination.
Indeed, the six-point movement in 1966 was the
turning point in our quest for independence. On
June 7 in 1966 the Awami League called a
countrywide hartal in the then East Pakistan to
press home the six-point demands. Sheikh
Mujibur Rahman along with many others was
arrested. Since then 7th June is observed as the
historic six-point day.

15. The Agortola Conspiracy Case
1968
• Agartala Conspiracy
Case was a sedition
case in Pakistan,
brought forward by the
Government of Pakistan
against Sheikh Mujibur
Rahman, the then
leader of the Awami
League and East
Pakistan, and 34 other
persons.

16. The Case:
The case was filed in early 1968, and implicated
Sheikh Mujib and others in conspiring with India
against the stability of Pakistan. The case is
officially called State vs. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
and others, but is popularly known by Agartala
Shoŗojontro Mamla (Agartala conspiracy case) as
the main conspiracy was purported to have
taken place in the Indian city of Agartala
in Tripura state, where Sheikh Mujib's associates
met Intelligence Bureau officials.

17. • The Home Department of Pakistan declared through
a press-note issued on 6 January 1968 that the
government had detected in December 1967 a
conspiracy detrimental to the national interest of
Pakistan. The press-note disclosed the news of the
arrest of 8 persons including 2 CSP officers and
alleged that the persons seized were involved in
attempting to separate East Pakistan through armed
revolt.
• Through a separate declaration issued on 18
January 1968 the Home Department implicated
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in the conspiracy. He was
then detained in jail along with many others since 9
May 1966. They were released, only to be arrested
again under martial law regulations and were taken
to Dhaka Cantonment under military custody.

18. The accused:
• The Government of Pakistan resolved to frame charge
against 35 concerned political personalities and high
government officials under civil law. They were: Sheikh
Mujibur Rahman, Ahmed Fazlur Rahman CSP, Commander
Moazzem Hossain, Steward Mujibur Rahman, former LS
Sultanuddin Ahmad, LSCDI Nur Mohammad, Flight Sergeant
Mahfiz Ullah, Corporal Abdus Samad, Ruhul Quddus CSP,
Flight Sergeant Md. Fazlul Haq, Bibhuti Bhushan Chowdhury
alias Manik Chowdhury, Bidhan Krishna Sen, former clerk
Mujibur Rahman, former Flight Sergeant Md. Abdur
Razzaque, Sergeant Zahurul Haq and others.
• In fact, when the Agartala Conspiracy case was initiated
Mujibur had already been then in prison along with many
others, more precisely since 9 May 1966. He was re-
implicated in the case despite the fact he was not at all
involved in the conspiracy.

19. The plot and detection:
• The plot was conceived by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in an
attempt to ignite an armed revolution against West
Pakistan that would result in the secession. Two of the
accused, navy steward Mujibur Rahman and the
educationist Mohammad Ali Reza went to
Agartala, Tripura, a city in Eastern India to seek Indian
support for an independent Bangladesh.
• 1,500 Bengalis were arrested in connection with the plot
in 1967. In January 1968 the Home Department of
Pakistan declared that it had detected a scheme to
destabilize Pakistan and break the Eastern wing through
an armed revolt, and had arrested 8 people. Later on
January 18, the Department implicated Sheikh Mujibur
Rahman as well. He and others were arrested on 9 May
1968, and were subsequently released, only to be
arrested later

20. The Trails :
• Pakistan decided to try the accused under
the court martial since a lot of the accused
involved military personnel. However, this was
overturned in favor of a civil trial in order to
implicate the politicians ahead of the 1970
elections as well as to provide transparency of
the trials. Hence, only 35 were finally accused.
The accused were then moved from Dhaka
Central Jail to the secured borders of
the Dhaka Cantonment.

21. • The penal codes were amended to benefit the
prosecution of the accused, and trial began on
19 June 1968 under a special tribunal. The
hearings took place inside a secured chamber
within Dhaka Cantonment. The charge sheet
of 100 paragraphs were presented before the
tribunal, with 227 witnesses and 7 approvers

22. • The tribunal was headed by 3 judges - the chair,
Justice SA Rahman was a non-Bengali; the other
members MR Khan and Maksumul Hakim were
Bengalis. The government was represented by
the Attorney General TH Khan and former Foreign
Minister Manzur Quader.
• Thomas Williams, a British lawyer, along with
local attorneys challenged the formation of the
tribunal by filing a petition in favor of Sheikh
Mujibur Rahman.The approvers appeared in the
witness box and testified that they provided false
evidence under the coercion of the State.

23. • The government was bent on identifying Sheikh
Mujibur Rahman as a seperatist and an Indian
agent thereby arousing public support against
him. But the approvers on the witness-box
declared that the government had compelled
them by threat and persecution to submit false
evidence in its favour. Thus the governmental
machination against the accused got exposed. By
this time the Sarbadaliya Chhatra Sangram
Parishad supported by Maulan Bhasani
organised mass movement against the conspiracy
of the government and demanded immediate
withdrawal of the case and release of all
prisoners including Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

24. • At a point when the streets of Dhaka became
a hot bed of turmoil, Sergeant Zahurul Haq,
17th accused in the case, was mercilessly shot
to death while in confinement in Dhaka
Cantonment. The news of his death led a
furious mob to set fire to the State Guest
House as well as other buildings. S.A Rahman,
Chairman of the tribunal, and Manzur Quader,
chief lawyer on the government side, who
were then residing in the guest house,
evacuated secretly. Some of the files
concerning the case were burnt to ashes.

25. • In the face of the mass
movement, the Ayub
government was ultimately
compelled to withdraw the
Agartala Conspiracy Case on
22 February 1969. All the
accused, including Sheikh
Mujibur Rahman, were
released unconditionally.
• On the following day (23
February), a grand public
reception was accorded to the
accused at Paltan Maidan in
Dhaka where Sheikh Mujibur
Rahman was vested with the
appellation of 'Bangabandhu'.

26. Significance:
• Ayub Khan was forced to step down from power.
The decade of his autocratic rule came to an end.
• The case was ultimately withdrawn in the face of
a massive popular uprising, which ultimately
resulted in the 1969 uprising in East Pakistan and
the fall of General Ayub Khan's dictatorship in
1969. The case and the resulting uprising is seen
as one of the major events leading to Bengali
nationalism and Bangladesh Liberation War.
• Sergeant Zahurul Haq were honored by naming a
students' residential hall of the University of
Dhaka in his name.

28. Thažk Y
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Ujjayanta Palace ,Agartala, India