Very damaging but not unusual of mujib. He always want to be the PM of both Pakistan not Bangladesh.
Milton Bhai or Quamrul Bhai you guys have more specifics regarding this. Can you please share and add. My understanding abt the timeline is bit rusty.
Apu
On Friday, February 28, 2014, Shahadat Hussaini <shahadathussaini@hotmail.com> wrote:
On Friday, February 28, 2014, Shahadat Hussaini <shahadathussaini@hotmail.com> wrote:
Professor Aftab Ahmed, a former Chatra League leader and teacher of the Dhaka University said in a book that AL Secretary General Tajuddin Ahmed and student leader ASM Abdur Rob went to Mujib on the night of March 25 with written declaration of independence. Mujib declined to sign it. Nor did he agree to join them in leading the independence war. He decided to surrender to the Pakistanis instead. Joseph Farland, the US Ambassador in Islamabad, settled the terms. Mujib's family remained under military protection and lavish hospitality. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was a recipient of that hospitality. The US was to work with Pakistan to restore normalcy and ensure transfer of power to the elected representatives, keeping Mujib's hope alive.March 25: A Day to Reminisce:By Obaid Chowdhury, US
Last Updated on Wednesday, 27 March 2013 00:02 Wednesday, 27 March 2013 00:00
March 25: A Day to Reminisce
By Obaid Chowdhury, USMarch 25, 1971 carries a special significance to Bangladesh. Following the Pakistan military's midnight crackdown on this day, the people of then East Pakistan had no alternative but to declare independent, starting a protracted liberation war. After 9 months and spilling a sea of blood, nearly 100,000 occupying forces surrendered in Dhaka on December 16, 1971. A flag of red circle on the green made itself known to the world.The Bengalis walked a long way to arrive at 1971. The journey started in early twentieth century when the largely Muslim population of eastern Bengal demanded from the British rulers a separate province for them. In keeping with the legitimacy of the request, as well as for administrative exigency, Viceroy Lord Curzon created East Bengal with Dhaka as capital in 1905. The Kolkata based Hindu Zamindar class, fearful of the loss of their estates in the new province, started an intensive agitation for its dissolution. Poet Rabindranath Tagore, also a zamindar, was in the forefront of that movement and composed his Sonar Bangla against the creation of East Bengal. In 1911, Curzon's successor annulled the partition of Bengal, assuring a university in Dhaka as concession to the beleaguered Muslims. Again it was Tagore who took the leading role in opposing the Dhaka University. He chaired a protest meeting in 1912 in Kolkata. It is an irony that we sing Tagore's Sonar Bangla as national anthem, the poem that was composed against East Bengal, today's Bangladesh. In paying homage to the British for the dissolution of East Bengal, Tagore composed Jana gono mono and elevated the British Crown to the status of God as Vigya Vidhata. India has it as its national anthem.At the All India Muslim League Convention at Lahore in 1940, Bangla's tiger A K Fazlul Haq roared for separate independent homelands for the Muslims. Later, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, Liaquat Ali and other non-Bengali Muslim leaders conspired to make one Muslim state, not multiple states. When Fazlul Haq expressed displeasure at the change, he was thrown out of the Muslim League. In 1946, Bengal Muslims overwhelmingly voted for a separate homeland for themselves. At the same time, H S Suhrawardi, Satyen Bose, Abul Hashem and other Bengalis leaders were campaigning for an independent Assam-Bengal. Jinnah was said to have no objection to it, but Jawaharlal Nehru and non-Bengali Hindu leaders would not let it happen. They could not afford to lose the resourceful northeastern part from India. Nehru's special relationship with the wife of the last British Viceroy, Lord Mountbatten, came handy and Suhrawardi-Satyen Bose plan was dismissed. These were some of the glaring examples when the aspirations of Bengalis were nipped in the bud by others in connivance with the British.
East Pakistan was born out of the former East Bengal on August 14, 1947, sharing other half ---West Pakistan---over a thousand miles away across a perennially hostile India. Other than religion, the two parts of Pakistan had nothing in common. Jinnah became the first Governor General and Liquat was the first Prime Minister of the newly independent Pakistan. Majority Bengalis had no place at the top administrative and policy making body. Added to the insult was Jinnah's audacious declaration in Dhaka in 1948: "Urdu, only Urdu shall be the state language of Pakistan", ignoring Bengali, the language of 56% people. Interestingly, Urdu was then spoken by only 30%, most of whom comprising the immigrants from India. Both Jinnah and Liaquat Ali were such immigrants. That's how the Pakistani leaders treated the Bengalis. And it was just the beginning, larger part of the play waiting in the wings.
For 23 years, West Pakistan kept becoming richer at the cost of its eastern half that provided the larger share in Pakistan's foreign exchange earnings. East Pakistan was doled out mere 40% of what the Punjabis and others received in budget allocation (Ref. Planning Commission of Pakistan: Bugdet 1950-70). Bengalis' share in the central administration was between 10-15%. In military, it was pitiable, a mere 5%. That's howSonar Bangla became shawshan by 1970. Military rulers from Eskandar Mirza to Ayub Khan to Yahya Khan looked at Bengalis as second class citizens.
In 1966, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, president of the Awami League, floated his 6 Points that prescribed complete autonomy for the provinces, leaving a weak center with only defense and foreign affairs but no control on finance. The junta and West Pakistani leaders suspected an Indian hand in the 6 Points, as they saw it a recipe to break Pakistan.Mystery shrouded the authorship of the 6 Points. A few Bengali civil servants claimed responsibility. Rumor had it that Altaf Gowhar, President Ayub's trusted and powerful Information Secretary masterminded the plan. Ayub wanted to thwart Mujib's ascendency as a political challenger by branding him as regional and separatist.
Sheikh Mujib never explained how his program would be implemented. But the stunt of 6-Point worked on the common people of East Pakistan. He became extremely popular. His oratory skill, dominating personality and larger than life stature made the Bengalis believe that he could bring an end to their long sufferings and deprivation from the Pakistanis.
Ayub made another blunder. He implicated Mujib in the Agartala Conspiracy Case in 1968, without credible evidence. The idea was to sensationalize a treason case to divert public attention in the face of a nationwide intense anti-Ayub movement. Again, the plan backfired. Maulana Bhasani, another towering and popular Bengali leader, came to Mujib's rescue. Even such pro-Pakistani leader as Nurul Amin extended support. Free Mujib and anti-ACC movement, spearheaded by the All Students' Action Committee, intensified. Ayub was forced to dismiss the case and release Mujib from custody in 1969. Sheikh Mujibur Rahaman became the undisputed leader in East Pakistan.
Yahya, who ousted Ayub in March 1969, seemed to have started with good intentions. He disbande
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Mahbubur Rahman
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