A brief introduction:

Islamic Republic of Pakistan came into being on 14 Aug. 1947 as the biggest Islamic state of the
world. Pakistan comprised of two parts at that time i.e. East Pakistan (presently Bangladesh) and
West Pakistan (present Pakistan). But unfortunately Pakistan lost this honor of being the biggest
Islamic state of the world on 16 Dec 1971 with the loss of East Pakistan.

History:

These were some of the important facts about new born Pakistan in 1947.In 1947 Pakistan had a
population of 740000 and it was divided in two big parts geographically.
Element
East Pakistan
West Pakistan
4, 20, 63,000 (about 56 %)
3, 37, 79,000 (about 44%)
Population
55,000 square miles
3,10,000 square miles
Area
Rice, Jute, Tea Pineapple, Coconut
Cotton, Tobacco, Wheat, Corn
Important crops
Bangali
Urdu, Sindhi, Pashto, Punjabi etc.
Major languages
hot and humid, 88 inches annual rains hot and moderate, 12 inches ann
Weather
rains

Reasons for fall of Dhaka:

There are so many reasons, so many factors involved in this sad and tragic incident, here we will
throw light on some following reasons;

Geographical and cultural differences:

While evaluating the reasons of fall of Dhaka a historian can not ignore this bitter reality that
both parts of country had a distance of about 1000 miles between them and a cunning enemy
India was laying between the two parts. Apart from that people living in both part s of Pakistan
were very much different from each other in their life style .poor people of East Pakistan were
different in their way of living form the people of west Pakistan. Their dressing, their food
everything was different and moreover there was no connection between the two parts of the
country, people from West Pakistan usually ridiculed and made fun of the living standards of
east Pakistanis. This was one of the main reasons of the hatred between two parts of country.

Discrimination in military and civil bureaucracy in joint Pakistan:

Military:
Designation
Lieutenant General
Major General
Brigadier
Colonel
Major

East Pakistan
0
0
1
1
10

West Pakistan
3
20
34
49
590

Navy officers
Air force officers

7
40

593
640

East Pakistan
0
3
10
38

West Pakistan
19
38
123
510

Civil bureaucracy:
Designation
Secretary
Joint Secretary
Deputy Secretary
Under Secretary

Role of Hindu teachers in East Pakistan:

Unfortunately Bengali Muslims were lagging behind in education and majority of school and
college teachers in Bengal was from Hindus who tried their best to urge the youth of Bengal to
revolt against the ideology of Pakistan and guided them to fight for their freedom from
Pakistan.

Economic conditions of East Pakistan:

East Pakistan was always less developed and it always lagged behind as far as economic
condition was concerned. Before partition people from Bengal used to think that Hindus
industrialist was the main reason of their economic backwardness but unfortunately after
patrician no serious step was could be taken to eradicate smuggling from east Bengal. There was
a huge difference between per capital income and the general economic standards of east and
West Pakistan and there was no effort made to bridge this gape as well. As a result east Bengal
remained economically backward and selfish elements converted in inferiority complex of east
Bengalis into hatred against the west Pakistanis.

Language differences:
The first ever attack on the national unity of Pakistan was the language conflict which
permanently divided Pakistan in two parts this problem arouse in 1948 for the first time when
Quaid-e-Azam was alive but at that time this issue did not take that much importance, but after
Quaid-Azam this issue again arose and this time there was no national leader who could handle
this problem. The conflict was simple. Bengali was the language of 56 % of Pakistani population
and they logically and justifiably wanted Bangali to be the national language but official always
insisted on having Urdu and only Urdu as national language which was spoken only by 12% of
Pakistani population. Ultimately both Bengali and Urdu were taken as national languages but the
damage now had been done.

Agartala conspiracy:
In Dec 1967 a conspiracy of kidnapping and killing of General Ayub was reveled after some
days another conspiracy was caught. This was the Agartala conspiracy. According to government
reports Indias first secretary Ojha and some leaders of Awami League were planning to
disintegrate Bengal from Pakistan and for that purpose they were holding talks on bringing the
ammunition in Bengal. In this accusation sheikh Mujeeb was arrested but unfortunately its
effects came really bad as Mujeeb became hero of the Bengalis and later on he was released.

Bhutto, Mujeeb and Yahya triangle:

Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, sheikh Mujeeb Ur Rehman, and General Yahya, this triangle undoubtedly is
the biggest factor in fall of Dhaka. Pakistan could have been united today if these three had
thought of national interest and not of their own personal interests. Yahya wanted to remain
president and for that he was ready to do anything, Bhutto wanted his share in government by
giving the concept of second largest party and Mujeeb also showed rigidity in his attitude, and
this resulted in the fall of Dhaka.

Military operation of Takka Khan:

When Yahya khan showed hesitation in calling the assembly for its first meeting after elections,
unrest and frustration arose in East Pakistan but instead of talking it out Yahya ordered for a
military operation, general Takka khan conducted the notorious operation and thousands of
innocent people were killed, this really added to the hatred of Bengali people

High jacking of Ganga plane:

India knew that East Pakistan is at the distance of 1000 miles from West Pakistan so they started
planning against Pakistan. India played a clever trick and got on of its planes high jacked by its
own agents and made it land on Pakistani soil. Later on they accused Pakistan for its high jacking
and banned all Pakistani planes to fly over Indian air way, by doing this they practically cut off
West Pakistan from East Pakistan

Elections of 1970:
In 1970 Pakistan observed the only fair elections of its history. Awami league won in East
Pakistan and Pakistan Peoples Party in West Pakistan. But no party could win even a single seat
from other part of country. This fair election was indigestible for Pakistani public and transfer of
poor could not be made. Ultimately the rope was broken in this cat fight and Pakistan was
divided

Indian attack on East Pakistan:

After weakening Pakistan in every field when India felt that now Pakistan is weak enough to be
defeated, it attacked Pakistan directly on 24th Nov. 1971. Pakistan army resisted this attack for a

month or so but it was very difficult for army to fight without air support and its public.
Ultimately Pakistan army in spite of recording great gestures of bravery surrendered on 16 Dec
1971 and was defeated at the hands of Indian army

Role of foreign super powers:

If we look at the political scenario of that time we feel that USA and USSR in order to cover
china wanted Pakistan to be cut short. For this purpose they found East Pakistan the best possible
way to be cut away from Pakistan and American ambassador Joseph Farland seemed really busy
at that time with Pakistan issue, America also refused to give Pakistan the ammunition or any
kind of support in spite of being its ally.

Pakistans emotional attitude in Security Council session:

Even after all these factors there was a possibility that the war could have been resolved
according to the resolutions of UNO and we could have avoided the embarrassment of
surrendering before India but Pakistans emotional attitude in UNO proved to be the last nail in
the coffin and we lost more than half of our country on 17 Dec 1971

Simla pact:
These were the points included in Simla pact;
(i)
(ii)

(iii)

(iv)

(v)
(vi)

That the principles and purposes off the Charter of the United Nations shall govern
the relations between the countries;
That the two countries are resolved to settle their differences by peaceful means
through bilateral negotiations or by any other peaceful means mutually agreed upon
between them. Pending the final settlement of any of the problems between the two
countries, neither side shall unilaterally alter the situation nor shall both prevent the
organization, assistance or encouragement of any acts detrimental to the maintenance
of peaceful and harmonious relations.
That the pre-requisite for reconciliation, good-neighborliness and durable peace
between them is a commitment by both countries to peaceful co-existence, respect for
each other's territorial integrity and sovereignty and non-interference in each other's
internal affairs, on the basis of equality and mutual benefit;
That the basic issues and causes of conflict which have bedeviled the relations
between the two countries of the last twenty-five years shall be resolved by peaceful
means;
That they shall always respect each other's national unity, territorial integrity, political
independence and sovereign equality;
That in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, they shall refrain from the
threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of each
other;