By Iftikhar Haider

               The unrelenting attitude of Indian National Congress towards the Muslims of a united India paved the way for the partition of the subcontinent. Congress’ convictions to keep India united were largely based upon her delusion that the Muslims of the subcontinent were to yield to the constitutional requirements of a numerical majority in India. That did not transpire. Thus, a Pakistan came into being with its two parts geographically cut off by a thousand miles of Indian Territory in between.

"In one sense all modern politics is identity politics"

The unrelenting attitude of Indian National Congress towards the Muslims of a united India paved the way for the partition of the subcontinent. Congress’ convictions for an intact India were largely based upon her delusion that the Muslims of the subcontinent were to yield to the constitutional requirements of a numerical majority in India. That did not transpire. Thus, a Pakistan came into being with its two parts geographically cut off by a thousand miles of Indian Territory in between. The geographical placements of its two irreconcilable parts and a cultural discrepancy among all the constituent units of the country were least conducive for an exceedingly centralized form of government to set in Pakistan. Hence, an ideal opening was in anticipation. Point in time was to make use of the schema as envisaged in the Lahore Resolution of 1940. The Prime Minister of Bengal Fazal-ul-haq moved it and that read among the others, "North-western and Eastern Zones of India should be grouped to constitute "independent" states in which the constituent units shall be autonomous and sovereign". That did not happen. No efforts were made to make these units independent or sovereign. Yet again, as before, the unrelenting attitude of many, this time in Pakistan surfaced up to bring in the division of Pakistan. Bangladesh was born. Among the legion causes for the separation of East Pakistan the often quoted are- "the dominate-subordinate syndrome was not avoided; cultural pluralism was not accepted; language issue never resolved. A certain level of tolerance and accommodation never shown; a uniform way of life was attempted on those who had a strong desire of cherishing their own identity or martial laws and undemocratic methods were used to retain the power in the center. Distortion in economic development exacerbated internal conflict; ruthless use of army to suppress a popular movement made thing volatile further in this regard."Besides that, "the military coup of 1958 only added to Bengali disillusionment with original Pakistan design". Still more to this end was "the imposition of basic democracies that the Bengalis believed hardly represented their level of political consciousness. The Bengalis asserted the Army and powerful elements within West Pakistan were engaged in a conspiracy to deny them their proper place, let alone their valid representation. The liquidation of the 1956 constitution that promised the Bengalis a voice at least equal to that found in the combined provinces of West Pakistan was seen as a plot to again thwart the peculiar interest of the Eastern province." In addition to it, "the 1965 war with India augmented East Pakistan's sense of isolation further. The Indian army preferred not to attack East Pakistan, even though it was not well protected and remained suspended from rest of the Pakistan for a week". Someone has talked about the war duty in 1965; "we had no guns, no combat training, nothing. But because they didn't attack, we in East Pakistan got an opportunity to understand our position. It probably was not an accident that India did not invade… they probably saw this coming." The opportunity came after the first general election in Pakistan. The country’s future then was set in hostage by those who were never "truly schooled in bargaining process. Neither Yahya, nor Mujib, nor Bhutto was a genuine statesman." The leukemia in their leadership yet apart, some piercing realities render that the whole process of this sharing out was unavoidable; particularly in the absence of any form of "institutional pluralism based on compassion and understanding". That a very few elements of Bengali life and practice developed independently all through the period of a fleeting unison between the two wings, everything was in reaction to and protest against some form of domination, be it cultural or political.Bengalis described themselves as primarily Bengali, although this did not mean that they excluded or rejected a supplementary Pakistani identity. Even in today’s Pakistan, the feelings of being a Punjabi, Sindi, Balochi and "NWFPi" (god knows when NWFP is to be handed down a proper name) are very strong and, are occasionally expressed accordingly. Conversely if a Bengali ever asserted like any of his counterpart in the West Pakistan once had had, "I am a Pakistani for the last fifty years, a Muslim for more than a couple of hundred years, and a (Balochi) for the last five thousand years" then it would have been enough to qualify him bona-fide non-patriot. Actually, for them it was beyond their muscle to reject or accept any notion of being a Pakistani- who were they to pick it up for themselves, to recall before one forgets? It was the West Pakistan ever geared up to brand name them "the Bengalis" and nothing else. Their loyalty to Pakistan was doubted mainly because so poles apart the cultural norms and moral standard of the two wings were that once a Bengali deputy commissioner in a public party proudly pointed out that the next dancer on the stage is to be her daughter. The division of Pakistan, nevertheless, must be a welcoming event for the ‘puritan general Zia-Ul-Haq in making, as we see that the succeeding events in the country anointed him to the throne of Pakistan. If Zia were the monarch in the 50s this is for sure that long before December 16, the cultural menace of ‘Hindu oriented Muslim Bengal, would had smugly been knocked over into the Arabian Sea. In addition to it the ‘camel factor, as else been emphasized to work out the differences among the different geographical parts of the subcontinent. ‘‘In India, the camels are found in Northwestern Zones only… our association with the camel in different directions of thought- is so much multitudinous that the history of an epoch in the evolution of civilization can be read in their light. The days of Arab (imperialism) are times of yore, but the camel is still the associate of man in a land of scimitars and tambourines, mosques and muezzins, and domes and minarets’’. These realities, if were to understood positively, could have been addressed by accepting the principle of ‘‘unity in diversity’’ only; or else the facts on grounds were to bring in the eventual sliding of the doors between the two wings. Regarding the language issue in East Pakistan- that has long been a matter of debate from all sides, one may be allowed to say that it never was an issue. It was a non-issue in the real sense of this word. The unscrupulous attitude of the ruling elite from the Western Wing fared well in it to make a mountain out of a molehill. f Bengalis themselves were not to treasure their language and their idioms then who else on earth was to. Weird and wonderful were the ways of the realm. Like it extended a ban on the songs of Robinder Nath Tagore- from radio Dhaka as well. The same Tagore’s has his poem- Amar Sonar Bangla (My golden Bengal) as the national anthem of Bangladesh today. The regime, certainly, was taken away from the fact that "parasite flowers cannot illume in foreign lands". The rifts between the two wings widened beyond repair when a "Bukha Bengali" the rice-eater Dravidian Homo sapiens was successfully cheapen to something qualified to create not a bit of stir in the realm. The wishful calculations, nevertheless, went off the beam and, following a horrific civil war in the year of grace nineteen hundred and seventy one; a few blessed wheat-eater deluxe Aryans took in that they could not "coerce such elements into submission" any more. The two Wings of Pakistan had a few things in common. One was the religion and no doubt, it was a very strong link. The other was that the British ruled both until 1947. In and around the years of partition of the subcontinent the Muslims were facing an identity crisis. Many "became confused about what partition means and who they are". Despite that, the Muslims in the Western wing were soon to come in tune with their new identity. The Eastern wing had had to continue with a shaken identity that deepened with every passing day. For most of them the foreign occupation had not ended yet. We can argue with those who strongly believe that religion alone was not to function as social cement between the two wings. In fact, it was to. The problem, however, was much deeper- whose religion was that to be: Islam as cherished in the Eastern wing or Islam as projected in Western wing? Certainly, a class of economically and politically dominant Muslim in the Western wing "wanted to impose a cultural uniformity based on Islam as interpreted by them". And that was not acceptable to the people across the Rubicon. For them it was an added attempt to dilute their identity further.