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Back to Bengali Babu

The re-entry of Bangladesh into the relationship equation has given Pakistan a great opportunity to put India on the back foot.

By Justice (R) M. Shaiq Usmani | April 2025


The events of 1971 that led to the separation of East Pakistan were indeed painful, and those of us who have lived through those times can never forget the sense of dismay and, indeed, shame that we experienced because of the propaganda regarding alleged atrocities committed by security forces on civilians in East Pakistan. Even though the rulers of Pakistan attributed it all to a conspiracy brought about by an unholy alliance between the winners of the 1970 General Elections, namely the Awami League and Pakistan’s nemeses India, the fact remains that soon after the creation of Pakistan, there was a constant attempt by the ruling classes of West Pakistan to undermine the Bengalis and to discriminate against East Pakistan.

One cannot forget the question that went around in the corridors of power in those times: “Do we really need East Pakistan? All they have is jute and nothing else.” Ayub Khan tried to find a solution by introducing the One Unit System, which allowed East Pakistan and West Pakistan to become self-governing units and the four provinces of West Pakistan to dissolve. However, this did not uproot the seeds of prejudice that were sown between the Bengalis, who had abolished feudalism in the very beginning, and the unscrupulous politicians of West Pakistan coming from feudal backgrounds, who, by this innovation, felt their power slipping from their hands.

Ironically enough, the seeds of mistrust and abiding prejudice were sown much before by none other than the Quaid-e-Azam when firstly he bypassed the leading and capable politician of East Pakistan, Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, when choosing the first Prime Minister of Pakistan. Secondly, during his first visit to East Pakistan, he declared in a public meeting in Dacca in no uncertain terms that “Urdu” shall be the language of Pakistan, without realizing the impact of such utterance on the people of East Pakistan who, apart from being in the majority, also had a developed language of their own. Thus, such complete disavowal of the Bengali language engendered the mistrust that led to the final separation of East Pakistan.

But despite everything and all mistrust that existed till 1970, it is to the credit of Bengalis that they never looked at the relationship between the two parts of Pakistan in nationalist terms and were satisfied with being a recalcitrant partner merely harboring a sense of betrayal. How is it that within a few years thereafter, this recalcitrance morphed into open rebellion? This occurred solely due to Mujibur Rehman’s ambition to ascend for self-aggrandizement.

Mujib was only an underling of Suhrawardy and waited in the wings for the right moment to launch himself. This opportunity he found when he swept the polls in East Pakistan in the General Elections held in December 1970 and obtained a majority in the National Assembly. He then raised the slogan of the “Six Point Programme,” whereby complete autonomy was demanded for the province of East Pakistan and, ironically enough, even for West Pakistan. Initially, all he required was for this slogan to be taken seriously, and there was never any demand for the separation of East Pakistan. This opportunity for a slogan for the six-point program to be transformed into a demand for separation was unwittingly provided to him by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who, again in pursuit of his ambition to be Prime Minister of the whole of Pakistan rather than just the Chief Minister of the Province of West Pakistan since his party had won a majority only in West Pakistan.

It was, therefore, in his interest for East Pakistan to part from West Pakistan; otherwise, he could not achieve his ambition, hence his famous slogan of “Udhar Tum, Idher hum” when Yahya Khan launched his army action. Mujib then was just a cog in the wheel who was given extraordinary importance by Bhutto and Yahya, again egged on by Bhutto. Indians, of course, found this to be an ideal opportunity to break up Pakistan and hence provided political and military support to Mujib by training Mukti Bahini, an indigenous force loyal to Mujib, and by openly supporting it to launch incursions on Pakistani troops across the dividing line between the areas controlled by Mukti Bahini and Pakistan Army.

If and when India sheds its big brother’s pretensions, the possibility of the new Bangladesh emerging as a stronger partner of India cannot be ruled out.

After the recent mass uprising led by students in Bangladesh leading to demystification, later converted into demonization of Mujib in Bangladesh, it is now apparent that the middle classes of the country, which consists of the majority of their population, did not subscribe to the views of Mujib nor did they regard him a cult figure as the Mukti Bahini did in the initial days of 1970. Nor, for that matter, were the Bengalis enamoured by Indians as it was made out to be by West Pakistani politicians.


It was necessary to give a brief background of the real history of the creation of Bangladesh as opposed to one that is bandied around by people of different ilk in our country depending upon their political bent of mind before one can surmise the impact of the recent uprising in Bangladesh on the future of Pakistan and indeed this region and also appreciate the opportunities that have been thrown up that could be of benefit to both our countries. Needless to say, this has become possible because of the surprise absence of any acrimony in Bangladesh in so far as Pakistan is concerned despite the acrimonious half a century that has passed since the separation of East Pakistan. The opportunity is all the more attractive because the new Bangladesh, at least for the moment, has no love lost for India, contrary to Mujib and his family and their staunch follower’s stance.

Till the emergence of Bangladesh in 1971, geopolitically, Pakistan was an important country in the South Asian region since it strode across India and had a presence near the Middle East as well as the South Eastern region close to the Far East. This made India feel surrounded in case Pakistan, due to the active support of China, became a power to reckon with in the region of the Indian Ocean. However, the emergence of Bangladesh deprived Pakistan of that strategic advantage. The re-entry of Bangladesh in the same scenario, though now an independent country and considerably more prosperous than it was while part of Pakistan, has thrown a great opportunity for Pakistan to put India on the back foot and even make them apprehensive.

Besides these strategic advantages, economic and social opportunities have emerged for the two countries. Bengalis have always been talented people, though instinctively volatile, and hence capable of political strife in pursuit of their objectives to the benefit of their community.

In terms of dance and culture, Bengalis are much more adept than average Pakistanis, so their presence could boost Pakistan’s entertainment industry.

If allowed to come to the fore and accepted in good faith, these qualities of Bengalis could result in abiding benefits to Pakistan and Bangladesh. If then free travel is encouraged between the two countries and the populations are allowed to interact, the fundamentalism and resulting terrorism that has gripped Pakistan in recent years will be considerably reduced because of liberal attitudes that prevail amongst the Bengalis. As a race, the Bengali people’s intelligence quotient has always been regarded as higher than that of an average Pakistani, for that matter, an Indian as well. It is for this reason that when the British became firmly in control of India during the later part of the nineteenth century, it was in Bengal at Calcutta that they established their headquarters since they found Bengalis to be good learners of bureaucratic ways requiring clerical expertise hence earning the sobriquet of “Bengali Babu” that struck with them forever more.

Thus, Pakistan’s labor market could undoubtedly benefit from the infusion of Bengalis. Besides, Bengali women have always been more enterprising than Pakistan’s average lower middle-class women. They, hence, can contribute to providing skilled labor to our Industries, mainly the textile industry, as they did to the textile industry of free Bangladesh. Moreover, culturally, in terms of dance, music, etc., the Bengalis are much more adept than average Pakistanis, and hence, their presence could boost the entertainment industry and provide job opportunities.

If this cooperation between the two countries increases through the development of trade and tourism devoid of prejudices that took root at the time of the creation of Pakistan and exacerbated due to blunders made by Pakistan’s rulers in the post-1970 period, the younger population of the two countries who have lived separately for two generations will find more things in common and could even eventually lead to the formation of a loose confederation. Should this happen in the future, with the economic progress inherent in the cooperation of two countries and a life of shared values and faced with an enemy country, India, such a confederation could evolve into a formidable power in the region as a counterweight to prejudiced politics of New Delhi to the eventual benefit and prosperity of both the countries.

This, of course, is a positive way to look at the future of this region in the aftermath of the emergence of the “Second Republic” of Bangladesh, as recently dubbed by the student leaders who brought about the uprising in Bangladesh. But the emergence of such a scenario cannot be predicted with any degree of certainty because so far, no mature leadership has emerged in Bangladesh, nor has Bangladesh and for that matter Pakistan, made any overtures to that end, perhaps because of the deep-rooted prejudices with which we have lived together for so long and not the least because of constant attempt by Indians to preserve their hegemony in the region by constantly egging Bangladesh to be at daggers drawn with Pakistan and in return providing all facilities and advantages sought or required by Bangladesh. Moreover, because of the geographical closeness between India and, more importantly, because of the fellow Bengali-speaking inhabitants of West Bengal with whom Bangladesh shares a culture going back to ancient times, there is every possibility of the relations between India and Bangladesh mending in the future rather than plummet further. More so because Pakistanis, by their very nature, tend to be wary of others and have an inherent tendency to mistrust others. Thus, the possibility of the new Bangladesh emerging as a stronger partner of India in the future cannot be ruled out if and when India sheds its big brother’s pretensions.

Consequently, at the risk of striking a discordant note, it can be said that there is, therefore, every possibility that the euphoria that has gripped our region due to the changes in Bangladesh may also result in a backlash when the country finally settles down politically after the unrest following the recent uprising to realize that their attempt to rewrite the history after 1971 and again now after the uprising, was in fact misplaced and their destiny lies in their maintaining a workable relationship with India on which they have come to depend in the last five decades. Needless to say, this trend can also get a boost from the lackadaisical approach of Pakistan towards Bangladesh in the aftermath of the uprising, manifested by the fact that till today, no political or military leader of any standing from Pakistan has made any attempt to visit Bangladesh.

As to what would eventually transpire in the region, only the future can tell, but there is a definite need for Pakistan to seize the opportunity to correct its course and, with the change in the relationship of the countries in the region, bring about harmony amongst all the countries in the region to end persistent poverty of its people for evermore.

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