History of Bangladesh
Bangladesh was a small section of a greater India. Once been a part of India, makes the history of Bangladesh closely entwined with India’s past. It is not just India to which Bangladesh’s history is entwined with but it is also significantly intertwined with the past of Pakistan. This Bangla state was prominent as Bengal when it was a part of the Indian Territory. The India-Pakistan partition, in 1947, separated it from the Indian Territory. Pakistan rechristened it as East Pakistan after its partition with India. This newly formed state, namely East Pakistan, was said to be neglected by the politically dominant western Pakistan as there was a gap of 1,600 km of Indian Territory between the two. There were various reasons which lead to the conflict between East Pakistan and West Pakistan.
There were constant disturbances between these two regions of Pakistan. The main reasons behind the disturbances, apart from the economic negligence, were the political exclusion, ethnic and linguistic discrimination. However, there were other reasons as well which lead to protests and agitation. One can say that the Language Movement of 1952 to identify Bangla as a state language was the initial step towards the independence. Further, in 1966, “Magna Carta” which stated the historic six points was put forth after witnessing the political and economic deprivation of the Bengalese in East Pakistan.
The protests were transformed into the civil disobedience. All of this turbulence between the regions led to the war of independence in 1971. Pakistan initiated the war and embarked the history’s most awful genocide against, then, East Pakistan on March 1971. The war continued till nine months. The Pakistani forces surrendered in front of the heroic and valiant Bangla population in Dhaka on 16th December. Nine months after the war, East Pakistan got independence and was declared as an independent sovereign state - Bangladesh.
It was then, when East Pakistan got independence and was declared as a newly formed country named Bangladesh. Even after independence, Bangladesh was not free from instability as this newly formed country suffered from famine, endured natural disasters and tolerated widespread poverty for long. Political turmoil and military coups were some other problems that the country underwent post-independence. It was the restoration of democracy in 1991 that gave a sigh of relief to this nation. This made Bangladesh experience relative calm and economic progress after so many years of distress.