NATIONALISM

NATIONALISM

Nation: It is derived from the Latin natio signifying birth. Originally it meant a social grouping based on real or imaginary ties of blood. In early modern times there arose a practice to use the term ‘Nation’ to describe the population of a country not necessarily having radical unity.

D.L Strzo  said “ a nation means individuality of a people and this can’t come about without a stable geographical contiguity a historical cultural tradition, an economic interest.

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The nations of nation and nationalism emerged as outcome of the historical process in the development of different social formations’. In general, it can be said that by nationalism we mean these feelings having potentialities to unite the people together in a group with a strong political will go to have the self-rule.

Snyder views nationalism as “a condition of mind, feeling or sentiment of a group of people living in a well defined graphical area , speaking a common language , possessing a literature in which the aspiration of the nation have been expressed being attached to common tradition, and in some case having a common religion.”

The factor to rise the nationalism:

There are three types of factor to rise the nationalism:

Ø  1. Economic factor.

Ø  2. Political factor.

Ø  3. Socio-cultural factor.

ECHONOMIC FACTOR

With the birth of Pakistan, East Pakistan entered into a new type of colonial setting. It is true that the imperial govt. was replaced by the notional govt. but it did not make any difference for East Pakistan.

Like many foreign observers Charles smith also wrote on East Pakistan in London based “the financial times that at the time of partition in 1947”. East Pakistan was actually better off than West Pakistan in a number of important aspects. There are some economic factors………….

                        The economic theory:

The major argument for two economic theories greatly developed in 1960s, were focused on two main points:

1.      First, that because of its peculiar geography, Pakistan as a state did in fact have two distinct economics one for the West wing and another for East wing.

2.      And second, that the policy based on the assumption of one economy theory pursued by the Pakistani govt. worked to East Pakistan’s disadvantage and resulted in economic disparity between the two wings.

Development expenditure

East Pakistan was less developed in certain sectors though it was more populated and so deserved greater central assistance. But apparently the bulk of development expenditure was diverted to West Pakistan. Difference pertaining to the two wings not only in public sector but also in private sector there had been a great disparity in expenditure between the two sectors.

Gross domestic product of Pakistan:

If the economic development or the backwardness of a region can be measured in terms of the gross domestic product (G.D.P), it becomes clearly evident from the government documents that West Pakistan had always an edge over East Pakistan in the respect.

Industrial development – a comparative picture:

Since partition in 1947, all Pakistani industries was heavily concentrated in west Pakistan and particularly in Karachi.

By   1958 while East Pakistan had an industrial capital of Rs.148 crores , the worth of that capital of Karachi alone was 114.6 crores. But the industrial capital of west wing including Karachi was Rs 508.6 crores i.e more than twice of the east wings industrial capital 

            Inter –wing trade:

Year	Export from east Pakistan to west Pakistan	Export from west Pakistan to east Pakistan
1955-56 1967-68	22.07        77.90	31.89        121.60

  

                        Revenue expenditure: 

It is very significant to note that West Pakistan usually maintained that East Pakistan did not contributed much to have the revenue earnings of Pakistan  and hence did not have any possible reason to grudge against heavy current expenditure in west Pakistan. Since most civil servants and army personal hailed from West Pakistan receipt of payments by them also did not benefit the economics of East Pakistan.

                        Agricultural development:

Agricultural land in East Pakistan has more acreage and most land produces 2 to 3 crops a year, but in West Pakistan the acreage is less and the productivity. In spite of this the greater quantum of the development expenditure went to the west wing and naturally it benefited more in terms of returns than the east wing which received a lesser share in the development grants.

                        Political factor: 

There are two types of political factor:

1.      Pre-martial law regime,1947-1958

2.      Martial law regime.

Pre-martial law regime, 1947-1958:

In the pre-martial law regime, there are some occurs in Pakistan, such as:

The rise of vernacular elite in East Pakistan:

In 1946-47 the Muslim of rural in Bengal in their struggle for Pakistan become more aware about their political right and economic interest.

Particularly with the introduction of universal adult franchise and sudden increase in popular political participation the vernacular elites found themselves in position of strength.

                        Birth of awami league:

 Actually the decline of the Muslim league started after the death of Jinnah in 1948. On June 23, 1949 the awami Muslim league the first Muslim opposition party established. Besides awami league, few other political parties were also established such as Nezam-I-Islam, founded in 1950, the krishak sramik party (KSP) also founded in 1953.

                        The general election:

We have earlier referred to the emergency of the united front as a coalition political party and its tremendous success in the general election held in March 1954. This election marked as a turning point in the history of Pakistan in general and that of East Pakistan in particular.

                        Martial law regime 1958-1971:

The period between September 1955 and October 1958 was characterized by a great deal of political instability. The solution was characteristically favorable for the emergency of either a doctorial government of a military rule. In the first week of October president Mirza abrogated the constitution and proclaimed martial law and appointed the commander in chief of the Pakistani army.

                        Basic democracy:

However Ayub khan remained in power for more than ten years. To obtain legitimacy for his government, he did not use any bayonet. Instead he used various other strategies such as “Basic Democracy”.

The basic democracy program was “various hailed as the ultimate in political wisdom on the one hand on the other as a mere sop to domestic sentiment”.

                        President election:

Under the public pressure Ayub khan declared 2^nd January 1965 as date for holding the presidential election and simultaneously he offered his candidature for the election. The common platform was named combined opposition party and the nominated Fatima Jinnah as cop’s candidate. However Ayub khan won the election with a vast margin.

                        The emergency of Bangladesh:

Lastly is this context, it can said that the political changes in east Pakistan from 1947 clearly shows that the Pakistan government tried to crush sown the nationalist upsurges of the east Pakistan people by making use of force. The structural problems of Pakistan were compounded by the failure of the political system to accommodate various and sectional interests.

Socio-cultural factors:

There are many types of socio-cultural factors such as;

Education:

There were visible disparities between the two wings so far as social development was concerned. One can take education for the purpose of comparison. In the early days of Pakistan, the east wing was more advanced than the west wing in terms of the number of schools and colleges.

Racial discrimination:

All the time West Pakistan people considered themselves as belonging to a “martial race”, and the people of East Pakistan as belonging to “downtrodden races”. According to the Anthony mascarenhas “in the eyes of the west Pakistan people, the Bengalese Muslims were ‘unreliable’ and did not deserve self rule and so were to be ruled by the West Pakistan”.

                        Language movement:

Today language has reached such a stage of idolization that all nations tend to defend their language as the central symbols of their national life. Language affects literature and also the national life. Through language people express their common thoughts and feelings.

During the pre-independence period in the united Bengal the Bengali was the mother tongue of all the Bengalese. Of course there were   a few aristocratic families who would take pride in using Urdu as a language of communication among them. So on February 15, 1948, Jinnah made a statement in the constituent assembly that “Pakistan being a Muslim state, Urdu will be its state language”.

                        Cultural suppression and imperialism:

 The first day of the Baishakha (the Bengalese New Year day) is very significant day for every Bengalese Hindu and Muslim. They observes this day as old tradition of their culture. But since the establishment of Pakistan, the pro-Islamic element in the Bengali population tried to nullify the socio cultural significance of the day. However since 1961 there was revival and different socio-cultural organizations started celebrating the day with great enthusiasm. Due to the heavy pressure from the Bengalese the provincial government of the east wing, declared the first day of “Baishakha” as a public holiday. This created a sense of cultural confident in the minds of Bengalese people. The Rabindra sangeet (Tagore’s song) is considered as one of the prized items in the living culture of Bengal. Likewise Michael Modhusudhan dutta, kazi Nazrul Islam and other poets are still equally esteemed by the Muslims and Hindus.

The committee came out with very novel recommendations. It suggested that the Bengali script should be replaced by the Arabic script. The committee expressed its abhorrence at the Sanskrit words in the Bengali language and it suggested that such words should replace by the parallel words of Arabic Persian an Urdu.