“A Place Insufficiently Imagined”: Language, Belief, and the Pakistan Crisis of 1971

Abstract

The breakup of Pakistan in 1971 can be explained in pt by a failure of understanding on the part of the West Pakistani leadership of Pakistan, a seeming inability to recognize what the meaning of Pakistan was for Bengalis, and thus the cause of the demand for Bengali as a state language equal to Urdu. Exploration of the language issue in the period before and afterndependence helps to illuminate the divergence of belief about the form of the new state and the meaning of parity in representation between east and west wings of the country. The final tragedy of the attempted crushing of the movement for an autonomous Bangladesh is also in part an outcome of this pattern of belief, in particular the belief about the role of Hindus in the expression of Bengali identity.

Denying the Denial: Reappraisal of ‘Genocide’ in East Pakistan

“…Cultural integration also accompanied political centralization with the aim of de-emphasizing the distinctiveness of Bengali. Urdu, which was spoken by a small number of migrants, was made into "an essential element of the Islamic nature of Pakistan" (Oldenburg, 1985) as claims were put by many advocates of Urdu "that the language was part of Islamic culture in South Asia and that it was more closely related to Arabic than other South Asian languages" (Spencer, 2012). The purpose of this effort was to "purify" the Bengali culture of the Hindu influence.…”

Green Harms and Crimes

“…What is Bangladesh? For Benedict Anderson (1983), nations are 'imagined communities'; for Philip Oldenburg (1985), Bangladesh is 'a place insufficiently imaged'. Bangladesh lies between these two quotes.…”

Determining the Status and Use of Languages Spoken in Pakistan

“…The central government, on the other hand, embarked on a program to strengthen and thus establish Urdu as lingua franca and the sole national language of the country to be used in all government functions and as the medium instruction at all levels of education. Witnessing these opposing trends, rahman (2004, p. 9) terms this linguistic decision as the foundation of movement for the eventual separation of east Pakistan (Bangladesh) although he does not doubt the sincerity of the then rulers in striving for unity through Urdu but such a unifying strategy is, according to many researchers, fraught with politics and conflict (Peshkin, 1962;Shackle, 1977;oldenburg, 1985;Huizinga, 1994;Ayres, 2009 (Crocombe, 1983, pp. 148) …”