The Making of Bangladesh in Early Postcolonial Pakistan

Abstract

This article investigates why many Muslims from colonial East Bengal wanted a separate territorial administrative unit. A section of East Bengali Muslims welcomed the first partition of Bengal in 1905 and were unhappy with its annulment in 1911. Although, in 1947, a small group of Bengali leaders provided short-lived support for a United Bengal, both Hindus and Muslims accepted partition. This article examines why the partition of Bengal between India and Pakistan did not satisfactorily address the complex identity problem of Bengali-speaking East Pakistanis, who found their cultural and linguistic selves suppressed in the name of Islam and Muslimness. The article further analyzes the economic situation in colonial East Bengal and East Pakistan, as well as investigates how and why Bangladesh was imagined in colonial and early postcolonial Pakistan.