Lec 8 Six Point Movement of 1966 and Mass Uprising 1969.docx

**[Lecture 8]** **[Six-Point Movement of 1966 and Mass Uprising of 1969]** **[Introduction]** 1\. East Pakistan was facing a dire situation after being subjected to systemic discrimination year after year. Economic subjugation was a major factor that led to the dissatisfaction of the Bengalis of...

**[Lecture 8]** **[Six-Point Movement of 1966 and Mass Uprising of 1969]** **[Introduction]** 1\. East Pakistan was facing a dire situation after being subjected to systemic discrimination year after year. Economic subjugation was a major factor that led to the dissatisfaction of the Bengalis of East Pakistan. 2\. Bengali economists and the politicians started raising questions about the discriminatory policies that had resulted in disparities in the economic developments of the two wings. **[Six-Point Movement]** **[Discrimination and Exploitation by West-Pakistan]** 3\. **[Disparity in Employment in Government jobs]**. The Bengalis were very poorly represented in the Civil Service and in the Armed Forces. Army, Navy and Airforce Headquarters and the ordnance factories were established in West Pakistan. Of the total commissioned officers in the Army and the Airforce only 5% and 17% respectively were from East Pakistan. Similar was the case in Navy. Following table shows the disparity in employment: Year Type of Job East Pakistan West Pakistan --------- --------------------------------- --------------- --------------- 1967-68 Civil Service of Pakistan (CSP) 186 326 Pakistan Tax Service 86 141 Customs and Service 40 76 Railway Accounts Service 20 36 Audit and Accounts 44 95 Military Accounts 18 50 Police Service of Pakistan 82 128 Central Information 19 49 4\. **[Disparity in Revenue and Development Expenditure]**. Period Region Revenue Expenditure (Crore) Development Expenditure (Crore) Total Expenditure (Crore) \% -------------------- --------------- ----------------------------- --------------------------------- --------------------------- ---- 1950-51 to 1954-54 East Pakistan 171 100 271 20 West Pakistan 720 400 1120 80 1954-55 to 1959-60 East Pakistan 254 270 524 26 West Pakistan 898 757 1655 74 1960-61 to 1964-65 East Pakistan 1404 434 270 32 West Pakistan 1284 2071 3355 68 1965-66 to 1969-70 East Pakistan 648 1655 2304 36 West Pakistan 2223 2970 5193 64 Source: Report of East Pakistan Economists, in the Report of the Panel of Economists on the Fourth Five Year Plan (1970-75), Islamabad 1970. Reproduced in part in Pakistan Economic and Social Review University of the Punjab, Lahore, Special issue on Income Inequalities in Pakistan, 1976, Table 2, p.270. 5\. **[East-West Gap in Per Capita Income]**. **1949-50** **1959-60** **1969-70** --------------- ------------- ------------- ------------- Pakistan 311 318 424 West Pakistan 338 366 537 East Pakistan 287 278 331 East-West gap 51 88 206 6\. **[Disparity in Education]**. **Graduates** **Post Graduates** --------------- --------------- -------------------- ------------ ---------- ---------- ------------ **1951** **1961** **Change** **1951** **1961** **Change** Pakistan 86,000 82,000 -4.6 23,000 31,000 39.6 East Pakistan 41,000 28,000 -32.3 8,000 7,000 -12.0 West Pakistan 45,000 54,000 21.3 14,000 24,000 68.6 8\. Mehboob ul Haq, the chief economist of the planning commission stated in 1968 that 66 per cent of country\'s industrial assets, 79 per cent of insurance funds, 80 per cent of bank assets were controlled by some twenty families. There was not a single Bengali family among the famous twenty families which controlled the economy of the country. **[Background to Six Point Movements]** 10\. Opposition leaders in West Pakistan called for a national conference on February 6, 1966 to assess the trend of post-Taskent politics. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, along with some members of Awami League joined the conference in Lahore. On February 5, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman placed six points before the meeting of subject committee for inclusion in the agenda of next day's conference. The proposal was rejected. Bangabandhu boycotted the conference. 11\. The six points were: **[Translation of six-point into a Political Movement]** 17\. Mujib convened a meeting of Awami League, on March 18-20, 1966, in which the six-point formula was endorsed. A booklet on six-point demand was also published. Between March and May 1966, Mujib and his colleagues campaigned extensively throughout East Pakistan and mobilized a mass movement. 18\. The Six-Point Movement took an important turn on June 7, 1966, when the Awami League called a nationwide strike across East Pakistan. The response to the call was overwhelming. The armed forces opened fire at the protests in different places. 11 people were killed in Dhaka and Narayanganj city. Soon after, the Awami League decided to further intensify the movement. The movement now had the overwhelming support of the population of East Pakistan. **[Reaction of the Pakistani Rulers and Response of Bangabandhu]** 14\. Ayub Khan termed Sheikh Mujib a secessionist and a destructionist. He warned Sheikh Mujib of \'dire consequences\' if failed to shun the idea of provincial autonomy. 15\. Monem Khan, the infamous governor of East Pakistan, had publicly stated that \"as long as I remain as the governor of this province, I will see to it that Sheikh Mujibur Rahman remains in chains.\" 16\. A fearless Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was quick to respond to such false accusations and vile threats. In a mammoth public gathering at Paltan Maidan, he thundered: \"No amounts of naked threats can distract the deprived Bangalees from their demand for provincial autonomy based on their six-point plan.\" **[Significance of Six-point Movement in the History of Bangladesh]** 12\. The six-point demand marks a unique and an important change of course in the annals of our history and thus is a milestone event in Bangladesh. 13\. It was a movement in the-then East Pakistan, spearheaded by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, which called for greater autonomy for East Pakistan. 14\. The movement is considered a turning-point on the road to Bangladesh\'s independence. 12\. The six-point formula shook the foundation of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. The proposal had exposed the fact that the real intention of Pakistan\'s ruling elite was to \"strengthen\" the central government, not Pakistan. **[Mass Uprising of 1969]** **[Agartala Conspiracy Case]** 19\. Being frightened by the popularity of the Six Points Demand of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman the Pakistani government arrested Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and 34 other Bengali civil and military officers on 19^th^ of June 1968 charging them with conspiracy. The case is popularly known as the Agartala conspiracy case. General Ayub Khan claimed that Sheikh Mujib and his political associates had been conspiring with the Indian Government in the city of Agartala, India to create an Independent Bangladesh. 20\. People of East-Pakistan being convinced that the case itself was a conspiracy, started a movement for unconditional release of Sheikh Mujib. **[Mass Upsurge, 1969]** 21\. Following the arrest of Bangabandhu in Agartala Conspiracy case, student unrest started in 1968 against the tyrannical rule of Ayub Khan. The movement soon engulfed the whole of the then East Pakistan. Peasants, artisans, workers joined the movement almost in mass. 22\. The student agitation of 1968 turned into a mass upsurge when Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhasani asked his followers to besiege Governors House. A huge procession \'gheraoed\' the Governor\'s House after a public meeting at Paltan Maidan on 6 December 1968. The Maulana declared a Hartal following the clash between the people and the police. The hartal was observed throughout East Pakistan on 8 December. 23\. On 4 January 1969 leaders of all Students' Group formed the Students\' Action Committee (SAC) and declared their 11-point Program. The 11 Points included the Six Points of Awami League as declared by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. 25\. Immediately after the 11-Point program had been launched on 8 January 1969, eight political parties, including Awami League and NAP (Muzaffar) formed the Democratic Action Committee (DAC). They demanded Federal form of government, election on the basis of universal adult franchise, immediate withdrawal of emergency and release of all political detainees including Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Khan Abdul Wali Khan and Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. 26\. Asaduzzaman, a leader of the Students Union (Menon), was killed when police opened fire at a procession. The death of Asad stirred the entire nation and the movement took the shape of a national upsurge. The situation of Dhaka went beyond control of the police when Matiur, a student of class IX, died of police firing on 24 January and Rustam was stabbed to death. Army was deployed in the city and curfew was imposed for an indefinite period. Indiscriminate firing of the army and the EPR caused death to a woman. The incidence caused widespread repercussions in the socio-political arena. Sergeant Zahurul Huq, an under-trial prisoner in the Agartala Conspiracy Case, died of bullet injury in the Dhaka Cantonment on 15 February 1969. 28\. Maulana Bhasani declared from a meeting held on the evening of 15 February that there will be no payment of taxes if the 11-point demands were not fulfilled and political prisoners were not released. He further declared, if necessary, Sheikh Mujib would be forcibly taken out of jail. 27\. After the meeting people began to set on fire the houses of the ministers. On 18 February 1969 Dr Mohammad Shamsuzzoha, Proctor of the Rajshahi University, was bayoneted to death. The news spread like wildfire throughout the country. Thousands of people thronged the Dhaka streets and highways ignoring curfew. 28\. Amidst strong popular demand Ayub had to give way and declare that he would not contest the next Presidential Election. In the face of mass movement, the government withdrew the Agartala Conspiracy Case on 22 February 1969. The accused were released on the following day and the Race course Maidan saw a grand reception of the accused, where Sheikh Mujib was given his famous title Bangabandhu. 29\. On 26 March the strongman of Pakistan, General Ayub Khan, had to hand over power to General Yahya Khan, chief of Pakistan Army. Martial Law was re-imposed, but simultaneously it was agreed that elections would be arranged soon on the basis of universal adult franchise, and parliamentary democracy would be introduced.