Chapter 7 A short history of Bangladesh
The division of Bengal under the British colonial rule
As we have seen so far, Bengal produced many prominent people in various fields and greatly
contributed to the Indian independence movement. However, India gained its freedom not as a united
country, as Tagore, Rash Behari Bose and Subhas Chandra Bose had eagerly hoped, but ended up
divided into two independent states, Pakistan and India. In the conclusion to this book, I would like tobriefly introduce the history of my homeland Bangladesh, which was most severely affected by thetragedy of the divided independence and consequently broke free from Pakistan at an enormous cost.
First, the term Bengal refers to the region of East India, which includes the present West Bengal district
and Bangladesh. This region was arbitrarily divided by the British colonial authorities in 1905, as
mentioned in the Introduction to this book.
Bengal is a rich delta formed by the big rivers, the Ganges, the Brahmaputra, the Padma and theMeghna, originating in the Himalayas and flowing into the Bay of Bengal. The region rich land
produces such an abundance of agricultural products that it attracted the attention of the British Empire,
which from the middle of the 17th century onwards, established commercial bases of the East India
Company in Surat, Bombay, Madras and Calcutta and started the Indian trade. Since the beginning of
the 18th century, as the Mughal Empire rule over the region declined, Britain gradually establishedcontrol over the land. The then Bengali Governor in power Siraji-ud-Dawlah protested that the illicit
trade conducted by the East India Company and its workers was a serious blow to the Bengali economy
and demanded that tariff should be duly paid. The British side high-handedly refused this request.
Upon the refusal of the tariff payment, in 1756, Siraj attacked the British troops stationed in Calcutta
and made them flee. Reportedly, this was the worst defeat in the history of the British colonial rule.
Britain counterattacked and set up various conspiracies and divisions within Siraj’s army andeventually the latter became dysfunctional.
In 1757, in the Battle of Plassey, Siraj was defeated, captured, and killed. Through this battle, theBritish East India Company gained full control over the Bengal district and established the foundationof the colonial rule over the entire India. Afterwards, Britain put South India under her control throughthe Anglo-Mysore War (1767-1799) and suppressed the Central and West India by the Anglo-Maratha
Wars (1775-1818) and conquered Punjab by the Anglo-Sikh War (1845-1849). Thus, by the middle ofthe 19th century, Britain put all of India under her rule. Britain succeeded in colonizing the entire India
through conspiracy and military force.

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The British colonial policy of India started from the Battle of Plassey and the British industrial
revolution also started in the same period, the 1750s. Within nearly 200 years after that, Britain
accumulated the capital of the Bank of England, which became the British central bank, based onenormous monetary profits and treasures extracted from India, especially from the Bengal district,together with the agricultural products, which were the gift from the rich land, such as spices, tea, andjute. In other words, the prosperity of England was founded on the exploitation of the riches of Bengal.

Separation from India and independence of Bangladesh
In August 1947, India became independent, and Bangladesh with its Islamic majority population wasincorporated into Pakistan and came to be called East Pakistan, far apart on the opposite sides of India.
However, it was extremely difficult to run a state composed of two peoples completely different fromeach other in culture and language and geographically divided into east and west, the only common
factor being religion. In addition, at that time, nearly 20 to 30 percent of the population in East Pakistan
were Hindus and the Muslims there were culturally affected by Hinduism.
The politics in Pakistan after independence was in confusion. Jinnah, the leader at the time ofindependence died of illness in 1948 before he had time to establish a workable political system.
Liaquat Ali Khan, who succeeded Jinnah, was assassinated in 1951. The confusion continued anddisappointment spread among the people until 1958, when Muhammad Ayub Khan seized thegovernment in a military coup d’état.
In East Pakistan, the situation was much worse. After India and Pakistan became separately
independent, East Pakistan was under exploitation by West Pakistan, which was the political center.
The devastating situation was essentially the same as it had been during the period of the Britishcolonial rule.
Moreover, to people speaking Bengali in East Pakistan, the Pakistani Government implemented
language control, designating Urdu as the only official language. Students at the University of Dhaka
began protesting against this linguistic discrimination. The Pakistani Government warned them that if
they held a protest rally, they would be immediately shot to death on account of anti-government
activity. Nevertheless, students resolutely held a rally on February 21,1952, and there were several
deaths by police shootings. Largely triggered by this incident, the movement to protect the Bengal
language developed into an enthusiastic movement for the independence of Bangladesh.
In honor and memory of those young people who dared to risk their lives to protect their mother2

language, the UNESCO designated this date, February 21, as “International Mother Language Day”
in 1999.
Even after that, however, the autonomy of East Pakistan was hardly acknowledged and the discontent
mounted further among the Bengali people who were literally under the colonial rule of West Pakistan.
And the defeat in the Indo-Pakistan War, which started in 1962 over the territorial rights over the
Kashmir district, accelerated the nationwide criticism against the Government and increased thedemands for a democratic state. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who led the East Pakistan Muslim League
and the Awami League, a political body, kept appealing about the dire situation in East Pakistan,notwithstanding the frequent arrests he suffered.
In November 1970, just before the general election for the Parliament of Pakistan, a huge cyclone hit
East Pakistan. Deaths caused by floods reportedly amounted from 200,000 to 300,000. However, thePakistani Government failed to take appropriate relief measures for the victims and the mass media in
East Pakistan most severely criticized the central government.
Mujibur Rahman himself made a speech, claiming that East Pakistan should no longer be under thecontrol of West Pakistan and in the election held in December, the Awami League, asserting the solid
autonomy of East Pakistan, won 160 seats out of the 162 allocated to East Pakistan. With thisoverwhelming approval rating in the background, Mujibur Rahman asked that East Pakistan be granted
higher level of autonomy, including the request that Pakistan become a federal state consisting of thetwo provinces of East and West.
However, the Pakistani Government did not accept this request and on March 25, 1971, the Pakistani
Army attacked East Pakistan at one sweep and declared martial law. Intellectuals and anti-government
activists were brutally murdered one after another. The leader Rahman was arrested, confined, andthen taken to West Pakistan.
On the next day, March 26, over the International Bangladesh Radio Broadcast, Major Ziaur Rahman
read the statement of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on his behalf, “Today, Bangladesh became independent.
Let us resolutely fight until we win the final victory.” On April 10, the Awami League officiallydeclared the independence of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh and Mujibur Rahman in custody
became President. Henceforth began the Bangladeshi Independence War.
As mentioned in the dialogue with Mr. Pema Gyalpo at the back of this book, when the war broke out,
various efforts of support came from India, including Tibetan volunteers, and they fought with the3

Bangladeshi liberation army hastily composed of deserters from the East Pakistani Army, civilian
volunteers, and the police. A voluntary body called Freedom Fighters had recruiting facilities andtraining units in towns along the Indian border and out of the confusion caused by the civil war, nearlyten million refugees headed toward India.
India declared her determination to take every measure possible in order to avoid the crisis and savethe people of Bangladesh, appealing to the international community for support to Bangladesh. In thethird Indo-Pakistan War in December, India defeated the Pakistani Army in about two weeks and madethe Pakistani troops stationed in Bangladesh surrender, leading to a ceasefire.
On January 8, 1972, Mujibur Rahman was released from detention and on January 10, he made aspeech in Dhaka amid enthusiastic welcome from people, “Now, our country is free. My golden Bengal
is free. My dream has come true.” On January 12, he became Prime Minister.
Mujibur Rahman and the Awami League established the new nation’s four principles of “nationalism,
socialism, democracy and the separation of politics and religion,” under the influence of India, which
helped Bangladesh become independent and of the U.S.S.R. which was in close relationship with India
at that time. Socialism mentioned then referred not to the ideological concept but to the realistic
economic policy free from the economical control by other countries and in need for building the staterun economy with the national capital yet to be established.
In January 1972, East Germany and other East European nations, as well as the U.S.S.R. recognized
Bangladesh as a state. Among the Western countries, Japan became the first to recognize the
Bangladeshi statehood on February 10. In the diplomatic history of Japan, it was the first time thatJapan made her own diplomatic decision prior to others. On July 2, Pakistan recognized the
independence of Bangladesh by the Simla Agreement and Bangladesh accomplished her independence
both in name and substance.
At the time of declaring its independence, Bangladesh was extremely exhausted and in disarray after
the civil war that had lasted nine months. The independence war reportedly resulted in the deaths of 3
million victims, many died in massacres committed by the Pakistani Army, others from starvation
among refugees or from illness and other causes.
In Bangladesh, during the independence war and after the independence was achieved, Japanenthusiastically rendered support, which came from various levels of the private sector, thegovernment, Diet members and the economic community. Since 1970, when Bangladesh was severely
4damaged by the cyclone, various fundraising and relief activities were undertaken. Diet member
Hayakawa Takashi of the Liberal Democratic Party enthusiastically supported Bangladesh from thevery early stage. Mr. Fukiura Tadamasa went to Bangladesh in 1971 as the Red Cross representative
stationed in Bangladesh and published an excellent book of record, Blood and Dirt—Tragedy ofIndependence of Bangladesh, which has been translated in Bangladesh as a valuable document.
In 1973, the Japanese Government invited Prime Minister Rahman, founding father of Bangladesh, toJapan as an official guest. During the meeting between Prime Minister Rahman and the then JapanesePrime Minister Tanaka Kakuei, it was decided to send a mission to support the Bangladeshi economy.
The mission was to be led by Nagano Shigeo, President of the Japan Chamber of Commerce andIndustry, and attended by the Presidents of Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Mitsubishi Corporation, Tokyu
Corporation, Asahi Kasei, Nissho Iwai (currently Sojitz Corporation) and Directors from the
Ministries of Foreign Affairs, of Treasury, of International Trade and Industry and others concerned.
On the other hand, China at that time supported the Pakistani Government and did not recognize
Bangladesh’s statehood. Under such a circumstance, we can hardly find any incidence in postwar years
in which Japan coped with a diplomatic issue on her own to such an extent and supported a newly
independent country of her own free will. There are supposedly many reasons, but we cannot discuss
it without considering the close relationship Japan cherished with those great figures that Bengal
produced, Tagore, Rash Behari Bose, Subhas Chandra Bose and Justice Pal. However, when it comesto the contribution and cooperation Japan made at the time of the independence of Bangladesh, very
little has been known to the general public up to now.

Unstable political situation remaining even after the independence
However, notwithstanding the improved international relationship, the political stability or national
development did not progress smoothly.
Although Mujibur Rahman was a superb independence fighter, the establishment of the new state was
not at all an easy task to accomplish. Bangladesh experienced independence for the second time inless than a quarter century after the separate independence of India and Pakistan and there was hardly
enough economic strength left to stand independently as a state. In addition to inflation, unemployment
and food shortage, there were damages caused by frequent floods and the double influence of the twotime oil shocks, which further aggravated the grievous economic situation in Bangladesh. Domestic
politics was in extreme confusion and together with cases of corruption among members of the Awami
League Party and the rise of Islamic fundamentalism supporting communism and Pakistan, Mujibur
was not competent enough to successfully solve those economic and political problems.
5Mujibur Rahman forcibly implemented power politics relying on the military and the police,
introduced martial law and became President. President Mujibur formed the BAKSAL (the Awami
League of Farmers and Workers), a political coalition of four parties including the Awami League, andbecame the head of the coalition and tried to restore the domestic order by implementing hardline
policy such as banning all political parties except BAKSAL. However, things did not improve, but on
the contrary, criticism against Mujibur Rahman increased among the military because they had
contributed to the independence but lost the liberty and democracy they had once won at a high pricein the struggle for independence.
Consequently, on August 15, 1975, Mujibur Rahman was killed together with his wife, their three sonswith their two wives, his younger brother with his wife and their son in a coup d’état led by sevenyoung officers and attempted by an Army unit. At the residence of Mujibur’s nephew who was
Mujibur’s aide, the entire family were killed. At that time, Mujibur’s two daughters were staying
abroad, and they were the only survivors of the brutal incident. The older of the two sisters is Sheikh
Hasina, the current Prime Minister of Bangladesh. Thus, Mujibur Rahman, called by people the“Founding Father,” perished in a coup d’état. In Rahman’s residence, the murder scene has beenpreserved as it was and at present is open to the public as a memorial museum.
Immediately after President Rahman was assassinated, Musutaku Ahmed of the Awami League
became President. However, this Musutaku was reportedly said to be one of the ringleaders of theassassination of Mujibur Rahman and he prohibited activities of the Awami League although hehimself belonged to the same political party. Consequently, the leaders of the Party either went
underground or exiled themselves overseas for the safety of their lives. Four persons who had long
been Mujibur Rahman’s comrades and leaders of the independence movement were arrested by thegovernment of the coup d’état and executed in prison without trial.
This government was toppled by another military coup d’état attempted by a military man named
Kaled Musharraf on November 5, 1975, and on November 7, the anti-Musharraf military men rose
again and liberated Ziaur Rahman who was at the time in custody and appointed him their leader.
Through the third coup d’état, the BNP (Bangladesh National Party) formed a government led by Ziaur
Rahman and thus military dictatorship started.
However, in 1981, President Ziaur Rahman was assassinated, and Ershad, then the chief of staff of the
Bangladesh Army, assumed power. In 1983, Ershad became President by obtaining the administrative
power without going through the due process. Thenceforth started the military dictatorship, which6

lasted nine years. Under this dictatorship, Islamic fundamentalists became ministers, going hand inhand with the military personnel, revoking the national principle of the separation of politics andreligion. At the same time, the Awami League was prohibited from acting as a political party and thispolicy was introduced to deny the achievements of Mujibur Rahman, the founding father ofBangladesh and her first President, and to bury his name.

Political and economic stability brought by Sheikh Hasina’s government
Sheikh Hasina, Mujibur Rahman’s eldest daughter who survived her father’s assassination, had been
elected the leader of the Awami League in India, where she exiled herself. In 1981, she returned home
to Bangladesh and led the activities of the prohibited Awami League.
Under such circumstances, people’s discontent against the military dictatorship developed from a
students’ movement to a nationwide movement for democracy. In 1990, President Ershad was forced
into resignation. This event hardly attracted Japanese people’s attention, but it was one of thesuccessful movements for democracy in Asia, which happened concurrently with the collapse of theSoviet Union.
In March of the following year, 1991, a provisional government was organized, and a general election
was held. Ershad sent candidates from the Jatiya Party with his supporters, only to lose by a large
margin. In this election, the BNP (Bangladesh National Party) beat the Awami League and Khaleda
Zia, widow of the late Ziaur Rahman and chairperson and leader of the BNP became the first female
prime minister of Bangladesh. Through the Constitutional reform at that time, Bangladesh changed
from a presidential system to a system of a parliamentary cabinet with the term of five years.
Thenceforth, fundamentally, through the general election held every fifth year, government changed
hands alternately between the two major parties, the Bangladesh National Party, and the Amami
League Party.
In the general election held in 1996, the Awami League won back the government after twenty-two
years. Sheikh Hasina became prime minister after long aspiration. The newly elected Sheikh Hasina
revoked the law prohibiting the trial of the case of her father’s assassination at the Parliament, andlater the trial of the assassination of Mujibur Rahman was held and in 2010, five assassins were
executed, following the verdict.
In the next general election held in 2001, the BNP won the majority seats, asserting the coalition
government with the Jamaat-e-Islami, an Islamic fundamentalist party, and Khaleda Zia became prime
minister for the second time. Under her administration, the bombing incident of Dhaka occurred in72004, in which Sheikh Hasina was seriously injured in the ear and the party leader of the Female
Awami League and several members of the Awami League were killed. This incident was reportedly
perpetrated by the BNP and the Jamaat-e-Islami.
In 2006, the general election was slated, but the BNP and the Awami League confronted each otherover the date of the election and the issue of candidates, each asking for the advantageous conditions
to their own party and eventually, it became practically impossible to hold the election and the Armycame out to take control over the situation and a provisional government was organized. Three years
later, in 2009, the general election was finally held and the Awami League won the election. Since
then, Sheikh Hasina has been prime minister for the three consecutive terms, to this day.
In the 2014 general election, under the slogan of “Digital Bangladesh,” a coalition government led by
the Awami League and the Jatiya Party, the Communist Party and other parties was established andhas remained in power until today.
Bangladesh has kept growing economically due to the economic policy implemented by Sheikh
Hasina’s government and in 2014 the country entered a phase of high economic growth and is about
to graduate from the class of latecomer developing countries. From the time of her independence tothe present, Bangladesh has been greatly supported by Japan in various ways, such as gratuitous
financial aid, loans, and technical cooperation in various fields, through the ODA (official
development aid), NGO/NPO corporations and others. In addition, there are investments fromJapanese companies. I would like to conclude this book by conveying to all of you, Japanese people,
how deeply grateful I am as a Bangladeshi to Japan for her great contribution to my country
Bangladesh.

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