Bangladesh a geographically small country is situated within the yawning gap of the eastern part of huge India. India’s politico-cultural, socio-economic, its common riverine and other policies never allows Bangladesh to forget her such critical geographical situation of which India takes advantage. The entire Indo-Bangladesh boarder is a smugglers’ paradise with a disadvantage to the indigenous agricultural and industrial growth of Bangladesh and the Indian Boarder Security Forces indiscriminately shoot innocent Bangladeshis in the bordering areas. 
The consequences of the disparities that sprout out between the two Wings in favour of the Western one, within almost ten years of the independence of Pakistan – in almost every sphere of socio-cultural and politico-economic spheres of national life, such as: military and civil services, commerce and trade, industrialization, agriculture and other economic and socio-cultural activities – for the eradication of which Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhasani demanded parity and full regional autonomy for East Pakistan in 1957, otherwise East Pakistan ‘will bid farewell’ to Pakistan id est. East Pakistan will be separated (Rahman, Mohammad Habibur, ‘Shayottashasoner Dabi Thekey Shadhinotar Dack”, Prothom Alo, 13th Year, No.25, 1 December 
2010, Pp. 1, 13). Moreover, remarkable East-West regional disparities were identified in the field of basic consumption goods and expenditures, social and infrastructural facilities, regional expenditures, regional distribution of foreign aids, balance of payments, in the number of personnel in the State administrative machinery by source and so on – all in favour of the Western Wing. The emergence of Bangladesh
The deprivations suffered continuously by the Bengalis led in the early 1966 to the formulation of the well known 6 points demands of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
Prof Sarwar Md Saifullah Khaled
Bangladesh a geographically small country is situated within the yawning gap of the eastern part of huge India. Indias politico-cultural, socio-economic, its common riverine and other policies never allows Bangladesh to forget her such critical geographical situation of which India takes advantage. The entire Indo-Bangladesh boarder is a smugglers paradise with a disadvantage to the indigenous agricultural and industrial growth of Bangladesh and the Indian Boarder Security Forces indiscriminately shoot innocent Bangladeshis in the bordering areas.
Erstwhile East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) was to fight out Pakistan with the Indian armed help backed by Soviet diplomacy on the question of regional economic disparities, but now Bangladesh is left with nothing but to officiously and unjustly cajole the much more powerful and geographically most conveniently situated unwilling nuclear power India to share the dammed water of 54 common rivers to save her ecological balance, to ease huge trade deficits, dismantle barbed-wire boarder entanglements, to stop almost regular border killings and the like. Bangladesh can neither swallow nor disgorge India as it could Pakistan.
The Pakistan leadership failed to understand what the independent people of East Pakistan desired in its totality. Such misunderstandings and the experiences of 1952 language movement gave rise to the concept of treating East Pakistan as a colony of Pakistan. The politicians have to realise the aspirations of the people of a free country, but if they are reluctant to do that, the result is not agreeable for a nation.
The question that how much the desires, thoughts and hopes of everyone or the nation as a whole is voiced and reflected in deeds by the leadership of a country cannot be dissipated at all. Although the fruits of independence were being delivered to some extent to the people of the Western Wing, but the Pakistan administration economically and politically frustrated the people of the Eastern Wing and widened the gap of disparity between the two Wings in favour of the Western one.
The consequences of the disparities that sprout out between the two Wings in favour of the Western one, within almost ten years of the independence of Pakistan in almost every sphere of socio-cultural and politico-economic spheres of national life, such as: military and civil services, commerce and trade, industrialization, agriculture and other economic and socio-cultural activities for the eradication of which Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhasani demanded parity and full regional autonomy for East Pakistan in 1957, otherwise East Pakistan will bid farewell to Pakistan id est. East Pakistan will be separated (Rahman, Mohammad Habibur, Shayottashasoner Dabi Thekey Shadhinotar Dack, Prothom Alo, 13th Year, No.25, 1 December 2010, Pp. 1, 13). Moreover, remarkable East-West regional disparities were identified in the field of basic consumption goods and expenditures, social and infrastructural facilities, regional expenditures, regional distribution of foreign aids, balance of payments, in the number of personnel in the State administrative machinery by source and so on all in favour of the Western Wing.
These causes accentuated the struggle of the majority people, intelligentsia and political leadership of the Eastern Wing to stand against the domestic, foreign and economic policies pursued by the Pakistan administration and spell out what actually the people of the Eastern Wing desired as independent citizens within the framework of Pakistan. But the Pakistan administration did pay little heed to their demands and desires and regional disparities against the Eastern Wing continued in favour of the Western Wing.
The differences and deprivations suffered continuously by the Eastern Wing led in the early 1966 to the formulation of the well known 6 points demands of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and adopted by the Awami League on the backdrop of late 1965 Indo-Pak war over Kashmir. Of the 6 points program point 2 and point 6 needs attention; they are respectively The power of the Central (Federal) Government will remain confined to two aspects Defense and Foreign Policy. In all other remaining affairs, the component states will exercise absolute power and Provisions shall have to be there in the Constitution so that the constituent states may form Para-Military or regional Military to safeguard regional integrity and the Constitution, (this last point was a reminder to the fact that Eastern Wing was left insecure in the war of 1965). Other points expresses that Money, Revenue, International trade will be the free affairs of the constituent states of the Federation. To be honest, through the 6 points formula, Sheik Mujibur Rahman tried to convert Pakistan into a Confederation so that the colonial state of East Pakistan comes to an end but Pakistan remains intact with egalitarian scope for the development of all the regions of Pakistan devoid of deprivations of one by the other.
The one-eyed political behaviours of Julfiqar Ali Bhutto, the leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party, and the mistake committed by General Yehiya Khan, the military ruler of Pakistan, by denying to hand over power to Sheik Mujibur Rahman of Awami League which own the majority seats in the 1970 Constituent assembly election under their supervision and the 1971 military crack down, had driven the total public opinion of the Eastern Wing against Pakistan and thus forced them to take arms aided by India and to invite it to rescue them without allowing East Pakistanis any time to think about the consequences then whether that was good or bad. Every citizen of Bangladesh turned freedom fighters without whose help the Indian Army could not find footing in Bangladesh. Each and every citizen suffered in the nine months long liberation war and contributed to the birth of Bangladesh. Bangladesh is not the property or product of the listed freedom fighters or of Indian help alone. Indian Army could not venture to do anything in the Eastern Wing in 1965 war since the public opinion was totally anti-Indian at that time.
Apart from the increasing economic and political disparities between the two wings of Pakistan the cultural activists of the Eastern Wing maintain that linguistic and cultural differences were also at the back of the break down of Pakistan. As regards Language and Cultural differences it is crystal clear today that the harm that is being done to the Bengali language in the hands of the Bangladeshis, Bengalis, the custodians of liberation war and the patriots, that could not even be done by the Pakistanis. Culturally there remained nothing of the sort in the country. If there does not exist any cultural life in the universities that is no university at all. Universities are not technical institutions, they are institutions of making up human beings in their fullness where there will exist educational together with socio-cultural life; sports and games will be there a university is not complete if these are absent; the universities are now being turned into the slums of literate people.
We desired and achieved Bangladesh at the costs of lives and bloods more than four decades back. Now the questions are: Do we find in essence any significant elements of pro-development changes and progresses in the events that have taken place in the countrys politics and economy at different points of time since Independence? Have the educational, economic and administrative set up of the pre-independence days undergone any positive changes up to this day? Do we see any light that things will change very soon? Are not the things going from bad to worse day by day? Do our politicians practice democracy to materialise the realities of the socio-political economy of the country? If not, let us hope they will do so as early as possible before things go beyond the point of no return for the politicians of the country to do anything.
The writer is a retired Professorof Economics
