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TIME: Almanac of the 20th Century
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TIME, Almanac of the 20th Century.ISO
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1970
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1994-02-27
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<text>
<title>
(1970s) Pakistan Splits
</title>
<history>
TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1970s Highlights
</history>
<link 05515>
<article>
<source>Time Magazine</source>
<hdr>
Pakistan Splits
</hdr>
<body>
<p> [The decade's second largest--and shortest--war was also
fought in Asia, between two of the world's largest, most densely
populated and poorest states. The gulf between the two distant,
ethnically dissimilar wings of Pakistan became unbridgeable when
in 1970 the country's first-ever democratic elections resulted
in a resounding victory for the Bengalis of the eastern wing and
for their leader, Sheik Mujibur Rahman. He proceeded to
legislate much greater autonomy for the two regions. The
outgoing West Pakistani military regime refused to countenance
what it saw as the breakup of Pakistan.
</p>
<p> The Pakistani army laid the Bengali countryside waste and
killed thousands. To escape the violence, as many as ten million
Bengalis became refugees across the border in India, placing an
intolerable burden on that country's meager resources. India had
to act in order to send the refugees back home.]
</p>
<p>(December 20, 1971)
</p>
<p> "Jai Bangla! Jai Bangla!" From the banks of the great Ganges
and the broad Brahmaputra, from the emerald rice fields and
mustard-colored hills of the countryside, from the countless
squares of countless villages came the cry. "Victory to Bengal!
Victory to Bengal!" They danced on the roofs of buses and
marched down city streets singing their anthem Golden Bengal.
They brought the green, red and gold banner of Bengal out of
secret hiding places to flutter freely from buildings, while
huge pictures of the imprisoned leader, Sheik Mujibur Rahman,
sprang up overnight on trucks, houses and signposts. As Indian
troops advanced first to Jessore, then to Comilla, then to the
outskirts of the capital of Dacca, small children clambered over
their trucks and Bengalis everywhere greeted the soldiers as
liberators.
</p>
<p> Thus last week, amid a war that still raged on, the new nation
of Bangladesh was born. So far only India and Bhutan have
formally recognized it, but it ranks eighth among the world's
148 nations in terms of population (78 million), behind China,
India, the Soviet Union, the U.S., Indonesia, Japan and Brazil.
Its birth, moreover, may be followed by grave complications. In
West Pakistan, a political upheaval is a foregone conclusion in
the wake of defeat and dismemberment.
</p>
<p> The breakaway of Pakistan's eastern wing became a virtual
certainty when the Islamabad government launched air strikes
against at least eight Indian airfields two weeks ago.
Responding in force, the Indian air force managed to wipe out
the Pakistani air force in the East within two days, giving
India control of the skies. In the Bay of Bengal and the Ganges
delta region as well, the Indian navy was in unchallenged
command. Its blockade of Chittagong and Chalna harbors cut off
all reinforcements, supplies and chances of evacuation for the
Pakistani forces, who found themselves far outnumbered (80,000
v. India's 200,000) and trapped in an enclave more than 2,000
miles from their home bases in the West.
</p>
<p>(December 27, 1971)
</p>
<p> Thirteen days after it began, the briefest but bitterest of
the wars between India and Pakistan came to an end. The
surrender also marked the end of the nine-month-old civil war
between East and West Pakistan. Next day Pakistan's President
Agha Mohammed Yahya Khan reluctantly accepted India's cease-fire
on the western border. It was a complete and humiliating defeat.
The war stripped Pakistan of more than half of its population
and, with nearly one-third of its army in captivity, clearly
established India's military dominance of the subcontinent.
</p>
<p> Considering the magnitude of the victory, New Delhi was
surprisingly restrained in its reaction. Indian leaders seemed
pleased by the relative ease with which they had accomplished
their goals--the establishment of Bangladesh and the prospect
of an early return to their homeland of the 10 million Bengali
refugees who were the cause of the war. Announcing the surrender
to the Indian Parliament, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declared:
"Dacca is now the free capital of a free country. We hail the
people of Bangladesh in their hour of triumph. All nations who
value the human spirit will recognize it as a significant
milestone in man's quest for liberty."
</p>
<p> Islamabad, of course, was the principal loser in the outcome
of the war. But there were two others as well. One was the
United Nations. The Security Council last week groped
desperately toward trying to achieve an international consensus
on what to do about the struggle, and ended up with seven
cease-fire resolutions that were never acted upon at all. The
other loses was Washington, which had tried to bring about a
political settlement, but from the New Delhi viewpoint--and
to other observers as well--appeared wholeheartedly
committed to the support of Pakistan's military dictatorship.</p>
</body>
</article>
</text>