Bangladesh and the Dangers of Racism and Ignorance
By Rohan Rajesh
While post-war American history is filled with examples of American leaders turning a blind eye to genocide, examples of America deliberately supporting a government committing genocide are not well known. The idea that this country, founded on basic liberties, would do so is unfathomable. But it did happen as recently as the 1970s, and it is important that we learn about it to prevent it from happening later. This is the story of the genocide in Bangladesh.
In 1947, British India was partitioned into Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan. Initially, Pakistan consisted of two entities separated by thousands of miles of Indian territory: West Pakistan and East Pakistan. West Pakistan consisted of Punjabis, Sindhis, Pashtuns, Balochis, and several small ethnic groups. Since the establishment of Pakistan, the lingua franca of these diverse groups has been the Urdu language. East Pakistan, on the other hand, consisted largely of Bengalis. Bengalis have a history quite separate from that of West Pakistan. Unlike the languages of West Pakistan, which use Perso-Arabic-derived scripts, Bengali uses an Indic script. Whereas the languages of West Pakistan have copious borrowings of Arabic and Persian, Bengali language and literature use Sanskrit as its higher language. Linguistic nationalism would become the major centrifugal force in Pakistan.
Efforts to make Urdu the sole national and official language generated significant protests in East Pakistan. The overthrow of the democratic government by the mostly Punjabi military alienated many Bengalis. Bengalis complained about racism and exploitation at the hands of their counterparts in the West. In 1970, the Bhola cyclone devastated East Pakistan. The West Pakistani government delayed relief efforts, leading to widespread condemnation in East Pakistan and internationally. East Pakistani leaders demanded greater autonomy to no avail.
In 1971, the Pakistani military decided to allow general elections for the first time in Pakistan’s history. The East Pakistan-based Awami League, led by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, won nearly all the seats in East Pakistan (the more populous of the two provinces). In West Pakistan, however, seats were divided between the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), led by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, and various conservative parties. The result was that the Awami League won a majority in the National Assembly.
Fearing a Bengali-dominated government, President Yahya Khan (who was formerly the army chief) and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto refused to inaugurate the National Assembly. The government also refused to grant East Pakistan autonomy. This led many Bengalis to demand an independent Bangladesh. The military responded with Operation Searchlight, which aimed to crush dissent in the East by targeting Bengali intellectuals, students, and Hindus. Outraged Bengali officers mutinied and moved to India, where they formed the Mukti Bahini (Bengali for “freedom fighters”). During the genocide, millions of Bengalis were internally displaced, millions fled to India, hundreds of thousands of Bengali women were raped, and millions were killed. India, led by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, grew increasingly concerned with the situation. The refugee crisis had placed a severe strain on India’s resources. Gandhi urged Nixon to use America’s friendship with the Pakistani regime to help solve the issue, but Cold War politics prevented any quick solution to the issue
Despite widespread condemnation of the Pakistani military, including from the US Consulate in East Pakistan, Congress, and several prominent musicians (who launched the famous Concert for Bangladesh), the Nixon administration supported Pakistan because they saw Pakistan as important to opening relations with China. Meanwhile, India, while nominally non-aligned, had signed a friendship treaty with the Soviet Union, and Gandhi’s socialist policies amplified concerns in the Nixon administration.
Despite Congress’s ban on weapons sales to Pakistan, Nixon maneuvered to give the Pakistani military Americans weapons, which the regime used to slaughter civilians. In an attempt to dissuade India from attempting a direct military intervention, Nixon sent the Seventh Fleet into the Bay of Bengal, but this fleet was checked by the Soviets, who dispatched a fleet in response. In the end, Pakistan sealed its fate by preemptively conducting airstrikes on Indian airbases along the western border. India used the airstrikes as an excuse to declare war on Pakistan and easily liberated East Pakistan in just 13 days. The nation of Bangladesh was born at a devastating cost.
Recently released tapes also revealed the sheer racism of the Nixon administration. Nixon declared his loathing of Indians and Bengalis to Kissinger. Whether his racism had any bearing on his policy or was simply a disgusting expression of his frustration with the situation is hard to say. Regardless, while presidential racism is dangerous, ignorance and antipathy are worse.
The Bangladesh genocide is not taught in most US or world history textbooks despite being an important part of both. Further, Bangladesh is only one example of a genocide the US could have prevented. During the 1960s, a genocide took place in Indonesia with tacit US support. Twenty years later, the genocide in Rwanda could have been prevented. Now, genocide is taking place in Xinjiang, and nothing substantive has been done in response. In Yemen, the Trump administration gave weapons to Saudi Arabia to fight the Houthis despite the horrific human rights situation created by the Saudi intervention.
America can longer ignore genocide. Although the US cannot intervene everywhere, America’s global influence (financial and military) means it can probably prevent several genocides. Additionally, genocide studies need to be taught in high schools either as an important part of history classes or as a separate social sciences class so that the next generation can prevent the next disaster before it is too late.