A Golden Age

The general cause of the Indian Independence Movement was India’s desire for independence from British, French and Portuguese Rule. The aim of the movement was “Swaraj, a self-governing India” (Sharma, 2005, p. 22). One, more specific, cause of the Indian Independence Movement took place in 1905 when the province of Bengal was divided into two provinces,

Before 1971, Bangladesh was divided into two regions; both with opposing political power. Although East Pakistan (Bangladesh) withheld the larger population between the two provinces, it acquired much less political dominance than West Pakistan. Through the power and representation of leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, East Pakistan rebelled. Rahman, leader of political party ‘The Awami League’ demanded more powers both politically and economically. This struggle finally cumulated into the war of independence for East Pakistan.

Throughout the years many historians have compilated and examined why Indian people were so desperate to gain back their independence from the British Empire during their rule over India, from 1612 to 1947. The reasoning can most definitely be found as the British discriminated against Indian people as they believe that they were inferior; it is no surprise that Indian people fought so hard for their independence. Throughout the British Raj, they placed and put forward unbelievably racist acts and laws which discriminated against Indian people. Which of course led to Indians to rebel against the British rule and which the British reacted with causing massacres. Explaining the nationalistic many India’s felt during the British Raj.

Pakistan could not gather international support, it fought a lone battle with few countries supporting it. The United Nations condemned the human rights violations made by Pakistan but they failed to restrain the situation politically before the start of the war. Following the declaration of independence in March 1971, a campaign was launched by the Provisional Government of Bangladesh to gather political support for the independence of East Pakistan as well as humanitarian support for the Bengali people. India provided major diplomatic and political support to the Bangladesh movement. Pakistan wanted India to agree to a ceasefire and asked the UN to intervene but by the time their proposal was finished, Pakistan's forces had surrendered and the war was over. Pakistan was sought for war crimes but the Bangladeshi government was not interested in gathering evidence because of fear that Pakistan and other Muslim states wouldn’t Bangladesh official recognition. This genocide could not have been prevented. West and East Pakistan were once one country, but they were a divided one. Eventually East Pakistan was going to want independence from the West which would have resulted in a civil war just like the Bangladesh Liberation war.

Analysis of a long period (1947-1971) needed for the independence of Bangladesh is mainly depicted in this book. Analysis of why a

Though the entire story is set between 1862 and 1918, the majority is spent during the turn of the century. This was a time of huge changes, such as the invention of automobiles, electric communication, and a generally hopeful and positive outlook. However, the narrator portrays the melancholic existential crisis of the masses as “Another hundred years were ground up and churned”(129). He expressed that the world did not feel as new as it had in the past century in an oft repeated lament: “Oh, strawberries don’t taste as they used to and the thighs of women have lost their

“From the beginning, the Bengalis demanded democracy with free and regular elections, a parliamentary form of government, and freedom of political parties and the media. But the ruling elites in Pakistan hindered every attempt at instituting democracy in the country” (p.252). Therefore on March 25, 1971, the West-Pakistan armed forces attacked the intellectual students and high members of society were attacked at the capital university of Dhaka by the West Pakistan soldiers killing too many citizens. The declaration of independence of Bangladesh in E. Pakistan on March 26, 1971 was therefore established…along with the start of a national liberation war (p.250). The Bengali authorities ultimately set out through this to obtain an autonomy…however the Pakistan army realizing this, unleashed all powerful resources in order to restore the control over the country as a

To Rani, ‘people dying here, others dying there’ (cited in Butalia, 2000, p.268) was something that happened every day, it was no surprise to her. Thus, Rani’s cynical view about the future of India and Pakistan was conceivably drawn from memories of witnessing horrendous fights and strife throughout her whole life (cited in Butalia, 2000, p.268).

The genesis of the Kashmir issue is that in August 1947, when partition of the sub-continent took place, Lord Mountbatten, the viceroy of undivided India, influenced Radcliff into awarding the predominantly Muslim district of Gurdaspur, situated in the East Punjab, to India. By this treacherous act, admitted by Lord Mountbatten himself on nation wide British television, the cruel Viceroy not only subjected a Muslim majority area to the cursed Hindu domination, it also sowed the seed from which could crop up the domination of India on another predominantly Muslim State Kashmir, because it is only through a narrow strap in the Gurdaspur district that India was linked with Kashmir. The canker in no time cropped up into the “Kashmir Problem” that has ever since proved to be a serious threat to the security of the South Asian region.

Rahman while in England had a secret meeting with Indian foreign officials and diplomats for the support in creation of Bangladesh, the meeting arranged at a far distance away from the praying eyes of ISI, about 130 Kms. away from London in a small town, over looking the vast fields covered with snow, made his tears roll down and dropped on the map of East Pakistan before him, Mr. Rahman said with a gloomy sigh “When we shall be free?”.

Maya Rani then comments that little over a year after the Partition she got married “and then completely forgot about Pakistan” (Butalia, 2000, p. 267). However, how much of that which she did not elaborate on or ‘forgot’ is because of the imagined community’s sense of nationhood and the unspoken agreement of communal silence on the issue of the abuse of women’s rights, rape and the abduction and ‘recovery’ of women across borders during and after the Partition. From her point of view the whole process of hatred and ethnic cleansing was instigated by the English, by troublemakers who wanted ‘blood up to the knees’ to show that “we were incapable of ruling so that the

The year was 1971, and although decades had passed since the partition and birth of Pakistan, the dust still hadn’t settled. Pakistan and East Pakistan were separated geographically by India. Over the years, East Pakistan felt discriminated against politically and otherwise, so they rose up in rebellion against West Pakistan. All out civil war raged over the course of the year, resulting in millions of casualties and refugees streaming across the border to India. India, sensing weakness, and backed by the Soviet Union, launched a full-scale invasion of East Pakistan and in no time, Pakistan’s once great army was defeated. Bangladesh was born from the ruins of East Pakistan.

At the start of the 1960s, many Americans perceived that they were at the emergence of a golden age. With the election of John F. Kennedy on January 20, 1961, the charismatic President’s confidence, as one historian put it, was which “the government possessed big answers to big problems.” However, that golden age never appeared. Surprisingly though, by the end of the 1960s, it seemed that the nation was falling apart. With the themes reflecting freedom, equality, and democracy during this era, this reflection will focus upon the social and political changes that reinforced these concepts, using the textbook, Give Me Liberty, and other readings, including Out of This Furnace and Coming of Age in Mississippi.

With the end of the conflict that resulted to the war between the United States of America and Great Britain after the ratification of the Treaty of Ghent, America entered into an era that saw great changes politically, economically, and socially. The presidential elections were more vibrant as more men partook in the exercise, the industrial and economic growth was notably consistent with growth in science, arts, and the textile industries, and the emancipation of slavery led to the end of that trade with the civil war of 1861 to 1865. The crucial development of this century was the development and changes that saw the beginning of a new era of politics. As result of the high political contention between the Democrats and the Whigs, American would have twenty presidents between 1825 with John Quincy Adams win and William McKinley in 1897. The presidential contention of 1824 between John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson would take the American politics to a new height. Even though Andrew Jackson won the popular votes in that year, John Quincy Adams became the president following a deal he made with

Moreover, contemptuous attitudes of West Pakistanis towards Bengal made the East Pakistan (the Bengal) felt irritated with them. This can be seen from the attitudes of the government official especially the West