Bdliberation-essay (original) (raw)
DergiPark (Istanbul University), 2023
Ethno-linguistic differences and economic grievances created a rift between the distanced wings. After independence, the decision to make Urdu the state language was resented by the Bengalis. They launched a movement that reached its climax in February 1952, taking several lives. Above it, the domination of West Pakistanis in state affairs was seen as a colonial legacy, having its imprint even after independence. The feelings of deprivation had the worst effect on the state's integrity, leading to a nationalist struggle, which resulted in the secession of East Pakistan. The study has hypothesized that inept policies and structural inequalities worsen the situation, providing a space to separatist elements. The study has concluded that diverse culture and economic disparity led to secession.
Language Controversy: Impacts on National Politics and Secession of East Pakistan
South Asian Studies
Politics like other fields is mute without language. Though graphics, pictures and movies play important role yet they are ineffective, if not mixed with words. It was Hearst, an American journalist, who sent a cartoonist to Cuba to furnish the picture of Cuban war but he himself used words to 'furnish the war.' The international politics is also worthless without appropriate choice of language. In politics, use of proper words is inevitable for achieving political objectives and avoiding controversies but sometime language itself becomes a political issue. Pakistan faced this problem in early years of its independence when language controversy exercised far-reaching effects on subsequent history of the country as a whole. Imposition of Urdu as state language was thought unjust by Bengalispeaking Eastern wing and they demanded that Bengali should be given equal status to that of Urdu. There was a sense of being ignored and exploited by West Pakistan and it was thought a rightful demand on part of East Pakistan to have its own language. Bengali written in Devanagari was not approved by the central leadership and this attitude was resented by the Bengalis who asserted that Bengali was as much language of Muslim as that of Urdu. This sense of exploitation resulted in division of country into Bangladesh and Pakistan. Language was the major factor that contributed and intensified the feeling of mistrust between the two wings. The paper is an effort to shed light on how language issue contributed in determining the fate of a nation with special reference to the creation of Bangladesh.
. Separation of East Pakistan javed iqbal
In 1971, Pakistan as a nation suffered the most terrible shock in its entire history. We lost one wing of our country due to reasons that are well known but yet not very well understood. In December 1971, East-Pakistan became the independent state of Bangladesh as a result of a movement of
Bangladesh: From Autonomy to Independence
2024
From the beginning of the creation of Pakistan there had been controversies of language. In 1947, that controversy took a permanent place. In 1948, Dhirendranath Dattas' demand of using Bangla language beside English and Urdu was rejected. On 19th March, Muhammad Ali Jinnah proposed to write Bangla with Arabic alphabets and that made people of West Bengal angry. The movements in those times were the first movement against the Pakistani rulers. At that time people realized the importance of their own development by focusing on their mother tongue. In 1952s' Language Movement people erupted in protests. For violating section 144 on 21 February people were shot by police. Barkat, Jabber, Rafiq, Salam, Shafiur were killed. Those massacres made a big reaction in the minds of Bengalis. This movement made the people of the country aware of their rights, unity and freedom. They realized that they need to develop politics, economy, education, culture with their own identity as Bengali. This unity of identity later played a role in the establishment of the state of Bangladesh.
The Role of language in Education: An Analytical Review of Pakistan's Education Policy 2009
The focus of this discussion is the latest language policy in Pakistan, suggested in 2009. The theme of " divide and rule " has been an essential part of language policy in Pakistan through the colonialist role of English during the colonial period as well as the post-independence period. We have analyzed the role of proposed language in NEP (National Education Policy), 2009 in terms of educational divide. The conclusion of this discussion is that teaching in mother tongue for primary education can be successfully implemented. It will help minimize dropout level and help children in their educational careers at the same time. A strategy for the development of English language teaching in Pakistan has also been suggested in this paper. This strategy has been outlined, keeping in view the objectives of the NEP and the available resources. Introduction In the colonial period (1857-1947), English was introduced in Education as a key to join civil service and to promote educated elite class that shared the interests of the British in the Indo-Pak sub-continent. After independence in 1947, the ruling class in Pakistan carried forward the colonial legacy with an over-developed, exclusive English-medium education for the elite, but on the other hand, an Urdu or vernacular-medium education was introduced for the masses. The post-independence era, has a strong nationalist current to constructs Pakistan as a nation unified by one language: Urdu. The national unity of Pakistan feels threatened by more than one languages, as it happened in the case of East Pakistan (Bangal) by declaring Urdu as the national language and omitting Bangla as an important state language. However, the making of Bangladesh as an independent state in 1971 resolved the Urdu-Bengali controversy. The dilemma of this situation was the complexity of identifying a national language between four provincial languages, English as the colonial legacy, Arabic as an Islamic identity and Urdu as a symbol of newly found Muslim nationalism. This in place was complicated by the 1973 Constitution which declared Urdu (the national language), to be the official language within fifteen years, and English would be the de facto official language, until arrangements could be made to implement the constitution. The time frame of fifteen years stipulated for Urdu to become the official language has passed since long. English is still language of power. This policy of differentiating between those that can afford it and those that cannot, creates a similar divide that was created between the colonizer and the colonized. English is for the elite ruling class and Urdu and other regional languages are for masses. This distinction in education system is a powerful marker of social privileges and power distribution in Pakistan. Pakistan's commitment to use Urdu as the medium of instruction in its state schools is evident from the whole national history of sixty-five years. Pakistan is ambitious to provide an easy access to English language learning at the same time. This two dimensional policy, itself, is a barrier to an effective education system. The most recent National Education Policy 2009, has proposed to promote the country's main regional languages as the medium of instruction. The aim is to include the poorest in the mainstream education and skill development system to alleviate poverty. The total Population; in Pakistan was last reported to be 176745364 in 2011(World Bank report, 2012). The population of Pakistan is not only very large but it is very young as well. One third of the population is aged 0-14 years. 8th half the population is under 20, and two thirds are under 30. So almost half of the population is of school age. Pakistan has an economically divided society. Sixty percent of the population lives on less than $2 a day. The top ten percent of the population, holds more than a quarter(26.5%) of the state income. The language policy for schools, inherited from the British rule, is badly effecting the state education. The economic divide can
LANGUAGE AND POLITICS IN PAKISTAN
Language and Politics in Pakistan by Tariq Rahman, 1996
This is the first history of the politics of language in Pakistan. It begins with the British language policies in South Asia, goes on to look at the HIndi-Urdu controversy in the 19th century and then examines the vernacular-English divide before independence. After that it examines at length the way language functioned as a symbol of ethnicity helping to construct a power group against policies which the counter elites speaking Bengali, Sindhi, Pashto, Siraiki, Blaochi, Brahvi and Punjabi considered unjust. All language movements are explained on instrumentalist grounds except the Punjabi language movement which is basically because of the loss of the mother-tongue by an educated elite. However, in all language movements the extra-rational dimension (anger, love and sentiment) do play a role so instrumentality is tempered with other factors.