Summary
West-Pakistan has a population mass of mostly Muslim and therefore treated East-Pakistan, whose population was mostly Hindus, differently. Hindus in West-Pakistan were dehumanized, ignored and as a result, wanted to gain Independence for East-Pakistan. The Awami League supported the urge for Independence and the stop to military rule by gathering up numerous upon numerous of people. Once the League won victory across East-Pakistan, President Yahya Khan, whose actions depict him as a dictator, ordered his military generals to, "Kill three million of them," "and the rest will eat out of our hands." (Jones, Adam) And they did succeed in killing millions of civilians, lasting almost 10 months in 1971. Background West-Pakistan and East-Pakistan were forced in coming in as a country when the British separated India into two countries, Pakistan and India, in 1947. The British ruled India and Pakistan, when they were one country, for about 200 years. Muslims and Hindus saw each other as completely different people. For example, Muslims ate the meat of cows while Hindus worshiped them. They wouldn't study, eat or intermarry with each other. Muslims sought separation once they knew about the Independence from British rule was on its way. They feared that Hindus would deny them their freedom because Muslims were only 25% of the Indian population. (Smitha, Frank) |