69 South Asia: Historical Geography I – West & East Pakistan
In Geography, the term exclave refers to a piece of national territory that is separate from the main portion of the country. In the United States, this is the case for Alaska and Hawaii. For Russia, there is the odd case of the Kaliningrad oblast’ being separate from the rest of Russia, having pieces of Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Belarus in between. The tiny SE Asian country East Timor even has a tinier exclave.
Sometimes countries or administrative divisions such as states or republics or provinces are divided in pieces, where we don’t think of the pieces as exclaves, but simply as pieces. For instance, the American state Michigan is separated into the Upper and Lower Peninsulas. New Zealand has two main islands, along with a number of smaller islands.
Of course, there are island countries such as Indonesia with thousands of pieces. Greece has a mainland portion, but also has hundreds of islands.
All this is true, but has there ever been an odder pair of pieces than West and East Pakistan? For a time, these two pieces comprised one country, yet were separated by about 1000 miles and were tremendously different in both physical and human geographies.
In 1947 British India came to an end. The British Empire (or the British Raj) had conquered much of South Asia, but after World War II, Britain was politically weary and fiscally stretched. With unrest and calls for independence in India, the British government decided to grant sovereignty to British India. But how to do this? Culturally, the region was quite diverse with multiple languages (Hindi and English the most common) and religions (Hinduism and Islam the most common). Sometimes borders are drawn to be based on features of the physical landscape; however, here it was decided to create two new countries on the basis of religion. Pakistan created as the Muslim country, while India would be predominantly Hindu, yet also would contain Sikhs, Jains, and Christians in small percentages. This might have been fine if the Islamic portion was a single intact region; however, there were two significant portions of Islam in the British Raj, separated by a thousand miles.
Clearly, the whole process of creating independent sovereign countries from this portion of the British Empire was complicated; however, to simply put it, this creative split ended up largely as a Hindu/Muslim divide. Or, perhaps we should say a Muslim/Hindu/Muslim divide. The western Muslim portion of the British Raj would become West Pakistan, while the eastern Muslim lands would be East Pakistan (at first, East Bengal). India would become the dominantly Hindu country. Religious believers who found themselves mismatched with these new countries were given the opportunity to migrate to the appropriate lands. Considerable migration did occur, though often marred by violence. While West and East Pakistan together ended up with over 90% Muslims, not all Muslims left India. As a result, India now has about 80% Hindus and 14% Muslims, as well as a few percent of other believers.
Thus began West and East Pakistan in 1947, as based on Muslim faith and identity. However, this is just about all that these two lands shared in common. Furthermore, while presumably the intent was for these two territories to be equal partners, it quickly became obvious that West Pakistan dominated politically and economically. Language differences strained relationships as those in the western area insisted on the regular use of Urdu, even though essentially everyone in the eastern zone spoke Bengali. In 1970, despair and frustration were common in East Pakistan. Parliamentary elections were dominated by a political party that sought independence; however, its leader was arrested. Even so, the Awami League party in East Pakistan won an outright majority of the National Assembly seats (162 out of 300), normally entitling them to form a government of the entire country, but were denied the ability to do so. Mass protests were slammed by military forces, prompting Bengalis to flee to India as refugees. West Pakistan also attacked Indian locations, prompting India to side militarily with East Pakistan. Although the war ended with independence for Bangladesh, casualties on the eastern side during the uprisings and war were much higher than for what became Pakistan. Civilian deaths in Bangladesh have been called a genocide with those estimates reaching three million deaths; however, this claim is controversial, as other estimates can be under 100,000.
Consider some of these features in the table below.
| West Pakistan | East Pakistan | |
|---|---|---|
| Know known as | Pakistan | Bangladesh |
| Main language | Urdu - 75% | Bengali - 98% |
| Population density per square mile | 633 | 2864 |
| Ethnicity | Punjabi - 44% | Bengali - 98% |
| Main landforms | Desert and mountains | Flood plains |
| Rivers | Indus | Ganges (Padma),
Brahmaputra (Jamuna) |
| Climate risk | Drought | Flooding |
| Agriculture | Wheat and cotton | Rice and jute |
These are completely different ethnic groups in varied landscapes with their own corresponding histories and cultures. (West) Pakistan’s history and culture developed on rugged lands, often desert or mountain spaces. In contrast, most of Bangladesh is situated on the world’s largest river delta. When extreme weather imperils Pakistan, people suffer the personal and economic costs of drought. As a floodplain, Bangladesh is subject to widespread flooding in the heavy rains of the wet season of the monsoon climate. Indeed, floods in 2022 have been widespread, imperiling an estimated seven million people. In these settings, different economies and agricultures have developed over centuries, helping to create different cultures and ethnicities. When even the most basic element of culture – language – is mismatched between West and East, it is difficult to imagine how these separate regions could fit cohesively together.
Did you know?
A singular moment in the war occurred when Sahabzada Yaqub Khan, a lieutenant-general for the western side, disobeyed direct orders to take military action against civilian unrest in the eastern side. Forcefully arguing for diplomatic efforts over military solutions, Yaqub Khan later joined Pakistan’s diplomatic corps, where among other posts he served as ambassador to the United States and later as ambassador to the Soviet Union. (Does a database exist that would show how many individuals from any country have served in both those capacities? Anyone other than Yaqub Khan?)
American foreign policy failed to find the “Goldilocks” position in the 1971 war, as Pakistan felt that the US didn’t not support it enough, while the new Bangladesh argued that America favored Pakistan too much. President Richard Nixon and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger were devoted to their dialogue with China that would lead to Nixon’s visit to China in 1972. With West Pakistan facilitating this dialogue, American foreign policy was slow to condemn West Pakistan’s genocidal attacks in East Pakistan.
Both Angola and Mozambique gained independence from Portugal in 1975. The distance from their nearest borders is less than 500 miles. Could they have formed one country but in two separate pieces? Could have, yes. But, no, ridiculous. Different languages, cultures, landscapes, etc. In Africa and both speak Portuguese, but that is not enough. As ascertained in South Asia, being in South Asia and being Muslim are not sufficient conditions to overcome a multiple of significant geographic differences.
Perhaps West and East Germany can be considered the opposite circumstance as compared to West and East Pakistan. Cutting Germany in halves based on political spheres of influence for Western democracy and Soviet communism split the country’s predominant ethnic group in half. In this case, the ethnic division was resolved by the post-communist reunification of Germany.
Cited and additional bibliography:
Bass, Gary Jonathan. The Blood Telegram: Nixon, Kissinger, and a Forgotten Genocide. First Edition, Alfred A Knopf, 2013.
Department Of State. The Office of Electronic Information, Bureau of Public Affairs. The South Asia Crisis and the Founding of Bangladesh, 1971. 25 Jan. 2008, https://2001-2009.state.gov/r/pa/ho/time/dr/99696.htm.
Magramo, Kathleen. “7 Million in Bangladesh Need Aid after ‘Worst Floods in Memory,’ Red Cross Says.” CNN, https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/29/asia/bangladesh-floods-millions-urgent-relief-need-intl-hnk/index.html.
“1971 War: The Story of India’s Victory, Pak’s Surrender, Bangladesh Freedom.” Business Standard India, 16 Dec. 2018. Business Standard, https://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/vijay-diwas-how-india-ended-pak-s-atrocities-and-ensured-freed-bangladesh-118121600120_1.html.
