PC: Bengali Devolution?

Can Pakistani leaders negotiate with Bengali separatists so that Bengal can have their own assembly and first minister, but the first minister can not override the prime minister of Pakistan?
 
Will the Bengali leaders accept this?:

1. There will be a East Pakistan First Minister and a East Pakistani Assembly, but the FM can not overrule the PM. The EPA will deal with Bengali issues, and the PM will not intervene unless it is necessary.
2. There will be a Bengali National Guard, but not a separate military
3. Bengali parties will be allowed to participate in Pakistani elections, and Bengalis will still vote in Pakistani elections.
4. One currency for the whole country, but effective constitutional provisions should be introduced to stop the flight of capital from East to West Pakistan.
5. Bengali will become an official language of Pakistan, and will be taught in schools in West Pakistan. However, Urdu will be taught in schools in East Pakistan. New Constitutional provisions will be introduced to prevent attempts to suppress the Bengali language.
 
Will the Bengali leaders accept this?:

The last point will probably make or break the deal. The best option would be for both Bengali and Urdu to be replaced as the lingua franca by another language (likely English), while allowing both languages to be taught throughout Pakistan (with either language set as the medium in either parts). Bengalis would not accept being second banana in an Urdu-speaking country, but they can at least accept being equals in a united Pakistan. The issue is whether West Pakistan would accept devolution at all, which IOTL, is a flat 'no', with predictable consequences.
 
On the language part: Well, since not only is Bengali an official language but since it is taught in West Pakistani schools, I think it would be equal.
 
Devolution would end up with East Bengal declaring its independence, after its local assembly has no desire to get its hands wet in the various disputes of West Pakistan.

The best option would be for both Bengali and Urdu to be replaced as the lingua franca by another language (likely English), while allowing both languages to be taught throughout Pakistan (with either language set as the medium in either parts).

Why? In most of Pakistan, Urdu has worked pretty well as the lingua franca in a diverse nation. If Pakistan began to allow Bengali to be taught across Pakistan, it means other local languages, like Punjabi, Baluchi, Sindhi, and Pashto, will now have be taught across Pakistan. This breaks Pakistan's unity even further than Bengal vs. everything else.
 
Well darn. Is there any other way for Pakistan to hold on to Bangladesh? Maybe if Sheikh Mujeeb was made PM after the 1970 election instead of the government refusing to convene the parliament. Sheikh Mujeeb would most likely implement his six points, which would turn Pakistan into a confederation comprising of East and West Pakistan. Don't know what he would do beyond there.
 
Devolution would end up with East Bengal declaring its independence, after its local assembly has no desire to get its hands wet in the various disputes of West Pakistan.



Why? In most of Pakistan, Urdu has worked pretty well as the lingua franca in a diverse nation. If Pakistan began to allow Bengali to be taught across Pakistan, it means other local languages, like Punjabi, Baluchi, Sindhi, and Pashto, will now have be taught across Pakistan. This breaks Pakistan's unity even further than Bengal vs. everything else.

Problem with using Urdu is that it only reinforces the perception that the Bengalis, the majority of the country, are being exploited by a very distant capital. In essence, Pakistan was probably an unworkable nation from the start, regardless of which side has the upper hand. If power is centered in the West, the Bengalis of East Pakistan would be disenfranchised, and if it's centered in East Pakistan, the rest in West Pakistan would feel the same. It's why I favour English instead, but it is, in itself, a can of worms.

Also, that said nation is split apart by a larger, very hostile neighbour, isn't helping to keep the country together. Either way, India isn't going to miss the chance to cut down its rival to size.
 
Well darn. Is there any other way for Pakistan to hold on to Bangladesh? Maybe if Sheikh Mujeeb was made PM after the 1970 election instead of the government refusing to convene the parliament. Sheikh Mujeeb would most likely implement his six points, which would turn Pakistan into a confederation comprising of East and West Pakistan. Don't know what he would do beyond there.

However, I would not trust the military to know it's place. He would probably be couped by some Punjabi general, sparking the independence war.
 
However, I would not trust the military to know it's place. He would probably be couped by some Punjabi general, sparking the independence war.

I think a good way to stop this is if the military is neutered in the 1950s, making them less likely to commit a coup. The Pakistani military has always been one monolithic force which is why they have a tendency to commit a coup. Try to find a way to change that and coups become less of a thing.
 
I'm going to requote an old post of mine on the subject.

No way, no how. It was simply unworkable and ludicrous to include East Bengal into Pakistan in the first place.

Not only is it geographically separated by a vast distance (i.e. all of India), but there are significant - and as we saw IOTL, insurmountable - ethnic, cultural, social, and linguistic differences between West Pakistanis (Punjabis, Pathans, Sindhis, Balochis, Kashmiris, and Urdu-speaking Mohajirs) and Muslim Bengalis. They are just too different and have no significant links, other than nominally sharing the same religion, and even then the type of Islam practiced by the majority of Muslim Bengalis is vastly different to that practiced by Pakistanis.

Also, in practice, West Pakistan treated East Bengal effectively like a colony, extracting surplus and giving very little in return (see the pathetic response to the 1965 cyclone, and various floods and famines). The West Pakistani establishment viewed Bengalis as racially and culturally inferior, refused to share power with them, tried to suppress the Bangla language and culture, and excluded them from most avenues of political, economic, and military authority, even though East Bengal had near population-parity with all of West Pakistan. When the Bengali Awami League party won the Pakistani national elections - and thus the right to govern all of Pakistan - the West Pakistani establishment and Pakistani Army responded with a military coup. That's how much they viewed Bengalis as inferior colonial subjects.
 
I'm going to requote an old post of mine on the subject.

The West Pakistanis seeing Bengalis as inferior is correct. There is a report of a West Pakistani official saying to a Bengali official "Why do you need toilets? Just use Banana Peels". Ayub Khan built roads, hospitals, schools etc. but most of the investments went to West Pakistan. As Bengalis were darker skinned and shorter than West Pakisanis, many Pakistanis thought that Bengalis were Indians.

Another reason for Bengali independence was the Pakistani Presidential election of 1965. Bengalis supported Fatima Jinnah, Muhammad Jinnah's younger sister, but Ayub Khan's goons rigged the election, causing Bengalis to resent Pakistan.

If Pre 1971 Pakistan was a Confederation consisting of East and West Pakistan, however, with all of Sheikh Mujeeb's six points implemented, I think Bangladesh would still be a part of Pakistan. However, the possibility of that happening is little.
 
Will the Bengali leaders accept this?:

It's not the Bengali leaders that were the issue.

Cregan's post 11 is spot on, although he doesn't explain just how badly the Bengalis were treated both before and especially during the independence movement.

Devolution would lead inevitably towards moves to independence, and that would be obvious to everyone, and there is not a hope in hell of Pakistan permitting that willingly.
 
Well darn. Is there any other way for Pakistan to hold on to Bangladesh? Maybe if Sheikh Mujeeb was made PM after the 1970 election instead of the government refusing to convene the parliament. Sheikh Mujeeb would most likely implement his six points, which would turn Pakistan into a confederation comprising of East and West Pakistan. Don't know what he would do beyond there.

If one wishes to keep them together, then one has to go back some considerable time. The behaviour of the Pakistan Army in East Pakistan (as it was at the time) towards the Bengalis was not good. By chance, I happened to be there, and witnessed what was happening on the ground. The Pakistan Army basically lost all semblance of control, applied a doctrine of subjugating the locals through fear and terror tactics, and indulged in unspeakable atrocities. By 1971, it is too late to change the attitudes, and the Bengalis were not viewed as fully human by the Pakistan Army.
 
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If one wishes to keep them together, then one has to go back some considerable time. The behaviour of the Pakistan Army in East Pakistan (as it was at the time) towards the Bengalis was not good. By chance, I happened to be there, and witnessed what was happening on the ground, and the Pakistan Army basically lost all semblance of control, and applied a doctrine of subjugating the locals through fear and terror tactics, and indulged in unspeakable atrocities. By 1971, it is too late to change the attitudes, and the Bengalis were not viewed as fully human by the Pakistan Army.

I did say before that if Sheikh Mujeeb was made PM the Pakistani military, which had always been comprised of Punjabis, they would have been a coup.
 
I did say before that if Sheikh Mujeeb was made PM the Pakistani military, which had always been comprised of Punjabis, they would have been a coup.

Quite likely. Given the nature of the Pakistan Army in 1971, I rather doubt that it would have been a bloodless coup. 1970 is far too late a POD to keep East Pakistan as an entity (which I believe is what you're saying).
 
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