Six Point Movement
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Dhrubo JyotiSix Point Movement
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Dhrubo Jyoti- Six Point Movement: Introduces the national movement led by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, advocating autonomy for East Pakistan.
- Cultural Impact: Analyzes how language and cultural disparities fueled the demand for autonomy.
- Economic Disparities: Discusses economic inequalities between East and West Pakistan, highlighting budget allocations.
- Administrative Challenges: Examines administrative imbalances, including employment in civil services and military representation.
- Military Inequality: Details the discrimination in military service numbers and leadership between regions.
- The Six Points of Sheikh Mujib: Outlines the six demands advocating autonomy, focusing on a federal structure and economic control.
- Importance and Significance: Highlights why the Six-point programme was pivotal in the independence movement.
- Reaction to Six-point Programme: Describes reactions to the Six-point programme from West Pakistan and its political implications.
- Demand for Autonomy: Discusses the demand for autonomy as a precursor to the Bengali independence movement.
- Strong Voice Against Exploitation: Presents the Six-point programme as a resistance to exploitative practices by West Pakistan.
- Creation of Bengali Nationalism: Explains how the Six-point movement nurtured Bengali nationalism among diverse groups.
- Increased Popularity of Sheikh Mujib and Awami League: Explores the rising influence of Sheikh Mujib and his party through the Six-point Declaration.
- The 1970 Election: Describes the crucial role of the Six-point agenda in Awami League's 1970 election win.
- The Seeds of Freedom: Explains how the Six Points laid the groundwork for Bangladesh's independence.
Six Point Movement :
The six point movement was a Nationalist movement in then East
Pakistan, spearheaded by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman,which called for
greater autonomy for East Pakistan. It is considered a milestone on the
road to the history of the independence of Bangladesh.
According to Raunaq Jahan, “Although the six-point movement was
short-lived, it brought about a major change in Bengali politics and
determined the pace and nature of subsequent political movements”.
Background / Reasons Behind the Six Point
Movement :
The main reason for proposing this six point programme was to end
Master-slave rule in Pakistan. To get rid of the colonial rule and
exploitation of Pakistanis, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
announced the six points program in 1966. The purpose of
Bangabandhu was to free East Pakistan from the discrimination through
realising six points demand. Basically after the end the war between
India and Pakistan, Bangabandhu raised voice against the extreme
negligence of the West Pakistan Government to the security of East
Pakistan and limitless disparity toward East Pakistan in political,
economic, administrative, military, educational affairs as well.
Bangabandhu presented the 'six-points' demand (titled 'amader bachar
dabi: chhoy dafa karmashuchi') on 5-6 February in 1966 when
Opposition leaders convened a conference in Lahore.
Cultural
The first attack was on the language. Language, literature and culture of
the two wings of Pakistan were quite different. East Pakistan had 56%
of the total population. Urdu speaking people were only 3.27%. But the
West Pakistan tried to impose Urdu as the state language of Pakistan.
They hatred Bengali culture and pointed it as “anti-Islamic” and banned
Rabindranath Tagor’s songs in national broadcasting centers.
Economic :
East Pakistan suffered from the highest disparity caused by the West
Pakistan in economic affairs. The degree of exploitation by the West
Pakistan was terrible. As a result East Pakistan could never be
economically self-sufficient. Head-offices of banks, insurance and
commercial organizations including The Central Bank were in West
Pakistan. For this money was laundered to West Pakistan very easily. In
the first one the government outlay from budget allocations in East and
West Pakistan was 113 crore and 500 crore respectively. In the second
one the budget allocations were 950 crore for East Pakistan and 1350
crore for West Pakistan. . At that time the rate of total government
expenditure in East Pakistan was only 5.10%. 300 crore taka was spent
for constructing Islamabad till 1967; whereas, the money spent for
Dhaka was 25 crore taka. In the matter of allocating foreign aids East
Pakistan got only 26.6% during the period of 1947-1970.
Administrative :
The officials of the civil service were the key force in the Pakistani
administration. In 1962 there were only 119 Bangalees among 954 high
ranking officials in the Ministries. In the central government offices
there were 42000 employees, among them only 2900 were Bangalees.
As the capital was set up in Karachi in 1947, the West Pakistanis got
employment in a large scale in all government offices.
In East and West Pakistan number of gazetted officials was 1338 and
3708 respectively; and the number of non-gazetted officials was 26310
and 82944 respectively. In the Foreign Service in 1962 there was only
20.8% representation of East Pakistan. In embassies in the foreign
countries there were 60 ambassadors from West Pakistan out of 69.
Political
Although the state of Pakistan was born on the basis of the historic
Lahore resolution, East Pakistan was never given the right to autonomy
based on the Lahore resolution. Although the United Front won the
elections in 1954, it was not allowed to form a representative
government. Besides, in 1958, Ayub Khan imposed martial law and
deprived the politicians of East Pakistan of their basic rights.
In 1965, August-September, India-Pakistan fought the war over the
border issue of Kashmir for 17 days. But in those 17 days East Pakistan
was totally unsafe because India could attack anytime and there was no
Military force in the East Pakistan. When Bengalis questioned for their
safety to Pakistan, they replied “Defense of East Pakistan lies in the
hand of West Pakistan.” But West Pakistan did not do anything.
Bengalis couldn’t tolerate this discrimination much longer. They started
protesting. From this, a conference was held in Lahore in 5-6 February,
in 1966. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman presented the six-point in that
conference. “He demand for "absolute autonomy" based on his six-
point formula seems to have shaken the foundation of the Islamic
Republic of Pakistan.
Military :
Discrimination in the Army, Navy, & Air Force Punjabis had been
occupying the top post. In 1955, among 2211 army officers Bangalees
were only 82. In 1966, among 17 top ranking officials, there was only
one Bangalee . Among 5 lakhs soldiers, Bangalees were only 20000 .
Six Points :
The six points are noted as being-
1. The constitution should provide for a Federation of Pakistan in its
true sense on the basis of Lahore Resolution and the
parliamentary form of government with supremacy of a
Legislature directly elected on the basis of universal adult
franchise.
2. The federal government should deal with only two subjects:
Defense and Foreign Affairs, and all other residuary subjects shall
be vested in the federating states.
3. Two separate, but freely convertible currencies for two wings
should be introduced; or if this is not feasible, there should be one
currency for the whole country, but effective constitutional
provisions should be introduced to stop the flight of capital from
East to West Pakistan. Furthermore, a separate Banking Reserve
should be established and separate fiscal and monetary policy be
adopted for East Pakistan.
4. The power of taxation and revenue collection shall be vested in
the federating units. The federation will be entitled to deposit a
certain portion in the federal fund. The federal government shall
use this fund to meet its expenditures.
5. The federal units shall have the full authority to regulate foreign
exchange earnings and trade links. There should be two separate
accounts for the foreign exchange earnings of the two wings; the
foreign exchange requirements of the federal government should
be met by the two wings equally or in a ratio to be fixed.
6. To safeguard regional solidarity and national security the
provinces should have the authority to form and control their own
militia or paramilitary force.
Reaction of Six-point:
1. The government rejected the six points. They referred to
Sheikh Mujib as a separatist and Sheikh Mujib was arrested.
2. Ayub Khan described the six points as a conspiracy to form a
Hindu-dominated United Bengal.
3. Political parties (Muslim League, Jamaat-e-Islami, Nezami
Islami, NAP (Bhasani) rejected the six points.
4. A part of the Awami League, including Maulana Abdur Rashid
Tarkabagish, opposed the six points.
Importance/Significance of Six Point programme/
Movement :
The importance of the six-point movement is immense. The six-point
movement was the precursor of some momentous events which
were the triggring factors of the emergence of Bangladesh.
Demand for Autonomy:
Six-point demand was first identified East Bengal as a separate
region and demanded greater autonomy.
Creation of Bengali Nationalism:
The six points were a symbol of hope and aspiration of Bengalis.
This was the key to the characterization and self-reliance of the
Bengali nation consisting of Hindus, Muslims, Christians and
Buddhists in East Pakistan. As a result, the six-point movement
was severely suppressed and the consciousness of the Bengali
nation united them.
Increased the Popularity of Sheikh Mujib and
Awami League:
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman presented the six-point demand on
behalf of the Awami League in 1966. As a result, the popularity of
Sheikh Mujib and Awami League increased through six points.
According to Raunaq Jahan, “ Sixpoint movement whose main
thrust was demand of greater autonomy for east Pakistan is
regarded as the turning point in Mujib’s rise to charismatic
leadership ’’.
Strong voice against exploitation:
The six-point demand was the first strong protest against the
long-running exploitation of East Pakistan by the Pakistani
government. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman himself referred to the six
points as "the Charter of Liberation of Bengal's peasants, workers,
laborers, middle class and the common people to step towards
the establishment of Bengal's rights".
Six points awaken democratic values.
Six point played an important role in the Agartala Conspiracy Case
in 1968.
The removal of Ayub Khan's dictatorship.
Six point played an important role in the mass uprising of 1969.
The Election of 1970:
The key factor in Awami League's election manifesto in 1970 was
this six points program. The Awami League sought public mandate
in favor of the six points program in the general elections of 1970.
A landslide victory was gained with the absolute mandate from
the people of East Pakistan in favor of six-point program.
The Seeds of Freedom:
The seeds of Bangladesh's independence were sown in the six
points. Because the first demand for autonomy was in the six
points which helped the mass uprising in 1969 and the victory of
Awami League in the election of 1970 which played an important
role in the rise of independent Bangladesh.
