Abstract:
Pakistan had a plural society per excellence. Its people were divided
geographically between two separate regions, spoke different languages, had
different cultures and economic structures. Like other plural societies elsewhere,
Pakistan also faced the problem of national integration. Cleavages along the
lines of traditional attachments are fundamental to any plural society, as they
were in Pakistan. But their political manifestation could have been kept within
managable limits if the Central Government, overwhelmingly composed of the
West Pakistanis, was seriously committed to the task. All that Pakistan needed
to maintain her integrated existence was deliberate, calculated and conscious
efforts on the part of the Central Government to give the Bengalis, the majority
linguistic and geographic group in the country, a partnership in the state of
Pakistan, an effective power in the decision-making process of the country,
a reasonable share from the economic resources of the country, and to show
respect to their hopes and aspirations. In addition, Pakistan needed a national
platform to bring her divergent linguistic and geographic groups toge~her for
some common, national purpos~s. Political parties were the only institutions
which could have served this purpose. Pakistan miserably failed to sustain
national political parties and failed to satisfy Bengalis' demands. This failure
eventually resulted in the falling apart of the political system of Pakistan
in 1971.
