The establishment of Pakistan as a nation state owed much to the people of East Bengal. Yet, from the very outset, the ruling elite of Pakistan subjected these same people to neglect, suspicion, humiliation, exploitation and deprivation.

Alongside stark economic disparities, there was the relentless oppression of military authoritarian rule, deep-seated anti-Bengali prejudice, and persistent suspicion and slander regarding the religious identity of Bengali Muslims.

Bengalis were systematically marginalised in administration, commerce, and both civilian and military state institutions. Efforts were even made to alienate them from their own language and literature by branding them as “Hinduani” (Hindu-influenced).

Sociologist Hamza Alavi aptly characterised Pakistan as an overdeveloped military-bureaucratic state. This heavy apparatus of civil and military bureaucracy was further reinforced by Pakistan’s alignment with the United States’ imperial strategy in the post–Second World War global order.