Independence in South AsiaIndia, Pakistan, Bangladesh
Mohandas Gandhi (Mahatma)
• Raised in strict Hindu family
• Married at age 13
• Studied law in London
• Went to South Africa for work
• Protested laws of racial discrimination• Formulated ideas of civil disobedience and passive resistance
• Returned to India to protest racist (British) laws and push for Indian independence• Amritsar Massacre
• Great Salt March
• Assassinated by Hindu extremist who opposed peace with Muslims
Nonviolent Protest--Satyagraha
• Civil Disobedience• Violating laws (and accepting consequences?)
because the laws are unjust
• Passive Resistance• Nonviolent protest against injustice, including
boycotts, sit-ins, fasting, peaceful demonstration, marches, speeches
• Amritsar Massacre
• Great Salt March
• Pioneered by Henry David Thoreau; modeled by Gandhi, and later used by Martin Luther King, Jr., Nelson Mandela, and many others
Independence Organizations
Indian National Congress• Organized in 1885
• Nationalist Organization
• Led by Mohandas Gandhi 1916-1947
• Included Hindus and Muslims
• Achieved Independence from Britain in 1947
Muslim League
• Created in 1906 to protect rights of Muslims in India
• Initially called for unity of Hindus and Muslims in an independent India
• Starting 1940, called for partition of India
• Led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah
Partition and Independence
• Independence granted by British in 1947
• India was partitioned at this time into India (Hindu) and Pakistan (Muslim
• Largest human migration at one time
• Violent conflicts
• According to New Yorker article, the Partition displaced 15 million people and killed over a million
Jawaharlal Nehru
• Leader in the Indian National Congress, partner with Gandhi and Mohammed Ali Jinnah
• First prime minister of independent India (1947-64)
• Established India as independent, secular, and democratic
• Promoted economic modernization
• NONALIGNMENT• Did not choose sides, but worked with both USSR
and US depending on their support of India’s interests
Indira Gandhi
• Daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru
• Prime minister of India 1966-77, 1980-84
• During the Cold War, continued nonalignment policies
• Assassinated
Muhammed Ali Jinnah
• Leader of Muslim League
• Led the Muslims in resigning from the Indian National Congress
• What Muslims and Hindus have in common is slavery to British
• First governor-general of Pakistan
Benazir Bhutto
• Daughter of prominent political family in Pakistan
• Father (Ali Bhutto) was overthrown as prime minister in coup and executed
• Benazir Bhutto educated at Harvard and Oxford
• Benazir Bhutto was elected prime minister in 1988-1990, 1993-97, but accused of corruption. Lived in exile.
• Returned to Pakistan in 2007 to run for office, but assassinated before election
• First female prime minister of a Muslim country
Kashmir
• Territorial and religious dispute stemming from partition in 1947
• Repeated violent clashes
• Both India and Pakistan have successfully tested nuclear weapons
East Pakistan
• When Pakistan was formed in 1947, it consisted of East and West Pakistan
• Conflicts between East and West Pakistan stemmed from• Political and financial control centered in West
Pakistan
• Discrimination against East Pakistanis
• Differences in language. (Pakistan made Urdu its official language. In East Pakistan, most people spoke Bengali and objected, sometimes violently, to being forced to use Urdu.)
Pakistani Civil War
• Began in March 1971, sparked by elections• Awami League won the elections, calling for
greater autonomy for East Pakistan
• Awami League began campaign of civil disobedience when its gov’t initiatives were blocked by West Pakistan
• War crimes committed by both sides, including execution of civilians
• India intervened in support of East Pakistan, which gained its independence as Bangladesh
Bangladesh– Environment and Geography
• Very low-lying, much of the country below sea level
• Prone to hurricanes and flooding
• Very poor; unable to build infrastructure to withstand natural disasters