In conversation with Ayesha Jalal, Mary Richardson Professor of History and Director of Center for South Asian and Indian Ocean Studies at Tufts University, USA
Priyam Pritim Paul (PPP): How do you evaluate the events of 1971 and the birth of Bangladesh?
Ayesha Jalal (AJ): As a continuation of the historic dynamics of centre and region in the aftermath of a watershed moment like India's partition along ostensibly religious lines. In other words, I consider the birth of Bangladesh much like that of Pakistan—as a failure of federalism in practice in the subcontinent.
PPP: It has often been pointed out that the two great events in the South Asian state system – 1947 and 1971 – involved crises over the question of power-sharing. What was the role of ideas and identities (such as religion, language, region and so forth) behind the two restructurings of the South Asian state system? How do you compare the two events?
AJ: The preeminent idea undergirding the two events was the invention of territorialised identities under European colonialism, that is to say the notion that certain regional and linguistic groups were temperamentally suited to inhabit a specific part of the globe as opposed to others. As for self-identification, the idea that came to gain prominence was the notion of communities-turned-nations that were entitled to certain prerogatives.
1947 and 1971 are both instances of the failure of power-sharing arrangements and thus the need to create yet another hyphenated...
Read Full Story: https://www.thedailystar.net/supplements/victory-day-special-2021/news/i-regret-pakistan-has-still-not-formally-apologised-2918031
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