The six point movement was a movement in East Pakistan, spearheaded by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, which called for greater autonomy for East Pakistan. [1] [2] The movement's main agenda was to realize the six demands put forward by a coalition of Bengali nationalist political parties in 1966, to end the perceived exploitation of East Pakistan by the West Pakistani rulers. [3] It is considered a milestone on the road to Bangladesh's independence. [4]
Opposition leaders in East Pakistan called for a national conference on 6 February 1966, to assess the trend of post-Tashkent politics. On 4 February, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, along with some members of the Awami League, reached Lahore to attend the conference. The next day on 5 February, he placed the Six Points before the subject committee and urged to include the issue in the agenda of next day's conference. The proposal was rejected and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was identified as a separatist. On 6 February, Mujib boycotted the conference. On 21 February, the Six Points proposal was placed before the meeting of the working committee of the Awami League and the proposal was accepted unanimously.[ citation needed ]
The reason for proposing the Six Points was to give the East greater autonomy in Pakistan. Following the partition of India, the new state of Pakistan came into being. The inhabitants of East Pakistan (later Bangladesh) made up the majority of its population, and exports from East Pakistan (such as jute) were a majority of Pakistan's export income. However, East Pakistanis did not feel they had a proportional share of political power and economic benefits within Pakistan. A statistical overview of economic discrimination:
| Year | Spending on West Pakistan (in crore rupees) | Amount spent on West as percentage of total | Spending on East Pakistan (in crore rupees) | Amount spent on East as percentage of total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| % of total population | 36.23 | 63.77 | ||
| 1950-55 | 1,129 | 68.31 | 524 | 31.69 |
| 1955-60 | 1,655 | 75.95 | 524 | 24.05 |
| 1960-65 | 3,355 | 70.5 | 1,404 | 29.5 |
| 1965-70 | 5,195 | 70.82 | 2,141 | 29.18 |
| Total | 11,334 | 71.16 | 4,593 | 28.84 |
| Source: Reports of the Advisory Panels for the Fourth Five Year Plan 1970-75, Vol. I, published by the planning commission of Pakistan (quick reference: crore = 107, or 10 million) | ||||
East Pakistan was facing a critical situation after being subjected to continuous discrimination on a regional basis, year after year. As a result, the economists, intelligentsia, and the politicians of East Pakistan started to raise questions about this discrimination, giving rise to the historic six-point movement. [5]
Rehman Sobhan, Nurul Islam, Khairul Kabir, Anisur Rahman, Muzaffar Ahmed Chowdhury, and Khan Sarwar Murshid, and other prominent intellectuals drafted the six-point demand. [6] [7]
The six points are noted as being: [3]
The proposal was rejected by politicians from West Pakistan and non Awami League politicians from East Pakistan. It was rejected by the president of the All Pakistan Awami League, Nawabzada Nasarullah Khan. It was also rejected by the National Awami Party, Jamaat-i-Islami, and Nizam-i-Islam. [5] The movement had support from the majority of the population of East Pakistan. [8]
East Pakistan was the eastern provincial exclave of Pakistan between 1955 and 1971, covering the territory of the modern country Bangladesh. The province was restructured and renamed from East Bengal, which, in modern times, is split between India and Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India and Burma, with a coastline on the Bay of Bengal. East Pakistanis were popularly known as "Pakistani Bengalis"; to distinguish this region from India's state West Bengal, East Pakistan was known as "Pakistani Bengal". In 1971, East Pakistan became the newly independent state Bangladesh, which means "country of Bengal" or "country of Bengalis" in Bengali language.
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, popularly known by the honorific prefix Bangabandhu was a Bangladeshi politician, revolutionary, statesman, activist and diarist. As a politician, Mujib had held continuous positions as president or prime minister from April 1971 until his assassination in August 1975: as president from 1971 to 1972 and briefly from 1975 until his death, and as prime minister from 1972 to 1975. Mujib successfully led the Bangladeshi independence movement and restored the Bengali sovereignty after over two centuries following the Battle of Plassey in 1757, for which he is honoured as the 'Father of the Nation' in Bangladesh. In 2011, the fifteenth constitutional amendment in Bangladesh referred to Sheikh Mujib as the Father of the Nation who declared independence; these references were enshrined in the fifth, sixth, and seventh schedules of the constitution. His Bengali nationalist ideology, socio-political theories, and political doctrines are sometimes called Mujibism.
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The Provisional Government of Bangladesh, popularly known as the Mujibnagar Government; also known as the Bangladeshi government-in-exile, was a provisional government that was established following the proclamation of independence of East Pakistan as Bangladesh on 10 April 1971. Headed by prime minister Tajuddin Ahmad, it was the supreme leadership of the Bangladeshi liberation movement, comprising a cabinet, a diplomatic corps, an assembly, an armed force, and a radio service. It operated as a government-in-exile from Kolkata.
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