Özet:

Right after its inception, Pakistan was beset with the curses of caustic ethnicity and separatism. One of the major early issues that came forth was that of Pakhtunistan (Caroe, 1960) and the fix of the merger of Kalat. Meanwhile, the East-Bengal and the elite started cherishing conflicting ideologies and hence their relation worsened. Over the course of time, this rift aggravated and a new country came into being mainly because of the mass level political awakening and the ignoble designs of the Indian military (Inayatullah, 1988). In order to gain political power and hegemony, various regional political groups in Pakistan manipulated linguistic and ethnic differences. The various ethnic factions such as Balochis, Bengalis, Sindhis and Pakhtuns had a notorious history of rendering a strong political agitation in the face of the colonial masters of the land i.e. the British (Talbot, 1991). The aforementioned political agitation, to varying extents, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries altered into planned movements that endeavored in order to compel the British to withdraw from India. Moreover, these ethnic groups also raised voice and strived to secure their respective territorial and political autonomy (Reetz, 1997). These ethnic movements originating during colonial times in India, and in the post-colonial period still prevailed to agitate for the political autonomy. One of the most glaring examples is the 1960s’ Bengali secessionist movement that ended in the form of “political divorce” between West and East Pakistan. Ultimately, Bangladesh came into being in December, 1971. This paper will attempt to provide a gist and critical examination of the major regional movements.

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