Maps of the Republic of Bangladesh and the eastern part of the Indian Subcontinent [1985]
While the overall plight of the Rohingyas were avoided with Rakhine being handed over to Pakistan instead of Burma during its independence, the colonialist oppression by the West Pakistanis on the Bengali people yet remained. Bangladesh declared independence by 1971. By November, seeing their fortunes running out, Pakistani forces made a dash for Sylhet, where a sizeable loyalist population remained.
By December, almost all of the country except the Sylhet division ended up in the hands of the Bangladeshi Liberation Forces. A UN brokered ceasefire, which was coupled in with the Sino-Indian Ceasefire, halted all efforts to take Sylhet, and established an air corridor for Pakistan to keep supplying its occupation of the region.
However, with an Islamist coup in Pakistan, and supplies yet dwindling down by 1973, the Pakistani Administration in Sylhet has taken some rather outlandish measures.
Sylhet as of 1985 serves as a textbook model of what the Pakistani Army intended to do in Bangladesh in case of their victory. Most of the native Sylhetis are enslaved, cultivating the drug economy in the old tea fields, or making weapons. The old Sylheti and Bengali languages are now rather dead in public life as well, with the Pakistani Administration in Sylhet(<who now call themselves the Provisional Govt. of East Pakistan) making sure to wipe out all aspects of the native language and culture in the region.
As of 1985, Pakistan and Bangladesh are still in an official state of war. With Bangladesh unwilling to forge peace until Pakistan officially withdraws its unorthodox presence from Sylhet, and also return the body of the nation's founding father, as well as rightfully elected leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
While the overall plight of the Rohingyas were avoided with Rakhine being handed over to Pakistan instead of Burma during its independence, the colonialist oppression by the West Pakistanis on the Bengali people yet remained. Bangladesh declared independence by 1971. By November, seeing their fortunes running out, Pakistani forces made a dash for Sylhet, where a sizeable loyalist population remained.
By December, almost all of the country except the Sylhet division ended up in the hands of the Bangladeshi Liberation Forces. A UN brokered ceasefire, which was coupled in with the Sino-Indian Ceasefire, halted all efforts to take Sylhet, and established an air corridor for Pakistan to keep supplying its occupation of the region.
However, with an Islamist coup in Pakistan, and supplies yet dwindling down by 1973, the Pakistani Administration in Sylhet has taken some rather outlandish measures.
Sylhet as of 1985 serves as a textbook model of what the Pakistani Army intended to do in Bangladesh in case of their victory. Most of the native Sylhetis are enslaved, cultivating the drug economy in the old tea fields, or making weapons. The old Sylheti and Bengali languages are now rather dead in public life as well, with the Pakistani Administration in Sylhet(<who now call themselves the Provisional Govt. of East Pakistan) making sure to wipe out all aspects of the native language and culture in the region.
As of 1985, Pakistan and Bangladesh are still in an official state of war. With Bangladesh unwilling to forge peace until Pakistan officially withdraws its unorthodox presence from Sylhet, and also return the body of the nation's founding father, as well as rightfully elected leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
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