1969 Uprising/ Mass Upsurge, 1969
1969 uprising in East Pakistan (ঊনসত্তরেে গণঅভ্যুত্থান) was a democratic political movement
in East Pakistan that took place in 1969. The uprising consisted of a series of mass
demonstrations and sporadic conflicts between government armed forces and the
demonstrators. Although the unrest began in 1966 with the Six point movement of Awami
League, it got momentum at the beginning of 1969 and culminated in the resignation of
Field Marshal Ayub Khan, the first military ruler of Pakistan. The student community
started a united movement against the Ayub regime. They defied the section 144 imposed
by the police, broke the barricades put by the East Pakistan Rifles and came out to the
streets in thousands.
The All Parties Students Action Committee was formed in December 1968 and on 4
January declared their 11-point Programme. This included the Awami League’s six points
but also social demands to attract leftists: lower taxes on farmers, higher wages for workers
and the nationalisation of big industries and banks. The movement radicalised as industrial
workers and urban and rural poor pressed for their own demands. Immediately after the 11-
Point program had been launched on 8 January 1969 eight political parties, including
Awami League and NAP (Muzaffar) formed the Democratic Action Committee (DAC),
and declared their 8-point Programme. But some rightist parties in the DAC refused to
support the 11-Point program of the Students' Action Committee (SAC). In spite of that the
movement gradually got momentum and the spirit of 11- points reached every nook and
corner of the province. Even a portion of the pro-government student front NSF came
forward with their 22-point program and openly opposed the government. To voice the
protest against government repression the students arranged a meeting at the Dhaka
University campus and resolved to bring out a procession. In the procession police opened
fire and Asaduzzaman, a leader of the Students Union (Menon), was killed. Indeed, the first
real stirrings of discontent in Pakistan's eastern province, insofar as the Ayub regime was
concerned, had been observed a month earlier through the killing of a young student,
Asaduzzaman, on January 20. The situation of Dhaka went beyond control of the police
when Matiur, a student of class IX, died of police firing on 24 January and Rustam was
stabbed to death. Army was deployed in the city and curfew was imposed for an indefinite
period. The incidence caused widespread repercussions in the socio-political arena.
Sergeant Zahrul Huq, an under-trial prisoner in the Agartala Conspiracy Case, was
mercilessly shot to death while in confinement in Dhaka Cantonment on 15 February 1969.
The news of his death was so provocative that Maulana Bhasani declared from a public
meeting held that very evening that, if necessary, Sheikh Mujib would be forcibly taken
out of jail. After the meeting a furious mob set fire to the State Guest House as well as other
buildings. S.A Rahman, Chairman of the tribunal, and Manzur Quader, chief lawyer on the
government side, who were then residing in the guest house, evacuated secretly. On 18
February 1969 Dr Mohammad Shamsuzzoha, Proctor of the Rajshahi University, was
bayoneted to death. The news spread like wild fire throughout the country. Thousands of
people thronged the Dhaka streets and highways ignoring curfew. The uprising also led to
the withdrawal of Agartala Conspiracy Case and acquittal of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and
his colleagues from the case on 22nd February 1969. Amidst strong popular demand in the
same day Ayub had to give way and declare that he would not contest the next Presidential
Election.
Sheikh Mujib received the title of ‘Bangabandhu’ on 23rd February at a public meeting
organised by the Central Student Action Committee. Bangabandhu gave an emotional
speech on this day and pledged to continue his fight against the injustice done to his people.
He also indicated that he would join the Round Table Conference (RTC) summoned by
Ayub to present the demands of the people. If the demands were not met, he would renew
his fight and would be ready to go to jail again. Maulana Bhasani, on the other hand, refused
to join the RTC. Not surprisingly, Sheikh Mujib’s demands were not met by President Ayub
and subsequently, the Ayub regime collapsed under the heavy pressure of people’s agitation.
When Ayub Khan was forced to step down in March 1969, the commander-in-chief of
the Pakistan army, General Yahya Khan, took his place. Yahya represented the same
military-bureaucratic alliance as his predecessor and he immediately declared martial law
with a view to protecting that alliance’s position. But Yahya chose a different path from
Ayub. He sought conciliation rather than confrontation and he tried to bring the politicians
back into the power equation in Pakistan. He announced that political activities were to be
allowed from early 1970 and that Pakistan’s first general elections for the National
Assembly would be held towards the end of the same year. As president, he retained
extensive powers, however, and the military-bureaucratic elite considered these sufficient
to guarantee their future hold on the state, whatever the outcome of the elections.
The Mass Upsurge was a ‘warm-up’ for the independence struggle of Bengalis. It also
shows that Sheikh Mujib had reached the hearts of all Bengalis by this point and the people
were ready to risk their own lives for their leader. This was also reflected in the landslide
victory in the 1970 general election which gave Bangabandhu the moral strength to fight
for his people. Thus, in the informal swearing-in-ceremony of the elected representatives
of Awami League on January 3, 1971, he spoke from his heart that he would never
compromise on the interests of his people. In his own words, “I do not aspire to be Prime
Minister. Prime Ministers come and go. I shall remember the love and respect my
countrymen have shown for me all my life. I do not fear torture, oppression and the solitary
cell of jail. But the love of the people seems to have made me emotionally weak.” He was
true to his words. And never did he lower his head. Not even when he came close to being
hung. This makes him the immortal hero.
