Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka: building new nations after 1947
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Flip to reveal answersWhat happened to Muhammad Ali Jinnah in September 1948?
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All 12 Flashcards — Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka: building new nations after 1947
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Question
What happened to Muhammad Ali Jinnah in September 1948?
Answer
He died, just over a year after becoming Pakistan's first Governor-General — removing unifying leadership before national institutions were established.
Question
Ayub Khan
Answer
Pakistani army general who seized power in a 1958 coup and ruled until 1969; introduced land reforms and a "Decade of Development" but centralised power via the Basic Democracies system.
Question
What did the Awami League's 1970 election victory lead to?
Answer
West Pakistan's leaders refused to accept a Bengali-led government, triggering Operation Searchlight and the 1971 civil war that created Bangladesh.
Question
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto
Answer
Led the Pakistan People's Party; became president/PM of the smaller Pakistan after 1971; introduced the 1973 constitution; overthrown by Zia-ul-Haq's coup (1977) and executed (1979).
Question
Zia-ul-Haq
Answer
General who overthrew Bhutto in 1977, imposed martial law, and pursued an Islamisation programme (sharia-based Hudood Ordinances); died in a 1988 plane crash.
Question
What did Pakistan's 1991 constitutional referendum confirm?
Answer
It confirmed Islamic legal provisions within Pakistan's constitution, closing a long debate about balancing Islamic and secular law.
Question
Why did Bangladesh's early years (from 1971) prove so difficult?
Answer
It began independence in poverty after a devastating war, suffered the 1974 famine, and saw Mujibur Rahman assassinated in 1975, followed by years of military rule.
Question
Compare Pakistan's and Bangladesh's post-independence leadership crises.
Answer
Both saw a founding leader die early and destabilise the state: Jinnah's 1948 death in Pakistan, and Mujibur Rahman's 1975 assassination in Bangladesh — each followed by military rule.
Question
Sinhala Only Act (1956)
Answer
Sri Lankan law making Sinhala the sole official language, excluding Tamils from many state jobs and university places; the key trigger for rising Sinhalese-Tamil tension.
Question
Sirimavo Bandaranaike
Answer
Became Sri Lankan prime minister in 1960 (the world's first female head of government) after her husband's assassination in 1959; continued Sinhalese-nationalist policies.
Question
What was the 1971 JVP uprising, and how does it differ from the Sinhalese-Tamil conflict?
Answer
A Sinhalese Marxist youth rebellion against poverty and unemployment, crushed by Bandaranaike's government — a separate crisis of social unrest, not part of the ethnic conflict.
Question
What event in 1983 is widely seen as the start of Sri Lanka's full civil war?
Answer
"Black July" — anti-Tamil riots/pogrom killing thousands, following years of tension since the 1956 Sinhala Only Act and the 1976 declaration of Tamil Eelam as a political goal.
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Topic 20.16 hub
Developments and challenges in South Asia after 1947
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