569 বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিল : চতুর্থ খন্ড the range 45-55%, in recent years, whereas its import earnings have normally been not more, than 32%. During all these years West Pakistan's foreign trade has shown a substantial and chronic deficit that has absorbed practically all available foreign exchange. Thus at the cost of East Pakistan, the West Pakistani big bourgeoisie could rise to a position from which they could turn East Pakistan into a captive market. It is important to note that in recent years 40-50% of all West Pakistan exports have been sold to East Pakistan. The economic domination over East Pakistan has been made possible by the West Pakistan big business domination over the Central Govt., which in itself is an expression of the disparity between the two wings of Pakistan. Ever since the military rule was established in Pakistan, all the military members of the administration has been West Pakistani and of the Senior Central Civil Servants 87% were West Pakistanis in 1960 (the figure has not much changed since then and in any case the small number of Bengali officers could hardly influence the central government policy). In short, the quasi-colonial exploitation of the West Pakistan big bourgeoisie reduced East Pakistan to a state of utter distress. Of course, other nations of Pakistan, namely, the Pathans, Beluchis and Sindhis were also likewise suppressed. But the Bengalis were treated with xenophobic hatred and were subjected to an exploitation which was clearly of a colonial nature. Popular Struggle for Democracy and Autonomy The first struggle of the people of East Pakistan started on the language issue. Needless to say, it had a profoundly democratic content, because it started as a reaction against the ruling clique's undemocratic attempt to impose Urdu language, the mother tongue of a microscopic minority, on the rest of the population by making it the only state language. By this action the ruling clique sought to deprive the Bengalis and other nations of their rightful cultural heritage. This struggle assumed great proportions in 1952 in which year it developed into broad struggle for democracy and autonomy. Inspite of severe repression of the reactionary rulers, the movement continued unabated. People's urge for autonomy and democracy found fuller expression during the provincial election in East Pakistan in 1954. In that election the opposition parties formed a United Front against the ruling Muslim League Party. The United Front drew up the famous 21-Point Programme which, inter alia, demanded full autonomy for East Pakistan in accordance with the Pakistan Resolution passed by the all India Muslim league Council in 1940 in Lahore (the socalled Lahore Resolution). In the election the United Front gained a grand victory winning 290 seats out of 300, which clearly showed that the people firmly stood for autonomy and democracy. But the reactionary Ruling clique refused to heed to the verdict of the people and proceeded to nullify the results of the election. Within two months of formation of the United Front ministry in East Pakistan, the Central Government, in connivance with the American imperialists, dismissed the United Front ministry on false and flimsy pretext. Simultaneously, severe repression was started in East Pakistan. Thousands of democrats and leftists were thrown into the jails.
