guaranteed by an East Pakistan market held captive behind tariff walls and import quotas. Though 56% of all Pakistanis live in the East, its share of Central Government Development expenditure has been as, fluctuated between as low of 20% during 1950/51-1954/55, and realized of 36% in the period 1965/66 - 1969-704 East Pakistan's share of private investment has averaged less than 25%. Historically, 50% to 70% of Pakistan's-export earnings have been earned by East Pakistan's products, mainly jute, hides and skin. Yet its share of foreign imports (which are financed by export earnings and foreign aid) has remained between 25% and 35%. Basically, the East's balance of payments surplus has been used to help finance the West's deficit on foreign account leading to a net transfer of resources, estimated by an official report6 to be approximately $ 2.6 billion over the period 1948/49 to 1968/69.
The subordination of the East s economic interests has been accomplished by the overwhelming concentration of Governmental authority in the hands of West Pakistanis.
After the military regime of Ayub Khan took power in 1958, the East has had little political representation in the Centre. Only co-operative Bengalis were appointed to political office, and in the powerful Civil Service, Bengalis held Only a small fraction of the positions. Under-representation of Bengalis in the army was even more severe, believed to be 10% or less. Ayub Khan, against whom the Bengalis had voted heavily in 1965, was forced to resign because of widespread unrest in both East and West, culminating in demonstrations and strikes in 1969. Since taking power in the Spring of 1969, Yahya Khan's Martial Law regime has always spoken of itself as an interim Government to be replaced after popular elections. In the economic and social spheres, the army made no innovations. However, the military did take one positive step: they held free and fair elections in December of 1970, both for a Constituent Assembly and for Provincial Assemblies.
These elections were based on “one man, one vote;” this meant that in the Constituent Assembly the East was allotted roughly 55 per cent of the seats. Two parties dominated the elections. In the East, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's Party, the Awami League, won 167 out of 169 seats for the Constituent Assembly; in the West, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's party won approximately 80 out of 140 seats. The Awami League actually had sufficient seats to be a majority in the Constituent Assembly.
The Awami League ran on a single issue, autonomy7 for East Pakistan. Until the shooting began on March 25, they did not seek independence but a loose union with the West. While on paper they had the votes to dominate a strong Central Government they presumably felt they could not, in fact, dominate, given that the military, the civil service, and the large businesses were all in the hands of West Pakistanis. Therefore, they opted for a form of Government which would give them control over what they considered their essential interests. The established interest groups in the West, particularly the military whose budget was threatened and large businesses who stood both to lose markets and the foreign exchange earnings of the East, opposed autonomy for the East.
When it was clear that the East would not compromise on its demand for autonomy, President Yahya Khan postponed the Constituent Assembly scheduled for March 3,
