Bangladesh Liberation War
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Two Colonisations, One Border: What the Data Actually Says About Bengal’s Post-1971 Demographic Story
X.T.M argues census data tell two stories of demographic change in eastern India: Bengali Hindus settled Tripura with state sanction, while Muslim growth in Assam and Bengal border districts is…
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On Breakup Fantasies and Basic Geopolitical Decency
X.T.M distinguishes criticising a state from fantasising about its breakup. He argues that states fracture when weak institutions meet sustained external pressure, cites 1971 and the Arab Spring, and says…
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Pakistan Is Not Yugoslavia
X.T.M argues that Pakistan is not a Yugoslavia-in-waiting. He says a state built around permanent vulnerability tends to centralise and adapt, that 1971 taught that disintegration brings catastrophe, and that…
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Pakistan, 1971, and the Misuse of the Holocaust Analogy
X.T.M answers a claim that the Pakistan army committed genocide comparable to Nazi crimes. He accepts the 1971 violence but argues that genocide is a legal category not settled by…
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The Historic Task of the Pakistani Bourgeoisie
Omar Ali argues that the Two-Nation Theory is a dangerous basis for Pakistan, and that the Pakistani bourgeoisie’s historic task is to defang it or watch the state break up.…
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Capsule Review: The Return of Faraz Ali
A capsule review of Aamina Ahmed’s novel The Return of Faraz Ali, set between Lahore’s red-light area and the powerful around Yahya Khan’s martial law. The reviewer finds it well…
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Bangladesh’s War of Liberation-Historicising a Personal Narrative
A talk given by retired Pakistan Army Colonel Nadir Ali at BRAC University in Dhaka in 2007, recounting his experience of 1971 in East Pakistan, his links to Bengali officers…
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On the hyphenated American…
Born in Bangladesh and raised in the United States, the author is often taken for Indian and says he is relaxed about it, explaining why this puzzles South Asians whose…
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Remembering the Birangonas; the female Freedom Fighters/Victims
A short post sharing a tweet and Facebook post remembering the Birangonas, women honoured as freedom fighters or victims of the 1971 war.
