The partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947 to form India
and Pakistan also entailed the division of the units and equipment
of the British Indian Army. Under a partition formula announced on
July 1, 1947, existing military forces were divided on the basis of
religious identification; units with a Muslim majority were
transferred to Pakistan with their records and unit designations
more or less intact. Individual Muslim servicemen who were from the
areas that were to become India were given the option of remaining
with the Indian armed forces or going to Pakistan. Hindus in the
Muslim majority units could stay with those units when they
transferred to Pakistan or be reassigned to Indian units. In both
countries the newly formed armed forces continued to be organized,
trained, and employed along the familiar lines of British practice.
The armed forces that Pakistan inherited in 1947 from the
division of the British Indian Army included Bengali Muslims, and
there was always a small minority of them in the Pakistani armed
services. These Bengalis served with their units as a matter of
course in the 1947-48 and 1965 wars with India and in the numerous
security operations in Pakistan up to 1971
(see Pakistan Period, 1947-71
, ch. 1).
Despite the participation of these Bengalis, East Pakistani
spokesmen vigorously denounced East Pakistan's lack of military
representation and influence in military policy. All senior
military headquarters were located in West Pakistan, and almost all
regular Pakistani forces were stationed there. Defense expenditures
from indigenous revenue and foreign military aid in the 1950s and
1960s constituted the largest single item of the country's budget.
But because of the force-stationing policy and associated
allocation practices, the economic benefits from defense spending--
in contracts, purchasing, and military support jobs--went almost
entirely to West Pakistan. Pay and allowances to members of the
armed forces also largely benefited only the West Pakistanis.
Pakistani recruiters claimed difficulty in securing volunteers
in East Pakistan. West Pakistanis held that Bengalis were not
"martially inclined"--especially in comparison with Punjabis and
Pathans, among whom military orientation was deeply embedded. East
Pakistanis asserted, however, that as active participants in the
movement to create an Islamic homeland they had a right and
obligation to participate more extensively in the armed forces and
should be represented in about the same ratio as their numbers in
the total population. They assailed the old, entrenched doctrine of
the "martial races" as ridiculous and humiliating. Arguing from the
standpoint of security, they pointed out that the force-stationing
policy left East Pakistan virtually defenseless against rival India
and that no planning was under way to remedy this situation.
All these arguments, although frequently and eloquently
advanced, had little effect. Pakistan president Mohammad Ayub Khan
(1958-69) held that East Pakistan was indefensible without the
prior development of strong forces and bases in West Pakistan. On
this principle he continued existing practices. In 1956 the
Pakistan Army had a total of 894 officers in the grades of major
through lieutenant general. Of this number only 14 (1.6 percent)
were of East Pakistani origin. Of these, only one was of brigadier
rank, the highest rank held until then by a Bengali. Naval officers
of all ranks numbered 593, but only 7 (1.2 percent) of them were of
Bengali origin. Bengalis fared slightly better in the air force,
which had a total of 640 officers, 40 (6.3 percent) of whom were
Bengalis.
By 1965 the participation ratio had improved slightly, although
it was still far from East Pakistani desires and expectations.
Among the total of 6,000 army officers, 5 percent were Bengalis.
Only one of them had become a major general. In the navy and air
force, with officer totals of 800 and 1,200, respectively, the
overall percentages of Bengalis had increased more than in the army
but were still at a distinct minority level. Most Bengali officers
in the navy and air force were in technical or administrative
rather than command positions.
In February 1966, Mujib, head of the East Pakistani Awami
League, announced a six-point program calling for East Pakistani
provincial autonomy with a federated Pakistan
(see Emerging Discontent, 1966-70
, ch. 1). Significantly, the sixth point of this
program held that the federating units should each "be empowered to
maintain a militia or paramilitary force in order to contribute
effectively toward national security." This point was, in time,
expanded to encompass the attainment by East Pakistan of selfsufficiency in defense matters. Specific actions called for under
the sixth point included establishment of an ordnance factory, a
military academy, and the federal naval headquarters in East
Pakistan.
Mujib's six-point package was unacceptable to the central
government, but in July 1969 General Agha Mohammad Yahya Khan, who
had succeeded Ayub as president earlier that year, announced a
major policy change. The recruitment of Bengalis into the military
services was to be doubled. Among steps taken to improve
recruitment of East Pakistanis were establishing new recruiting
centers in East Pakistan, giving greater publicity to the
recruitment process, making promises (albeit vague ones) of
promotions for Bengalis, and reducing the minimum height for
enlistment by 5 centimeters to 162 centimeters. (Bengalis are, on
the average, smaller than Punjabis and Pathans, and the old height
requirement had excluded many Bengalis from military service.) East
Pakistani participation in the armed forces increased, but Bengalis
were still heavily underrepresented when the civil war that led to
the partition of Pakistan erupted in March 1971
(see The War for Bangladeshi Independence, 1971
, ch. 1).
On the eve of the civil war, there were only two military units
specifically identified with East Pakistan. One of these was the
lightly armed paramilitary border security force called the East
Pakistan Rifles; the other was the East Bengal Regiment of the
Pakistan Army. The East Bengal Regiment had been established soon
after the division of the British Indian Army in 1947. The First
Battalion of the East Bengal Regiment was raised in February 1948
and the Second Battalion in December of the same year. Thereafter
six more battalions were formed. The Ninth Battalion was being
raised at the East Bengal Regiment center in Chittagong when the
civil war broke out in March 1971.
|
Background | | Europeans began to set up trading posts in the area of Bangladesh in the 16th century; eventually the British came to dominate the region and it became part of British India. In 1947, West Pakistan and East Bengal (both primarily Muslim) separated from India (largely Hindu) and jointly became the new country of Pakistan. East Bengal became East Pakistan in 1955, but the awkward arrangement of a two-part country with its territorial units separated by 1,600 km left the Bengalis marginalized and dissatisfied. East Pakistan seceded from its union with West Pakistan in 1971 and was renamed Bangladesh. A military-backed, emergency caretaker regime suspended parliamentary elections planned for January 2007 in an effort to reform the political system and root out corruption. In contrast to the strikes and violent street rallies that had marked Bangladeshi politics in previous years, the parliamentary elections finally held in late December 2008 were mostly peaceful and Sheikh HASINA Wajed was reelected prime minister. About a third of this extremely poor country floods annually during the monsoon rainy season, hampering economic development.
|
|
Location | | Southern Asia, bordering the Bay of Bengal, between Burma and India
|
|
Area(sq km) | | total: 143,998 sq km
land: 130,168 sq km
water: 13,830 sq km
|
|
Geographic coordinates | | 24 00 N, 90 00 E
|
|
Land boundaries(km) | | total: 4,246 km
border countries: Burma 193 km, India 4,053 km
|
|
Coastline(km) | | 580 km
|
|
Climate | | tropical; mild winter (October to March); hot, humid summer (March to June); humid, warm rainy monsoon (June to October)
|
|
Elevation extremes(m) | | lowest point: Indian Ocean 0 m
highest point: Keokradong 1,230 m
|
|
Natural resources | | natural gas, arable land, timber, coal
|
|
Land use(%) | | arable land: 55.39%
permanent crops: 3.08%
other: 41.53% (2005)
|
|
Irrigated land(sq km) | | 47,250 sq km (2003)
|
|
Total renewable water resources(cu km) | | 1,210.6 cu km (1999)
|
|
Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural) | | total: 79.4 cu km/yr (3%/1%/96%)
per capita: 560 cu m/yr (2000)
|
|
Natural hazards | | droughts; cyclones; much of the country routinely inundated during the summer monsoon season
|
|
Environment - current issues | | many people are landless and forced to live on and cultivate flood-prone land; waterborne diseases prevalent in surface water; water pollution, especially of fishing areas, results from the use of commercial pesticides; ground water contaminated by naturally occurring arsenic; intermittent water shortages because of falling water tables in the northern and central parts of the country; soil degradation and erosion; deforestation; severe overpopulation
|
|
Environment - international agreements | | party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements
|
|
Geography - note | | most of the country is situated on deltas of large rivers flowing from the Himalayas: the Ganges unites with the Jamuna (main channel of the Brahmaputra) and later joins the Meghna to eventually empty into the Bay of Bengal
|
|
Population | | 156,050,883 (July 2009 est.)
|
|
Age structure(%) | | 0-14 years: 34.6% (male 27,065,625/female 26,913,961)
15-64 years: 61.4% (male 45,222,182/female 50,537,052)
65 years and over: 4% (male 3,057,255/female 3,254,808) (2009 est.)
|
|
Median age(years) | | total: 23.3 years
male: 22.9 years
female: 23.5 years (2009 est.)
|
|
Population growth rate(%) | | 1.292% (2009 est.)
|
|
Birth rate(births/1,000 population) | | 24.68 births/1,000 population (2009 est.)
|
|
Death rate(deaths/1,000 population) | | 9.23 deaths/1,000 population (July 2009 est.)
|
|
Net migration rate(migrant(s)/1,000 population) | | -2.53 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2009 est.)
|
|
Urbanization(%) | | urban population: 27% of total population (2008)
rate of urbanization: 3.5% annual rate of change (2005-10 est.)
|
|
Sex ratio(male(s)/female) | | at birth: 1.04 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.01 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.9 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.94 male(s)/female
total population: 0.93 male(s)/female (2009 est.)
|
|
Infant mortality rate(deaths/1,000 live births) | | total: 59.02 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 66.12 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 51.64 deaths/1,000 live births (2009 est.)
|
|
Life expectancy at birth(years) | | total population: 60.25 years
male: 57.57 years
female: 63.03 years (2009 est.)
|
|
Total fertility rate(children born/woman) | | 2.74 children born/woman (2009 est.)
|
|
Nationality | | noun: Bangladeshi(s)
adjective: Bangladeshi
|
|
Ethnic groups(%) | | Bengali 98%, other 2% (includes tribal groups, non-Bengali Muslims) (1998)
|
|
Religions(%) | | Muslim 83%, Hindu 16%, other 1% (1998)
|
|
Languages(%) | | Bangla (official, also known as Bengali), English
|
|
Country name | | conventional long form: People's Republic of Bangladesh
conventional short form: Bangladesh
local long form: Gana Prajatantri Banladesh
local short form: Banladesh
former: East Bengal, East Pakistan
|
|
Government type | | parliamentary democracy
|
|
Capital | | name: Dhaka
geographic coordinates: 23 43 N, 90 24 E
time difference: UTC+6 (11 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)
|
|
Administrative divisions | | 6 divisions; Barisal, Chittagong, Dhaka, Khulna, Rajshahi, Sylhet
|
|
Constitution | | 4 November 1972; effective 16 December 1972; suspended following coup of 24 March 1982; restored 10 November 1986; amended many times
|
|
Legal system | | based on English common law; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction
|
|
Suffrage | | 18 years of age; universal
|
|
Executive branch | | chief of state: President Zillur RAHMAN (since 12 February 2009)
head of government: Prime Minister Sheikh HASINA Wajed (since 6 January 2009)
cabinet: Cabinet selected by the prime minister and appointed by the president
elections: president elected by National Parliament for a five-year term (eligible for a second term); last election held on 11 February 2009 (next scheduled election to be held in 2014)
election results: Zillur RAHMAN declared president-elect by the Election Commission on 11 February 2009 (sworn in on 12 February); he ran unopposed as president; percent of National Parliament vote - NA
|
|
Legislative branch | | unicameral National Parliament or Jatiya Sangsad; 300 seats elected by popular vote from single territorial constituencies; members serve five-year terms
elections: last held 29 December 2008 (next to be held in 2013)
election results: percent of vote by party - AL 49%, BNP 33.2%, JP 7%, JIB 4.6%, other 6.2%; seats by party - AL 230, BNP 30, JP 27, JIB 2, other 11
|
|
Judicial branch | | Supreme Court (the chief justices and other judges are appointed by the president)
|
|
Political pressure groups and leaders | | Advocacy to End Gender-based Violence through the MoWCA (Ministry of Women's and Children's Affairs)
other: environmentalists; Islamist groups; religious leaders; teachers; union leaders
|
|
International organization participation | | ADB, ARF, BIMSTEC, C, CP, FAO, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICCt (signatory), ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, IMSO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, ITUC, MIGA, MINURCAT, MINURSO, MONUC, NAM, OIC, OPCW, SAARC, SACEP, UN, UNAMID, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNMIL, UNMIS, UNMIT, UNOCI, UNWTO, UPU, WCL, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO
|
|
Flag description | | green field with a large red disk shifted slightly to the hoist side of center; the red disk represents the rising sun and the sacrifice to achieve independence; the green field symbolizes the lush vegetation of Bangladesh
|
|
Economy - overview | | The economy has grown 5-6% per year since 1996 despite inefficient state-owned enterprises, delays in exploiting natural gas resources, insufficient power supplies, and slow implementation of economic reforms. Bangladesh remains a poor, overpopulated, and inefficiently-governed nation. Although more than half of GDP is generated through the service sector, nearly two-thirds of Bangladeshis are employed in the agriculture sector, with rice as the single-most-important product. Garment exports and remittances from Bangladeshis working overseas, mainly in the Middle East and East Asia, fuel economic growth. In 2008 Bangladesh pursued a monetary policy aimed at maintaining high employment, but created higher inflation in the process.
|
|
GDP (purchasing power parity) | | $226.4 billion (2008 est.)
$214 billion (2007 est.)
$201.5 billion (2006 est.)
note: data are in 2008 US dollars
|
|
GDP (official exchange rate) | | $84.2 billion (2008 est.)
|
|
GDP - real growth rate(%) | | 5.8% (2008 est.)
6.2% (2007 est.)
6.4% (2006 est.)
|
|
GDP - per capita (PPP) | | $1,500 (2008 est.)
$1,400 (2007 est.)
$1,300 (2006 est.)
note: data are in 2008 US dollars
|
|
GDP - composition by sector(%) | | agriculture: 19.1%
industry: 28.6%
services: 52.3% (2008 est.)
|
|
Labor force | | 70.86 million
note: extensive export of labor to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, Oman, Qatar, and Malaysia; workers' remittances estimated at $4.8 billion in 2005-06. (2008 est.)
|
|
Labor force - by occupation(%) | | agriculture: 63%
industry: 11%
services: 26% (FY95/96)
|
|
Unemployment rate(%) | | 2.5% (2008 est.)
2.5% (2007 est.)
|
|
Population below poverty line(%) | | 45% (2004 est.)
|
|
Household income or consumption by percentage share(%) | | lowest 10%: 4.3%
highest 10%: 26.6% (2005)
|
|
Distribution of family income - Gini index | | 33.2 (2005)
33.6 (1996)
|
|
Investment (gross fixed)(% of GDP) | | 24.3% of GDP (2008 est.)
|
|
Budget | | revenues: $8.825 billion
expenditures: $12.54 billion (2008 est.)
|
|
Inflation rate (consumer prices)(%) | | 8.9% (2008 est.)
9.1% (2007 est.)
|
|
Stock of money | | $9.294 billion (31 December 2008)
$8.444 billion (31 December 2007)
|
|
Stock of quasi money | | $37.98 billion (31 December 2008)
$32.35 billion (31 December 2007)
|
|
Stock of domestic credit | | $47.03 billion (31 December 2008)
$40.1 billion (31 December 2007)
|
|
Market value of publicly traded shares | | $6.671 billion (31 December 2008)
$6.793 billion (31 December 2007)
$3.61 billion (31 December 2006)
|
|
Economic aid - recipient | | $1.321 billion (2005)
|
|
Public debt(% of GDP) | | 39.4% of GDP (2008 est.)
43% of GDP (2004 est.)
|
|
Agriculture - products | | rice, jute, tea, wheat, sugarcane, potatoes, tobacco, pulses, oilseeds, spices, fruit; beef, milk, poultry
|
|
Industries | | cotton textiles, jute, garments, tea processing, paper newsprint, cement, chemical fertilizer, light engineering, sugar
|
|
Industrial production growth rate(%) | | 6.9% (2008 est.)
|
|
Current account balance | | $1.032 billion (2008 est.)
$856.8 million (2007 est.)
|
|
Exports | | $15.44 billion (2008 est.)
$12.47 billion (2007 est.)
|
|
Exports - commodities(%) | | garments, jute and jute goods, leather, frozen fish and seafood
|
|
Exports - partners(%) | | US 21%, Germany 13.2%, UK 8.6%, France 6.3%, Netherlands 4.7% (2008)
|
|
Imports | | $21.51 billion (2008 est.)
$16.67 billion (2007 est.)
|
|
Imports - commodities(%) | | machinery and equipment, chemicals, iron and steel, textiles, foodstuffs, petroleum products, cement
|
|
Imports - partners(%) | | China 14.7%, India 14.7%, Kuwait 7.5%, Singapore 7.1%, Japan 4.1% (2008)
|
|
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold | | $5.789 billion (31 December 2008 est.)
$5.278 billion (31 December 2007 est.)
|
|
Debt - external | | $22.83 billion (31 December 2008 est.)
$21.23 billion (31 December 2007 est.)
|
|
Stock of direct foreign investment - at home | | $5.971 billion (31 December 2008 est.)
$5.261 billion (31 December 2007 est.)
|
|
Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad | | $97 million (31 December 2008 est.)
|
|
Exchange rates | | taka (BDT) per US dollar - 68.554 (2008 est.), 69.893 (2007), 69.031 (2006), 64.328 (2005), 59.513 (2004)
|
|
Currency (code) | | taka (BDT)
|
|
Telephones - main lines in use | | 1.39 million (2009)
|
|
Telephones - mobile cellular | | 45.75 million (2009)
|
|
Telephone system | | general assessment: inadequate for a modern country; fixed-line telephone density remains less than 1 per 100 persons; mobile-cellular telephone subscribership has been increasing rapidly and has reached 30 per 100 persons
domestic: modernizing; introducing digital systems; trunk systems include VHF and UHF microwave radio relay links, and some fiber-optic cable in cities
international: country code - 880; landing point for the SEA-ME-WE-4 fiber-optic submarine cable system that provides links to Europe, the Middle East, and Asia; satellite earth stations - 6; international radiotelephone communications and landline service to neighboring countries (2008)
|
|
Internet country code | | .bd
|
|
Internet users | | 556,000 (2008)
|
|
Airports | | 17 (2009)
|
|
Pipelines(km) | | gas 2,597 km (2008)
|
|
Roadways(km) | | total: 239,226 km
paved: 22,726 km
unpaved: 216,500 km (2003)
|
|
Ports and terminals | | Chittagong, Mongla Port
|
|
Military branches | | Bangladesh Defense Force: Bangladesh Army (Sena Bahini), Bangladesh Navy (Noh Bahini, BN), Bangladesh Air Force (Biman Bahini, BAF) (2009)
|
|
Military service age and obligation(years of age) | | 16 years of age for voluntary military service; 17 years of age for officers (both with parental consent); conscription legally possible in emergency, but has never been implemented (2008)
|
|
Manpower available for military service | | males age 16-49: 41,199,340 (2008 est.)
|
|
Manpower fit for military service | | males age 16-49: 24,946,041
females age 16-49: 31,409,069 (2009 est.)
|
|
Manpower reaching militarily significant age annually | | male: 1,538,865
female: 1,666,670 (2009 est.)
|
|
Military expenditures(% of GDP) | | 1.5% of GDP (2006)
|
|
Disputes - international | | discussions with India remain stalled to delimit a small section of river boundary, exchange territory for 51 small Bangladeshi exclaves in India and 111 small Indian exclaves in Bangladesh, allocate divided villages, and stop illegal cross-border trade, migration, violence, and transit of terrorists through the porous border; Bangladesh protests India's fencing and walling off high-traffic sections of the porous boundary; a joint Bangladesh-India boundary commission resurveyed and reconstructed 92 missing pillars in 2007; dispute with India over New Moore/South Talpatty/Purbasha Island in the Bay of Bengal deters maritime boundary delimitation; after 21 years, Bangladesh resumes talks with Burma on delimiting a maritime boundary
|
|
Refugees and internally displaced persons | | refugees (country of origin): 26,268 (Burma)
IDPs: 65,000 (land conflicts, religious persecution) (2007)
|
|
Electricity - production(kWh) | | 22.99 billion kWh (2007 est.)
|
|
Electricity - production by source(%) | | fossil fuel: 93.7%
hydro: 6.3%
nuclear: 0%
other: 0% (2001)
|
|
Electricity - consumption(kWh) | | 21.38 billion kWh (2007 est.)
|
|
Electricity - exports(kWh) | | 0 kWh (2008 est.)
|
|
Electricity - imports(kWh) | | 0 kWh (2008 est.)
|
|
Oil - production(bbl/day) | | 6,426 bbl/day (2008 est.)
|
|
Oil - consumption(bbl/day) | | 95,000 bbl/day (2008 est.)
|
|
Oil - exports(bbl/day) | | 2,612 bbl/day (2007 est.)
|
|
Oil - imports(bbl/day) | | 87,660 bbl/day (2007 est.)
|
|
Oil - proved reserves(bbl) | | 28 million bbl (1 January 2009 est.)
|
|
Natural gas - production(cu m) | | 17.9 billion cu m (2008 est.)
|
|
Natural gas - consumption(cu m) | | 17.9 billion cu m (2008 est.)
|
|
Natural gas - exports(cu m) | | 0 cu m (2008)
|
|
Natural gas - proved reserves(cu m) | | 141.6 billion cu m (1 January 2009 est.)
|
|
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate(%) | | less than 0.1% (2001 est.)
|
|
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS | | 12,000 (2007 est.)
|
|
HIV/AIDS - deaths | | fewer than 500 (2007 est.)
|
|
Major infectious diseases | | degree of risk: high
food or waterborne diseases: bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A and E, and typhoid fever
vectorborne diseases: dengue fever and malaria are high risks in some locations
water contact disease: leptospirosis
animal contact disease: rabies
note: highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza has been identified in this country; it poses a negligible risk with extremely rare cases possible among US citizens who have close contact with birds (2009)
|
|
Literacy(%) | | definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 47.9%
male: 54%
female: 41.4% (2001 Census)
|
|
School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education)(years) | | total: 8 years
male: 8 years
female: 8 years (2004)
|
|
Education expenditures(% of GDP) | | 2.7% of GDP (2005)
|
