Abstract
Using an analytical framework of a ‘symbiosis’ between East Bengal and West Pakistan, this article centres the two-wing configuration of united Pakistan as a key element in shaping political contestations around questions of federal design in the formative phase of state-building. It demonstrates that just as this two-wing structure influenced the political logic of the ruling clique in the West in subverting the demographic strength of the East, it also opened up new arenas of provincial opposition to centralisation, both inside and outside the constituent assembly. By foregrounding the story of dissent and resistance to emerging power structures and the dominant nationalist vision in Pakistan, it seeks to generate an understanding of postcolonial state-making as a contingent process that is informed by the alternative political possibilities that arose in the wake of decolonisation.
Published Version
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