The 1:30 Am Children: The Bangladesh Liberation War and India's Intervention

Abstract

The Bangladesh Liberation War was an event of particular importance in the post-colonial era of the second Twentieth Century. It was important not just for East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, to have gained its independence but also from an international relations perspective.In this paper, we seek to evaluate the reasons and incentives that lead India to intervene in favour of East Pakistan, a Muslim nation that had previously chosen to quit the Indian Republic to join the Pakistani Dominion, a very unusual occurrence in international relations. We shall start by analysing the historical background without which no analysis would be possible before illustrating our argument through the prism of two different International Relations’ Theories. We will continue by, on the one hand, using the theories of the English School solidarist movement to explain the humanitarian motivations for India’s unexpected decision. Before continuing on the other, and using offensive Structural Realist theories to explain why the War provided an ideal opportunity for India to rid herself of her only rival and competitor for hegemony on the subcontinent.The motivations for India’s intervention in this complex conflict can be said to be very diverse but we contend that either of our theoretical viewpoints are the most likely scenarios. The bipolarity of world politics at the time meant that in deciding to intervene, India was bound to ‘offend’ another nation’s alliances.