EAST AND WEST PAKISTAN PARTITION AND ITS REFLECTIONS TO URDU LITERATURE

Thesis Type: Doctorate

Institution Of The Thesis: Istanbul University, Institute of Social Sciences, Edebiyat Fakültesi Bölümü, Turkey

Thesis Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Celal Soydan

Approval Date: 2024

Thesis Language: Turkish

Abstract:

The Mughal Empire ended in 1857 and British rule officially began in the Indian subcontinent. Until then, the Muslims, who were the dominant power in the region, were oppressed and removed from state offices during the British period. Hindus, on the other hand, were appointed to important positions in the state. Thus, seeds of separation were tried to be sown between Muslims and Hindus in the subcontinent. During the First World War, the Indian people of two different faiths came together in Lakhnow in 1916 to unite against the British, but a real unity could not be achieved. After the First World War, a union was established between Muslims and Hindus under the leadership of Hindu leader Mahatma Gandhi, but this union did not last long due to the conflicts between Muslims and Hindus. Sir Sayid Ahmad Khan, Muhammad Iqbal and other leading figures of Indian Muslims, who saw Muslims and Hindus as separate nations, advocated the idea of Muslims establishing an independent state separate from Hindus. After this idea became a desire of Muslims, Pakistan gained its independence by separating from India in 1947. There were thousands of km between East and West Pakistan, which was established in 1947. This state, consisting of two different geographical regions far from each other, decided to continue their existence as two separate states very soon as a result of the early death of the founding leader Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the difference in approach of the administrators who came after him and other reasons. East Pakistan declared its independence as the Republic of Bangladesh by separating from the union in 1971. The process of making this decision, the events that took place during the process and the reflections of its results on Urdu literature constitute the subject of our study. Keywords: Bangladesh, Pakistan, Urdu Literature, 1971, Migration.