A Colossal Irony: Exploring The Role Of Media During “Fall Of Dhaka 1971”

Abstract

December 16, 1971 is remembered as a darkest day in the history of Pakistan because on that day Paksitani troops surrendered to India and met a humiliated defeat resulting in dismemberment of Pakistan into two different states i.e., newly formed Bangladesh leaving only West Pakistan as Pakistan. This war was followed by years of Indo-Pakistan conflicts, political unrests, differences between Bengalis and West Pakistanis on the basis of language and ethnicity. There is a disagreement on who was actually behind that violent conflict between three nations because Pakistan, India and Bangladesh view this event through the lens of their own media and socio-political perspectives. This paper is an attempt to explore the role of media during that tragic period of war, bloodshed, hatred and interplay of many national and international actors in South Asian region to change the whole regional dynamics. For this paper, previous knowledge and literature is synthesized into a new context to develop a logical understanding of the role played by media during 1971 war. After doing a systematic literature review, this paper concludes that media of East Pakistan and West Pakistan was divided into entirely different and poles apart wings. Media essentially played a negative role during that conflict by playing as a puppet in the hands of government. Media did not show the real picture of the issue instead kept on highlighting the negativities and atrocities that gave air to the conflict ultimately resulting in dismemberment of Pakistan.