Since it is kicking off over there, I thought its a good topic to blog about.

In my typical style, it will be without research. People are free to correct any factual errors, disagree with opinions etc. That is what the internet is for.

Before Bangladesh there was East Pakistan. and before then whatever India as a whole was called. I assume it was called India.

The British managed to get control over all of it but the people there wanted independence.

Some wanted a United India, others saw pitfalls in that.

Without rehashing the whole argument, in the end it was divided into two countries - Pakistan and India. This blog is not about India.

Pakistan comprised of the regions that were generally highly (but not exclusively) populated by Muslims. Which was on the two opposing ends of India.

Their main uniting factor was religion, but culture and ideology was also shared.

Due to politics Pakistan was in two blocks - East Pakistan and West Pakistan. East Pakistan had the greater population, but West Pakistan had the greater political and military power.

Naturally this power was abused. Some times in subtle ways and some times in not so subtle ways.

However a breaking point came in 1970 when East Pakistan was hit by a devastating cyclone, but the political leadership which was based in West Pakistan didnt pay much attention and was slow to react reacting thousands deaths and widespread embitterment.

Then there were elections. Since people in East Pakistan were seething, and they were also the more populous section of Pakistan, they voted someone who they thought would represent them (Shaikh Mujibur Rahman).

However, the opponent (Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto) from West Pakistan did not accept loss. At best he was willing to share power, but he would not admit defeat.

Bhutto had the ear of the military machine and thought using violence would get the people in East Pakistan to back down and accept him as leader, but this backfired resulting in a full movement for independence.

Not everyone in East Pakistan supported movement for independence. Chief among these were the religous parties (Jamate Islami), but also people in the Bihar region.

A lot of blood was spilt in trying to stop Bangladesh from gaining independence, however all this was bloody, many war crimes were committed (and some would suggest the largest mass killing since World War 2) and in the end of it all East Pakistan became Bangladesh.

The winner of the previous elections became its leader. However this did not make the place into paradise over night. there was much turmoil.

The people from bihar did not accept independence, and many are even now stateless people as they were promised that they would be able to go to Pakistan and live there, but that promise was not kept by Pakistan.

In the political turmoil that was in bangladesh, the leader of Banglaesh was considered to be fascist and at a time with rampant disorder in every part of society, a coup was carried out.

The coup leaders decided to be thorough. They killed the leader (Shaikh Mujibur Rahman) and his whole family. This way there would be no one to complain.

The only surviving member was a daughter of the leader who was outside the country, Shaikh Hasina.

There was more turmoil, and time passed with more coups and more political chaos and no one had the will to deal with what had happened.

Time passed and the remaining daughter of the assasinated founder entered politics. So did the daughter of a great beneficiary over the coup, Begum Khaleda Zia.

Currently Shaykh Hasina is the Prime Minister and she wants to bring those responsible for the coup all the way back in 1975 to be held accountable.

There is also a renerwed call for those who carried out crimes in the 1971 war of independence to also be held to account.

This however is favoured by oen political camp, the other sees dangers in it for them and do not want to happen.

A Major party which doesnt want people to be held to account is Jamat-e-Islami which supported Pakistan in the war of independence and is accused of carrying out many war crimes. One of its leaders has been convicted and sentenced to death for his role in the Bangladesh Independence war.

The two camps have brought the country out onto mega protests over the past few years where many people have died.

They also accuse the current government of being anti Islamic, though this could just be a ruse to get their supporters onto the streets.

The government supporting parties and many young people who are looking into history are opposing them with their own protests (and there is a danger if Islam is confused with Jamat-e-Islami, these people will not hold Islam in as high a regard as they should due to the percieved taint of that party)

In that time a few people have been convicted of crimes, though if they are still alive when the next elections happen and power is shift to the other camp, chances are their convictions will be overturned.

I have read somewhere that in the turmoil over the past 2 years, the government has managed to kill 20,000 people in Bangladesh.