-extra Quality- Tragedy Of Errors East Pakistan Crisis 1968 1971 Kamal Matinuddin ((hot))

The most biting critique in the book is reserved for General Yahya Khan. In Pakistani history, Yahya is often painted as a drunken, immoral buffoon. Matinuddin adds nuance to this by showing exactly how Yahya failed—not just morally, but professionally.

Matinuddin argues that the collapse of Pakistan was not an overnight phenomenon but a process accelerated by the dynamic shift in leadership and systemic discrimination. By 1968, deep-seated economic disparities and political alienation had reached a boiling point in East Pakistan. The most biting critique in the book is

When the elections were finally held in December 1970, the results shattered the military’s calculations. Supported by a wave of emotional defiance, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s Awami League won 160 out of 162 seats allocated to East Pakistan. This absolute majority gave them the right to form the central government of the entire country without needing a single coalition partner from West Pakistan. Meanwhile, in the western wing, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) emerged as the dominant force. The Deadlock: A Triad of Unyielding Egos Matinuddin argues that the collapse of Pakistan was