ABSTRACT
The seeds of the Bangladesh crisis were sown in 1947 when India was partitioned, creating the states of India and Pakistan. The assertion that the East Pakistanis constituted a separate Bengali people is further supported by their state of mind, which was reflected in their demands initially for full autonomy and subsequently, in March 1971, for independence. The debate continues on the nature, content, and scope of the right of a people to self-determination. The right of self-determination finds a clear expression in the International Covenants on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights and on Civil and Political Rights, which were adopted by the General Assembly in December 1966 and went into force in 1976. The only reliable test for determining the reasonableness of self-determination has to be the nature and extent of the deprivation of human rights of the subgroup claiming the right.
