As soon as talks began about making Urdu the sole state language, students, educated middle-class society, intellectuals and politicians in East Bengal realized that this would bring extreme disaster for Bengalis.

They understood that this would establish the dominance of Urdu speakers in Pakistan, and Bengalis would fall behind in opportunities for jobs in government and military compared to Urdu speakers. The dream of development and social progress for Bengali Muslims that had been created as a result of the establishment of Pakistan would be severely damaged.

Yet the reality of Pakistan was that Bengali was the language of the majority of people in the eastern part of the country - and in the whole country combined. In West Pakistan, more than 40 percent of the people spoke Punjabi, and only four percent spoke Urdu.

Even though Bengali was the language of the majority of people, the fact that Bengali would not be one of the official languages of Pakistan created tremendous resentment among students and educated people in East Bengal.

"On one hand, there are emotions of language and identity - but besides that, there is an economic aspect," said Columbia University professor and analyst Rawnaq Jahan.

According to her, "At that time employment meant government jobs. But if Urdu became the official language, Bengalis would have to learn Urdu to get government jobs or jobs in the military, they would have to competition with Urdu speakers - which would put them at a disadvantage. So for students, this was a question of the future."