In 1968–69, Pakistan was rocked with protests. Tariq Ali described it as the “unfashionable” 1968:

[F]ar removed from the glamour of Europe and the United States,[i]t was also different in character. The gap between the actions of the Pakistani students and workers and the actual conquest of power was much narrower than in France or Italy, let alone the United States or Britain . . .  The scale of the movement was breathtaking: during five months of continuous struggles that began on November 7, 1968, and ended on March 26, 1969, some 10–15 million people had participated in the struggle across East and West Pakistan.

Repression had been deadly, especially in the East, where almost two thousand were killed.