bangladesh liberation war
At his direction, I have taken the command as the temporary Head of the Republic. Illustration showing military units and troop movements during the war. [39] Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani addressed a rally of 50,000 people on 24 November, where he accused the president of inefficiency and demanded his resignation. The Bangladesh Liberation War (Bengali: ... Ghulam Azam and Motiur Rahman Nizami were convicted for war crimes as a result of the liberation war. This was one of the first times that a natural event helped trigger a civil war. We describe various crucial events starting form the declaration of independence to the final victory. [52] Major Ziaur Rahman broadcast announcement of the declaration of independence on behalf of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Bangladesh Liberation War Picture Gallery Grafische Bilder, Diskretion des Betrachters empfohlen; Rashid Askari: Fakten zum Befreiungskrieg; Krieg von 1971: Wie Russland Nixons Kanonenbootdiplomatie versenkte; Die Premierministerin wiederholte ihr Gelübde, den 25. Pakistan Armed Forces: ~ 365,000 (90,000+ in East Pakistan)[1]. and Police on the one hand and the armed forces of Pakistan on the other, are going on. [75] Thus, wary of the growing involvement of India[why? The Awami League was banned by General Yahya Khan.[51]. These systematic killings served only to enrage the Bengalis, which ultimately resulted in the secession of East Pakistan later in the same year. The situation reached a climax in 1970, when the Awami League, the largest East Pakistani political party, led by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, won a landslide victory in the national elections. [17] The western zone was popularly (and for a period, also officially) termed West Pakistan and the eastern zone (modern-day Bangladesh) was initially termed East Bengal and later, East Pakistan. Although the population of the two zones was close to equal, political power was concentrated in West Pakistan and it was widely perceived that East Pakistan was being exploited economically, leading to many grievances. The message was translated to Bengali by Dr. Manjula Anwar. [24] Facing a mounting humanitarian and economic crisis, India started actively aiding and organising the Bangladeshi resistance army known as the Mukti Bahini. Nixon denied getting involved in the situation, saying that it was an internal matter of Pakistan, but when Pakistan's defeat seemed certain, Nixon sent the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise to the Bay of Bengal,[116] a move deemed by the Indians as a nuclear threat. [112], Most UN member nations were quick to recognise Bangladesh within months of its independence.[111]. The 1970 Bhola cyclone made landfall on the East Pakistan coastline during the evening of 12 November, around the same time as a local high tide,[35] killing an estimated 300,000 to 500,000 people. British, Indian and American musicians organised the world's first benefit concert in New York City to support the Bangladeshi people. Farmers First Quiz Results 2020 Winners . en, Samuel; Paul Robert Bartrop, Steven L. Jacobs. The Soviet Union supported Bangladesh and Indian armies, as well as the Mukti Bahini during the war, recognising that the independence of Bangladesh would weaken the position of its rivals – the United States and China. Bengali members of the Pakistani civil, military and diplomatic corps defected to the Bangladeshi provisional government. General Tikka Khan was flown into Dacca to become Governor of East Bengal. I, Major Ziaur Rahman, at the direction of Bangobondhu Mujibur Rahman, hereby declare that Independent People's Republic of Bangladesh has been established. India and Bangladesh are celebrating 50 years of the liberation war in which the Pakistan Army was thrown out of Bangladesh and 90,000 of their troops were made to surrender. Guerrilla attacks intensified, as did Pakistani and Razakar reprisals on civilian populations. Time reported a high US official as saying "It is the most incredible, calculated thing since the days of the Nazis in Poland." [13] Members of the Pakistani military and supporting militias engaged in mass murder, deportation and genocidal rape. This fact, and the massacre at Jagannath Hall and nearby student dormitories of Dacca University, are corroborated by a videotape secretly filmed by Professor Nurul Ula of the East Pakistan Engineering University, whose residence was directly opposite the student dormitories. Until that day the British ruled us. [14] Sectarian violence broke out between Bengalis and Urdu-speaking immigrants. The violent crackdown by Pakistan Army[22] led to Awami League leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman declaring East Pakistan's independence as the state of Bangladesh on 26 March 1971. On 16 December 1971, Lt. Gen A. This was a revolutionary independence war in 1971 which established the republic of Bangladesh. [118][119]. Today, Bangladesh, Pakistan and India have their own closely held war stories, with 1971 taking on unique meanings across the subcontinent. The day... Bangladeshi … 1971 Bangladesh liberation war was fought primarily between Indian armed forces ( for and with the support of Mukti Bahini) and the Pakistani armed forces almost 50 years ago. [78] The Indians quickly overran the country, selectively engaging or bypassing heavily defended strongholds. This was solely to counterbalance the East wing's votes. [21] Prior to the Partition of British India, the Lahore Resolution initially envisaged separate Muslim-majority states in the eastern and northwestern zones of British India. With air supremacy achieved in the eastern theatre and the rapid advance of the Allied Forces of Bangladesh and India, Pakistan surrendered in Dacca on 16 December 1971. Pakistan had two parts, East and West, which were separated by about 1,000 miles. Most of their training camps were situated near the border area and were operated with assistance from India. Between 10 and 13 March, Pakistan International Airlines cancelled all their international routes to urgently fly "government passengers" to Dacca. The Nixon administration also ignored reports it received of the genocidal activities of the Pakistani Army in East Pakistan, most notably the Blood telegram. Indian leadership initially envisioned Bengali forces to be trained into a small elite guerrilla force of 8,000 members, led by the surviving East Bengal Regiment soldiers operating in small cells around Bangladesh to facilitate the eventual Indian intervention,[58] but with the Bangladesh government in exile, General Osmani favoured a different strategy:[59][60], Bangladesh was divided into eleven sectors in July,[63] each with a commander chosen from defected officers of the Pakistani army who joined the Mukti Bahini to conduct guerrilla operations and train fighters. At the time of surrender only a few countries had provided diplomatic recognition to the new nation. Most of the girls were captured from Dacca University and private homes. The Bangladesh Liberation War[lower-alpha 1] (Bengali language: মুক্তিযুদ্ধ. She toured many countries in a bid to create awareness of the Pakistani atrocities against Bengalis. [75] As early as 28 April 1971, the Indian Cabinet had asked General Manekshaw (Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee) to “Go into East Pakistan”. Eventually, political negotiations led, in August 1947, to the official birth of two states, Pakistan and India,[16] giving presumably permanent homes for Muslims and Hindus respectively following the departure of the British. [43], The main phase of Operation Searchlight ended with the fall of the last major town in Bengali hands in mid-May. Yahya Khan appointed Brigadier (later General) Rahimuddin Khan to preside over a special tribunal prosecuting Rahman with multiple charges. [1] Both of these were used for flying in supplies and arms from India. The nascent Bangladesh Navy (comprising officers and sailors who defected from the Pakistani Navy) aided the Indians in the marine warfare, carrying out attacks, most notably Operation Jackpot.[80]. The people of East Bengal demanded that their language be given federal status alongside Urdu and English. As a long-standing ally of Pakistan, the People's Republic of China reacted with alarm to the evolving situation in East Pakistan and the prospect of India invading West Pakistan and Pakistani-controlled Kashmir. After the assassination of Liaquat Ali Khan, Pakistan's first prime minister, in 1951, political power began to devolve to the new President of Pakistan, which replaced the office of Governor General when Pakistan became a republic, and, eventually, the military. Since a straightforward system of representation based on population would have concentrated political power in East Pakistan, the West Pakistani establishment came up with the "One Unit" scheme, where all of West Pakistan was considered one province. [79] Unable to defend Dacca, the Pakistanis surrendered on 16 December 1971. As the Bangladesh Liberation War approached the defeat of the Pakistan Army, the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan became the first state in the world to recognise the newly independent country on 6 December 1971. 2–3, Jacob, Lt. Gen. JFR, Surrender at Dacca, pp 90–91, Jacob, Lt. Gen. JFR, Surrender at Dacca, pp 44, Many of the eyewitness accounts of relations that were picked up by "Al Badr" forces describe them as Bengali men. Explore {{searchView.params.phrase}} by color family {{familyColorButtonText(colorFamily.name)}} Students from a theatre school take out a Lal Jatra procession in remembrance of 'Black Night 1971' on March 25, 2016 in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Pakistan Defence Journal, 1977, Vol 2, pp. Liberation War Heroes Bangladesh honours 2 journos in Kolkata. The only survivor of the Rayerbazar killings describes the captors and killers of Bengali professionals as fellow Bengalis. Bengali cultural activists operated the clandestine Free Bengal Radio Station. Staff writer (18 November 1970). By November, the Bangladesh forces restricted the Pakistani military to its barracks during the night. Administration of two discontinuous territories was also seen as a challenge. The liberation war of Bangladesh was not merely a war for independence fought by Bangladeshi nationalists - one of its main triggers was religion. It helped turn world opinion against Pakistan and encouraged India to play a decisive role", with Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi herself stating that Mascarenhas' article has led her "to prepare the ground for India's armed intervention". [95] Just two days before the surrender, on 14 December 1971, Pakistan Army and Razakar militia (local collaborators) picked up at least 100 physicians, professors, writers and engineers in Dacca, and murdered them, leaving the dead bodies in a mass grave. Devarsi Ghosh Published at 01:09 pm February 11th, 2021 Collected . Due to complex regional alliances, the war was a major episode in Cold War tensions involving the United States, the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China. At the end of the war, the Warsaw Pact countries were among the first to recognise Bangladesh. The Kalurghat Radio Station's transmission capability was limited, but the message was picked up by a Japanese ship in the Bay of Bengal. Many innocent and unarmed have been killed in Dhaka city and other places of Bangladesh. Prelude . See 57 Dilawar Hossain, account reproduced in, List of female United States Air Force generals, Pages containing cite templates with deprecated parameters, Articles containing Bengali-language text, Articles needing clarification from June 2015, Articles needing more detailed references, Articles incorporating text from the Library of Congress Country Studies, Articles incorporating text from Wikipedia, Civil wars involving the states and peoples of Asia, File:Sheikh Mujib giving speech 7th March.jpg, 7th March Speech of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, List of sectors in the Bangladesh Liberation War, Mitro Bahini Order of Battle December 1971, Pakistan Army Order of Battle December 1971, Evolution of Pakistan Eastern Command plan, File:T-55 tanks in the Bangladesh Liberation War.jpg, a pre-emptive strike on Indian Air Force bases, Rape during the Bangladesh Liberation War, File:Dead bodies of Bengali intellectuals, 14 December 1971.jpg, Artistic depictions of the Bangladesh Liberation War, Awards and decorations of the Bangladesh Liberation War, Movement demanding trial of war criminals (Bangladesh), "India – Pakistan War, 1971; Introduction By Tom Cooper, with Khan Syed Shaiz Ali", https://web.archive.org/web/20110606195040/http://www.acig.org/artman/publish/article_326.shtml, "Bangladesh Islamist leader Ghulam Azam charged", http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-18049515, "54 Indian PoWs of 1971 war still in Pakistan", http://archives.dailytimes.com.pk/national/19-Jan-2005/54-indian-pows-of-1971-war-still-in-pakistan, http://www.worldcat.org/title/secondary-social-studies-for-pakistan/oclc/651126824&referer=brief_results, https://books.google.com.bd/books?id=PdrcAgAAQBAJ&dq=Al-Badr+razakar+formed&source=gbs_navlinks_s, https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=78xTAAAAIBAJ&sjid=6DgNAAAAIBAJ&pg=1738,3655&dq=india+partition&hl=en, "India Partition Will Present Many Problems", https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=VbYqAAAAIBAJ&sjid=mGQEAAAAIBAJ&pg=1342,6305096&dq=india+partition&hl=en, https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=WPdUAAAAIBAJ&sjid=GZMDAAAAIBAJ&pg=7167,1795176&dq=india+partition&hl=en, https://web.archive.org/web/20110726090509/http://www.gendercide.org/case_bangladesh.html, https://web.archive.org/web/20110622211513/http://countrystudies.us/bangladesh/21.htm, "Anatomy of Violence, Analysis of Civil War in East Pakistan in 1971", https://web.archive.org/web/20070301084941/http://www.epw.org.in/showArticles.php?root=2005&leaf=10&filename=9223&filetype=html, https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Rk4fAAAAIBAJ&sjid=jtEEAAAAIBAJ&pg=2676,6420028&dq=east+pakistan+independence&hl=en, https://web.archive.org/web/20110523003701/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,910155-2,00.html, http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Language_Movement, "International Mother Language Day – Background and Adoption of the Resolution", http://www.pmo.gov.bd/21february/imld_back.htm, "SOAS Language Centre - Bengali Language Courses", https://www.soas.ac.uk/languagecentre/languages/bengali/, http://www.un.org/en/events/motherlanguageday/, http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+bd0139), "Demons of December – Road from East Pakistan to Bangladesh", https://web.archive.org/web/20110609122558/http://www.defencejournal.com/2002/dec/demons.htm, Hassan, Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Dr. Man killed in city’s Khilkhet road crash . MV Swat, a ship of the Pakistan Navy carrying ammunition and soldiers, was harboured in Chittagong Port, but the Bengali workers and sailors at the port refused to unload the ship. The Soviets also sent a nuclear submarine to ward off the threat posed by USS Enterprise in the Indian Ocean. Zur Unterdrückung der Unabhängigkeitsbestrebungen beging die pakistanische Armee und verbündete Milizen den Genozid in Bangladesch. After their discussions yielded no satisfactory results, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman called for a nationwide strike. This terminology is officially used in Bangladesh by all sources and by Indian official sources. On 16 December 2002, the George Washington University's National Security Archive published a collection of declassified documents, consisting mostly of communications between US embassy officials and United States Information Service centres in Dacca and India, and officials in Washington, D.C.[105] These documents show that US officials working in diplomatic institutions within Bangladesh used the terms "selective genocide"[106] and "genocide" (see The Blood Telegram) for information on events they had knowledge of at the time. [71][72], Guerrilla operations, which slackened during the training phase, picked up after August. Hasan, Women of Pakistan Apologize for War Crimes, 1996, Study finds no cases of rape by Pakistan Army in 1971, Sheikh Mujib wanted a confederation: US papers, by Anwar Iqbal, Dawn, 7 July 2005, Page containing copies of the surrender documents, Bangladesh Liberation War Picture Gallery, 1971 War: How Russia sank Nixon’s gunboat diplomacy, Defence & Strategic Studies (DSS) Department, Air Force Education and Development Command, United States occupation of the Dominican Republic (1965–66), Struggle against political abuse of psychiatry in the Soviet Union, Sovereignty of Puerto Rico during the Cold War, https://military.wikia.org/wiki/Bangladesh_Liberation_War?oldid=5286721, Establishment of the sovereignty of Bangladesh. Interest The nascent Bangladesh Air Force flew sorties against Pakistani military bases. The Pakistan Army created radical religious militias – the Razakars, Al-Badr and Al-Shams – to assist it during raids on the local populace. We started the movement for the Bengali language after 1947. [26][27] However, Urdu was historically prevalent only in the north, central, and western region of the subcontinent; whereas in East Bengal, the native language was Bengali, the most easterly branch of the Indo-European languages. [66] During June and July, Mukti Bahini had regrouped across the border with Indian aid through Operation Jackpot and began sending 2000–5000 guerrillas across the border,[67] the so-called Monsoon Offensive, which for various reasons (lack of proper training, supply shortage, lack of a proper support network inside Bangladesh) failed to achieve its objectives. Sources This page was last changed on 27 August 2019, at 19:39. Victory is, by the Grace of Allah, ours. [111] Also, following Pakistan's defeat, it ensured prompt recognition of the newly independent state of Bangladesh. Signing of Pakistani Instrument of Surrender by Pakistan's Lt.Gen. On 25 March 1971, after an election won by an East Pakistani political party (the Awami League) was ignored by the ruling (West Pakistani) establishment, rising political discontent and cultural nationalism in East Pakistan was met by brutal[19] suppressive force from the ruling elite of the West Pakistan establishment,[20] in what came to be termed Operation Searchlight. Allied Indian T-55 tanks on their way to Dacca. Kamalpur, Belonia and the Battle of Boyra are a few examples. : Musings on Bangladesh Liberation War | Shamsuddin, AbulKalam M | ISBN: 9789843322197 | Kostenloser Versand für alle Bücher mit Versand und Verkauf duch Amazon. 08:41 pm. [34] Instead, he proposed the idea of having two Prime Ministers, one for each wing. [34] However, the military was unaware of these developments, and Bhutto increased his pressure on Rahman to reach a decision.[34]. The council continued deliberations for four days. At first, resistance was spontaneous and disorganised, and was not expected to be prolonged. We shall fight to the last to free our motherland. [18] The Bangladeshi Declaration of Independence was proclaimed from Chittagong by members of the Mukti Bahini – the national liberation army formed by Bengali military, paramilitary and civilians. The people of Bangladesh rallied behind the Liberation Forces to fight a war spearheaded by the Bangladesh Army. The war also exposed the shortcomings of Pakistan's declared strategic doctrine that the "defence of East Pakistan lay in West Pakistan". 79, "Bengali Wives Raped in War Are Said to Face Ostracism", http://www.docstrangelove.com/uploads/1971/foreign/19720118_nyt_bengali_wives_raped_in_war_are_said_to_face_ostracism.pdf, http://www.docstrangelove.com/uploads/1971/foreign/19720723_nyt_the_rapes_of_bangladesh.pdf, http://www.docstrangelove.com/uploads/1971/foreign/19720322_wp_un_asked_to_aid_bengali_abortions.pdf, Army Terror Campaign Continues in Dacca; Evidence Military Faces Some Difficulties Elsewhere, "Stateless Refugees and the Right to Return: the Bihari Refugees of South Asia, Part 1", http://ijrl.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/11/4/625.pdf, The Tilt: The U.S. and the South Asian Crisis of 1971, http://archive.thedailystar.net/magazine/2005/12/03/remembrance.htm, "Bernard-Henri Levy: Andre Malraux’s Bangladesh, Before the Radicals", http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/04/28/bernard-henri-levy-andre-malraux-s-bangladesh-before-the-radicals.html, http://www.theindependentbd.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=212838:andre-malraux-a-true-friend-of-bangladesh&catid=182:city-life&Itemid=220, https://web.archive.org/web/20110725050939/http://www.bdsdf.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=3072, s:Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto's farewell speech to the United Nations Security Council, "Bhutan recognised Bangladesh first - Dhaka Tribune", http://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2014/dec/08/bhutan-recognised-bangladesh-first, "Nixon and Pakistan: An Unpopular Alliance", http://archive.thedailystar.net/news2014/freedom-in-the-air-stories/54177, The Men Behind Yahya in the Indo-Pak War of 1971, "Naval 'Show of Force' By Nixon Meant as Blunt Warning to India", https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=HUU0AAAAIBAJ&sjid=IeEIAAAAIBAJ&pg=5099,2016461&dq=nixon+pakistan+military&hl=en, https://books.google.com/books?id=0RBOnS8KsgcC&pg=PA116, https://books.google.com/books?id=Q5w9qmd1UeMC&pg=PR45&dq=pakistani+dictator+yahya+khan, "Collateral Damage:‘The Blood Telegram,’ by Gary J. Bass", http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/29/books/review/the-blood-telegram-by-gary-j-bass.html?_r=1, "USSR, Czechoslovakia Recognize Bangladesh", https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=0dIoAAAAIBAJ&sjid=gQYGAAAAIBAJ&pg=2219,2272476&dq=bangladesh+ussr+recognize&hl=en, https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=5TMsAAAAIBAJ&sjid=5ssEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3505,1398456&dq=usa+recognize+bangladesh&hl=en, https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=rnVKAAAAIBAJ&sjid=RSINAAAAIBAJ&pg=4237,20391&dq=china+recognize+bangladesh&hl=en, https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=GQsyAAAAIBAJ&sjid=w6EFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4712,6055847&dq=bangladesh+united-nations+china&hl=en, List of books on Liberation War of Bangladesh, The Tilt: the U.S. and the South Asian Crisis of 1971, Dateline Bangladesh: Documentary by Gita Mehta, Video, audio footage, news reports, pictures and resources from Mukto-mona, Eyewitness Accounts: Genocide in Bangladesh, The women of 1971. ISBN 978-0-313-32967-8. [76] Hostile relations in the past between India and Pakistan added to India’s decision to intervene in Pakistan’s civil war. Relief work continued in the field, but long-term planning was curtailed. Since 1947, Pakistan’s part was being exploited by the Pakistani ruling party in many ways in East Pakistan. The proponents claim that having won 167 out of 169 seats of East Pakistan, Awami League had people's mandate to form a democratic government.