Allied Indian T-55 tanks on their way to Dacca. Pakistan & the Karakoram Highway By Owen Bennett-Jones, Lindsay Brown, John Mock, Sarina Singh, Pg 30. US President Richard Nixon and his National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger feared Soviet expansion into South and Southeast Asia. The Indian state led by Indira Gandhi provided substantial diplomatic, economic and military support to Bangladeshi nationalists. Consequently, the Mukti Bahini succeeded in harassing Pakistani military in East Pakistan, thus creating conditions conducive for a full-scale Indian military intervention in early December. Most of the girls were captured from Dacca University and private homes. By November, the Bangladesh forces restricted the Pakistani military to its barracks during the night. They secured control of most parts of the countryside.[15]. [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. Their suspicions were further aggravated by the military dictatorships of Ayub Khan (27 October 1958 – 25 March 1969) and Yahya Khan (25 March 1969 – 20 December 1971), both West Pakistanis. [36] A week after the landfall, President Khan conceded that his government had made "slips" and "mistakes" in its handling of the relief efforts due to a lack of understanding of the magnitude of the disaster.[37]. [34] Instead, he proposed the idea of having two Prime Ministers, one for each wing. The nascent Bangladesh Air Force flew sorties against Pakistani military bases. "All unprejudiced persons objectively surveying the grim events in Bangladesh since March 25 have recognised the revolt of 75 million people, a people who were forced to the conclusion that neither their life, nor their liberty, to say nothing of the possibility of the pursuit of happiness, was available to them"- Indira Gandhi in a letter to Richard Nixon, 15 December 1971. In 1947, India divided into two countries named Pakistan and India. Bhutto, frustrated by the failure of the resolution and the inaction of the United Nations, ripped up his speech and left the council. The Dominion of Pakistan comprised two geographically and culturally separate areas to the east and the west with India in between. Pakistan Defence Journal, 1977, Vol 2, pp. Fear for children's privacy as Delhi schools install facial recognition . Farmers First Quiz Results 2020 Winners . This effort was to prove vital later during the war, in framing the world's context of the war and to justify military action by India. [40] This conflict widened into the Bangladesh Liberation War in December and concluded with the creation of Bangladesh. Sands selling Las Vegas casino to bet big on Asia . Immediate transfer of power to the elected representative of the people before the assembly meeting 25 March. Bangladesh: The liberation war 170813093154943 The capital Dacca was the scene of numerous massacres, including the Dacca University killings. 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. Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi provided extensive diplomatic and political support to the Bangladesh movement. Members of the Pakistani military and supporting Islamist militias from Jamaat e Islami killed an estimated 300,000[49] to 3,000,000 people and raped between 200,000 and 400,000 Bangladeshi women in a systematic campaign of genocidal rape. American diplomats in East Pakistan expressed profound dissent in the Blood Telegram. [56] However, when the Pakistani Army cracked down upon the population, resistance grew. Sea Hawks from the carrier INS Vikrant also struck Chittagong, Barisal and Cox's Bazar, destroying the eastern wing of the Pakistan Navy and effectively blockading the East Pakistan ports, thereby cutting off any escape routes for the stranded Pakistani soldiers. On 7 March 1971, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (soon to be the prime minister) delivered a speech at the Racecourse Ground (now called the Suhrawardy Udyan). 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. [55] Some Pakistani and Indian officials continued to use the name "East Pakistan" until 16 December 1971. The debacle immediately prompted an enquiry headed by Justice Hamoodur Rahman. 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. Although East Pakistan accounted for a slight majority of the country's population,[33] political power remained in the hands of West Pakistanis. Durdin, Tillman (11 March 1971). Jump to navigation Jump to search Bangladesh Liberation War. Our struggle is for our independence." "[50], Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was arrested by the Pakistani Army. Following these outrages, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman signed an official declaration that read: Today Bangladesh is a sovereign and independent country. This was solely to counterbalance the East wing's votes. The major success story was Operation Jackpot, in which naval commandos mined and blew up berthed ships in Chittagong, Mongla, Narayanganj and Chandpur on 15 August 1971.[73][74]. The Pakistan Army regained momentum in the monsoon. 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. Though the exact death toll is not known, it is considered the deadliest tropical cyclone on record. At a meeting of the military top brass, Yahya Khan declared: "Kill 3 million of them and the rest will eat out of our hands." This was done as a measure of promoting "lasting peace" and was acknowledged by many observers as a sign of maturity by India. The UN Security Council assembled on 4 December 1971 to discuss the hostilities in South Asia. The Indian Air Force carried out several sorties against Pakistan, and within a week, IAF aircraft dominated the skies of East Pakistan. সমাপ্প প্রকল্প. A statement released by eleven political leaders in East Pakistan ten days after the cyclone hit charged the government with "gross neglect, callous and utter indifference". Time reported a high US official as saying "It is the most incredible, calculated thing since the days of the Nazis in Poland." On 17 April 1971, a provisional government was formed in Meherpur district in western Bangladesh bordering India with Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who was in prison in Pakistan, as President, Syed Nazrul Islam as Acting President, Tajuddin Ahmed as Prime Minister, and General Muhammad Ataul Ghani Osmani as Commander-in-Chief, Bangladesh Forces. Joy Bangla [May Bangladesh be victorious]. Victory is, by the Grace of Allah, ours. Immediate withdrawal of all military personnel to their barracks. India joined the war on 3 December 1971, after Pakistan launched preemptive air strikes on North India. [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. [102] There was significant sectarian violence not only perpetrated and encouraged by the Pakistani army,[103] but also by Bengali nationalists against non-Bengali minorities, especially Biharis.[104]. In light of the Pakistani atrocities against Bengalis, the United Kingdom and France abstained on the resolution. Pakistan sent another five battalions from West Pakistan as reinforcements. : Musings on Bangladesh Liberation War | Shamsuddin, AbulKalam M | ISBN: 9789843322197 | Kostenloser Versand für alle Bücher mit Versand und Verkauf duch Amazon. [38] On 19 November, students held a march in Dacca protesting the slowness of the government's response. Economic and military targets in Dacca were attacked. East-Pakistani judges, including Justice Siddique, refused to swear him in. [31][32], Sheikh Mujibur Rahman delivering the 7th of March Speech. Dictionary of Genocide: A-L. Volume 1: Greenwood. ", Johnson, Rob, 'A Region in Turmoil' (New York and London, 2005). Kamalpur, Belonia and the Battle of Boyra are a few examples. The Pakistani military sought to quell them, but increasing numbers of Bengali soldiers defected to this underground "Bangladesh army". The Bangladesh Liberation War[lower-alpha 1] (Bengali language: মুক্তিযুদ্ধ. The Pakistani government wanted to turn Bangladeshis into exemplary Muslims by alienating them from their Hindu background. Sheikh Mujib also called upon the people to resist the occupation forces through a radio message. 12. pp 73–92. India treated all the PoWs in strict accordance with the Geneva Convention, rule 1925. On 16 December 1971, Lt. Gen A. This article incorporates public domain material from the Library of Congress Country Studies website http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/. We shall fight to the last to free our motherland. 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. An estimated 10 million Bengali refugees fled to neighbouring India, while 30 million were internally displaced. By midnight, Dacca was burning, especially the Hindu-dominated eastern part of the city. [97] The first night of war on Bengalis, which is documented in telegrams from the American Consulate in Dacca to the United States State Department, saw indiscriminate killings of students of Dacca University and other civilians. They liberated numerous towns and cities in the initial months of the conflict. Most of the rape victims of the Pakistani Army and its allies were Hindu women. Bengali cultural activists operated the clandestine Free Bengal Radio Station. [48], The scale of the atrocities was first made clear in the West when Anthony Mascarenhas, a Pakistani journalist who had been sent to the province by the military authorities to write a story favourable to Pakistan's actions, instead fled to the United Kingdom and, on 13 June 1971, published an article in the Sunday Times describing the systematic killings by the military. [83] To ensure a smooth transition, in 1972 the Simla Agreement was signed between India and Pakistan. März 1971 bis 16. Tales of abuse and rape by the Pakistan Army, 1971 Massacre in Bangladesh and the Fallacy in the Hamoodur Rahman Commission Report, Dr. M.A. In 1952, Governor General Mohammad Ali Jinnah declared that "Urdu, and only Urdu" would be the federal language of Pakistan. Although the violence focused on the provincial capital, Dacca, it also affected all parts of East Pakistan. A. K. Niazi, CO of Pakistan Army forces located in East Pakistan signed the Instrument of Surrender. [30] West Pakistanis believed that Bengalis were not "martially inclined" unlike Pashtuns and Punjabis; the "Martial Races" notion was dismissed as ridiculous and humiliating by Bengalis. From Deterrence and Coercive Diplomacy to War – The 1971 Crisis in South Asia. Bangladesh is one of the newest nations in the world, having come into being after a war for liberation from Pakistan in 1971. The only Hindu residential hall – Jagannath Hall – was destroyed by the Pakistani armed forces, and an estimated 600 to 700 of its residents were murdered. [64] Three brigades (11 Battalions) were raised for conventional warfare; a large guerrilla force (estimated at 100,000) was trained. The liberation war of Bangladesh was not merely a war for independence fought by Bangladeshi nationalists - one of its main triggers was religion. It resulted in the independence of the People's Republic of Bangladesh. Destroy Pakistan army mobility by blowing up bridges/culverts, fuel depots, trains and river crafts. Many innocent and unarmed have been killed in Dhaka city and other places of Bangladesh. The party won 167 of the 169 seats allotted to East Pakistan, and thus a majority of the 313 seats in the National Assembly. The war changed the geopolitical landscape of South Asia, with the emergence of Bangladesh as the seventh-most populous country in the world. Salam, Rafi… We describe various crucial events starting form the declaration of independence to the final victory. [7][81] Bangladesh sought admission in the UN with most voting in its favour, but China vetoed this as Pakistan was its key ally. This terminology is officially used in Bangladesh by all sources and by Indian official sources. Zur Unterdrückung der Unabhängigkeitsbestrebungen beging die pakistanische Armee und verbündete Milizen den Genozid in Bangladesch. An academic consensus prevails that the atrocities committed by the Pakistani military were a genocide. We started the movement for the Bengali language after 1947. 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". Imams and Muslim religious leaders declared the women "war booty" and supported the rapes. The strategic objective was to make the Pakistanis spread their forces inside the province, so attacks could be made on isolated Pakistani detachments. The Soviets also sent a nuclear submarine to ward off the threat posed by USS Enterprise in the Indian Ocean. On Thursday night, West Pakistani armed forces suddenly attacked the police barracks at Razarbagh and the EPR headquarters at Pilkhana in Dacca. The council continued deliberations for four days. 08:41 pm. The plight of millions of war-ravaged Bengali civilians caused worldwide outrage and alarm. PM Tajuddin Ahmed’s statement to the world, April 17, 1971. Sources This page was last changed on 27 August 2019, at 19:39. Staff writer (18 November 1970). Bengalis were under-represented in the Pakistan military. 26 March 1971 is considered the official Independence Day of Bangladesh, and the name Bangladesh was in effect henceforth. The students failed to secure permission from higher authorities to broadcast the message from the nearby Agrabad Station of Radio Pakistan. During the 1971 Bangladesh war for independence, members of the Pakistani military and Razakar raped between 200,000 and 400,000 Bangladeshi women and girls in a systematic campaign of genocidal rape. Bangladesh Liberation War, 1971 The Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971 was for independence from Pakistan. Asif Siddiqui, Journal of International and Area Studies Vol.4 No.1, 1997. These "government passengers" were almost all Pakistani soldiers in civilian dress. Prelude . The war also exposed the shortcomings of Pakistan's declared strategic doctrine that the "defence of East Pakistan lay in West Pakistan". Staff writer (23 November 1970). Reaction to the defeat and dismemberment of half the nation was a shocking loss to top military and civilians alike. The violence unleashed by the Pakistani forces on 25 March 1971 proved the last straw to the efforts to negotiate a settlement. A unit of East Pakistan Rifles refused to obey commands to fire on the Bengali demonstrators, beginning a mutiny among the Bengali soldiers. The war for liberation the led to Bangladesh Independence. Senator Ted Kennedy in the United States led a congressional campaign for an end to Pakistani military persecution; while US diplomats in East Pakistan strongly dissented with the Nixon administration's close ties to the Pakistani military dictator Yahya Khan. This gave Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as the leader of the party the right to declare independence of the country.