Bangladesh Liberation War

gigatos | January 28, 2022

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Summary

Bangladesh Liberation War (in Bengali মুক্তিযুদ্ধ Muktijuddho), also known as the Bangladesh War of Independence, or simply Liberation War, was a revolution and armed conflict sparked by the rise of the Bengali nationalist and self-determination movement in what was then East Pakistan during the Bangladesh genocide of 1971. It led to the independence of the People”s Republic of Bangladesh. The war began after the West Pakistan-based Pakistani military junta launched Operation Searchlight against the people of East Pakistan on the night of 25 March 1971. The operation aimed to systematically eliminate Bengali nationalist civilian population, students, intelligentsia, religious minorities and army personnel. The junta annulled the results of the 1970 elections and arrested Prime Minister-designate Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. The war ended on 16 December 1971 after West Pakistan surrendered.

Extensive military operations and air strikes were carried out in rural and urban areas of East Pakistan to suppress the wave of civil disobedience that had built up following the stalemate after the 1970 elections. Pakistan”s army, which was backed by Islamists, created radical religious militias – Razakar, Al-Badr and Al-Shams – to assist it in raids on the local population. Bihari Urdu speakers from Bangladesh (an ethnic minority) were also in support of the Pakistani army. Members of the Pakistani army and supporting militias have engaged in mass killings, deportations and genocidal rape. The capital Dhaka has been the scene of numerous massacres, including Operation Searchlight and the Dhaka University massacre. An estimated 10 million Bengali refugees have fled to neighbouring India, while 30 million have been internally displaced. Sectarian violence has erupted between Bengalis and Urdu-speaking immigrants. An academic consensus prevails that the atrocities committed by the Pakistani army amounted to genocide.

Bangladesh”s Declaration of Independence was proclaimed from Chittagong by members of the Mukti Bahini – the national liberation army made up of Bengali soldiers, paramilitaries and civilians. The East Bengal Regiment and the East Pakistan Rifles played a crucial role in the resistance. Led by General MAG Osmani and eleven sector commanders, Bangladeshi forces waged a mass guerrilla war against the Pakistani army. They liberated many towns in the early months of the conflict. The Pakistani army regained quite a few areas during the monsoon. Bengali guerrillas carried out large-scale sabotage, including Operation Jackpot against the Pakistani navy. The fledgling Bangladeshi Air Force conducted flights against Pakistani military bases. By November, Bangladeshi forces had restricted Pakistani army movements into barracks at night. They have secured control of most rural areas.

The Provisional Government of Bangladesh was formed on 17 April 1971 in Mujibnagar and moved to Calcutta as a government-in-exile. Bengali members of the Pakistani civil, military and diplomatic corps defected to the Provisional Government of Bangladesh. Thousands of Bengali families were interned in western Pakistan, from where many fled to Afghanistan. Bengali cultural activists clandestinely operated the Bengal Free Radio station. The plight of millions of war-torn Bengali civilians has caused worldwide outrage. The Indian state led by Indira Gandhi has provided substantial diplomatic, economic and military support for Bangladeshi nationalists. British, Indian and American musicians organised the world”s first benefit concert in New York City to support the people of Bangladesh. US Senator Ted Kennedy led a Congressional campaign to end Pakistani military persecution; while US diplomats in East Pakistan expressed a strong dissenting view of the Nixon administration”s close ties to Pakistani military dictator Yahya Khan.

India went to war on 3 December 1971 after Pakistan launched pre-emptive air strikes in North India. The Indo-Pak war that followed resulted in two war fronts. With Indian air supremacy existing in the eastern theatre and the rapid advance of allied forces from Bangladesh and India, Pakistan surrendered in Dhaka on 16 December 1971.

The war changed the geopolitical landscape of South Asia with the emergence of Bangladesh as the seventh most populous state in the world. 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. Most member states in the United Nations recognised Bangladesh as a sovereign nation in 1972.

Prior to the partition of British India, the Lahore Resolution originally envisaged the separation of Muslim-majority states in the eastern and north-western parts of British India. A proposal for a United Bengal was mooted by Prime Minister Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy in 1946, but the colonial authorities opposed it. The East Pakistan Renaissance Society advocated the creation of a sovereign state in eastern British India. Eventually, political negotiations in August 1947 led to the official birth of two states, Pakistan and India, separate countries for Muslims and Hindus after the British left. The dominion of Pakistan encompassed two separate geographical and cultural areas to the east and west, with India in between. The western area was popularly (and for a time also officially) called West Pakistan and the eastern area (today”s Bangladesh) was originally called East Bengal and later East Pakistan. Although the population of the two areas was almost equal, political power was concentrated in West Pakistan and the perception was that East Pakistan was economically exploited, which led to more discontent. The administration of two discontinuous territories was also seen as a challenge. On 25 March 1971, after elections were won by an East Pakistan political party (Awami League), this was ignored by the West Pakistani leadership, thus increasing political discontent and cultural nationalism in East Pakistan, which was met with brutality by the oppressive force in West Pakistan”s ruling elite in what came to be called Operation Searchlight. Violent repression by the Pakistani military led to the declaration of East Pakistan”s independence as the state of Bangladesh on 26 March 1971 by Awami League leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Most Bengalis lent their support to this movement, although Islamists and Biharis opposed it and joined the Pakistani army. Pakistani President Yahya Khan ordered the Pakistani army to restore the authority of the Pakistani government, thus starting the civil war. The war resulted in a sea of refugees (estimated at the time at around 10 million) pouring into India”s eastern provinces. Faced with a growing humanitarian and economic crisis, India began actively supporting and organising the Bangladeshi resistance army known as the Mukti Bahini.

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Although East Pakistan had a larger population, West Pakistan dominated the politically divided country and received more money from the common budget.

Cultural and religious differences

The only common link between the two Pakistani wings was religion. But there were differences even in religious practices. Bengali Muslims tended to be less conservative in their religious zeal and came to accept the Hindu minority despite some common clashes. Many Bengali Muslims objected strongly to the Islamist paradigm imposed by the Pakistani state. Most members of the ruling elite in West Pakistan also belonged to a liberal society, but wanted there to be a common faith as the mobilising factor behind the creation of Pakistan and the subsumption of multiple Pakistani identities into one.

The cultural and linguistic differences between the two wings outweighed any religious unity. The Bengalis were very proud of their language and culture which, with its Devanagari script and Pali vocabulary was unacceptable to the West Pakistani elite who considered it unsuitable for Hindu culture.

Bangladesh”s liberation struggle against Pakistan was led by secular leaders. With this reality and a sense of Islamic solidarity in the background, Islamists in East Pakistan saw Bengali nationalism as unacceptable and joined the Pakistani army”s efforts to crush the Bengali independence movement. Secularists hailed Bangladesh”s victory as a triumph of secular Bengali nationalism over against religion-centric Pakistani nationalism.

Most of the politically active ”Ulama in East Pakistan either remained neutral or sided with the Pakistani state because they perceived the break-up of Pakistan as a loss to Islam.

Political differences

Although East Pakistan had a slightly larger population, political power remained in the hands of West Pakistanis. Since a simple system of representation based on population would have concentrated political power in East Pakistan, West Pakistan came up with the ”Unity” scheme, in which the whole of West Pakistan was considered a province. This was done just to counterbalance the votes in the East.

After the assassination of Liaquat Ali Khan, Pakistan”s first Prime Minister, in 1951, political power began to devolve to Pakistan”s new President, who replaced the Governor-General when Pakistan became a republic. The elected chief executive, the prime minister, was often dismissed by the system, acting through the president.

East Pakistanis noted that the West Pakistani system would quickly oust any East Pakistani elected prime minister of Pakistan, such as Khawaja Nazimuddin, Mohammad Ali Bogra or Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy. Their suspicions were further confirmed 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. The situation came to a head in 1970 when the Bangladesh Awami League, the largest political party in East Pakistan, led by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, won a resounding victory in the national elections. The party won 167 of the 169 seats allocated for East Pakistan, and thus most of the 313 seats in the National Assembly. This gave the Awami League the constitutional right to form a government. However, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (former foreign minister), leader of the Pakistan People”s Party, refused to allow Rahman to become Pakistan”s prime minister. Instead, he proposed the idea of two prime ministers, one for each party. The proposal caused outrage in the east, which was trying to recover from the surprise constitutional innovation, the “unity scheme”. On 3 March 1971, the two leaders of the two wings, together with President General Yahya Khan, met in Dhaka to decide the fate of the country. After their talks did not lead to any satisfactory outcome, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman called for a nationwide strike. Bhutto feared a civil war, so he sent his trusted friend Mubashir Hassan. Rahman decided to meet Bhutto. The two agreed to form a coalition government with Rahman as prime minister and Bhutto as president. However, the army was unaware of these developments, and Bhutto increased pressure on Rahman to reach a decision.

On 7 March 1971 Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (later Prime Minister) gave a speech at the Racecourse Ground (now called Suhrawardy Udyan). In this speech he mentioned four additional conditions to be considered at the National Assembly meeting on March 25:

Between 10 and 13 March Pakistan International Airlines cancelled all international routes to cover emergency flights carrying “government passengers” to Dhaka. These were almost all Pakistani soldiers in civilian clothes. The MV Swat, a Pakistani navy ship carrying ammunition and soldiers, was sheltered in Chittagong port, but Bengali workers and sailors in the port refused to unload the ship. A unit of East Pakistan Rifles refused to obey orders to fire on Bengali demonstrators, starting a riot among Bengali soldiers.

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Response to the 1970 cyclone

Cyclone Bhola in 1970 made landfall off the coast of East Pakistan on the evening of 12 November at about the same time as a local tidal wave, killing an estimated 300,000 to 500,000 people. Although the exact number is not known, it is considered the deadliest tropical cyclone on record. A week after the cyclone, President Khan admitted that his government had made “mistakes” in handling relief efforts due to a lack of understanding of the magnitude of the disaster.

A statement released by eleven East Pakistani political leaders ten days after the cyclone hit accused the government of “gross negligence, and total callous indifference”. They also accused the president of downplaying the scale of the problem in news reports. On 19 November, students staged a march in Dhaka protesting the government”s slow response. Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani addressed a crowd of 50,000 on 24 November, accusing the president of inefficiency and demanding his resignation.

As the conflict between East and West Pakistan escalated in March, the Dhaka offices of the two government organizations directly involved in relief efforts were shut down for at least two weeks, first by a general strike and then by a ban on government activity in East Pakistan by the Awami League. With this increased tension, foreign staff were evacuated due to fears of violence. Relief work continued, but long-term planning was curtailed. This conflict developed into the Bangladesh Liberation War in December and ended with the creation of Bangladesh. This was one of the first times that a natural event helped trigger the civil war.

The main phase of Operation Searchlight ended with the fall of the last major Bengali-held city in mid-May. The operation was the beginning of the Bangladesh genocide of 1971. These systematic killings led to the enragement of the Bengali population, which eventually led to the secession of East Pakistan later that year. Bangladeshi media and English-language reference books have published casualty figures ranging widely from 5,000-35,000 in Dhaka, and 200,000-3,000,000 for Bangladesh as a whole, although independent researchers, including the British Medical Journal, have reported figures ranging from 125,000 to 505,000. American political scientist Rudolph Rummel believes the total death toll is as high as 1.5 million. The atrocities have been called acts of genocide.

According to Asia Times,

At a meeting of important military figures, Yahya Khan said, “Kill 3 million of them, and the rest will eat out of our hands.” Consequently, on the night of 25 March, the Pakistani military launched Operation Searchlight to “crush” Bengali resistance in which Bengali members of the military services were disarmed and killed, students and intelligentsia systematically liquidated, and able-bodied Bengali men were rounded up and shot dead.

Although the violence was concentrated in the provincial capital, Dhaka, it also affected all parts of eastern Pakistan. Residential premises at Dhaka University were particularly targeted. The only Hindu residential compound – Jagannath Hall – was destroyed by Pakistani armed forces, and around 600-700 residents were killed. The Pakistani military has denied any cold-blooded killings at the university, although Pakistan”s Hamoodur Rahman Commission concluded that disproportionate force was used at the university. This, and the massacre at Jagannath Hall and in the student hostels near Dhaka University, are backed up by a videotape secretly filmed by Professor Nurul Ula of the East Pakistan University of Engineering and Technology, whose residence was directly opposite the student hostels.

The scale of the atrocities was brought home to the West when Anthony Mascarenhas, a Pakistani journalist who had been sent to the province by the military authorities to write a story sympathetic to Pakistan”s actions, fled to the United Kingdom and, on 13 June 1971, published an article in The Sunday Times describing the systematic killings carried out by the army. The BBC wrote: “There is no doubt that Mascarenhas” article played an important part in ending the war. It helped turn world opinion against Pakistan and encouraged India to play a decisive role.” Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi herself said Mascarenhas” article persuaded her “to prepare the ground for India”s armed intervention”.

Hindu areas have suffered particularly heavy blows. By midnight, Dhaka was ablaze, especially the Hindu-dominated eastern part of the city. Time magazine wrote on August 2, 1971, “Hindus, who account for three-quarters of the refugees and most of the dead, have borne the brunt of Pakistani military hatred.”

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was arrested by the Pakistani army. Yahya Khan has appointed Rahimuddin Khan to chair a special prosecution tribunal to try Rahman on several charges. The court”s verdict has not been made public, but Yahya had the verdict stayed. Other Awami League leaders, were arrested, while several fled Dhaka to avoid arrest. The Awami League was banned by General Yahya Khan.

Declaration of Independence

The violence unleashed by Pakistani forces on 25 March 1971 proved the last straw for efforts to negotiate a settlement. Following these offences, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman signed an official statement saying:

Today Bangladesh is a sovereign and independent country. On Thursday evening, West Pakistani armed forces suddenly attacked the police barracks in Razarbagh and the EPR headquarters at Pilkhana in Dhaka. Many innocent and unarmed people have been killed in Dhaka city and elsewhere in Bangladesh. There have been violent clashes between the PRT and police on one side and the Pakistani armed forces on the other. Bengalis are fighting the enemy with great courage for an independent Bangladesh. May Allah help us in our struggle for freedom. Joy Bangla .

Sheikh Mujib called on the people to resist the occupying forces in a radio message. Rahman was arrested on the night of 25-26 March 1971 at 1:30 am (according to Radio Pakistan news of 29 March 1971).

A telegram containing the text of Mujibur Rahman”s statement reached some students in Chittagong. The message was translated into Bengali by Dr Manjula Anwar. The students failed to get permission from higher authorities to broadcast the message from the nearby Agrabad station of the Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation. However, the message was read out several times by the independent radio Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendro set up by some Bengali rebel workers in Kalurghat. Major Ziaur Rahman was asked to ensure the security of the station and also read out the Declaration of 27 March 1971. Major Ziaur Rahman broadcast the announcement of the declaration of independence on behalf of Mujibur Rahman.

Kalurghat Radio Station”s transmission capacity was limited, but the message was picked up by a Japanese vessel in the Bay of Bengal. It was then relayed by Radio Australia, and later by the British Broadcasting Corporation.

M.A. Hannan, an Awami League leader from Chittagong, is said to have made the first announcement of the declaration of independence over the radio on March 26, 1971.

March 26, 1971 is officially considered Bangladesh Independence Day and the name Bangladesh has been in effect ever since. In July 1971, Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi openly refers to the former East Pakistan as Bangladesh. Some Pakistani and Indian officials continued to use the name “East Pakistan” until 16 December 1971.

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March-June

At first, the resistance was spontaneous and disorganised and not expected to last long. However, when the Pakistani army began repressing the population, resistance grew. Mukti Bahini became increasingly active. The Pakistani army tried to suppress it, but an increasing number of Bengali soldiers fled into this illegal “Bangladesh army”. These Bengali units joined forces with the Mukti Bahini and reinforced themselves with weapons from India. Pakistan responded by airlifting in two infantry divisions and reorganising its forces. They also formed paramilitary forces of Razakar, Al-Badr and Al-Sham (which were mostly made up of members of the Muslim League and other Islamist groups), as well as other Bengalis opposed to independence, and Bihari Muslims who had settled in the area during the partition of India.

On 17 April 1971 a provisional government was formed in the Meherpur district of western Bangladesh bordering India, with Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, in prison in Pakistan, as President, Syed Nazrul Islam as Acting President, Tajuddin Ahmad as Prime Minister and General Muhammad Ataul Ghani Osmani as Commander-in-Chief of the Bangladesh Armed Forces. As fighting escalated between the occupying army and the Bengali Mukti Bahini, some 10 million Bengalis sought refuge in the Indian states of Assam and West Bengal.

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June – September

Bangladesh Force Command was established on July 11, and Colonel M.A.G. Osmani, became Commander-in-Chief, with the status of Cabinet Minister, Lt. Col. Abdur Rabb as Chief of Staff, Capt. A.K. Khandker as Deputy Chief of Staff and Maj. A.R. Chowdhury as Deputy Chief of Staff.

General Osmani had differences of opinion with the Indian leadership over the role of Mukti Bahini in the conflict. The Indian leadership initially wanted the Bengali forces to be trained as an 8,000-strong guerrilla force, led by soldiers of the East Bengal Regiment operating in small cells across Bangladesh to facilitate eventual Indian intervention, but as the Bangladesh government was in exile, General Osmani had a different strategy:

Bangladesh was divided into eleven sectors in July, each with a commander chosen from among the defected Pakistani army officers who joined the Mukti Bahini to carry out guerrilla operations and train fighters. Most of the training camps were located near the border area and operated with Indian assistance. The 10th Sector was placed directly under the command of the Commanding General, Gen. Osmani and included the commanders of the naval and special forces. Three brigades (11 battalions) were attached for conventional warfare and a large guerrilla force (estimated at 100,000) was trained.

Three brigades (eight infantry battalions and three artillery batteries) were put into action between July and September. During June and July, Mukti Bahini regrouped across the border with Indian help through Operation Jackpot and began sending 2,000-5,000 guerrilla fighters across the border, the so-called Monsoon Offensive, which for various reasons (lack of adequate preparation, lack of an adequate support network in Bangladesh) did not achieve its objectives. Bengali regular forces also attacked border outposts in Mymensingh, Comilla and Sylhet, but the results were mixed. Pakistani authorities concluded that they had succeeded in stopping the Monsoon offensive, which turned out to be a near accurate observation.

Guerrilla operations, which were reduced during the preparation phase, increased in intensity after August. Economic and military targets in Dhaka were attacked. The main success was Operation Jackpot, in which naval commandos mined and blew up ships in Chittagong, Mongla, Narayanganj and Chandpur on 15 August 1971.

October – December

Conventional forces in Bangladesh attacked border outposts. Kamalpur, Belonia and the Battle of Boyra are some examples. 90 out of 370 border outposts have fallen to Bengali forces. Guerrilla attacks have intensified, as have Pakistani and Razakar reprisals on the civilian population. Pakistani forces were reinforced with eight battalions from West Pakistan. Bangladeshi independence fighters even managed to temporarily capture airstrikes at Lalmonirhat and Shalutikar. Both were used to send supplies and weapons from India. Pakistan sent five more battalions from West Pakistan as reinforcements.

Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi concluded that instead of taking in millions of refugees, it was more economical to go to war against Pakistan. As early as 28 April 1971, the Indian cabinet asked General Manekshaw (chairman of the Chiefs of State Committee) to “enter East Pakistan”. Past hostile relations between India and Pakistan contributed to India”s decision to intervene in Pakistan”s civil war. As a result, the Indian government decided to support the creation of a separate state for ethnic Bengalis by supporting the Mukti Bahini. To this end, RAW helped organise, train and arm these insurgents. As a result, Mukti Bahini succeeded in harassing the Pakistani army in East Pakistan, thus creating the conditions for a full-scale Indian military intervention in early December.

The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) launched a pre-emptive strike on Indian Air Force bases on 3 December 1971. The attack was carried out like the Israeli Air Force”s Operation Focus during the Six-Day War and aimed to neutralise Indian aircraft on the ground. The strike was seen by India as an overt act of unprovoked aggression. It marked the official start of the Indo-Pak war. In response to the attack, both India and Pakistan formally acknowledged “the existence of a state of war between the two countries”, although neither government has formally issued a declaration of war.

Three Indian corps were involved in the liberation of East Pakistan. They were closely supported by three brigades of the Mukti Bahini fighting alongside them and many others who did not fight regularly. They were far superior to the three-division Pakistani army. The Indians quickly overran the country, selectively engaging in fighting or bypassing heavily defended strongholds. Pakistani forces were unable to effectively counter the Indian onslaught as they were deployed in small units around the border to counter guerrilla attacks by the Mukti Bahini. Unable to defend Dacca, the Pakistanis surrendered on 16 December 1971.

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Air and naval warfare

The Indian Air Force has carried out several strikes against Pakistan, and within a week, Indian planes dominated the skies over East Pakistan. They achieved almost total air supremacy by the end of the first week as the entire Pakistani air contingent in the east was kept on the ground by Indian and Bangladeshi bombing at Tejgaon, Kurmitolla, Lal Munir Hat and Shamsher Nagar. Sea Hawks from the INS carrier Vikrant also hit Chittagong, Barisal and Cox”s Bazar, destroying the eastern wing of the Pakistani navy and effectively blockading East Pakistan ports, cutting off all escape routes for Pakistani soldiers. The Bangladesh Navy (comprising officers and sailors who had deserted from the Pakistani Navy) assisted the Indians in the naval war by carrying out attacks, notably Operation Jackpot.

On 16 December 1971, Lt. Gen. Amir Abdullah Khan Niazi, commander of the Pakistan Army forces located in East Pakistan signed the surrender documents. At the time of the handover, only a few countries diplomatically recognised the new nation. More than 93,000 Pakistani troops surrendered to Indian forces and the Bangladesh Liberation Forces, the largest troop surrender since World War II, although the Pakistani army fought gallantly, according to Indian army chief Sam Manekshaw. Bangladesh applied for admission to the UN, with a majority voting in its favour, but China rejected this because Pakistan was its main ally. The United States, also a key ally of Pakistan, was one of the last nations to recognise Bangladesh. To ensure a smooth transition, the Simla Agreement between India and Pakistan was signed in 1972. The treaty ensured that Pakistan recognised Bangladesh”s independence in return for the return of Pakistani prisoners of war. India treated all prisoners of war strictly in accordance with the Geneva Convention, Article 1925. It released more than 93,000 Pakistani POWs in five months. Moreover, as a gesture of goodwill, nearly 200 soldiers who were wanted by the Bengalis for war crimes were also pardoned by India. The agreement provided 13,000 km^{2 of land that Indian troops had seized in West Pakistan during the war, although India retained some strategic areas, notably Kargil (which would be a flashpoint for a war between the two nations in 1999). This was done as a measure to promote “lasting peace” and was recognised by many observers as a sign of maturity on India”s part. However, people in India felt the treaty was too lenient for Bhutto, who pleaded for forgiveness, arguing that Pakistan”s fragile democracy would collapse if the agreement was perceived as extremely harsh by Pakistanis.}

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Reactions in West Pakistan to the war

The reaction to defeat and the dismemberment of half the nation was a shocking loss for the military and top civilians. Few expected to lose the official war in less than two weeks and there was also unease at what was perceived as a soft surrender by the East Pakistan Army. Yahya Khan”s dictatorship collapsed and gave way to Bhutto, who seized the opportunity to rise to power. General Niazi, who surrendered with 93,000 soldiers, was viewed with suspicion and contempt on his return to Pakistan. He was shunned and branded a traitor. The war also exposed the shortcomings of Pakistan”s stated strategic doctrine that “the defence of East Pakistan lies in West Pakistan.”

During the war there were mass killings and other atrocities – including the displacement of civilians from Bangladesh (East Pakistan at the time) and gross human rights violations that began with Operation Searchlight on 25 March 1971. Members of the Pakistani military, supported by the Islamist Jamaat e Islami militias, killed an estimated 300,000 to 3,000,000 people and raped between 200,000 and 400,000 Bangladeshi women in a systematic campaign of genocidal rape. Some Islamic clerics have issued fatwas (a ruling on a point of Islamic law) in support of the rape of Bengali women, especially Hindu women, considering the conflict a holy war. During the war, a fatwa in Pakistan declared that Bengali freedom fighters were Hindus and that their women could be considered “spoils of war”.

A large part of the intellectual community in Bangladesh has been killed, mainly by Al-Sham and Al-Badr forces on the instructions of the Pakistani army. Just two days before the surrender, on 14 December 1971, the Pakistan army and the Razakar military (local collaborators) took at least 100 doctors, teachers, writers and engineers from Dhaka and killed them, leaving their bodies in a mass grave.

Many mass graves have been discovered in Bangladesh. The first night of the Bengali war, documented in telegrams from the US Consulate in Dhaka to the US State Department, revealed indiscriminate killings of Dhaka University students and other civilians. Numerous women were tortured, raped and killed during the war; the exact number is not known and is the subject of debate. The widespread abduction of women in Bangladesh has resulted in the birth of thousands of children of war. The Pakistani army was also holding many Bengali women as sex slaves inside Dhaka”s slums. Most of the girls were captured from Dhaka University and private homes. There was significant sectarian violence, not only perpetrated and encouraged by the Pakistani army, but also by Bengali nationalists who were against non-Bengali minorities, especially the Bihari. In June 1971, Bihari representatives claimed that 500,000 Bihari had been killed by the Bengalis. R.J. Rummel gives a conservative estimate of 150,000 killed.

On December 16, 2002, the George Washington University National Security Archive published a collection of declassified documents, consisting mainly of communications between U.S. embassy officials and U.S. intelligence centers in Dhaka and India and officials in Washington, D.C. These documents show that U.S. officials working in diplomatic institutions in Bangladesh used the terms “selective genocide” and “genocide” (see Blood Telegram) for information about events of which they were aware at the time. Genocide is the term that is still used to describe the event in almost all major publications and newspapers in Bangladesh, although in Pakistan, the charges against Pakistani forces continue to be disputed.

Following Sheikh Mujibur Rahman”s declaration of independence in March 1971, a worldwide advocacy campaign was initiated by the Provisional Government of Bangladesh to gain political support for East Pakistan”s independence as well as humanitarian support for the Bengali people.

Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi has offered extensive diplomatic and political support for the Bangladesh movement. She visited many countries in an attempt to raise awareness of Pakistani atrocities against Bangladeshis. This effort later proved vital during the war in structuring the global context of the war and justifying India”s military action. It also ensured the prompt recognition of the newly independent state of Bangladesh after Pakistan”s defeat.

On 12 December, with Pakistan facing imminent defeat, the United States called for a meeting of the Security Council. Pakistan”s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was sent to New York to press the case for a ceasefire resolution. The Council continued deliberations for four days. By the time the proposals were finalised, East Pakistani forces had surrendered and the war was over. Bhutto, frustrated by the failure of the resolution and the inaction of the United Nations, broke off his speech and left the council.

Most United Nations member nations quickly recognised Bangladesh within months of its independence.

Bhutan

As the Bangladesh Liberation War drew closer to defeating the Pakistani army, the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan became the first state in the world to recognise the newly independent country on 6 December 1971. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the first President of Bangladesh, visited Bhutan to attend the coronation of Jigme Singye Wangchuck, the fourth King of Bhutan in June 1974.

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US and USSR

The US government has stood by its old ally Pakistan, both politically and materially. US President Richard Nixon and his national security adviser Henry Kissinger feared Soviet expansion into South and Southeast Asia. Pakistan was a close ally of the People”s Republic of China, with which Nixon had negotiated a rapprochement and planned to visit in February 1972. Nixon feared that an Indian invasion of West Pakistan would mean total Soviet domination in the region and would seriously undermine the US global position and the regional position of America”s new tacit ally, China. To demonstrate to the Chinese the good intentions of the United States as an ally, and in direct violation of US Congressional sanctions on Pakistan, Nixon sent military supplies to Pakistan and sent them through Jordan and Iran, while encouraging China to increase its arms supplies to Pakistan. The Nixon administration also ignored reports it had received of the Pakistani military”s genocide in East Pakistan, notably the Blood telegram.

Nixon denied involvement, saying it was an internal Pakistani matter, but when Pakistan”s defeat seemed certain, Nixon sent the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise to the Bay of Bengal, a move the Indians considered a nuclear threat. Enterprise arrived on 11 December 1971. On December 6 and 13, the Soviet Navy sent two groups of ships, armed with nuclear missiles, from Vladivostok; they followed US Task Force 74 into the Indian Ocean from December 18 to January 7, 1972.

The Soviet Union supported the Indian armies in Bangladesh and India as well as Mukti Bahini during the war, recognising that Bangladesh”s independence would weaken the position of its rivals – the United States and China. He assured India that if a confrontation with the US or China began, the USSR would take countermeasures. This was enshrined in the Indo-Soviet Friendship Treaty signed in August 1971. The Soviets also sent a nuclear submarine to avoid the threat posed by the USS Enterprise in the Indian Ocean.

At the end of the war, Warsaw Pact countries were among the first to recognise Bangladesh. The Soviet Union recognised Bangladesh on 25 January 1972. The United States delayed recognition for several months before complying on 8 April 1972.

China

As a long-time ally of Pakistan, the People”s Republic of China has reacted with alarm to developments in East Pakistan and to the prospect of India”s invasion of West Pakistan and Pakistan-controlled Kashmir. Believing that an Indian attack was imminent, Nixon encouraged China to mobilise its armed forces along its border with India to deter it. However, the Chinese did not respond to this encouragement because, unlike the Sino-Indian War of 1962, when India was caught totally unprepared, this time the Indian army was prepared and had deployed eight divisions to the Sino-Indian border to protect against such an eventuality. Instead, China focused its efforts on ceasefire demands.

When Bangladesh applied to join the United Nations in 1972, China rejected the application because two UN resolutions on the repatriation of Pakistani prisoners of war and civilians had not yet been implemented. China was also among the last countries to recognise Bangladesh”s independence, refusing to do so until 31 August 1975.

Sources