Bangladesh Liberation War

Bangladesh Liberation War
Date March 26, 1971 - December 16, 1971 Location Bangladesh Result • Surrender of Pakistan • Decisive Indian and Bangladeshi victory • Birth of Bangladesh Territorial changes Bangladesh, India, Pakistan
Belligerents
Bangladesh and India	Pakistan
Commanders and leaders
• General M A G Osmani • General Jagjit Singh Aurora	General A. A. K. Niazi
Strength
India: 500,000+ Mukti Bahini: 100,000	Pakistan Army: 365,000 Paramilitary: 280,000
Casualties and losses
India: 1,426 KIA 3,611 Wounded (Official) Mukti Bahini: NA*	~8,000 KIA ~10,000 Wounded 93,000 POWs
Civilian death toll: Between 307,013–3,000,000

The Bangladesh Liberation War (two other names are also used, most commonly the Indo-Pakistan War of 1971) refers to an armed conflict between West Pakistan (now Pakistan) and East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) that lasted for roughly nine months, from 26 March until 16 December 1971. The war resulted in Bangladesh's independence from Pakistan.

Background

British rule in India ended in August 1947. This was accompanied by the Partition of India, whereby Muslim-majority areas in the east and west of the Indian subcontinent were constituted into a separate country, Pakistan. The Western zone was popularly (and for a period of time, also officially) termed West Pakistan and the Eastern zone (modern-day Bangladesh) was initially termed East Bengal and later, East Pakistan. The two zones were separated by several thousand miles of Indian territory. They were also very different from each other culturally, whether in language, the arts, music, cuisine or clothing. It was widely perceived that the west zone dominated the country, leading to the effective marginalization of the east zone.

Economic exploitation

West Pakistan (consisting of four provinces: Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan and North-West Frontier Province) dominated the divided country politically and received more money from the common budget than the more populous East.

Year	Spending on West Pakistan (in crore Rupees)	Spending on East Pakistan (in crore Rupees)	Amount spent on East as percentage of West
1950/51-54/55	1,129	524	46.4
1955/56-59/60	1,655	524	31.7
1960/61-64/65	3,355	1,404	41.8
1965/66-69/70	5,195	2,141	41.2
Total	11,334	4,593	40.5
Source: Reports of the Advisory Panels for the Fourth Five Year Plan 1970-75, Vol. I, published by the planning commission of Pakistan

Between 1948 and 1960, East Pakistan produced 70% of all of Pakistan's exports, while it only received 25% of import earnings. In 1948 (shortly after independence from Britain), East Pakistan had 11 textile mills while the West had 9. In 1971, the number of textile mills in the West had grown to 150 while that in the East had only gone up to 26. Furthermore, 2.6 billion dollars' (in 1971 exchange rates) worth of resources were transferred over time from East Pakistan to West Pakistan. It was widely felt in East Pakistan that much of the income generated by the east was diverted to the benefit of the west, especially towards fighting wars in Kashmir.

Political differences

Although East Pakistan accounted for a majority of the country's population, political power remained firmly in the hands of West Pakistanis, specifically the Punjabis. 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.This was solely to counterbalance the East wing's votes. Ironically, after the East broke away to form Bangladesh, the Punjab province insisted that politics in the rump West Pakistan now be decided on the basis of a straightforward vote, since Punjabis were more numerous than the other groups, such as Sindhis, Pathans, or Balochs.

After the assassination of Liaquat Ali Khan, political power began to be concentrated in the President of Pakistan, and eventually, the military. The nominal elected chief executive, the Prime Minister, was frequently sacked by the establishment, acting through the President.

East Pakistanis noticed that whenever one of them, such as Khawaja Nazimuddin, Muhammad Ali Bogra, or Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy were elected Prime Minister of Pakistan, they were swiftly deposed by the largely West Pakistani establishment. The military dictatorships of Ayub Khan and Yahya Khan, both West Pakistanis, only heightened such feelings.

Finally, when Sheikh Mujib's Awami League won a clear majority in the elections of 1970, the West Pakistan establishment refused to allow Mujib to form a government. This finally convinced the East that independence was necessary.

Language controversy

Close ties existed between East Pakistan and West Bengal, one of the Indian states bordering Bangladesh, as both were composed mostly of Bengalis. West Pakistan viewed East Pakistani links with India unfavourably as relations between India and Pakistan had been very poor since independence.

In 1948, Mohammad Ali Jinnah declared in Dhaka (then usually spelt Dacca in English) that "Urdu, and only Urdu" would be the sole official language for all of Pakistan . This proved highly controversial, since Urdu was a language that was only spoken in the West by Muhajir and in the East by Biharis. The majority groups in West Pakistan spoke Punjabi and Sindhi, while Bangla was spoken by the majority of East Pakistanis. The language controversy eventually reached a point where East Pakistan revolted. Several students and civilians lost their lives in a police crackdown on February 21, 1952. The day is revered in Bangladesh and in West Bengal as the Language Martyrs' Day. Later, in memory of the 1952 killings, UNESCO declared February 21 as the International Mother Language Day. The deaths led to bitter feelings among East Pakistanis, and they were a major factor in the push for independence.

Impact of the tropical cyclone

The already tense situation was further aggravated by a tropical cyclone that struck East Pakistan in 1970. It was a particularly devastating year as the deadliest cyclone on record — the 1970 Bhola cyclone — struck Bangladesh claiming nearly half a million lives. The apathy of West Pakistan leadership and its failure in responding quickly was a further platform for the Awami League, which capitalised on this tragedy. The Pakistan Army failed to do relief work of any significance to alleviate the problem, further antagonising the already estranged Bengali populace.

Prelude to war

The political prelude to the war included several factors. Due to the differences between the two wings of the country, a nascent separatist movement developed in East Pakistan. This was curbed with harshness, especially when martial law was in force between 1958 and 1962 (under General Ayub Khan) and between 1969 and 1972 (under General Yahya Khan). These military rulers were of West Pakistani origin and continued to favour West Pakistan in terms of economic advantages.

Political climax

The situation reached a climax when in 1970 the Awami League, the largest East Pakistani political party, led by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, won a landslide victory in the national elections. The party won 160 of the 162 seats allotted to East Pakistan, and thus a majority of the 300 seats in the National Assembly. This gave the Awami League the constitutional right to form a government. However, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the leader of the Pakistan People's Party, refused to allow Rahman to become the Prime Minister of Pakistan. Instead, he proposed the idea of having two Prime Ministers, one for each wing. The proposal elicited outrage in the east wing, already chafing under that other imaginative constitutional innovation, the "one unit scheme." Bhutto also refused to accept Rahman's Six Points. On 3 March 1971, the two leaders of the two wings along with the President General Yahya Khan met in Dhaka to decide the fate of the country. Talks failed. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman called for a nation-wide strike.

File:Mujib7March.jpg

Historical Speech of Sheikh Mujibur Rahaman on March 7, 1971

Mujib's speech of 7 March

On March 7 1971, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman gave a speech at the Racecourse Ground (now called the Suhrawardy Udyan). In this speech he mentioned a further four-point condition to consider the National Assembly Meeting on March 25:

1. The immediate lifting of martial law.
2. Immediate withdrawal of all military personnel to their barracks.
3. An inquiry into the loss of life.
4. Immediate transfer of power to the elected representative of the people before the assembly meeting March 25.

He urged "his people" to turn every house into a fort of resistance. He closed his speech saying, "The struggle this time is for our freedom. The struggle this time is for our independence." This speech is considered the main event that inspired the nation to fight for their independence.

Military preparation in West Pakistan

General Tikka Khan was flown in to Dhaka to become Governor of East Bengal. East-Pakistani judges, including Justice Siddique, refused to swear him in.

MV Swat, a ship of the Pakistani Navy, carrying ammunition and soldiers, was harboured in Chittagong Port and the Bengali workers and sailors at the port refused to unload the ship. A unit of East Pakistan Rifles refused to obey commands to fire on Bengali demonstrators, beginning a mutiny of Bengali soldiers.

Between 10 and 13 March, Pakistan International Airlines cancelled all their international routes to urgently fly "Government Passengers" to Dhaka. These so-called "Government Passengers" were almost all Pakistani soldiers in civilian dress.

Violence of 25 March

On the night of 25 March, the Pakistani Army began a violent effort to suppress the Bengali opposition. Before this began, all foreign journalists were systematically deported from Bangladesh. Bengali members of military services were disarmed. The operation was called Operation Searchlight by the Pakistani Army and was carefully devised by several top army generals to "crush" Bengalis.

Although the violence focused on the provincial capital, Dhaka, the process of ethnic elimination was also carried out all around Bangladesh. Residential halls of University of Dhaka were particularly targeted. The only Hindu residential hall — the Jagannath Hall — was destroyed by the Pakistani armed forces, and an estimated 600 to 700 of its residents were murdered. The Pakistani army denies any cold blooded killings at the university, though the Hamood-ur-Rehman commission in Pakistan states that overwhelming force was used at the university. This fact and the massacre at Jagannath Hall and nearby student dormitories of Dhaka University are corroborated by a videotape secretly filmed by Prof. Nur Ullah of the East Pakistan Engineering University, whose residence was directly opposite the student dormitories.

Hindu areas all over Bangladesh suffered particularly heavy blows. By midnight, Dhaka was literally burning, especially the Hindu dominated eastern part of the city. Time magazine reported on August 2, 1971, "The Hindus, who account for three-fourths of the refugees and a majority of the dead, have borne the brunt of the Muslim military hatred."

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was arrested by the Pakistani Army. Other Awami League leaders were arrested as well, while a few fled Dhaka to avoid arrest. The Awami League was banned by General Yahya Khan.

Declaration of independence

The violence unleashed by the Pakistani forces on March 25, 1971, proved the last straw to the efforts to negotiate a settlement. Following these outrages, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman signed an official declaration that read:

Today Bangladesh is a sovereign and independent country. On Thursday night, West Pakistani armed forces suddenly attacked the police barracks at Razarbagh and the EPR headquarters at Pilkhana in Dhaka. Many innocent and unarmed have been killed in Dhaka city and other places of Bangladesh. Violent clashes between EPR and Police on the one hand and the armed forces of Pakistan on the other, are going on. The Bengalis are fighting the enemy with great courage for an independent Bangladesh. May God aid us in our fight for freedom. Joy Bangla.

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman

25 March 1971

(Source: "The History of the Liberation Movement in Bangladesh" by J. S. Gupta)

Sheikh Mujib also called upon the people to resist the occupation forces through a wireless message. Mujib was arrested on the night of March 25-26, 1971 at about 1:30 a.m. (as per Radio Pakistan’s news on March 29, 1971).

A telegram containing the text of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's declaration reached some students in Chittagong. The message was translated to Bangla by Dr. Manjula Anwar. The students failed to secure permission from higher authorities to broadcast the message from the nearby Agrabad Station of Radio Pakistan. They crossed Kalurghat Bridge into an area controlled by an East Bengal Regiment under Major Ziaur Rahman. Bengali soldiers guarded the station as engineers prepared for transmission. At 19:45 hrs on 26 March, 1971, Major Ziaur Rahman broadcast another announcement of the declaration of independence on behalf of Sheikh Mujibur which is as follows.

This is Shadhin Bangla Betar Kendro. I, Major Ziaur Rahman, at the direction of Bangobondhu Mujibur Rahman, hereby declare that the independent People's Republic of Bangladesh has been established. At his direction, I have taken command as the temporary Head of the Republic. In the name of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, I call upon all Bengalis to rise against the attack by the West Pakistani Army. We shall fight to the last to free our Motherland. By the grace of Allah, victory is ours. Joy Bangla.

The Kalurghat Radio Station's transmission capability was limited. The message was picked up by a Japanese ship in Bay of Bengal. It was then re-transmitted 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 26 March, 1971.

March 26, 1971, is considered the official Independence Day of Bangladesh and according to all Bangladeshi sources, the name Bangladesh was in effect henceforth. Certain sources, especially of Indian and Pakistani origin, continued to use the name "East Pakistan" until the following 16 December.

The war

Illustration showing refugee and troop movements during the war.

As political events gathered momentum, the stage was set for a clash between the Pakistan Army and the insurgents. Though smaller maoist style paramilitary bands of the Purba Banglar Sarbahara Party started emerging, the Mukti Bahini were becoming increasingly visible. Headed by Colonel Muhammad Ataul Gani Osmani, a retired Pakistani Army officer, this band was raised as Mujib's action arm and security force before assuming the character of a conventional guerrilla force. After the declaration of independence, the Pakistani military sought to quell them, but increasing numbers of Bengali soldiers defected to the underground "Bangladesh army". These Bengali units slowly merged into the Mukti Bahini and bolstered their weaponry. They then jointly launched operations against the Pakistani Army killing many in the process. This setback prompted the Pakistani Army to induct Razakars, Al-badr and Al-Shams (who were mostly current leaders of Jamaat-i-Islami) and other Bengalis who did not want Bangladesh to become an independent country. These people were essentially viewed as traitors and with suspicion by local Bengalis, as a vast majority of these recruits were Bihari Muslims who had settled during the time of partition. This helped Pakistan stem the tide somewhat as the monsoon approached in the months of June and July.

Undeterred by this setback, Mukti Bahini regrouped as they gained in strength and capability. Aided by the Indian government in West Bengal, they were equipped and trained to counter the Pakistan Army. As there was no action during the monsoon, it was seen by the Pakistan military brass as a weakening of the Bangladesh cause. However it was merely the lull before the storm. After sensing the magnitude of the issue, the army was beefed up as troop strength was increased to more than 80,000. This caused a rise in tensions across the border as India realised the gravity of the situation. The Indian military were preparing for the eventual onslaught with the aid of the separatists and waited for the end of the monsoon season to enable easy passage. The Indians aimed to bypass the villages and towns and instead concentrate on the cities and the highways which ultimately would lead to the capture of Dhaka.

File:IndianArmour.jpg

Indian Army troops in action during the war

Pakistan decided to nullify such an attack and on December 3 launched a series of preemptive air strikes. The attack was modelled on the Operation Focus employed by Israel Air Force during the Six-Day War. However the plan failed to achieve the desired success and was seen as an open act of unprovoked aggression against the Indians. Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi then ordered the immediate mobilisation of troops and launched the full scale invasion. This marked the official start of the India-Pak war with fighting commencing in West Pakistan. The Indian Army, far superior in numbers and equipment to that of Pakistan, executed a three-pronged pincer movement on Dhaka launched from the Indian states of West Bengal, Assam, and Tripura. In all these places the Mukti Bahini and the local Bengalis played a vital role in aiding the Indian Army. Many soldiers were ferried in the night by the locals across rivers and valuable information on the location and whereabouts of different military strongholds were gleaned. It was backed up by the Indian Air Force which achieved near total air supremacy towards the end of the war as the entire East Pakistan airbase with all the flights were destroyed. The Indian Navy, also annihilated the eastern wing of the Pakistan Navy and blockaded the East Pakistan ports, thereby cutting off any escape routes for the stranded Pakistani soldiers. The fledgling Bangladesh Navy (comprising officers and sailors who defected from Pakistani Navy) aided the Indians in the marine warfare, carrying out attacks, most notably Operation Jackpot.

Meanwhile, on the ground, nearly 3 brigades of Mukti Bahini along with the Indian forces fought in a conventional formation. This was supplemented by guerrilla style attacks on Pakistanis who were facing hostilities on land, air, water in both covert and overt ways. Undeterred, Pakistan tried to fight back and boost the sagging morale by incorporating the Special Services Group commandos in sabotage and rescue missions. This however could not stop the juggernaut of the invading columns whose speed and power were too much to contain for the Pakistani Army. On 16 December, within just 12 days, the capital Dhaka fell to the Mitro Bahini — the allied forces. Lt. Gen. Niazi surrendered to the combined forces headed by its commander Lt. Gen. Jagjit Singh Aurora by signing the Instrument of Surrender at Ramna Racecourse, 16:31 Indian Standard Time. Bangladesh became liberated.

Major Battles and Operations

Eastern Theatre

• Clash over Boyra
• Battle of Garibpur
• Battle of Dhalai
• Battle of Hilli
• Battle of Kushtia
• Operation Jackpot
• East Pakistan Air Operations

Western Theatre

• Battle of Longewala
• Battle of Basantar
• Operation Trident
• Operation Python

Foreign intervention

India

File:0147.jpg

Indian Army's T-55 tanks on their way to Dhaka. India's military intervention played a crucial role in turning the tide in favour of the Bangladeshi rebels.

Main article: Indo-Pakistani War of 1971

Due to the ongoing violence, millions of Bangladeshis fled to neighbouring India creating a huge refugee crisis there. The sheer number of Bangladeshi refugees and their demographic profile threatened both social and political repercussions on the Indian polity. On December 3 1971, the then Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi, declared war on Pakistan and in aid of the Mukti Bahini. India's external intelligence agency, the R.A.W., played a crucial role in providing logistic support to the Mukti Bahini during the initial stages of the war. RAW's operations in then East Pakistan, was the largest covert mission in the history of South Asia.

Wary of the growing involvement of India, the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) launched a pre-emptive strike on India. However, the PAF lost several aircraft to Indian anti-aircraft guns during the mission. In retaliation, the Indian Air Force carried out several sorties against Pakistan and within a week, IAF aircraft dominated the skies of East Pakistan. With India winning the air war, Pakistan launched a desperate attack on India's western front hoping to force Indian troops away from East Pakistan. However, the Indians repelled the Pakistani invasion and decisive Indian victory during the Battle of Basantar and Battle of Longewala thrashed all Pakistani hopes to win the war. Backed by the Indian Air Force and the Navy, the Indian Army and the Mukti Bahini won several battles on the eastern front including the famous Battle of Hilli. On December 16 1971, the Indian Army entered Dhaka and more than 93,000 Pakistani soldiers and their abettors surrendered to joint forces (Mitro Bahini) and were taken as prisoner of war by the Indian Army, the largest surrender since World War II.

USA and USSR

The United States supported Pakistan both politically and materially. U.S. President Richard 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 USS Enterprise to the Bay of Bengal, a move deemed by the Indians as a nuclear threat . Enterprise arrived on station on December 11, 1971.

The Nixon administration provided support to Pakistan President Yahya Khan during the turmoil.

Several documents released from the Nixon Presidential Archives show the extent of the tilt that the Nixon Administration demonstrated in favor of Pakistan. Among them, the infamous Blood telegram from the US consulate in Dhaka, East Pakistan, stated the horrors of the systematic mass murders initiated by the Pakistani Military in East Pakistan. . Notwithstanding this, Nixon, backed by Henry Kissinger, wanted to protect the interests of Pakistan as they were apprehensive of India. Archer Blood was promptly transferred out of Dhaka. As revealed in the newly declassified transcripts released by the US State Department , President Nixon was using the Pakistanis to normalize relations with China. This would have three important effects, viz., opening rifts between the Soviet Union, China and North Vietnam, opening the potentially huge Chinese market to American business and creating a foreign policy coup in time to win the 1972 Presidential Elections. Since Nixon believed the existence of Pakistan to be critical to the success of his term he went to great lengths to protect his ally. In direct violation of the US Congress-imposed sanctions on Pakistan, Nixon sent military supplies to Pakistan and routed them through Jordan and Iran . After the war, the U.S. maintained a largely pro-Pakistani position, against world opinion.

The Soviet Union had sympathized with the Bangladeshis, and supported the Indian Army and Mukti Bahini during the war. It gave assurances to India that if a confrontation with the United States developed, the USSR would provide all necessary support to India. This was enshrined in the Indo-Soviet friendship treaty signed in August 1971. The Soviets also sent a nuclear submarine to ward off the threat posed by USS Enterprise in the Indian Ocean.

China

After the USA had failed to act decisively in a manner that would not draw world condemnation to itself, it sought to rope the People's Republic of China into the conflict. The plan was to attack India on two sides with the help of China and thus stopping the attack on West Pakistan. Kissinger's meeting with the Chinese was with this intention. In fact, China was the only permanent member of the UN Security Council that was supportive of such an attack, and even provided economic and military assistance. But the support was limited to protecting West Pakistan in the face of a threat from India, and not aimed directly at the internal conflict. It was also suspicious that the U.S. did not want to dirty its hands. The Chinese government wanted a strongly worded UN Security Council resolution after which the PRC would help Pakistan. It however did not materialise due to the Soviet veto and China did not intervene in the war.

United Nations

Though the United Nations condemned the human rights violations, it failed to defuse the situation politically before the start of the war. The Security Council assembled on December 4 to discuss the volatile situation in South Asia. USSR vetoed the resolution twice. After lengthy discussions on December 7, the General Assembly promptly adopted by a majority resolution calling for an "immediate cease-fire and withdrawal of troops." The United States on December 12 requested that the Security Council be reconvened. However by the time it was reconvened, and proposals were finalised, the war ended, making the measures merely academic.

The inaction of the United Nations in face of the East Pakistan crisis was widely criticized. The conflict also exposed the delay in decision making that failed to address the underlying issues in time.

End of the war

After Pakistan's surrender late in 1971, people in Bangladesh rejoiced at their liberation. This was followed by a need to get international acceptance for Bangladesh, as only a few countries recognised the new nation. Bangladesh sought admission in the UN with most voting in its favour, but China vetoed this as Pakistan was its key ally. However the United States grudgingly recognized it, and to ensure a smooth transition, in 1972 the Shimla Agreement was signed between India and Pakistan. The treaty was a watershed in the history of the South Asian region as it ensured that Bangladesh would get official recognition from Pakistan and its principal allies in exchange for the return of the Pakistani PoWs. India treated all the PoWs in strict accordance with the Geneva Convention, rule 1925. It released more than 90,000 Pakistani PoWs in a record five months. As a gesture of goodwill, the nearly 200 soldiers who were sought for war crimes by Bengalis were also pardoned by India. The accord also gave back more than 13,000 km² of land that Indian troops had won in West Pakistan during the war, holding on to a few strategic places; most notably Kargil (which would in turn again be the focal point for a war between the two nations in 1999). This was done as a measure of ensuring "lasting peace" and was acknowledged by many observers as a sign of maturity by India. But some in India felt that the treaty had been too lenient to Bhutto, who had pleaded for more leeway as he felt that the fragile democracy in Pakistan would crumble if the accord was perceived as being too harsh in Pakistan.

Reaction in West Pakistan to the war

Reaction to the defeat and dismemberment of half the nation was a shocking loss to top military and civilians alike. No one had expected that they would lose the formal war in under a fortnight and were also very angry at the meek surrender of the army in East Pakistan. Yahya Khan's dictatorship collapsed and gave way to Bhutto who took the opportunity to rise to power. General Niazi, who surrendered along with 93,000 troops, was viewed with suspicion and hatred upon his return to Pakistan. He was shunned and branded a traitor. The war also exposed the short coming of the defence strategy that the "defence of East Pakistan lay in West Pakistan". Pakistan also failed to gather international support and were found fighting a lone battle with only the USA providing any external help. This further embittered the Pakistanis who had faced the worst military defeat of an army in decades.

The debacle immediately prompted an enquiry headed by Justice Hamdoor Rahman. Called the Hamoodur Rahman Commission, it was initially suppressed by Bhutto as it put the military in poor light. When it was declassified, it showed many failings from the strategic to the tactical levels. It also condemned the atrocities and the crimes committed by the armed forces. It confirmed the rapes and the killings by the Pakistan Army and their local agents (mostly Jamaati-i-Islami followers) although the figures are far lower than the ones quoted by Bangladesh. 200,000 women were raped, according to Bangladesh. Over 3 million people were killed. However, the army’s role in splintering Pakistan after its greatest military debacle was largely ignored by successive Pakistani governments.

Nomenclature justifications

Three names are frequently used to refer to the exact same warfare.

Pakistani Civil War

This name is mainly used by current day Pakistan Army. The name describes either the period of March 26, 1971 to December 16, 1971 or the period of March 26, 1971 to December 3, 1971. The main issue arises from the validity of the declaration of independence on 26 March. This is entirely a matter of political technicality.

There is a certain logic used by proponents of this nomenclature. According to them no country accepted Bangladesh's independence declaration and hence the region contemplated continued to be East Pakistan. So, the war was a civil war in effect.

Indo-Pakistani War of 1971

This name is used by armies of all three countries to describe the period between December 3, 1971 and December 16, 1971. The Indian Army does not explicitly use the term to describe the war in their (India's) Eastern Front at any point. Instead, India only refers to the war on the Western Front as the Indo-Pakistani War. (Note that the Indian Parliament recognized the People's Republic of Bangladesh as an independent country on the 6 December 1971.) There is no verifiable definite claim from the Pakistan Army or Government. Bangladesh clearly uses only the terminology Liberation War of Bangladesh for the war on Bangladeshi territory.

The proponents of this terminology also question validity of declaration of independence of Bangladesh since there was no foreign government that acknowledged the independence. So, according to them, the war was effectively between Indian Army and Pakistan Army.

Liberation War of Bangladesh

This terminology is officially used in Bangladesh by all sources and by Indian official sources. 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. This gave Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as the leader of the party the right to declare independence of the country. Since Major Ziaur Rahman claimed independence on behalf of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, a Bangladesh government was in existence as early as 26 March 1971. Hence Bangladesh was in existence. There was also a Bangladesh Army which effectively meant the war was not between India and Pakistan but between Pakistan and Bangladesh backed by India.

The terminology is politically preferred by both India and Bangladesh for a few reasons:

• It gave India the right to enter the war in support of Bangladesh without breaching United Nations laws that prevent countries from interfering with other countries' internal affairs.
• Members of East Pakistan Regiment were able to fight Pakistan Army without being treated as mutineers since they were fighting under command of a Bangladeshi Government.
• It eased Indian diplomatic efforts to gain support for the recognition of Bangladesh as a country.

Atrocities

Main article: 1971 Bangladesh atrocities

The Bangladesh liberation war witnessed widespread atrocities committed against the Bengali population of East Pakistan, at a level that within Bangladesh, ‘genocide’ is the term that is still used to describe the event in almost every major publication and newspaper . The actual extent of the atrocities committed is not clearly known, and opinions vary, as the next section discusses. However, there is little doubt that numerous civilians were tortured and killed during the war. A large section of the intellectual community of Bangladesh were murdered mostly by the Al-Shams and Al-Badr forces, at the instruction of the defeated Pakistani Army. There are many mass graves in Bangladesh, and newer ones are always being discovered, such as one in an old well near a mosque in Dhaka located in the non-Bengali region of the city which was discovered in August 1999. The first night of war on Bengalis, which is documented in telegrams from the American Consulate in Dhaka to the United States State Department, saw indiscriminate killings of students of Dhaka University and other civilians.

Casualties

The number of civilians that died in the liberation war of Bangladesh is not known in any reliable accuracy. There has been a great disparity in the casualty figures put forth by Pakistan on one hand (26,000, as reported in the Hamoodur Rahman Commission ) and India and Bangladesh on the other hand (From 1972 to 1975 the first post-war prime minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, mentioned on several occasions that 3 million died). The international media and reference books in English have also have published figures which vary greatly: 5,000–35,000 in Dhaka, and 200,000–3,000,000 in the country of Bangladesh . According to the journalist Robert Payne on February 22, 1971 Yahya Khan told a group of generals, "Kill three million of them, and the rest will eat out of our hands".

The historian branch of the United States State Department held a two-day conference in late June 2005 on U.S. policy in South Asia between 1961 and 1972. The State Department invited scholars from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh to express their views on documents recently declassified by the State Department. According to Dawn, a Pakistani Newspaper, "Bangladeshi speakers at the conference stated that the official Bangladeshi figure of civilian deaths was close to 300,000, which was wrongly translated from Bengali into English as three million".

In 1997 R. J. Rummel published a book which is available on the web called Statistics of Democide: Genocide and Mass Murder Since 1900, In Chapter 8 called Statistics Of Pakistan's Democide - Estimates, Calculations, And Sources he states:

In East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) [General Agha Mohammed Yahya Khan and his top generals] also planned to murder its Bengali intellectual, cultural, and political elite. They also planned to indiscriminately murder hundreds of thousands of its Hindus and drive the rest into India. And they planned to destroy its economic base to insure that it would be subordinate to West Pakistan for at least a generation to come. This despicable and cutthroat plan was outright genocide.

Rummel goes on to collate what he considers the most credible estimates published by others into what he calls democide. He writes that "Consolidating both ranges, I give a final estimate of Pakistan's democide to be 300,000 to 3,000,000, or a prudent 1,500,000."

Presently, Bangladeshis generally accept the 3 million figure as an undeniable truth. Any recent opinion from Pakistan, on this matter, is not available.

Atrocities on women and minorities

Numerous women were tortured, raped and killed during the war. Again, exact numbers are not known and are a subject of debate. Bangladeshi sources cite a figure of 200,000 women raped, giving birth to thousands of war-babies. Some other sources, for example Susan Brownmiller, refer to an even higher number of over 400,000. Pakistani sources claim the number is much lower, though having not completely denied rape incidents.

Apart from Brownmiller's, another work that has included direct experiences from the women raped is Ami Virangana Bolchhi ("I, the heroine, speak") by Nilima Ibrahim. The work includes in its name from the word Virangana (Heroine), given by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman after the war, to the raped and tortured women during the war. This was a conscious effort to alleviate any social stigma the women might face in the society. How successful this effort was is doubtful, though.

The minorities of Bangladesh, especially the Hindus, were specific targets of the Pakistan army . There was widespread killing of Hindu males, and rapes of women. More than 60% of the Bengali refugees that had fled to India were Hindus . It is not exactly known what percentage of the people killed by the Pakistan army were Hindus, but it is safe to say it was disproportionately high. This widespread violence against Hindus was motivated by a policy to purge East Pakistan of what was seen as Hindu and Indian influences. The West Pakistani rulers identified the Bengali culture with Hindu and Indian culture, and thought that the eradication of Hindus would remove such influences from the majority Muslims in East Pakistan .

At the historian branch of the United States State Department two-day conference in late June 2005 on U.S. policy in South Asia between 1961 and 1972, Sarmila Bose (a Harvard-educated Indian academic related to the Indian Freedom Struggle leader Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose), presented a paper suggesting that the casualties and rape allegations in the war have been greatly exaggerated for political purposes. This work has been criticised in Bangladesh and her research methods have been attacked as shoddy and biased.

Killing of intellectuals

During the war, the Pakistan Army and its local collaborators carried out a systematic execution of the leading Bengali intellectuals. A number of university professors from Dhaka University were killed during the first few days of the war . However, the most extreme cases of targeted killing of intellectuals took place during the last few days of the war. Allegedly, the leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami and its paramilitary arm, the Al-Badr and Al-Shams forces created a list of doctors, teachers, poets, and scholars . Some sources also allege the role of the CIA in devising the plan . On December 14, 1971, only two days before surrendering to the Indian military and the Mukhti Bahini forces, the Pakistani army – with the assistance of local islamist leaders and groups that chose to ally themselves with the Pakistani military, most notably the Al Badr and Al Shams – systematicly executed well over 200 of East Pakistan's intellectuals and scholars. Professors, journalists, doctors, artists, engineers, writers were rounded up in Dhaka, blindfolded, taken to Rajarbag in the middle section of the city, and executed en masse. In memory of this event, December 14 is mourned in Bangladesh as Buddhijibi Hotta Dibosh ("Day of Martyred Intellectuals") .

Alleged genocide

After the minimum 20 countries became parties to the Genocide Convention, it came into force as international law on 12 January 1951. At that time however, only two of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council were parties to the treaty, and it was not until after the last of the last five permanent members ratified the treaty in 1988, and the Cold War came to an end, that the international law on the crime of genocide began to be enforced. As such, the allegation that a genocide took place during the during the Bangladesh War of 1971 were never investigated by an international tribunal set up under the auspices of the United Nations, so the alleged genocide is not recognised as a such under international law. However, the word ‘genocide’ was and is used frequently amongst observers and scholars of the events that transpired during the 1971 war. Within Bangladesh, ‘genocide’ is the term used to describe the event in almost every major publication and newspaper.

On December 16, 2002, the George Washington University’s National Security Archives published a collection of declassified documents, mostly consisting of communications between US officials working in embassies and USIS centers in Dhaka and in India, and officials in Washington DC. These documents show that US officials working in diplomatic institutions within Bangladesh used the terms ‘selective genocide’ and ‘genocide’ (Blood telegram) to describe events they had knowledge of at the time. They also show that President Nixon, advised by Henry Kissinger, decided to downplay this secret internal advise, because he wanted to protect the interests of Pakistan as he was apprehensive of India's friendship with the USSR, and he was seeking a closer relationship with China, who supported Pakistan.

In his book “The Trials of Henry Kissinger”, Christopher Hitchens elaborates on what he saw as the efforts of Henry Kissinger to subvert the aspirations of independence on the part of the Bengalis. In elaborating, Hitchens not only claims that the term ‘genocide’ is appropriate to describe the results of the struggle, but also points to the efforts of Henry Kissinger in undermining others who condemned the then ongoing atrocities as being a genocide.

Recipients of military awards

Main article: Recipients of military awards,1971,Bangladesh

Four categories of gallantry awards were created after the war in Bangladesh to honour those who had demonstrated outstanding bravery in the war. These were: Bir Sreshţho, Bir Uttom, Bir Bikrôm, and Bir Protik. Seven soldiers were awarded the ultimate award for gallantry, Bir Sreshţho. All seven had given their lives in the war. They were:

• Amin, Ruhul
• Jahangir, Mohiuddin (Captain)
• Kamal, Mostafa (Sepoy)
• Rahman, Hamidur (Sepoy)
• Rahman, Matiur (Flight Lieutenant)
• Rouf, Munshi Abdur (Naik)
• Sheikh, Nur Mohammad (Lance Naik)

Timeline

Main article: Timeline of Bangladesh Liberation War

The conflict as depicted in arts and media

Bangladesh's national monument, Jatiyo Smriti Soudho, located in Savar, Dhaka, is a tribute to the martyrs of the Liberation War

Naturally, the liberation war on 1971 has been a major source of inspiration for a wide number of artistic works in Bangladesh, including some by international artists as well. The following list includes some, if not all, of the major works about the war:

• Films
  • Stop Genocide – documentary by Zahir Raihan, (1971)
  • Nine Months to Freedom: The Story of Bangladesh – documentary by S. Sukhdev (1972)
  • Shei Rater Kotha Bolte Eshechi ("I Have Come to Speak of That Night") – documentary by Kawsar Chowdhury (2001).
  • Muktir Gaan, Muktir Katha and Narir Katha – three different Bangla documentaries by Tareque and Catherine Masud
  • Border – a Bollywood movie on the India-Pakistan side of the war.
  • Aguner Parashmani – feature film by Humayun Ahmed
  • Shyamal Chhaya – feature film by Humayun Ahmed
  • Ekattorer Jishu – feature film by Nasiruddin Yusuf
  • Joy Jatra – feature film by Tauqir Ahmed
• Bangla literature and memoirs
  • Ami Virangana Balchhi – memoir by Nilima Ibrahim
  • Ekattorer Dinguli – memoir by Jahanara Imam(1986)ISBN 984-480-000-5
  • Ma – novel by Anisul Haque(2003)ISBN 984-458-422-1
  • Jochhna o Janani'r Galpo – novel by Humayun Ahmed(2004)ISBN 984-8682-76-7
  • Ekatture Uttar Ronangaon - Factual Accounts by M. Hamidullah Khan
• International arts and media
  • Concert for Bangladesh, New York, 1971
  • September on Jessore Road – a poem by Allen Ginsberg
  • Joan Baez: Song for Bangladesh (Song) Lyrics
  • George Harrison: Bangla Desh (Song)
• Sculptures and monuments
  • Jatiyo Smriti Soudho (National Monument for Remembrance) in Savar, Dhaka
  • Aparajeyo Bangla – sculpture in Dhaka University
  • Shabash Bangladesh – sculpture in Rajshahi University
  • Shoparjito Shadhinota – sculpture in Dhaka University
• Museums
  • Liberation War Museum, Dhaka
  • Shahid Smriti Sangrohoshala (Martyr Memorial Museum), Rajshahi

References

• Pierre Stephen and Robert Payne: Massacre, Macmillan, New York, (1973). ISBN 0-02-595240-4
• Christopher Hitchens “The Trials of Henry Kissinger”, Verso (2001). ISBN 1-85984-631-9

Further reading

• Documents of the war of Independence, vol 01-16, Ministry of Information, Govt. of Bangladesh.
• Ayoob, Mohammed and Subrahmanyam, K., The Liberation War, S. Chand and Co. pvt Ltd. New Delhi, 1972.
• Bhargava, G.S., Crush India or Pakistan's Death Wish, ISSD, New Delhi, 1972.
• Bhattacharyya, S. K., Genocide in East Pakistan/Bangladesh: A Horror Story, A. Ghosh Publishers, 1988.
• Brownmiller, Susan: Against Our Will : Men, Women, and Rape, Ballantine Books, 1993.
• Choudhury, G.W., The Last Days of United Pakistan, Oxford University Press, 1994.
• Kanjilal, Kalidas, The Perishing Humanity, Sahitya Loke, Calcutta, 1976
• Johnson, Rob, 'A Region in Turmoil' (New York and London, 2005)
• Malik, Amita, The Year of the Vulture, Orient Longmans, New Delhi, 1972.
• Mascarenhas, Anthony, The Rape of Bangla Desh, Vikas Publications,1972.
• Matinuddin, General Kamal, Tragedy of Errors : East Pakistan Crisis, 1968-1971, Wajidalis, Lahore, Pakistan, 1994.
• Mookherjee, Nayanika, A Lot of History: Sexual Violence, Public Memories and the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971, D. Phil thesis in Social Anthropology, SOAS, University of London, 2002.
• Quereshi, Major General Hakeem Arshad, The 1971 Indo-Pak War, A Soldiers Narrative, Oxford University Press, 2002.
• Rummel, R.J., Death By Government, Transaction Publishers, 1997.
• Salik, Siddiq, Witness to Surrender, Oxford University Press, Karachi, Pakistan, 1977.
• Sisson, Richard & Rose, Leo, War and secession : Pakistan, India, and the creation of Bangladesh, University of California Press (Berkeley), 1990.
• Totten, Samuel et al, eds., Century of Genocide: Eyewitness Accounts and Critical Views, Garland Reference Library, 1997
• Zaheer, Hasan: The separation of East Pakistan : The rise and realization of Bengali Muslim nationalism, Oxford University Press, 1994.

External links

• Banglapedia article on the Liberation war of Bangladesh
• Picture Gallery of the Language Movement 1952 & the Independence War 1971 of Bangladesh
• Bangladesh Liberation War. Mujibnagar. Government Documents 1971
• Images of genocide committed by Pakistan Army in Bangladesh _{Graphic images, viewer discretion advised}
• Virtual Bangladesh : History : Holocaust 1971
• Case Study: Genocide in Bangladesh, 1971 from Gendercide.org
• Torture in Bangladesh 1971-2004 (PDF)
• Eyewitness Accounts: Genocide in Bangladesh
• Genocide 1971
• US Department of State on Foreign Relations and South Asia crisis 1969-1976
• The Tilt: The U.S. and the South Asian Crisis of 1971
• The women of 1971. Tales of abuse and rape by the Pakistan Army.
• Eyewitness account of the massacre at Dhaka University
• Mathematics of a Massacre, Abul Kashem
• The complete Hamoodur Rahman Commission Report
• 1971 Massacre in Bangladesh and the Fallacy in the Hamoodur Rahman Commission Report, Dr. M.A. Hasan
• Women of Pakistan Apologize for War Crimes, 1996
• Pakistan Army not involved in 1971 Rapes, by Khalid Hasan, Daily Times, June 30, 2005.
• Against Our Will: Men, Women and Rape by Susan Brownmiller, 1975
• Sheikh Mujib wanted a confederation: US papers, by Anwar Iqbal, Dawn, July 7, 2005
• Page containing copies of the surrender documents
• Video clip of the surrender by Pakistan
• Bangladesh Liberation War Picture Gallery _{Graphic images, viewer discretion advised}