Dhaka: As counting of votes following the Bangladesh general elections is underway and the early trends indicate that the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) is heading towards a landslide victory against the Jamaat-e-Islami, the political shift has drawn attention to the ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League, the party that first rose to power after the country’s liberation in 1971. The origins of the League, which was barred from contesting this election, are directly linked to the historic war that led to the birth of the country.
The story of that journey traces back to a night that changed the course of South Asian history.
On March 25, 1971, the Pakistan Army launched Operation Searchlight in Dhaka. The military crackdown began with coordinated assaults across the city. Students were pulled from dormitories, professors were targeted and civilians were executed in large numbers. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the elected leader of East Pakistan and head of the Awami League, was arrested. Senior party leaders went underground to avoid capture.
During the operation, the Army transmitted a message that would later become infamous, “Big bird in cage. Little birds have flown.”
The operation was the start of a long and violent war.
The confrontation had been building for years. East Pakistan had the larger share of Pakistan’s population, but political power was concentrated in West Pakistan. The imbalance caused resentment to grow. When the Awami League secured a decisive mandate in the 1970 general elections, expectations of a power transfer grew. The West Pakistani leadership refused to hand over authority. Street protests intensified, civil disobedience spread across cities and towns and the military was deployed to regain control.
At that time, one Anthony Mascarenhas, who was a Karachi-based journalist, witnessed the Pakistan Army’s operations from close quarters. He was taken on an official tour of East Pakistan, where authorities expected favourable reports showing the military bringing the situation under control.
What he saw told a different story.
He documented widespread civilian killings. Soldiers spoke to him about executions, calling them a “final solution”. Entire villages were destroyed. Innocent people were tied up, shot or burned in their homes. Afraid of repercussions, Mascarenhas escaped to London with his family. On June 13, 1971, the Sunday Times published his report, calling the violence a “genocide”.
His reporting drew international attention and partly influenced India’s decision to intervene. Today, his article is preserved in Bangladesh’s Liberation War Museum as part of the historical record.
As Operation Searchlight expanded, the Pakistan Army went deeper into the countryside and hunted down mutinous Bengali troops. Civilians suspected of aiding the independence movement were killed. Towns were bombarded and bridges and transport routes were destroyed. Families were wiped out inside their homes.
According to the BBC, between 3-4 lakh people were kille and lakhs of women were raped. Intellectuals, including teachers, doctors and journalists, were executed in an attempt to cripple the region’s social and cultural backbone.
As a result, resistance began organising.
Leaders such as Tajuddin Ahmad and Syed Nazrul Islam formed the provisional government of Bangladesh at Mujibnagar in April 1971. Comprising defected soldiers, students and volunteers, the Mukti Bahini emerged as the armed resistance force. Guerrilla operations targeted military positions. Underground radio broadcasts and newspapers carried messages of defiance and independence. By August, fleeing violence, nearly 1 crore refugees had crossed into India.
The conflict entered a new phase when Pakistan launched pre-emptive air strikes on Indian air bases. The strikes triggered a full-scale India-Pakistan war. Indian forces moved into East Pakistan in coordination with the Mukti Bahini.
Combat began across eastern and western fronts. The war lasted 13 days. It concluded with one of the largest military surrenders since the World War II. On December 16, 1971, more than 93,000 Pakistani troops laid down their arms in Dhaka.
Bangladesh emerged as an independent nation.
The world reacted on Cold War lines. While India and the Soviet Union supported Bangladesh’s liberation, the United States and China kept their ties with Pakistan during the conflict.
What had happened in 1971 are still debated in Pakistan. The Hamoodur Rehman Commission’s report on the country’s military conducts was suppressed for years. The milestones of the war are central to Bangladesh’s identity.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: ZEE News
