Bangladesh War of Independence
The Bangladesh War of Independence or the Bangladesh Liberation War refers to an armed conflict between West Pakistan (now
Pakistan) and East Pakistan (now
Bangladesh) that lasted for roughly nine months in 1971. The war resulted in Bangladesh's independence from Pakistan.
Pakistan's partition from India in 1947 had arisen from the
'two-nation' thesis that Muslims and Hindus in India were both 'nations'
whose people could not live together. Pakistan was the first
modern-state founded solely on the basis of religion, since although
India had a Hindu majority its population, with Muslims, Sikhs, Jains
and Christians was multi-religious and its constitution was secular.
When East Bengal was included in the partition, many thought this
mistaken because of the cultural differences between Bengal and the
peoples of what became West Pakistan. When the West tried to impose Urdu
as the official language in the East, a linguistic-cultural opposition
movement began.
East and West Pakistan before 1971
Bangladesh would be founded on the basis of cultural and linguistic
identity. Muslims, Hindus, Christians, Buddhists and animists, united by
a common language and a common culture, struggled for their freedom.
Few families were unaffected by the war. Most lost relatives. Bengali
have been conquered by others but have not had a history of aggression.
They have traded, written poetry, sung songs and have developed a rich
cultural tradition of which they are proud. However, denied equal rights
with West Pakistan and the right to form a government even though the
largest number of seats in Pakistan's Parliament were held by East
Pakistani members, they bravely asserted their right to
self-determination. The atrocities committed by Pakistani soldiers
during this war are regarded by some as
genocide.
Reasons for war
Years before the war
During the Partition of India, Pakistan, as a country, gained
independence on August 14, 1947 following the end of British rule over
South Asian countries. The division was made based on
religion. Pakistan was created out of
Muslim majority territories in the West and East, and India was created out of the vast
Hindu
majority regions in the center. The Western zone was popularly (and for
a period of time, also officially) called West Pakistan and the Eastern
zone (modern-day Bangladesh) was called East Bengal and later, East
Pakistan. The capital of Pakistan was established in
Karachi in West Pakistan and then moved to Islamabad in 1958.
Economic exploitation
West Pakistan (consisting of four provinces: Punjab, Sindh,
Balochistan and North-West Frontier Province) dominated the divided
country and received more money than the more populous East.
| Year |
Spending on West Pakistan (in crore Rupees) |
Spending on East Pakistan (in crore Rupees) |
Percentage Spent on East |
| 1950/51-54/55 |
1129 |
524 |
46 |
| 1955/56-59/60 |
1655 |
524 |
32 |
| 1960/61-64/65 |
3355 |
1404 |
42 |
| 1965/66-69/70 |
5195 |
2141 |
41 |
| Total |
12834 |
4300 |
34 |
| 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's export earnings had been 70
percent while it only received 25 percent of import earning. In 1948
(shortly after independence from the UK), East Pakistan had 11 textile
mills while 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. A
transfer of 2.6 billion dollars (in 1971 exchange rates) worth resources
was also done over time from East Pakistan to West Pakistan. Moreover
it was felt that much of the income generated by the east was primarily
diverted towards fighting wars in
Kashmir.
Difference in religious standpoints
One of the key issue was the extent to which
Islam
was followed. West Pakistan with an overwhelming 97 percent Muslim
population was less liberal (in religious terms) than East Pakistan
which was at least 15 percent non-Muslim (mainly Hindus). Bengalis' are
proud of their common literary and cultural heritage in which Muslim,
Hindu and Christian writers are held in high esteem across the religious
divide. The difference was made further clear after Bangladeshi
independence, when Bangladesh was established as a secular country under
the name "People's Republic of Bangladesh" rather than as the Islamic
Republic of Bangladesh. This was in tribute to all those, Muslim and
non-Muslim, who had taken part in the independence struggle.
Other factors including language
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
unfavorably as relations between India and Pakistan had been very poor
since independence.
In 1948, Mohammad Ali Jinnah declared in Dhaka, capital of East
Pakistan, that "Urdu, and only Urdu," a language that was only spoken in
the West by Muhajirs and in the East by Biharis, would be the sole
official language for all of Pakistan, while Bangla was spoken by the
majority of people. East Pakistan revolted and several students and
civilians lost their lives on February 21, 1952. The day is revered in
Bangladesh
and in West Bengal as the Language Martyrs' Day. Bitter feelings among
East Pakistanis never ceased to grow, especially with repeated arrivals
of military rulers. Later, in remembrance of the 1952 killings,
UNESCO declared February 21 as International Mother Language Day.
Impact of the 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 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, that capitalized on this
tragedy. The Pakistan Army failed to do relief work of any significance
to alleviate the problem, which further antagonized the already
estranged Bengali populace.
Political climax
The political prelude to the war included several factors. Due to the
differences between the two states, a nascent separatist movement
developed in East Pakistan. Any such movements were sharply limited,
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 favor West
Pakistan in terms of economic advantages.
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 winning 167 of the
169 seats allotted for East Pakistan, and a majority of the 313 total
seats in the National Assembly. This gave the Awami League the right to
form a government. However, the leader of Pakistan People's Party,
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto,
refused to allow Rahman to become the Prime Minister of Pakistan.
Instead, he proposed a notion of two Prime Ministers. Bhutto also
refused to accept Rahman's Six Points which would result in autonomy for
East Pakistan. On March 3, 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.
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 harbored 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 March 10 and 13, Pakistan International Airlines canceled all
their international routes to urgently fly "Government Passengers" to
Dhaka. These so-called "Government Passengers" were almost exclusively Pakistani soldiers in civil uniform.
Bangobondhu's speech of March 7
On March 7, 1971, Bangobondhu (friend of the Bengalis) (
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:
- The immediate lifting of martial law.
- Immediate withdrawal of all military personnel to their barracks.
- An inquiry into the loss of life.
- 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."
Violence of March 25
On the night of March 25, Pakistan Army began a violent effort to
suppress the Bengali opposition. In Bangladesh, and elsewhere, the
Pakistani actions are referred to as
genocide.
Before carrying out these acts, all foreign journalists were
systematically deported from Bangladesh. Bengali members of military
services were disarmed. The operation was called
Operation Searchlight by Pakistani Army and was carefully devised by several top-ranked 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 to 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 considered dangerous and, hence, arrested
by Pakistan Army. Awami League was banned by General Yahya Khan. Some
other Awami League leaders were arrested as well, while few escaped
Dhaka to avoid arrest.
Declaration of independence
On March 26, the nation waged an armed struggle against the Pakistani
occupation forces following the killings of the night of 25 March. The
Pakistani forces arrested Sheikh Mujib, who, through a wireless message,
had called upon the people to resist the occupation forces [source:
The Daily Star, March 26 2005]. Mujib was arrested on the night of March 25-26, 1971 at about 1:30
A.M. (per Radio Pakistan’s news on March 29, 1971) which means effectively on March 26, 1971.
On March 26, 1971, M. A. Hannan, an Awami League leader from
Chittagong, is said to have made the first announcement of the
declaration of independence over radio,
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman signed an official declaration on March 25, 1971 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.[1]
A
telegram
reached some students in Chittagong. They realized the message could be
broadcast from Agrabad Station of Radio Pakistan. The message was
translated to Bangla by Dr Manjula Anwar. They failed to secure
permission from higher authorities to broadcast the message. They
crossed Kalurghat Bridge into an area controlled by East Bengal Regiment
under Major Ziaur Rahman. Bengali soldiers guarded the station as
engineers prepared for transmission. At 19:45 on March 26, 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.[1]
Kalurghat Radio Station's transmission capability was limited. The
message was picked up by a Japanese ship in Bay of Bengal and then
re-transmitted by Radio Australia and later the British Broadcasting
Corporation.
March 26, 1971 is hence considered the official
Independence Day
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
December 16.
The main 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 started emerging, the Mukti Bahini (freedom
fighters) emerged increasingly visible. Headed by Colonel Muhammad Ataul
Gani Osmani, a retired Pakistan 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 Pakistan 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 Pakistan
Army killing many in the process. This setback prompted the Pakistan
Army to induct Razakars, a paramilitary force, from the local populace
to bolster their numbers. 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 enormity of the issue, the army
was beefed up as the troop strength was increased to more than 80,000.
This caused a rise in tensions across the border as
India
realized 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.
Pakistan decided to nullify such an attack and on December 3 and
launched a series of preemptive air strikes. The attack was modeled 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 by the Indians. Indira Gandhi then
ordered the immediate mobilization of troops and launched the full scale
invasion. This marked the official start of the Indo-Pakistani War of
1971 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 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 warriors. The fledgling Bangladesh
Navy (comprising officers and sailors who defected from Pakistan Navy)
aided the Indians in the marine warfare, carrying out attacks, most
notably
Operation Jackpot.
Meanwhile, on the ground, nearly three 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 Pakistan Army. On December 16, 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.
Formation of the First Republic
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 (CVN-65) to the Bay of Bengal and
threatened
India with a nuclear strike. Enterprise arrived on station on December 11 1971.
Several documents released from the
Nixon Presidential Archives show the extent of the tilt that the Nixon Administration demonstrated in favor of Pakistan.
[2] Among them, the infamous Blood telegram from the US embassy in
Dacca, East Pakistan, stated the horrors of genocide taking place in East Pakistan.
[3] Notwithstanding this, Nixon, backed by
Henry Kissinger, wanted to protect the interests of Pakistan as they were apprehensive of
India. In fact, even after the war ended USA wanted to blame India. This propaganda apparently failed in the face of world opinion.
The
Soviet Union
had sympathized with the Bangladeshis, and supported the Indian Army
and Mukti Bahini during the war. It gave assurance to India that if a
confrontation with United States evolved, the USSR would provide all
necessary support to India. The Soviets also sent in 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 East
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 materialize 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 the 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 finalized, 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.
India
The majority of the
refugees from
Bangladesh fled to the Indian state of West Bengal forcing then Prime Minister of India
Indira Gandhi
to declare war on West Pakistan. The Pakistan Air Force also attacked
many Indian air fields in hot pursuit of rebels. The Pakistani Army
tried to force Indian troops away from East Pakistan by attacking in the
western sectors. Many battles were fought on the western front which
ensured Indian victories. Backed by the air force and the Navy, India
and the Mukti Bahini finally defeated
Pakistan.
More than 93,000 Pakistani soldiers and their abettors surrendered to
the joined forces and were taken prisoner of war by the Indian Army, the
largest surrender since
World War II.
End of the war
After Pakistan's surrender late in 1971, people in Bangladesh
rejoiced at their liberation. This was followed by the need for
international acceptance for Bangladesh, as only a few countries
recognized the new nation. Bangladesh sought admission into the
UN,
Most members voting in its favor but China vetoed recognition, as
Pakistan was its key ally.
However the United States grudgingly
recognized it. 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 be officially recognized by Pakistan and its principal allies in
exchange for the return of the Pakistani POWs. As a gesture of goodwill,
the nearly 200 soldiers who were wanted for war crimes by Bengalis were
also pardoned by India. The accord also gave back more than 13,000 sq.
km 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). However, the agreement was acknowledged by many observers as a
sign of India's maturity. Some in India felt that the treaty had been
too lenient towards
Zulfikar Ali 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 layman 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. The myth of
the Pakistan Army's might was shattered and the leadership stood
exposed.
Yahya Khan's
dictatorship collapsed and gave way to Bhutto who took the opportunity
to rise to power. General A. A. K. 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. 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 inquiry headed by Justice Hamdoor
Rahman. Called the Hamoodur Rahman Commission, it was initially
suppressed by
Zulfikar Ali 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 its
supporters though the figures are far lower than the one quoted by
Bangladesh. 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 and by certain
unofficial Indian sources. The name describes either the period 26 March
1971 to 16 December 1971 or the period March 26, 1971 to December 03,
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 03, 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. The Indian Parliament]]
recognized the People's Republic of Bangladesh as an independent country
on the December 6, 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 made it easier for Indian diplomatic efforts to gain support for the recognition of Bangladesh as a country.
Atrocities
The Bangladesh liberation war witnessed widespread atrocities
committed mainly on the Bengali population of East Pakistan, at a level
that Bangladeshis maintain is one of the worst
genocides
in history. 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. There are many mass graves in Bangladesh, and
newer ones are always being discovered, such as a recent one in a mosque
in
Dhaka
located in the non-Bengali region of the city. The first night of war
on Bengalis, which is very well documented, saw indiscriminate killings
of students of Dhaka
University and other civilians.
How many people died?
The number of people 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) and
India and Bangladesh on the other hand (3 million). International media
has also had different views.
[4]
Due to the lack of records and the long time that has since passed, an
accurate number is hard to get, though various arguments for and against
certain numbers have been put forward. Most guesses fall somewhere
between a few hundred thousand and two million.
Pakistan has maintained that only 26,000 people died in the war.
Though most researchers do not support such a small number, many are
inclined to believe that the real number was still a far cry from the 3
million put forward by Bangladesh and other sources. Some maintain that
the real number of casualties was closer to 300,000 and was wrongly
translated.
[5]
On the other hand, though the figure of 3 million is unsubstantiated,
many believe that the real number is still exceedingly high (more than 1
million) and the killing can clearly be termed a
genocide.
This view gets support from the aforementioned reports in international
media, which were reported during the war before the 3 million figure
was put forward.
Supporters of this view would also point out to the
enormous influx of
refugees into
India
(8 million seems to be a widely accepted number), and reason that
killings numbering as low as the Pakistanis would like to claim would
not have caused such a large number of people to leave their homes. Some
say that the Bangladesh claim might have had roots in a statement by
Yahya Khan. According to Robert Payne in
Massacre
[1973], 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."
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 staggering figure of
200,000 women raped. Some other sources, for example Susan Brownmiller,
refer to an even higher number of 400,000. Pakistani sources claim the
number is much lower, though having not completely denied rape
incidents.
There has been evidence of not only rape (and usually subsequent
murder) of women, but of sex slaves kept captive by the Pakistan army.
During the last periods of war, when the Pakistani army was retreating,
the Mukti Bahini and Indian forces reported freeing numerous such women.
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, specially the
Hindus,
were the biggest targets of the Pakistan army. There was widespread
killing of Hindu males, and rapes of women. In public places, men were
often made to undress to prove that they have been circumcised and hence
were Muslim. More than 60 percent of the Bengali refugees that had fled
to
India were Hindus, and many never returned. 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 Indian influence. 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.
Killing of intellectuals
The Pakistani ruling class had long formed a distaste for Bengali
intelligista and students. They viewed them, correctly, as one of the
main proponents of the rise of Bengali nationalism in East Pakistan.
This group had been instrumental in the 1952 uprising called the
Language movement, which ended in Pakistan accepting Bangla as one of
its national languages. The famed six-point demand put forward by Mujib,
which became the rallying point for Awami League in the years before
the war, was derived from the earlier 11-point program penned by the
students. In an attempt to undermine the rising Bengali identity,
Pakistan had variously tried to have Bangla written in roman letters,
ban singing the songs of
Rabindranath Tagore,
mostly in vain. The rulers, again correctly, also found a growing
leftist sentiment in the intelligista and student bodies which they
vowed to crush. Hence during the war, a planned effort was made to void
Bangladesh of its most enlightened people. In addition to the killings
committed at the beginning and all throughout the war, a meticulously
planned execution was carried out on
December 14, 1971. Professors,
journalists, doctors, artists, writers of unknown numbers were rounded
up in Dhaka, blindfolded, taken to Rajarbag in the middle section of the
city, and executed en masse. This day is now honored in Bangladesh as
Buddhijibi Hotta Dibosh ("Day of Martyred Intellectuals").
