Shadhinôta dibôsh – Independence day of Bangladesh

Bangladesh observes 26 March as its Independence Day since during the wee hours of this fateful day in 1971, as Major Ziaur Rahman, on behalf of Sheikh Mujib ur Rahman, declared independence from Pakistan.

The genesis of the birth of Bangladesh is gory and painful. The parting of the ways was inevitable, but the bloodshed could have been avoided. East Pakistan had serious complaints against the disparity and highhanded attitude of West Pakistan, but the straw that broke the camel’s back was the refusal of the military dictator General Yahya Khan to hand over the reins of the government to Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his political party Awami League, which had won a clear majority in the 1970 elections.

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, whose Pakistan People’s Party had won a majority of the seats in West Pakistan, but far fewer than the Awami League, conspired with Yahya Khan to ensure that Sheikh Mujib was kept out in the cold. The decision to deny Sheikh Mujib the power to rule the country, despite the fact that he had won the elections fair and square, may have been motivated by Mujib’s demand of “Six-Points” and reports of him being involved in the Agartala Conspiracy case, which had been dropped after public agitation.

When the writing became clear on the wall, and the promises given earlier were not  followed through, the whole nation of Bengalis of East Pakistan began a spirited struggle for independence. On 7 March, 1971, Sheikh Mujib rendered his famous speech at the Ramna Racecourse where he called for launching a non-cooperation movement. Soon after, the non-Bengalis residing in East Pakistan and even west Pakistani troops and bureaucrats posted to East Pakistan were ambushed and butchered.

Yahya Khan gave the order to commence Operation Searchlight to stop the bloodshed of the non-Bengalis and wrest the control of East Pakistan from the Bengali insurgents.

India played a major role in the secession of East Pakistan. On 27 March, 1971, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi expressed full support of her government for the independence struggle of the people of East Pakistan, and concluded that instead of taking in millions of refugees, it was economical to go to war against Pakistan. On 28 April, 1971, Indira Gandhi’s cabinet ordered its Chief of Army Staff General Sam Manekshaw to, “Go into East Pakistan”.

According to Manekshaw’s personal account, he asked for more time, citing the onset of monsoon season in East Pakistan and the fact that the army tanks were being refitted. He informed that it was not possible to attack immediately, because the Indian Army only had mountain divisions and no bridges, and that there were a large number of rivers between them and Dhaka that are wide and unbridged.

The monsoon was about to break, Indian divisions were not trained in riverine warfare, they had no transport (mountains divisions have very little) and it was not possible for them to move in. Indian cabinet was informed that by the 15^th of November, the ground would have dried up, and Indian forces should be able to move. Manekshaw even offered his resignation for not being able to meet the deadline of attacking East Pakistan in April 1971, which Gandhi declined. He then said he could guarantee victory if she would allow him to prepare for the conflict on his terms and set a date for it. Gandhi accepted his conditions.

Defected East Pakistan military officers and the elements of Indian Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) immediately started using the Indian refugee camps for recruitment and training of Mukti Bahini guerrillas that were to be trained against Pakistan.

Since March 1971, the local supply of weapons and ammunition was initially overseen by India’s Border Security Force (BSF), which made disorganized incursions in Bangladesh, with little success. On the whole, BSF did not meet the demands of the war and on the 15^th of May, Indian Army Eastern Command took over the task of training and launching the Mukti Bahini.

True to his word, on 16 November, 1971, Sam Manekshaw’s troops attacked East Pakistan with full fury. The beleaguered and badly outnumbered west Pakistani forces, who put up a gallant fight, were ultimately defeated by Indian Armed Forces and Bangladesh became a reality on 16 December, 1971, but it celebrates its Independence Day on 26 March, the day independence was declared.

Strife and turmoil became the destiny of Bangladeshi history, even after independence. Its founding President Sheikh Mujibur was assassinated in 1975, as was the next President, Ziaur Rahman. On 24 March, 1982, General Hossain Mohammad Ershad, Chief of Army Staff, took control in a bloodless coup, but was forced to resign on 6 December, 1990, amid violent protests and numerous allegations of corruption. A succession of prime ministers governed in the 1990s, including Khaleda Zia, wife of the assassinated President Ziaur Rahman, and Sheikh Hasina Wajed, daughter of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina completed her five-year term as prime minister in July 2000—the first leader to do so since the country separated from Pakistan in 1971. In October 2006, violence erupted when Zia’s term ended and President Ahmed took over as the head of a caretaker administration. After two years, despite cyclones and torrential rains in the country, elections were held. In January 2009, Sheikh Hasina Wajed was elected as the Prime Minister again. In 2014, she was re-elected for a third term in an election that was boycotted by the opposing political parties and criticised by international observers. She won a fourth term in 2018, following an election marred with violence and criticised by the opposition as being rigged.

Bangladesh has come a long way from being a “basket case”, as described by Henry Kissinger, to becoming an emerging economy of today. Although Bengalis were the forerunners of the Pakistan Movement, yet they got disenchanted by the West Pakistanis’ condescending attitude and broke away in 1971 and haven’t looked back since.

Today, Bangladesh boasts of a robust economy and a stability, which eluded it in the initial years. In the aftermath of the liberation struggle, Sheikh Hasina Wajed demanded an apology from Pakistan for the alleged genocide of Bengalis and rape of Bengali women at the hands of Pakistan Army. Pakistan’s contention is that atrocities were carried out on both sides. Bengalis, in a frenzy of madness, butchered hundreds of thousands of non-Bengalis, while the Pakistan Army retaliated; though the figure as proved by independent research scholars, is far less than that claimed.

Alas, nearly 250,000 non-Bengalis continue to languish in concentration camps in Bangladesh. Their only crime is that they supported a united Pakistan. Neither the government of Pakistan is ready to accept them, nor is Bangladesh willing to grant them citizenship and the chance to seek jobs and eke a decent living to come out of the squalor and despondency.

Five decades have passed and it is time that a solution is reached regarding non-Bengalis. It is high time we accept the mad atrocities on both sides; bury the past and move forward. Outrages were carried out by both sides. Posterity demands that Pakistanis and Bangladeshis, who are two proud and independent nations, should forgive and move on to reach their true potential.

The writer is a former Group Captain PAF and an author