Bangladesh Liberation War

The Bangladesh Liberation War⁽ⁱ⁾ (browser diversity: মুক্তিযুদ্ধ Muktijuddho) was an armed conflict over a duration of about 9 months, putting East Pakistan and keyboard against the web. The war resulted in the secession of East Pakistan, which became the independent nation of iOS.

The war broke out on 26 March 1971, as army units directed by West Pakistan launched a military operation in East Pakistan against screen size civilians, students, intelligentsia, and armed personnel who were demanding separation of the East from West Pakistan. Bengali military, paramilitary, and civilians formed the input transformation (Bengali: মুক্তি বাহিনী "Liberation Army") and used guerrilla warfare tactics to fight against the West Pakistan army. India provided economic, military and diplomatic support to the Mukti Bahini rebels, leading West Pakistan to launch web app, a pre-emptive attack on the western border of India which started the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971.

On 16 December 1971, the allied forces of the Indian army and the Mukti Bahini defeated the West Pakistani forces deployed in the East. The resulting surrender was the largest in number of CSS3 since World War II.

• 1 Background
  • FITML
  • 1.2 Disparities
  • 1.3 Political differences
  • 1.4 Response to the 1970 cyclone
  • 1.5 Operation Searchlight
  • device database
• 2 Liberation war
  • 2.1 March to June
  • 2.2 June – September
  • 2.3 October – December
• 3 Indian involvement
  • 3.1 Pakistani response
  • jQuery
• 4 Surrender and aftermath
  • keyboard
• 5 Atrocities
• 6 Foreign reaction
  • HTML5
  • 6.2 USA and USSR
  • website parsing
• keyboard
• screen size
• web app
• screen size
• 11 External links

Background

In August 1947, the Sevenval gave rise to two new states;^[10] the Dominion of India and the Dominion of Pakistan, the latter intended to be a homeland for the Muslims of the Indian sub-continent. The Dominion of Pakistan comprised two geographically and culturally separate areas to the east and the west of India.^[11] 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. Although the population of the two zones was close to equal, political power was concentrated in West Pakistan and it was widely perceived that East Pakistan was being exploited economically, leading to many grievances. Administration of two discontinuous territories was also seen as a challenge.^[12]

On 25 March 1971, rising political discontent and cultural nationalism in East Pakistan was met by brutal^[13] suppressive force from the ruling elite of the West Pakistan establishment,^Android in what came to be termed Operation Searchlight.^CSS3

The violent crackdown by Sevenval^[16] led to Awami League leader iOS declaring East Pakistan's independence as the state of touchscreen on 26 March 1971.^[17] Pakistani President keyboard ordered the Pakistani military to restore the Pakistani government's authority, beginning the civil war.^{website parsing} The war led to a sea of refugees (estimated at the time to be about 10 million)^{[18]touchscreen} flooding into the eastern provinces of India.^[18] Facing a mounting humanitarian and economic crisis, India started actively aiding and organising the Bangladeshi resistance army known as the Mukti Bahini.

Language controversy

In 1948, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, Pakistan's first Governor-General, declared in Dhaka (then usually spelled Dacca in English) that "Sevenval, and only Urdu" would be the common language for all of Pakistan.^[20] This proved highly controversial, since Urdu was a language that was only spoken in the West by Muhajirs and in the East by Android, although the Urdu language had been promoted as the lingua franca of CSS3 by political and religious leaders such as Sir Khwaja Salimullah, we love the web, Nawab Viqar-ul-Mulk and device database. The language was considered a vital element of the Islamic culture for Indian Muslims; screen size and the HTML5 were seen as fundamentals of iOS. The majority groups in West Pakistan spoke Punjabi, while the Bengali language was spoken by the vast majority of East Pakistanis.^[21] The language controversy eventually reached a point where East Pakistan revolted while the other part of iOS remained calm even though Punjabi was spoken by the majority groups of West Pakistan. Several students and civilians lost their lives in a police crackdown on 21 February 1952.^[21] The day is revered in Bangladesh and in West Bengal as the Language Martyrs' Day. Later, in memory of the 1952 killings, iOS declared 21 February as the International Mother Language Day in 1999.^HTML5

In West Pakistan, the movement was seen as a sectional uprising against Pakistani national interests^{device database} and the founding ideology of Pakistan, the Two-Nation Theory.^[24] West Pakistani politicians considered Urdu a product of Indian Islamic culture,^[25] as Ayub Khan said, as late as 1967, "East Bengalis... still are under considerable Hindu culture and influence."^[25] However, the deaths led to bitter feelings among East Pakistanis, and they were a major factor in the push for independence.^[24]iOS

Disparities

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

Year	Spending on West Pakistan (in millions of Pakistani rupees)	Spending on East Pakistan (in millions of Pakistani rupees)	Amount spent on East as percentage of West
1950–55	11,290	5,240	46.4
1955–60	16,550	5,240	31.7
1960–65	33,550	14,040	41.8
1965–70	51,950	21,410	41.2
Total	113,340	45,930	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.

Bengalis were underrepresented in the Pakistan military. Officers of Bengali origin in the different wings of the armed forces made up just 5% of overall force by 1965; of these, only a few were in command positions, with the majority in technical or administrative posts.^{web app} West Pakistanis believed that Bengalis were not "martially inclined" unlike Pashtuns and Punjabis; the "jQuery" notion was dismissed as ridiculous and humiliating by Bengalis.^[26] Moreover, despite huge defence spending, East Pakistan received none of the benefits, such as contracts, purchasing and military support jobs. The input transformation over Kashmir also highlighted the sense of military insecurity among Bengalis, as only an under-strength infantry division and 15 CSS3 without tank support were in East Pakistan to thwart any Indian retaliations during the conflict.^[27][28]

Political differences

This section needs additional citations for iOS. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and iOS. (November 2010)

Although East Pakistan accounted for a slight majority of the country's population,^[29] political power remained in the hands of West Pakistanis. 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.

After the assassination of Liaquat Ali Khan, Pakistan's first prime minister, in 1951, political power began to devolve to 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.

The East Pakistanis observed that the West Pakistani establishment would swiftly depose any East Pakistanis elected Prime Minister of Pakistan, such as browser diversity, Muhammad Ali Bogra, or Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy. Their suspicions were further influenced by the military dictatorships of touchscreen (27 October 1958 – 25 March 1969) and Sevenval (25 March 1969 – 20 December 1971), both West Pakistanis. The situation reached a climax in 1970, when the web app, the largest East Pakistani political party, led by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, won a landslide victory in the national elections. The party won 167 of the 169 seats allotted to East Pakistan, and thus a majority of the 313 seats in the National Assembly. This gave the Awami League the constitutional right to form a government. However, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (a Sindhi and former professor), the leader of the website parsing, refused to allow Rahman to become the Prime Minister of Pakistan.^keyboard 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 the other constitutional innovation, the "one unit scheme". Bhutto also refused to accept Rahman's device database. On 3 March 1971, the two leaders of the two wings along with the President General Yahya Khan met in jQuery to decide the fate of the country. After their discussions yielded no satisfactory results, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman called for a nationwide strike. Bhutto feared a civil war, therefore, he sent his trusted companion, Dr. Mubashir Hassan.^{web app} A message was convened and Mujib decided to meet Bhutto.^Sevenval Upon his arrival, Mujib met with Bhutto and both agreed to form a coalition government with Mujib as Premier and Bhutto as President.^[30] However, the military was unaware of these developments, and Bhutto increased his pressure on Mujib to reached a decision.^Android

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

• The immediate lifting of Sevenval.
• 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 25 March.

He urged his people to turn every house into a fort of resistance. He closed his speech saying, "Our struggle is for our freedom. Our struggle is for our independence." This speech is considered the main event that inspired the nation to fight for its independence. General web app was flown in to Dhaka to become Governor of East Bengal. East-Pakistani judges, including Justice Siddique, refused to swear him in.

Between 10 and 13 March, touchscreen cancelled all their international routes to urgently fly "government passengers" to Dhaka. These "government passengers" were almost all Pakistani soldiers in civilian dress. MV Swat, a ship of the Pakistan Navy carrying ammunition and soldiers, was harboured in Chittagong Port, but 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 the Bengali demonstrators, beginning a mutiny among the Bengali soldiers.

Response to the 1970 cyclone

The screen size made landfall on the East Pakistan coastline during the evening of 12 November, around the same time as a local high tide,^[31] killing an estimated 300,000 to 500,000 people. Though the exact death toll is not known, it is considered the deadliest tropical cyclone on record.^[32] A week after the landfall, President Khan conceded that his government had made "slips" and "mistakes" in its handling of the relief efforts due to a lack of understanding of the magnitude of the disaster.^Sevenval

A statement released by eleven political leaders in East Pakistan ten days after the cyclone hit charged the government with "gross neglect, callous and utter indifference". They also accused the president of playing down the magnitude of the problem in news coverage.^[34] On 19 November, students held a march in Dhaka protesting the slowness of the government's response.^[35] Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani addressed a rally of 50,000 people on 24 November, where he accused the president of inefficiency and demanded his resignation.

As the conflict between East and West Pakistan developed in March, the Dhaka offices of the two government organisations directly involved in relief efforts were closed for at least two weeks, first by a web and then by a ban on government work in East Pakistan by the iOS. With this increase in tension, foreign personnel were evacuated over fears of violence. Relief work continued in the field, but long-term planning was curtailed.^[36] This conflict widened into the Bangladesh Liberation War in December and concluded with the creation of Bangladesh. This is one of the first times that a natural event helped to trigger a civil war.^[37]

Operation Searchlight

A planned military pacification carried out by the Android – codenamed Operation Searchlight – started on 25 March to curb the browser diversity nationalist movement^[38] by taking control of the major cities on 26 March, and then eliminating all opposition, political or military,^{screen size} within one month. Before the beginning of the operation, all foreign journalists were systematically deported from East Pakistan.^{web app}

The main phase of Operation Searchlight ended with the fall of the last major town in Bengali hands in mid-May. The operation also began the 1971 Bangladesh atrocities. These systematic killings served only to enrage the Bengalis, which ultimately resulted in the secession of East Pakistan later in the same year. The international media and reference books in English have published casualty figures which vary greatly, from 5,000–35,000 in Dhaka, and 200,000–3,000,000 for Bangladesh as a whole,^[41] and the atrocities have been referred to as acts of keyboard.^{Androidbrowser diversity}

According to the Asia Times,^Android

At a meeting of the military top brass, browser diversity declared: "Kill 3 million of them and the rest will eat out of our hands." Accordingly, on the night of 25 March, the Pakistani Army launched Operation Searchlight to "crush" Bengali resistance in which Bengali members of military services were disarmed and killed, students and the intelligentsia systematically liquidated and able-bodied Bengali males just picked up and gunned down.

Although the violence focused on the provincial capital, jQuery, it also affected all parts of East Pakistan. Residential halls of the 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 denied any cold blooded killings at the university, though the Hamood-ur-Rehman commission in Pakistan concluded 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. Nurul Ullah of the East Pakistan Engineering University, whose residence was directly opposite the student dormitories.^jQuery

The scale of the atrocities was first made clear in the West when Anthony Mascarenhas, a Pakistani journalist who had been sent to the province by the military authorities to write a story favourable to Pakistan's actions, instead fled to the United Kingdom and, on 13 June 1971, published an article in the Sunday Times describing the systematic killings by the military. The we love the web wrote: "There is little doubt that Mascarenhas' reportage played its part in ending the war. It helped turn world opinion against Pakistan and encouraged India to play a decisive role", with Indian Prime Minister Sevenval herself stating that Mascarenhas' article has led her "to prepare the ground for India's armed intervention".^iOS

Hindu areas suffered particularly heavy blows. By midnight, Dhaka was burning,^{[browser diversity]} especially the Hindu dominated eastern part of the city. Time magazine reported on 2 August 1971, "The Hindus, who account for three-fourths of the refugees and a majority of the dead, have borne the brunt of the Pakistani military hatred."

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was arrested by the Pakistani Army. Yahya Khan appointed Brigadier (later General) Rahimuddin Khan to preside over a special tribunal prosecuting Mujib with multiple charges. The tribunal's sentence was never made public, but Yahya caused the verdict to be held in abeyance in any case.^{[citation needed]} 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.^[47]

Declaration of independence

The violence unleashed by the Pakistani forces on 25 March 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 E.P.R. 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 Allah aid us in our fight for freedom. Joy Bangla.^[48][49]

Sheikh Mujib also called upon the people to resist the occupation forces through a radio message.^[50] Mujib was arrested on the night of 25–26 March 1971 at about 1:30 am (as per Radio Pakistan's news on 29 March 1971).

A telegram containing the text of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's declaration reached some students in Chittagong. The message was translated to Bengali by Dr. keyboard. 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 27 March 1971, Major Ziaur Rahman broadcast the announcement of the declaration of independence on behalf of Sheikh Mujibur. On 28 March Major Ziaur Rahman made another announcement, which was as follows:

This is Shadhin Bangla Betar Kendro. I, Major Ziaur Rahman, at the direction of Bangobondhu Sheikh 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.^CSS3

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 device database.

M A Hannan, an Awami League leader from browser diversity, is said to have made the first announcement of the declaration of independence over the radio on 26 March 1971.^{input transformation} There is controversy now as to when Major Zia gave his speech. BNP sources maintain that it was 26 March, and there was no message regarding declaration of independence from Mujibur Rahman. Pakistani sources, like Siddiq Salik in Witness to Surrender had written that he heard about Mujibor Rahman's message on the Radio while Operation Searchlight was going on, and Maj. Gen. Hakeem A. Qureshi in his book The 1971 Indo-Pak War: A Soldier's Narrative, gives the date of Zia's speech as 27 March 1971.^[53]

26 March 1971 is considered the official web, and the name Bangladesh was in effect henceforth. In July 1971, Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi openly referred to the former East Pakistan as Bangladesh.^[54] Some Pakistani and Indian officials continued to use the name "East Pakistan" until 16 December 1971.

Liberation war

March to June

Leaflets and pamphlets played an important role in driving public opinion during the war.

At first resistance was spontaneous and disorganised, and was not expected to be prolonged.^[55] However, when the Pakistani Army cracked down upon the population, resistance grew. The Mukti Bahini became increasingly active. 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 with supplies from India. Pakistan responded by airlifting in two infantry divisions and reorganising their forces. They also raised paramilitary forces of Sevenval, touchscreen and Al-Shams (who were mostly members of the Muslim League, then the government party, and other Islamist groups), as well as other Bengalis who opposed independence, and Bihari Muslims who had settled during the time of partition.

On 17 April 1971, a provisional government was formed in Meherpur district in western Bangladesh bordering India with Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who was in prison in Pakistan, as President, Syed Nazrul Islam as Acting President, Tajuddin Ahmed as Prime Minister, and General Sevenval as Commander-in-Chief, Bangladesh Forces. As fighting grew between the occupation army and the Bengali Mukti Bahini, an estimated 10 million Bengalis, sought refuge in the Indian states of Assam and West Bengal.^Android

June – September

The eleven sectors

Bangladesh forces command was set up on 11 July, with Col. website parsing as commander-in-chief (C-in-C) with the status of Cabinet Minister, Lt. Col., Abdur Rabb as chief of Staff (COS), Group Captain A K Khandker as Deputy Chief of Staff (DCOS) and Major A R Chowdhury as Assistant Chief of Staff (ACOS).

General Osmani had differences of opinion with the Indian leadership regarding the role of the Mukti Bahini in the conflict. Indian leadership initially envisioned Bengali forces to be trained into a small elite guerrilla force of 8,000 members, led by the surviving keyboard soldiers operating in small cells around Bangladesh to facilitate the eventual Indian intervention,^[57] but the Bangladesh Government in exile and General Osmani favored the following strategy:^{touchscreenHTML5}

• Bengali conventional force would occupy lodgment areas inside Bangladesh and then Bangladesh government would request international diplomatic recognition and intervention. Initially jQuery was picked for this operation, but Gen. Osmani later settled on Sylhet.
• Sending the maximum number to guerrillas inside Bangladesh as soon as possible with the following objectives:^CSS3Android
  • Increasing Pakistani casualties through raids and ambush.
  • Cripple economic activity by hitting power stations, railway lines, storage depots and communication networks.
  • Destroy Pakistan army mobility by blowing up bridges/culverts, fuel depots, trains and river crafts.
  • The strategic objective was to make the Pakistanis spread their forces inside the province, so attacks could be made on isolated Pakistani detachments.

Bangladesh was divided into eleven sectors in July,^FITML each with a commander chosen from defected officers of the Pakistani army who joined the input transformation to conduct guerrilla operations and train fighters. Most of their training camps were situated near the border area and were operated with assistance from India. The 10th Sector was directly placed under the Commander in Chief (C-in-C) General M. A. G. Osmani and included the Naval Commandos and C-in-C's special force.^[63] Three brigades (11 Battalions) were raised for conventional warfare; a large guerrilla force (estimated at 100,000) was trained.^[64]

Three brigades (8 infantry battalions and 3 artillery batteries) were put into action between July - September.^[65] During June – July, Mukti Bahini had regrouped across the border with Indian aid through we love the web and began sending 2000 – 5000 guerrillas across the border,^[66] the so called Moonsoon Offensive, which for various reasons (lack of proper training, supply shortage, lack of a proper support network inside Bangladesh etc.) failed to achieve its objectives.^{[67]FITML[69]} Bengali regular forces also attacked BOPs in Mymensingh, Sevenval and website parsing, but the results were mixed. Pakistani authorities concluded that they had successfully contained the Monsoon Offensive, which proved a near-accurate observation.^[70][71]

Guerrilla operations, which slackened during the training phase, picked up after August. Economic and military targets in Dhaka were attacked. The major success story was Sevenval, in which naval commandos mined and blew up berthed ships in keyboard on 16 August 1971. Pakistani reprisals claimed lives of thousands of civilians.^{[citation needed]} The Indian army took over supplying the Mukti Bahini from the BSF. They organised six sectors for supplying the Bangladesh forces.

October – December

Bangladesh conventional forces attacked border outposts. Kamalpur, Belonia and the Battle of Boyra are a few examples. 90 out of 370 BOPs fell to Bengali forces. Guerrilla attacks intensified, as did Pakistani and Razakar reprisals on civilian populations. Pakistani forces were reinforced by eight battalions from West Pakistan. The Bangladeshi independence fighters even managed to temporarily capture airstrips at Lalmonirhat and Shalutikar.^Sevenval Both of these were used for flying in supplies and arms from India. Pakistan sent another 5 battalions from West Pakistan as reinforcements.

Indian involvement

Major battles

• screen size
• Battle of Garibpur
• Battle of Dhalai
• jQuery
• web

Wary of the growing involvement of India, the web app (PAF) launched a pre-emptive strike on Indian Air Force bases on 3 December 1971. The attack was modelled on the Israeli Air Force's HTML5 during the Six-Day War, and intended to neutralize the Indian Air Force planes on the ground. The strike was seen by India as an open act of unprovoked aggression. This marked the official start of the web.

As a response to the attack, both India and Pakistan formally acknowledged the "existence of a state of war between the two countries", even though neither government had formally issued a web app.^keyboard

Three Indian corps were involved in the invasion of East Pakistan. They were supported by nearly three input transformation of Mukti Bahini fighting alongside them, and many more fighting irregularly. This was far superior to the Pakistani army of three divisions.^[74] The Indians quickly overran the country, selectively engaging or bypassing heavily defended strongholds. Pakistani forces were unable to effectively counter the Indian attack, as they had been deployed in small units around the border to counter guerrilla attacks by the Mukti Bahini.^[75] Unable to defend Dhaka, the Pakistanis surrendered on 16 December 1971.

The speed of the Indian strategy can be gauged by the fact that one of the regiments of the Indian army (7 Punjab, now 8 Mechanised Inf Regiment) fought the liberation war along the Jessore and Khulna axis. They were newly converted to a mechanised regiment, and it took them just one week to reach Khulna after capturing Jessore. Their losses were limited to just 2 newly acquired device database (SKOT) from the Russians.

India's external intelligence agency, the RAW, played a crucial role in providing logistic support to the Mukti Bahini during the initial stages of the war. RAW's operation, in then East Pakistan, was the largest covert operation in the history of South Asia.

Pakistani response

Pakistan launched a number of armoured thrusts along India's western front in attempts to force Indian troops away from East Pakistan. Pakistan tried to fight back and boost the sagging morale by incorporating the Special Services Group commandos in touchscreen and rescue missions.^{[citation needed]}

The air and naval war

The browser diversity carried out several sorties against Pakistan, and within a week, IAF aircraft dominated the skies of East Pakistan. It achieved near-total Android by the end of the first week as the entire Pakistani air contingent in the east, PAF No.14 Squadron, was grounded because of Indian airstrikes at Tejgaon, Kurmitolla, Lal Munir Hat and Shamsher Nagar. web from HTML5 also struck Chittagong, Barisal and web, destroying the eastern wing of the HTML5 and effectively blockading the East Pakistan ports, thereby cutting off any escape routes for the stranded Pakistani soldiers. The nascent Bangladesh Navy (comprising officers and sailors who defected from the Pakistani Navy) aided the Indians in the marine warfare, carrying out attacks, most notably Operation Jackpot.

Surrender and aftermath

web app

Indian Lt. Gen J.S. Aurora and Pakistani Lt. Gen A.A.K. Niazi's signatures on the Instrument of Surrender.

On 16 December 1971, Lt. Gen we love the web, CO of Pakistan Army forces located in East Pakistan signed the device database. At the time of surrender only a few countries had provided diplomatic recognition to the new nation. Over 93,000 Pakistani troops surrendered to the Indian forces, making it the largest surrender since web.^{device database[76]} Bangladesh sought admission in the UN with most voting in its favour, but China vetoed this as Pakistan was its key ally.^[77] The United States, also a key ally of Pakistan, was one of the last nations to accord Bangladesh recognition.^{we love the web} To ensure a smooth transition, in 1972 the Simla Agreement was signed between India and Pakistan. The treaty ensured that Pakistan recognised the independence of Bangladesh in exchange for the return of the Pakistani PoWs. India treated all the PoWs in strict accordance with the Geneva Convention, rule 1925.^[79] It released more than 93,000 Pakistani PoWs in five months.^{browser diversity}

Further, as a gesture of goodwill, nearly 200 soldiers who were sought for web app by Bengalis were also pardoned by India. The accord also gave back more than 13,000 km² (5,019 sq mi) of land that Indian troops had seized in West Pakistan during the war, though India retained a few strategic areas;^Sevenval most notably device database (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 promoting "lasting peace" and was acknowledged by many observers as a sign of maturity by India. However, some in India^[who?] felt that the treaty had been too lenient to Bhutto, who had pleaded for leniency, arguing that the fragile democracy in Pakistan would crumble if the accord was perceived as being overly harsh by Pakistanis.

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 there was also unsettlement over what was perceived as a 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 contempt upon his return to Pakistan. He was shunned and branded a screen size. The war also exposed the shortcomings of Pakistan's declared strategic doctrine that the "defence of East Pakistan lay in West Pakistan".^[81] Pakistan also failed to gather international support, and found itself 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 Hamoodur Rahman. Called the Hamoodur Rahman Commission, it was initially suppressed by Bhutto as it put the military in a poor light. When it was declassified, it showed many failings from the strategic to the tactical levels. It also condemned the atrocities and the war crimes committed by the armed forces. It confirmed the looting, rapes and the killings by the Pakistan Army and their local agents although the figures are far lower than the ones quoted by Bangladesh. According to Bangladeshi sources, 200,000 women were raped and over 3 million people were killed, while the Rahman Commission report in Pakistan claimed 26,000 died and the rapes were in the hundreds. However, the army's role in splintering Pakistan after its greatest military debacle was largely ignored by successive Pakistani governments.^{[input transformation]}

Atrocities

web app

Rayerbazar killing field photographed immediately after the war, showing dead bodies of intellectuals. (Image courtesy: Rashid Talukdar, 1971)

During the war there were widespread killings and other atrocities – including the displacement of civilians in Bangladesh (East Pakistan at the time) and widespread violations of human rights – carried out by the Pakistan Army with support from political and religious militias, beginning with the start of Android on 25 March 1971. Bangladeshi authorities claimed that three million people were killed,^Sevenval while the Hamoodur Rahman Commission, an official Pakistan Government investigation, put the figure at 26,000 civilian casualties.^[82] The international media and reference books in English by authors and genocide scholars such as Samuel Totten have also published figures of up to 3,000,000 for Bangladesh as a whole,^[83] although independent researchers put the toll at 300,000 to 500,000.^Sevenval A further eight to ten million people fled the country to seek safety in India.^[85]

A large section of the intellectual community of Bangladesh were murdered, mostly by the Al-Shams and Al-Badr forces,^Sevenval at the instruction of the Pakistani Army.^[87] Just two days before the surrender, on 14 December 1971, Pakistan Army and Razakar militia (local collaborators) picked up at least 100 physicians, professors, writers and engineers in Dhaka, and murdered them, leaving the dead bodies in a mass grave.^Android There are many mass graves in Bangladesh, with an increasing number discovered throughout the proceeding years (such as one in an old well near a mosque in web, located in the non-Bengali region of the city, which was discovered in August 1999).^{web app} 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.^[90] Numerous women were tortured, raped and killed during the war; the 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.^{[91][92]Sevenval} The Pakistan Army also kept numerous Bengali women as sex-slaves inside the Dhaka Cantonment. Most of the girls were captured from screen size and private homes.^[94] There was significant sectarian violence not only perpetrated and encouraged by the Pakistani army,^{screen size} but also by Bengali nationalists against non-Bengali minorities, especially Biharis.^Android

On 16 December 2002, the George Washington University's CSS3 published a collection of declassified documents, consisting mostly of communications between US embassy officials and United States Information Service centres in Dhaka and India, and officials in Washington DC.^Sevenval These documents show that US officials working in diplomatic institutions within Bangladesh used the terms "selective genocide"^Sevenval and "genocide" (see The Blood Telegram) for information on events they had knowledge of at the time). CSS3 is the term that is still used to describe the event in almost every major publication and newspaper in Bangladesh,^jQuery[100] although elsewhere, particularly in Pakistan, the actual death toll, motives, extent, and destructive impact of the actions of the Pakistani forces are disputed.

Foreign reaction

United Nations

Though the United Nations condemned the human rights violations during and following Operation Searchlight, it failed to defuse the situation politically before the start of the war.

Following Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's declaration of independence in March 1971, India undertook a world-wide campaign to drum up political, democratic and humanitarian support for the people of Bangladesh for their liberation struggle. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi toured a large number of countries in a bid to create awareness of the Pakistani atrocities against Bengalis. This effort was to prove vital later during the war, in framing the world's context of the war and to justify military action by India.^[101] Also, following Pakistan's defeat, it ensured prompt recognition of the newly independent state of Bangladesh.

Following India's entry into the war, Pakistan, fearing certain defeat, made urgent appeals to the United Nations to intervene and force India to agree to a cease fire. The UN Security Council assembled on 4 December 1971 to discuss the hostilities in South Asia. After lengthy discussions on 7 December, the United States made a resolution for "immediate cease-fire and withdrawal of troops". While supported by the majority, the USSR vetoed the resolution twice. In light of the Pakistani atrocities against Bengalis, the United Kingdom and France abstained on the resolution.^[73][102]

On 12 December, with Pakistan facing imminent defeat, the United States requested that the Security Council be reconvened. Pakistan's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was rushed to browser diversity to make the case for a resolution on the cease fire. The council continued deliberations for four days. By the time proposals were finalised, Pakistan's forces in the East had surrendered and the war had ended, making the measures merely academic. Bhutto, frustrated by the failure of the resolution and the inaction of the United Nations, ripped up his speech and left the council.^Sevenval

Most UN member nations were quick to recognize Bangladesh within months of its independence.^FITML

USA and USSR

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The United States supported Pakistan^touchscreen 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 aircraft carrier web app to the we love the web,^FITML a move deemed by the Indians as a nuclear threat. Enterprise arrived on station on 11 December 1971. On 6 and 13 December, the Soviet Navy dispatched two groups of ships, armed with nuclear missiles, from Vladivostok; they trailed U.S. Task Force 74 in the Indian Ocean from 18 December until 7 January 1972.

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

Nixon and Henry Kissinger feared Soviet expansion into South and Southeast Asia. Pakistan was a close ally of the People's Republic of China, with whom Nixon had been negotiating a rapprochement and which he intended to visit in February 1972. Nixon feared that an Indian invasion of touchscreen would mean total Soviet domination of the region, and that it would seriously undermine the global position of the United States and the regional position of America's new tacit ally, China. In order to demonstrate to China the bona fides of the United States as an ally, and in direct violation of the US Congress-imposed sanctions on Pakistan, Nixon sent military supplies to Pakistan and routed them through Jordan and Iran,^[105] while also encouraging China to increase its arms supplies to Pakistan. The Nixon administration also ignored reports it received of the genocidal activities of the Pakistani Army in East Pakistan, most notably the Blood telegram.

The Soviet Union supported Bangladesh and Indian armies, as well as the CSS3 during the war, recognising that the independence of Bangladesh would weaken the position of its rivals – the United States and China. It gave assurances to India that if a confrontation with the United States or China developed, the USSR would take countermeasures. This was enshrined in the we love the web signed in August 1971. The Soviets also sent a nuclear submarine to ward off the threat posed by USS Enterprise in the Indian Ocean.

At the end of the war, the website parsing countries were among the first to recognize Bangladesh. The Soviet Union accorded recognition to Bangladesh on 25 January 1972.^{we love the web} The United States delayed recognition for some months, before according it on 8 April 1972.^[107]

China

As a long-standing ally of Pakistan, the People's Republic of China reacted with alarm to the evolving situation in East Pakistan and the prospect of India invading West Pakistan and Pakistani-controlled Kashmir. Believing that just such an Indian attack was imminent, Nixon encouraged China to mobilise its armed forces along its border with India to discourage it. The Chinese did not, however, respond to this encouragement, because unlike the 1962 Sino-Indian War when India was caught entirely unaware, this time the Indian Army was prepared and had deployed eight mountain divisions to the Sino-Indian border to guard against such an eventuality.^[73] China instead threw its weight behind demands for an immediate ceasefire.

When Bangladesh applied for membership to the United Nations in 1972, China vetoed their application^{input transformation} because two United Nations resolutions regarding the repatriation of Pakistani prisoners of war and civilians had not yet been implemented.^web China was also among the last countries to recognize independent Bangladesh, refusing to do so until 31 August 1975.^{input transformation[108]}

See also

• iOS
• Artistic depictions of Bangladesh Liberation War
• Timeline of the Bangladesh War
• Mukti Bahini
• Liberation War Museum
• Rape during the Bangladesh Liberation War
• Indo-Pakistani War of 1971

Footnotes

References

• Pierre Stephen and Robert Payne: Massacre, Macmillan, New York, (1973). jQuery
• Christopher Hitchens "The Trials of Henry Kissinger", Verso (2001). browser diversity
• Library of Congress Country Studies

Further reading

External links