Bangladesh's Liberation War of 1971

Lecture 14
Theme:
Liberation War of Bangladesh 1971

 In comparison to West Pakistan, East Pakistan’s socio-
economic structure and feudal relations had made
rooms for semi-feudal, semi-capitalist relations. The
Hindus and the Muslims constituted two distinct
sections of the population in Bangladesh. There are
social and religious differences between them. Yet,
close association and system of fictive kinship have
brought them in close contact with each other. It kept
the nationalist ideology in the political culture of
Bangladesh more or less intact before its independence
in December 1971. As it was strong enough in its base,
the separate ethnocultural entity of Bengalis had
contributed to the forming of political culture,
particularly during the colonial days.
2

 The independence of Bangladesh
was declared on 26 March 1971, at
the onset of the Bangladesh
Liberation War by Bangabandhu
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
3

4
Liberation War of
Bangladesh 1971
M A Hannan who in
Chittagong played a
crucial role in the
declaration of
independence by
Sheikh Mujib on 26
March

5
Liberation War of
Bangladesh 1971
Major Zia

6
Liberation War of
Bangladesh 1971
Kalurghat radio transmitter
through which Major Zia
broadcasted declaration of
independence on 27 March

7
 The War began without any
preparation and an war organization
 Bengalis started the war without any
preparation when a sudden attack of
the Pakistani army and the massacre
had left them with no choice

8
 One rare and unique characteristic of the war
is that the armed resistance started first and
the organisation to lead the war came later
 Initially resistance was scattered and small
in size
 Gradually it took the character and shape of
a national liberation war

9
 Basic Features of the Liberation War:
 The Phases of the War
 Organization of the War
 Strategies of the War
 Forces of the War
 Victory in the War

10
 The Phases of the War:
 Four phases based on the progress of the war:
 1) 26 March - 17 April: Spontaneous resistance and
retreat
 2) May - June: Semi-organized resistance
 3) July - September: Well-organized attack on the
enemies
 4) October - December: Full scale war and victory
with the help of the Indian army

11
About 1 crore refugees fled and took shelter in India

12
Refugee camp, India

13
In refugee camp in India

14
 Organisation of the War:
 1. Bangladesh Government in Exile:
 Formed on 10 April 1971
 Took oath on 17 April 1971

15
 Nazrul Islam – Acting President
 Tajuddin Ahmed - Prime Minister
 General M A G Osmani - Commander-in-Chief
of the Muktibahini

16
The Government-in-Exile after oath at Meherpur on 17 April

17
Prime Minister
Tajuddin
Ahmed

18
General M A G Osmani,
Commander-in-Chief of
Bangladesh Liberation
Forces

19
Acting President taking guard of honour along with Colonel Osmani

20
Bangladesh Flag being hoisted at Bangladesh High Commission in India

21
 2.
11 Sectors:
 Bangladesh was divided into 11 Sectors:

22
Liberation War of
Bangladesh 1971
11 Sectors of the
Liberation war

23
11 Eleven Sector Commanders

24
 Sectors of the Libaration War:
 Sector 1: Chittagong and CHT: Major Ziaur Rahman later Major Rafiqul Islam
 Sector 2: Noakhali parts of Comilla, Dhaka and Faridpur: Major Khaled
Mosharraf later Major A T M Haidar
 Sector 3: Parts of Comilla Sylhet and parts of Dhaka: Major A N M Nuruzzaman
 Sector 4: Parts of Sylhet: Major C R Dutta
 Sector 5: Parts of Sylhet and Mymensingh: Major Mir Shawkat Ali
 Sector 6: Rangpur parts of Dinajpur: Wing Commander M A Basher
 Sector 7: Parts of Dinajpur Bogra Rajshahi and Pabna: Major Kazi Nuruzzaman
 Sector 8: Kushtia Jessore parts of Faridpur and Khulna: Major Abu Usman later
Major M A Manzur
 Sector 9: Parts of Khulna and Barisal : Major Jalil later Major Zainal Abedin
 Sector 10: Naval Commando: Coastal and internal river routes: Under the
respective Sector Commander
 Sector 11: Parts of Mymensingh and Tangail: Major Abu Taher later Fl Lt S
Hamidullah

25
 Strategies of the War
 March - October: Defensive guerrilla
war
 October - November: Offensive war
 December: Full-scale war

26
 Forces of the War
 Trained Freedom Fighters
 Regular Forces
 Irregular Forces
 Independent Forces
 Bangladesh Navy and Bangladesh Air Force
 Left Groups
 War on the Cultural Front

27
 1. Trained Freedom Fighters:
 Training camps in the Indian states of West Bengal,
Tripura, Meghalaya, Assam etc.
 About 2.5 lac Muktijoddhas assembled to take training
 1 lac were there at the final stage of which 30,000 were
regular forces and 70,000 irregular fighters
On the other hand, Pakistan army had 42 battalions in 4
divisions plus 20,000 West Pakistan Rangers and 40,000
Razakars

28
Freedom fighters taking training

29
 2. Regular Forces:
 Mukti Fauj: Former officers and soldiers from the Pakistan
Army, Navy, Air Force, EPR and Police formed into regular units
 Three forces of the size of a Brigade were formed at the later
stage of the war:
 K Force: Lt Col Khaled Mosharraf, later from November Major Abu
Saleq Chowdhury
 S Force: Lt Col K M Shafiullah
 Z Force: Lt Col Ziaur Rahman

30
 3. Irregular Forces:
 Mukti Bahini or FF - also then called Ganobahini
 Trained Freedom Fighters were sent to different
parts of the country
 Their main responsibility was to wage guerrilla
warfare in assistance to regular forces

31
The Muktibahini in action

32
Teenagers at war

33
 4. Independent Forces:
 Mujib Bahini: Taking youngsters from the AL and Chattra
League
 Kaderia Bahini: Led by Kader Siddiqui -- in Tangail, parts
of Mymensingh, Dhaka and Pabna -- participated in about
300 wars
 Afsar Battalion: Led by Major (Retd) Afsaruddin -- in
parts of Mymensingh -- about 4,000 in number
 Hemayet Bahini: Led by Havildar Hemayetuddin -- in
parts of Faridpur and Barisal -- about 5,000 in number

34
 5. Bangladesh Navy and Bangladesh Air Force:
 Trained naval commandos and up to November 860
took training
 Main task was to attack and sink barges, coasters,
tankers, tug boats, etc. used by Pakistan army in the
war
 Air Force was formed on 28 September in India
 Former officers and technicians of Pakistan Air Force
joined it

35
 6. Left Groups:
 Group 1: Bangladesh Communist Party (Moscow),
National Awami Party or NAP (Moscow), Chattra Union
(Matia) and Krishak Samity
 Went to India, joined the war, about 6,000 in number
 Group 2: East Pakistan Communist Party (Peking)
 Led by Mohammad Toaha, were active in Noakhali,
Sylhet, Khustia, Jessore and Faridpur, about 10,000 in
number
 Group 3: Purba Bangla Sarbahara Party
 Led by Siraj Sikder, were active in areas of Barisal,
Bikrampur, Pabna, Mymensingh and Faridpur

36
 7. War on the Cultural Front:
 Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra
 Muktijoddha Football Team

37
Muktijoddha Football Team

38
Klaus, George Harrison, Jesse Ed Davis, 1971, The Concert for Bangladesh,
Madison Square Garden NYC

39
 Final Phase of the War and Fall of Dhaka:
 Success of the Muktijoddhas in different Sectors
after October
 Movement of Pakistan army got confined
 Indo - Soviet Agreement in August 1971
 Muktibahini became more and more offensive

40
Pakistani prisoners captured by freedom fighters

41
 Pakistan air attack on some Indian cities on 3
December
 India declared war on Pakistan
 Joint Indo - Bangladesh Forces started gaining
tremendous successes and rapid advances on all
sectors
 March to Dhaka was the ultimate target
 Defeat being on the door on 14 December Pakistanis
along with Al-Badr collaborators killed a number of
Bengali intellectuals

42
 Dhaka finally fell on 16 December
 Pak army commander Lt General A A K Niazi
surrendered to the commander of Joint Indo-
Bangladesh Forces Lt Gen J S Arora on 16
December along with 90,000 soldiers and
other men
 Bangladesh Government in Exile was
represented by Air Commodore A K
Khandakar

43
Pakistani Army surrenders, 16 December 1971

44
General Niazi signing the surrender document. General J S Aurora looks on

45
Major A T M Haider Group Captain A K Khandakar

46
Liberation War of
Bangladesh 1971
Seven
Birsreshthas

Seven Birsreshthas
 Bir Sreshtho Flight Lieutenant Matiur Rahman.
 Bir Sreshtho Captain Mohiuddin Jahangir.
 Bir Sreshtho Lance Naik Munshi Abdur Rouf.
 Bir Sreshtho Sepoy Md Mostafa Kamal.
 Bir Sreshtho Sepoy Md Hamidur Rahman.
 Bir Sreshtho Engine Room Artificer Ruhul Amin.
 Bir Sreshtho Lance Naik Noor Mohammad Sheikh.
47

48
Bengali intellectuals killed by the Pakistanis and their collaborators,
December 1971

49
Killing of Bengali Intellectuals, 14 December 1971

50
Killing of Bengali Intellectuals, 14 December 1971

51
Mass grave genocide victims at Shiyalbari, Mirpur, Dhaka

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Victory at last but after a huge sacrifice, 16 December

53
Liberation War of
Bangladesh 1971
The Birth of Bangladesh

54
This is what we fought for and achieved at the end

Bangladesh's Liberation War of 1971

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