The foundation of Pakistan was not laid on any tall or impressive ideals. The sources of inspiration for the Muslim league leaders, on whose insistence the Muslim majority territories were separated from India, were based on feelings of hatred, malice, selfishness & bigotry. Since its birth, Pakistan was divided into two parts like the devil Jarasandh— One East Bengal and the other Punjab, Sindh, Frontier Province and Balochistan. There was a barrier of Hindu majority area of 1200 miles between them. Muslims, who refused to stay with hindus, continued to deny practicality of administering these far flung territories as a secular nation, and insisted on making it a nation exclusively for muslims. In fact, in language, culture, caste, ideology, interests, dress, food, customs, social relations, festivals, the two provinces had no similarity. Bengali Muslim culture was closer to Hinduism, Hindu names were also often used, especially for girls. On the contrary, the western part was influenced by Arab and Iran culture and most of the people used to get annoyed by just hearing, the word Hindu. The leaders of the Muslim League were mostly from the northern and western provinces. While leaving, the British handed over the power to Punjabi muslims, although the majority of them were Bengali muslims. These selfish Punjabi muslim leadership exploited East Bengal to the fullest for 23 years, even while the public groaned.
The seed of democracy has not flourished in Pakistan till date. Pakistan had mostly been ruled by military dictators. Power centre of Pakistan, had always been with rich landlords of the western provinces, especially the Punjab, whose representation in the army and administration was about 90 percent. Due to the exploitation of this group, West Pakistan had also been oppressed. There had always been anger against military among the general public of Pakistan. To pacify the agitated public, it was necessary to give hope for the establishment of democracy. Therefore, as soon as Yahiya Khan arrived as president of Pakistan, he declared elections for the National Constituent Assembly and Provincial Assemblies on December 7, 1970. Yahiya Khan estimated that the 313 seats in the National Assembly would be divided among 36 candidate parties in such a way that civilian rule would become impossible and the people would accept his military rule. But in the elections Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s Awami League won a clear majority in the National Assembly. He won 167 out of 169 constituencies in East Pakistan. The main purpose of this election was to give autonomy to the seven and a half crore people of Bangladesh under United Pakistan by accepting the rights of the province on everything except security and foreign affairs. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s ‘Pakistan People’s Party’ won 80 of the 146 seats in West Pakistan. Yahiya Khan was shocked by the election result and was not ready to relinquish power. The National Assembly session kept getting postponed for 9 months on one pretext or the other. By luring Bhutto with the prime ministership, he continued denying, Awami League the right to rule. He started using force to suppress public sentiment. As a result of the atrocities of his army – looting, killing, gang rape etc., a large number of beyrayed people started coming to India, whose maintenance became a serious problem for government of India.
Finally, on the pressure of Bengali public opinion, Yahya Khan called the session of National Assembly in Dhaka on March 3, 1971. At the same time, Bhutto was made to announce that his party would not attend the session until the Awami League reached an agreement with him on the proposed constitution. Using this as an excuse, Yahiya announced the adjournment of the convention on March 1 and dismissed the sympathetic governor, Vice-Admiral SM Ehsan, and sent the infamous Lt. General Tikka Khan, known as the ‘Balochistan Butcher’, to Dacca. On March 3, the Awami League started non-violent non-cooperation. The Bengali public unanimously supported the non-cooperation movement, even in government offices also. They followed only Mujib’s orders. Bengali muslims deposited taxes only in banks approved by the Awami League. It also became difficult for the Pakistani army to collect logistics. Chief Justice of East Pakistan and other judges refused to administer the oath of governorship to Lt. Gen. Tikka Khan. In this way, the dominance of the Yahiya government over the administration was lost completely. Tikka Khan intensified the cycle of repression. Thousands of Bengalis were put to death. On a single day, March 5, 1970, 500 of Bengali satyagrahis were gunned down. When soldiers of the East Bengal Rifles and East Bengal Rangers refused to fire on their Bengali brothers, an attempt was made to disarm them, in which many were killed, and many escaped with weapons, who went to the villages to resist. Organized troops of rebellions, started raiding the Pakistani army. They got and declared themselves as “Mukti-Vahini”. Yahiya’s devious and dubious, intentions now became clear to Bengalis. Hence Mujib unilaterally declared internal autonomy on March 15, 1971. Mukti-Bahini had gained a lot of strength with the help of India and was causing a lot of damage to the Pakistani army. Civilian resistance was also rampant. It now became necessary for Yahiya to raise an army in Bengal. To reach Kumuk, air and sea vehicles had to take a detour from the Lankan side because India had stopped Pakistani traffic through its borders after Pakistan hijacked and destroyed an aircraft. Yahiya desperately needed time to control the Bengal revolt. Therefore, after reaching Dacca, on March 19, 1971, he created a drama of starting talks with Mujib regarding the outline of the constitution. Bhutto also reached there on 21st March 1971, for talks.On March 22, Yahiya again adjourned the session of the National Assembly indefinitely. As soon as he got the information about the completion of the military preparations, suddenly he broke the talks, & left for Rawalpindi by air on 25th March 1971. When he reached Rawalpindi, according to a pre-fixed plan, at 11-30 pm, the Pakistani army pounced on the Bengalis like vultures and indiscriminate slaughter of bengalis started. Brutal mass murders took place in cities and villages. Most of the murdered were religious minorities i.e Hindus and Buddhists. After gang raping women, in front of children and husbands, bayonets were stabbed in the private parts of the women, by Pakistani army men. Children as well as old people, were also not spared. According to international estimates, one million Bengalis were killed in this Nar-Sanhar i.e the cold blooded massacres. After this coup, the number of refugees in India increased to one lakh per day. As a result Tension increased greatly between India and Pakistan. By the end of November 1971, there were one crore refugees in India. India’s economic and administrative structure had collapsed, due influx of refugees. It was not an ordinary task to arrange for the maintenance of such a large community. Consequently, Pakistan had also started invading western and eastern borders of India. The United States was openly backing Pakistan. In these circumstances, India had also strengthened its position by signing a 20-year military treaty with Russia.
The restraint, humanity, ethics, perseverance, efficiency and indomitable courage with which our government and military successfully fought the war with Pakistan, will always remain the brightest chapter of human history.
On December 3, 1971, in the evening, Pakistan openly attacked India; They Bombed several airports. On December 4, the Indian forces also started counter-attacking in self-defense. American President Nixon sent his powerful 7th fleet to the Bay of Bengal to terrorize India after finding Indian Armed forces, capturing Bengal at an unprecedented speed and defeating the Pakistani forces. But even before the arrival of US fleet, after 13 days of war, Pakistani forces had laid down their arms in Bangladesh; And on December 16, at 4.30 pm, the commander of the Pakistani Eastern Command, Lt. Gen. Niazi, surrendered to Lt. Gen. Jagjit Singh Arora, the chief commander of the Indian and Bangladesh joint forces, and accepted the defeat. Along with him, 90,000 Pakistani officers and soldiers also surrendered, who were imprisoned and brought to India. Thus the independent country of Bangladesh was born. Refugees returned to their homes. Many separated families, got the opportunity to reunite and this ended Pakistani oppression.
