Bangladesh Liberation War
|
API
Clockwise from top left: Martyred Intellectuals Memorial, Bangladesh Forces howitzer, Surrender of Pakistan to Bangladesh-India Allied Forces, the sunken PNS Ghazi
Date
26 March – 16 December 1971
(8 months, 2 weeks and 2 days)
Location
Bangladesh (formerly East Pakistan), the Bay of Bengal, West Pakistan, the Arabian Sea, parts of North India
Result
Bangladeshi and Indian victory* Collapse of the Pakistan Eastern Command* Establishment of the sovereignty of Bangladesh
Territorial
changes
East Pakistan secedes from Pakistan and becomes Bangladesh
Belligerents
Bangladesh* Mukti Bahini India (3–16 December 1971)
Pakistan* Pakistan Armed ForcesParamilitary forces:* Jamaat-e-Islami* Shanti committee* Razakars* Al-Badr* Al-Shams
Commanders and leaders
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
Tajuddin Ahmad
M. A. G. Osmani
K. M. Shafiullah
Ziaur Rahman
Khaled Mosharraf
Sam Manekshaw
J.S. Aurora
J. F. R. Jacob
A.A.K. Niazi (POW)
Rao Farman Ali (POW)
Mohammad Shariff (POW)
Patrick D. Callaghan (POW)
Mohd Jamshed (POW)
Tikka Khan
Ghulam Azam (Shanti committee)
Motiur Rahman Nizami (Al-Badr)
Strength
Bangladesh Forces: 175,000
India: 500,000
Pakistan Armed Forces: ~ 365,000 (90,000+ in East Pakistan)
Paramilitary forces: ~25,000
Casualties and losses
Bangladesh Forces and civilians: around 3 million
India: 1,426 KIA
3,611 Wounded (Official)
1,525 KIA
4,061 Wounded
93,000 POWs
(56,694 Armed Forces
12,192 Paramilitary
24,114 Civilians)
Civilian death: Estimates range between 300,000 and 3 million.
v
t
e
Mukti Bahini resistance
Searchlight
Jackpot
Barisal
Kamalpur
Daruin
Nakshi Border Outpost
Rangamati-Mahalchari waterway
Goalhati
Dhalai Border Outpost
Garibpur§
Gazipur§
Sylhet§
Kushtia
Ghasipur
Bogra§
Indian intervention
Cactus-Lilly
Chengiz Khan
Jackpot‡
PNS Ghazi
Trident
Python
Atgram
Basantar
Boyra
Chamb
Dhalai
Hilli‡
Longewala
Sylhet‡
Meghna Heli Bridge
Tangail
Air War‡
Naval War
1971 Bangladesh Genocide
Dhaka University
Shankharipara
Jinjira
Akhira
Jathibhanga
Demra
Chuknagar
Madhyapara
Bakhrabad
Burunga
Systematic events
Killing of intellectuals
Rape
Provisional Government
Refugees in India
Instrument of Surrender
§ indicates events in the internal resistance movement linked to the Indo-Pakistani War.
‡ indicates events in the Indo-Pakistani War linked to the internal resistance movement in Bangladesh.
The Bangladesh Liberation War (Bengali: ??????????? Muktijuddho), also known as the Bangladesh War of Independence, or simply the Liberation War in Bangladesh, was a revolution and armed conflict sparked by the rise of the Bengali nationalist and self-determination movement in East Pakistan and the 1971 Bangladesh genocide. It resulted in the independence of the People's Republic of Bangladesh. The war began after the Pakistani military junta based in West Pakistan launched Operation Searchlight against the people of East Pakistan on the night of 25 March 1971. It pursued the systematic elimination of nationalist Bengali civilians, students, intelligentsia, religious minorities and armed personnel. The junta annulled the results of the 1970 elections and arrested Prime Minister-elect Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.Rural and urban areas across East Pakistan saw extensive military operations and air strikes to suppress the tide of civil disobedience that formed following the 1970 election stalemate. The Pakistan Army created radical religious militias – the Razakars, Al-Badr and Al-Shams – to assist it during raids on the local populace. Members of the Pakistani military and supporting militias engaged in mass murder, deportation and genocidal rape. The capital Dacca was the scene of numerous massacres, including the Dacca University killings. An estimated 10 million Bengali refugees fled to neighbouring India, while 30 million were internally displaced. Sectarian violence broke out between Bengalis and Urdu-speaking immigrants. An academic consensus prevails that the atrocities committed by the Pakistani military were a genocide.The Bangladeshi Declaration of Independence was proclaimed from Chittagong by members of the Mukti Bahini – the national liberation army formed by Bengali military, paramilitary and civilians. The East Bengal Regiment and the East Pakistan Rifles played a crucial role in the resistance. Led by General M. A. G. Osmani and eleven sector commanders, the Bangladesh Forces waged a mass guerrilla war against the Pakistani military. They liberated numerous towns and cities in the initial months of the conflict. The Pakistan Army regained momentum in the monsoon. Bengali guerrillas carried out widespread sabotage, including Operation Jackpot against the Pakistan Navy. The nascent Bangladesh Air Force flew sorties against Pakistani military bases. By November, the Bangladesh forces restricted the Pakistani military to its barracks during the night. They secured control of most parts of the countryside.The Provisional Government of Bangladesh was formed on 17 April 1971 in Mujibnagar and moved to Calcutta as a government in exile. Bengali members of the Pakistani civil, military and diplomatic corps defected to the Bangladeshi provisional government. Thousands of Bengali families were interned in West Pakistan, from where many escaped to Afghanistan. Bengali cultural activists operated the clandestine Free Bengal Radio Station. The plight of millions of war-ravaged Bengali civilians caused worldwide outrage and alarm. The Indian state led by Indira Gandhi provided substantial diplomatic, economic and military support to Bangladeshi nationalists. British, Indian and American musicians organised the world's first benefit concert in New York City to support the Bangladeshi people. Senator Ted Kennedy in the United States led a congressional campaign for an end to Pakistani military persecution; while US diplomats in East Pakistan strongly dissented with the Nixon administration's close ties to the Pakistani military dictator Yahya Khan.India joined the war on 3 December 1971, after Pakistan launched preemptive air strikes on North India. The subsequent Indo-Pakistani War witnessed engagements on two war fronts. With air supremacy achieved in the eastern theatre and the rapid advance of the Allied Forces of Bangladesh and India, Pakistan surrendered in Dacca on 16 December 1971.The war changed the geopolitical landscape of South Asia, with the emergence of Bangladesh as the seventh-most populous country in the world. Due to complex regional alliances, the war was a major episode in Cold War tensions involving the United States, the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China. The majority of member states in the United Nations recognised the Bangladeshi republic in 1972.
^ a b c Cite error: The named reference ACIG was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Pakistan & the Karakoram Highway By Owen Bennett-Jones, Lindsay Brown, John Mock, Sarina Singh, Pg 30
^ p. 442 Indian Army after Independence by KC Pravel: Lancer 1987
^ Thiranagama, edited by Sharika; Kelly, Tobias (2012). Traitors : suspicion, intimacy, and the ethics of state-building. Philadelphia, Pa.: University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 0812222377.
^ a b "Bangladesh Islamist leader Ghulam Azam charged". BBC. 13 May 2012. Retrieved 13 May 2012.
^ a b Figures from The Fall of Dacca by Jagjit Singh Aurora in The Illustrated Weekly of India dated 23 December 1973 quoted in Indian Army after Independence by KC Pravel: Lancer 1987
^ Khan, Shahnawaz (19 January 2005). "54 Indian PoWs of 1971 war still in Pakistan". Daily Times (Lahore). Retrieved 11 October 2011.
^ Figure from Pakistani Prisoners of War in India by Col S.P. Salunke p.10 quoted in Indian Army after Independence by KC Pravel: Lancer 1987 (ISBN 81-7062-014-7)
^ Historical Dictionary of Bangladesh, Page 289
^ Moss, Peter (2005). Secondary Social Studies For Pakistan. Karachi: Oxford University Press. p. 93. ISBN 9780195977042. Retrieved June 10, 2013.
^ Pg 600. Schmid, Alex, ed. (2011). The Routledge Handbook of Terrorism Research. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-41157-8.
^ Pg. 240 Tomsen, Peter (2011). The Wars of Afghanistan: Messianic Terrorism, Tribal Conflicts, and the Failures of Great Powers. Public Affairs. ISBN 978-1-58648-763-8.
^ Roy, Kaushik; Gates, Scott (2014). Unconventional Warfare in South Asia: Shadow Warriors and Counterinsurgency. Ashgate.
^ en, Samuel; Paul Robert Bartrop, Steven L. Jacobs. Dictionary of Genocide: A-L. Volume 1: Greenwood. p. 34. ISBN 978-0-313-32967-8.
^ http://www.cdrb.org/journal/2008/4/1.pdf
Cite error: There are tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).
|
|
Created By:
System
|
|
|
|
|