Fall 2020

GEN 226: EMERGENCE OF BANGLADESH

Session#3: Topic#5: 1

Liberation War in 1971

Proclamation of Independence and Mujibnagar Government
Proclamation of Independence

The history of the emergence of Bangladesh has witnessed many significant events starting
from 1947, when the British colonial rule ended in the Indian subcontinent, and it came into
being as East Pakistan, one of the wings of the state of Pakistan; and finally achieved its own
sovereign state in 1971. With the long struggle to establish Bangla as the state language
through the Language Movement of 1952, there was also the demand for autonomy proposed
through the six-point programme in 1966, which later on was accompanied by mass upsurge
of 1969.

There was military regime since 1958 in the then East Pakistan which played a notorious role
in the history. It had not changed its nature even on the question of transferring power to an
elected democratic government in the General Election of 1970. Following the General
Election of 1970, that took place on 7 and 17 December, the Awami League of East Pakistan
won with landslide victory – 167 out of 169 seats in National Assembly and 288 out of 300
seats in the provincial assembly. This made the Military regime of Md. Yahya Khan and the
party in second winning position, the Pakistan People’s Party, shaken.

In late January, Bhutto had flown to Dhaka to meet Mujib and, more importantly, to explore
the possibilities of a coalition between the PPP and the Awami League at the centre. In early
February of 1971, President Yahya called for a meeting of National assembly on 3 March in
Dhaka. On 15 February, Bhutto told in a rally in West Pakistan that PPP would not join the
assembly session unless AL changes their six-point proposal. Bangabandhu dismissed such
suggestion.

On 1 March, 1971, President Yahya postponed the National assembly meeting indefinitely
owing to what he called the differences among political parties. Protests erupted in East
Pakistan including turmoil, sporadic processions, and tensions. Politics assumed a distinctly
radical turn and on March 3, Bangabandhu called a non-violent non-cooperation movement
in the province. By that time it had become clear that political authority in East Pakistan had
passed into Mujib’s hands. On the same day, Yahya Khan, taken aback by the severity of the
reaction to the postponement of the National Assembly session, invited the leaders of
political parties to a Round Table Conference in Dhaka on March 10.

On 7 March, Bangabandhu addressed a huge pro-independence rally in Dhaka and delivered

his historic speech in the Racecourse ground to provide the message of the struggle for an
independent state. He told the regime that it needed to fulfill a set of preconditions before he
could consider taking part in the National Assembly session, which by then had been
rescheduled for 25 March. Among the preconditions were his demand that martial law be
lifted and power handed over to the elected representatives of the country. It was his
concluding words, “The struggle this time is the struggle for emancipation - the struggle this
time is the struggle for independence,” that defined the electricity of the moment. Pakistan
was in decline and Bengali resurgence was clearly the order of the day.

By 22March, the concept of a united Pakistan had dwindled, owing to the stiff position
adopted by the Awami League, to the issue of a confederal arrangement for the two wings of
the country. The talks, at this point, converged on the theme of the National Assembly
bifurcating itself, with the two parts of it meeting separately in Rawalpindi and Dhaka,
 Fall 2020
GEN 226: EMERGENCE OF BANGLADESH
Session#3: Topic#5: 1

drafting two separate sets of a probable constitution and then meeting as a single legislative
body to finalize a deal. Meanwhile, reports began to emanate of power being transferred,
through a presidential proclamation, to the provinces, with the central government remaining,
for the time being, in the hands of President Yahya Khan.

The Bengali leadership sensed that the end of Pakistan was nigh and yet remained conscious
of troop movements from West Pakistan to Bangladesh. The Awami League submitted a
draft of what was considered its final proposals to the Yahya Khan team regarding a transfer
of power. General Peerzada promised to get back to the AL the next day. Nothing happened
on 24March.

Throughout 25March, rumors flew around of imminent military action against the Awami
League, indeed against the population. Sometime after sunset, General Yahya Khan flew off
to Karachi on a secret Pakistan International Airlines flight. At around 11pm, an elite force of
the Pakistan army shelled and surrounded the Bengali leader’s home in Dhanmondi and took
him into custody. At around the same time, soldiers attacked the residential halls and
teachers’ quarters of Dhaka University, murdering students and academics with impunity. On
the streets, civilians were mown down. Rickshaw pullers were done to death on their three-
wheeled vehicles. Operation Searchlight was on.

A little while after midnight, as 26 March commenced, a message from Bangabandhu Sheikh
Mujibur Rahman was passed on to Chittagong Awami League leader MA Hannan. In that
message, Bangabandhu declared independence. The message is said to have been made
available to EPR shortly after midnight and it was duly broadcast through EPR radio
communication system. Because the system was VHF frequency crystal controlled, not very
many people did listen to the declaration.The message went:

“This may be my last message, from today Bangladesh is independent. I call upon
the people of Bangladesh wherever you might be and with whatever you have, to
resist the army of occupation to the last. Your fight must go on until the last
soldier of the Pakistan occupation army is expelled from the soil of Bangladesh
and final victory is achieved.”

This message was broadcast from Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendro on 26 March 1971 and was
widely reported in newspapers all around the world.

On the following day, 27 March, on behalf of Bangabandhu, a radio broadcast was made by
Major Ziaur Rahman from Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra in Kalurghat, north of Chittagong
city at 7:45pm. He announced –

“This is Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra. I, Major Ziaur Rahman, at the directive of
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, hereby declare that the independent
People’s Republic of Bangladesh has been established.... In the name of Sheikh
Mujibur Rahman, I call upon all Bangalees to rise against the attack by the West
Pakistan army. We shall fight to the last to free our motherland. By the grace of
Allah, victory would be ours. Joy Bangla.”

This broadcast was picked by a Japanese ship anchored in Chittagong Port and transmitted to
Radio Australia.
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GEN 226: EMERGENCE OF BANGLADESH
Session#3: Topic#5: 1

The earlier day on 26March, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto watched from the window of his suite at the
Sheraton and saw the city ablazing. As evening descended, Bhutto arrived back in Karachi,
and told the waiting newsmen, “Thank God, Pakistan has been saved.”

During the next few days, international newspapers including the New York Times reported
about the mass killing in Dhaka. After the implementation of ‘Operation Searchlight’ on 25
March, 1971 by the Military regime of Md. Yahya Khan, there were new conspiracies
against Bangladesh. Md. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto became the lead planner along with Md. Yahya.

On 4April, the Pakistani ambassador to USA Agha Hilaly told Sisco, the Assistant Secretary
of USA that “the army had to kill people in order to keep the country together”. The Editorial
of The Times from London published their opinion entitled “The Slaughter in East Pakistan”.
In it they said, “From the evidence available one must conclude that the aim was so to wipe
out the Awami League leadership that it could no longer provide an effective leadership for
any resistance movement.”

On 6 April, Archer K. Blood, the US Consul General, officers of USAID and USIS sent the
famous ‘Blood Telegram’ to the Department of State condemning the failure of the US to
denounce the suppression of democracy and the widespread atrocities. Part of the famous
“Blood Telegram” dated April 6, 1971 reads:

“Our government has failed to denounce the suppression of democracy. Our

government has failed to denounce atrocities. Our government has failed to take
forceful measures to protect its citizens while at the same time bending over
backwards to placate the West Pakistan dominated government and to lessen any
deservedly negative international public relations impact against them.”

On 8April, a Telegram was sent from the Embassy in Pakistan to the Department of State
saying: “Two weeks after Yahya sent army into action, Pak military has control major cities
in east, but Bengalis still hold major areas, especially in countryside. Bengali grievances now
etched in blood. For present, Awami Leaguers leading resistance forces. If AL movement
crumbles before it able to consolidate position on ground, resistance movement likely to pass
to more radical and left extremist groups such as Naxalites.” It further added “Bhutto is eager
for power and he may be prepared to make deal with military to play key, if not leading role,
in new central government.”

On 10 April, Many elected members of the National Assembly (MNAs) and Provincial
Assembly (MPAs) assembled in Kolkata and formed themselves into a Constituent Assembly
in exile and drafted the Proclamation of Independence, which was ceremoniously declared on
17 April at Baidyanathtala (renamed Mujibnagar after the proclamation, a border area in
present Meherpur district), where Yusuf Ali, an MNA read out the Proclamation of
Independence.

On 11April, Mr. Tajuddin Ahmed, thePrime Minister, on behalf of the Government of

Bangladesh headed by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, broadcast a Radio address through the
Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra to the people of Bangladesh.

After that, during next days, Liberation forces were organized; General M.A.G. Osmani was
made the Chief in Command. Full-scale war was already wagged.
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GEN 226: EMERGENCE OF BANGLADESH
Session#3: Topic#5: 1

Finally on 17 April, 1971, the Proclamation endorsed Bangabandhu’s declaration of

independence made on 26 March 1971 on the face of Pakistan government’s military
crackdown. A formally Constituent Assembly (the elected representatives duly constituted
themselves into a Constituent Assembly) came into being at Mujibnagar.

The Proclamation established a de jure government of Bangladesh to take care of

Bangladesh’s immediate needs. It attained a constitutional sanctity and introduced the new
country to the world as “The People’s Republic of Bangladesh”.

Mujibnagar Government

The Provisional Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, popularly known as

the Mujibnagar Government, was the government in exile of Bangladesh based in Kolkata,
India during the Bangladesh Liberation War. Formed in early April 1971, the provisional
government confirmed the declaration of independence of East Pakistan made earlier by
Bengali nationalist leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on 26 March. Sheikh Mujib was
subsequently detained in West Pakistan while the leaders of the Bengali liberation movement
led by the Awami League fled Dhaka amid a brutal crackdown by the Pakistan Army.

Senior leaders of the Awami League and Bengali defectors from Pakistani civil and armed
services formed a provisional government for Bangladesh on 10 April, 1972. A formal
swearing in ceremony was held on 17 April at a mango orchard in the border town of
Baidyanathtala in Meherpur District in northwestern Bangladesh. Baidyanathtala was also
renamed Mujibnagar (City of Mujib) by the provisional government as a tribute to the
immense popularity of Sheikh Mujib, whose fate was unknown at the time as he was
detained in West Pakistan awaiting a trial for treason. The government in exile came to be
popularly termed as the Mujibnagar Government.

The Mujibnagar government coordinated war efforts from a colonial mansion on 8

Shakespeare Sarani in Kolkata (then Calcutta) with the active support of the Indian
government. During the course of the war, the majority of Bengali civil servants and
diplomats serving Pakistan began defecting. They subsequently joined the Mujibnagar
government, and operated a secretariat in Kolkata as well as foreign missions in several
Asian, European and North American capitals. A group of leading Bengali intellectuals were
appointed Special Envoys and began touring western capitals advocating the Bangladesh
cause while leading Bengali cultural figures and activists operated the radio station Swadhin
Bangla Betar Kendra (Free Bengal Radio Station).

Administrator of Mujibnagar Government

Established April 10, 1971
April 17, 1971 in Mujibnagar (Baiddyanathtala),
Oath Taking Ceremony
Meherpur, Kushtia
President Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
Vice President and Acting President Syed Nazrul Islam
Prime Minister Tajuddin Ahmed
Finance, Commerce and Industry
M. Mansur Ali
Minister
Home, Agriculture, Relief and
A. H. M. Kamruzzaman
Rehabilitation Minister
Foreign Minister Khondoker Mushtaq Ahmed
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GEN 226: EMERGENCE OF BANGLADESH
Session#3: Topic#5: 1

Ministry and Secretaries

* Principal, Ruhul Quddus (December 7, 1971)

* Cabinet, Hossain Towfiq Imam
* General Administration, Nurul Quader Khan
* Finance, Khandker Asaduzzaman
* Home, M. A. Khaleque
* Foreign, Mahbubul Alam Chasi
* Health, Dr. T. Hossain
* Defence, Abdus Samad
* Agriculture, Nuruddin Ahmed
* Land and Parliamentary Affairs, Abdul Hannan Chowdhury
* Relief and Rehabilitation, Jai Gobinda Bhowmik
* Information, Anwarul Huq Khan

The Mujibanagar Government played a crucial role in the liberation war in 1971. However,
the credit is fully due, not only to the government system, but also to the key role player in
the government. They are considered the national heroes of Bangladesh, namely the four
national leaders - Tajuddin Ahmed, Syed Nazrul Islam,M. Mansur Ali, and A. H. M.
Kamruzzaman. Without their, especially without the intelligent wisdom of Tajuddin Ahmed,
the liberation war could not be well organized and the independence of Bangladesh could
never be achieved.

Biography of –
(a) Tajuddin Ahmed
(b) Syed Nazrul Islam
(c) M. Mansur Ali, and
(d) A. H. M. Kamruzzaman

[Please see sheets from Banglapedia for detailed Biography of four national leaders]