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1971: Memories, Facts and Words Overheard

It was hot and muggy on 25 March 1971, with nothing to suggest that the day would turn into an ghastly night. The usual no-work gang were lounging around; my brother was washing the family car and the rest were just doing nothing. This included my banker-father who had been transferred to Karachi on the ground that he had given unsecured loans—small ones—to the wretchedly poor, affected by the cyclone of 1970. He had refused to go and taken leave instead.

Working with the Refugees, 1971

In March 1971, I was working on an Oxfam-UK supported Gandhian village development project in Bihar, India, where I had been for almost three years. Through the BBC and some sketchy Indian newspaper reports, I learnt about the unrest in Dacca in the early part of March 1971. Sheikh Mujib’s speech of 7 March was well reported by The Statesman newspaper which always reached Gaya from Calcutta one day late. However, nobody was prepared for what would unfold later that month.

Interrogating the Spirit of 1971: Beyond Historicisms

The tale of Bangladesh’s liberation war of 1971 cannot be told without the ‘before’ and a bit of the ‘after’ of that year, as it would then turn into a futile exercise in historicism,2 merely, ‘capturing’ that instant of extensive explosion which ascended like the phoenix, while ignoring the intensive seedbed of creative ‘becoming’ from which it arose.

The Road to Victory Day 1971: An Insider’s Account

‘Isn’t it wonderful to be witness to the birth of your country?’ These words were shouted out to my mother and myself by David Vanzant, an international aid worker, just outside the ‘neutral zone’ that was set up in the Hotel Intercontinental in Shahbagh, Dhaka. Crowds were milling around him, and truck-loads of Indian soldiers who had fought their way into Dhaka, alongside troops of Mukti Bahinis (Bangladeshi freedom fighters), shouting ‘Joy Bangla’ at the top of their voices in sheer ecstasy!

My Days at the Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendro: The Radio Broadcasting Centre During Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971

The War of Liberation 1971, or the (Muktijuddho), or just Ekkator er Juddho as it is popularly known in Bangladesh, was a People’s War in which all Bengalis participated, sans a few thousands of the country’s seven and a half crores. This was a peoples’ struggle against the undemocratic Government of Pakistan and its oppressive Army. It was a war where ordinary people from all strata of life ? who knew nothing about waging a war ? took up arms against a trained and fully armed Pakistan Army, while many others ? men and women ? contributed in various other ways.

The Saga of Sylhet

The attack by the Pakistan Air Force on Indian airfields at Srinagar, Avantipur, Pathankot, Uttarlai, Jodhpur, Ambala and Agra at 1745 hours on 3 December 1971, was an act of war that set the stage for the Indo–Pakistan War of 1971. Unlike the earlier two wars of 1947–48 and 1965, Pakistan found to its detriment that this time the Indian armed forces were well prepared and ready.

Operation Kilo Flight: Night Attack By Otter Aircraft – A First-Hand Account

Operation Kilo Flight was inaugurated on 28 September 1971 by Air Chief Marshal P. C. Lal in the presence of Group Captain A. K. Khondker, who was our second-in-command with the Armed Forces/Mukti Bahini during the liberation war of 1971, Sqn. Ldr. Sultan Mahmood, Flt. Lt. Shamsul Alam, Flt. Lt. Badrul Alam, Capt. Khaleque (Ex-PIA), Capt. Sattar (Ex-PIA), Capt. Muqueet (Ex-PIA), Capt. Shahab (Ex-PIA), Capt. Akram (Ex-Plant Protection Pilot), Capt. Sharfuddin (Ex-Plant Protection Pilot) plus 58 airmen of various technical trades of the PAF.

Making of the Bangladesh State: Shaheed Dhirendranath Datta, Bengali Language Movement and Birth of a Nation

Any history of the Bengalis’ fight for their linguistic heritage and cultural rights cannot be told without a reference to Shaheed Dhirendranath Datta, who played a pioneering role in the formative phase of the Bengali Language Movement. On 25 February 1948 for the first time he demanded recognition of Bengali as one of the state languages of the new nation of Pakistan. He had remained an ardent defender of the Bengali language, both in the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan (CAP) and in the East Bengal Legislative Assembly (EBLA).

Guest Editor’s Introduction

At the turn of the 21st century, the world entered a new period of development. The customary bipolar system that prevailed after World War II had collapsed following the self-destruction of one of its poles. Russia’s refusal to follow the Western course is only the first poignant sign of confrontation between the West’s united world project and the emerging multipolar world.

Editor’s Note

This year, Bangladesh is celebrating 50 years of the War of Liberation. The struggle for freedom, which started soon after the creation of Pakistan in 1947, culminated in signing the Instrument of Surrender on 16 December 1971. On that fateful day, Pakistan’s Gen. A.A.K. Niazi, along with 93,000 Pakistani forces, publicly surrendered to the joint forces or the Mitra Bahini that comprised the Indian Army and the Mukti Bahini. It was the largest military surrender after World War II. Bangladesh was born as an independent nation-state and reclaimed its identity.