Asad's Shirt - Shamsur Rahman

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlRxYlkge48vm7el6WBHURmyZRzwuKJvnIMiOWdOqyLLu2ya9Fk5j96-zETORHVab2oL3jPr4dQF4vMCm6wbsi5SfRwxh37GUa301gZVb5plrq6AIZKOSMu2YcqEhfe8FFtg2yZEXIvIc/s1600/pol.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="332" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlRxYlkge48vm7el6WBHURmyZRzwuKJvnIMiOWdOqyLLu2ya9Fk5j96-zETORHVab2oL3jPr4dQF4vMCm6wbsi5SfRwxh37GUa301gZVb5plrq6AIZKOSMu2YcqEhfe8FFtg2yZEXIvIc/s640/pol.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> </td></tr> </tbody></table> <div style="text-align: center;"> Like bunches of blood-red Oleander, Like flaming clouds at sunset</div> <div style="text-align: center;"> Asad's shirt flutters<br />In the gusty wind, in the limitless blue. <br />To the brother's spotless shirt<br />His sister had sown<br />With the fine gold thread<br />Of her heart's desire<br />Buttons which shone like stars;<br />How often had his ageing mother,<br />With such tender care,<br />Hung that shirt out to dry<br />In her sunny courtyard.<br />Now that self-same shirt<br />Has deserted the mother's courtyard, <br />Adorned by bright sunlight<br />And the soft shadow'<br />Cast by the pomegranate tree,<br />Now it flutters<br />On the city's main street,<br />On top of the belching factory chimneys, <br />In every nook and corner<br />Of the echoing avenues,<br />How it flutters<br />With no respite<br />In the sun-scorched stretches<br />Of our parched hearts,<br />At every muster of conscious people Uniting in a common purpose.<br />Our weakness, our cowardice<br />The stain of our guilt and shame-<br />All are hidden from the public gaze<br />By this pitiful piece of torn raiment Asad's shirt has become<br />Our pulsating hearts' rebellious banner.</div> <br />[Translated from Asader shirt (Asad's Shirt) by Syed Najmuddin Hashim]</div>

Asad's Shirt - Shamsur Rahman

  Like bunches of blood-red Oleander, Like flaming clouds at sunset Asad's shirt flutters In the gusty wind, in the limitless bl...

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Press Quotes: June 1971

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh75peDn8yPrxYWy0tJDuRMDZRyYwLF_GbdVk41aNcvZuIvKGE_diF5x3L184Wcx7BoSQNCAVavRWZlS1aQTVDYWYi6RzJMkpz2KDxx0hRCo0w1N0VgUXq_iB_CIimEe0d4LhvFCMOpJYw/s1600/fpq.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="332" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh75peDn8yPrxYWy0tJDuRMDZRyYwLF_GbdVk41aNcvZuIvKGE_diF5x3L184Wcx7BoSQNCAVavRWZlS1aQTVDYWYi6RzJMkpz2KDxx0hRCo0w1N0VgUXq_iB_CIimEe0d4LhvFCMOpJYw/s640/fpq.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr> </tbody></table> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>* The Times, June 4, 1971 </b><br /> <br /> SECRET CATALOG OF GUILT AND DISASTER OVER EAST PAKISTAN <br /> <br /> Within the space of a few short weeks both East and West Bengal have suddenly become international trouble sports. Millions of people have been uprooted by civil war, thousands have been killed, famine and disease are already beginning to stalk the countryside and a full scale war between India and Pakistan threatens to break out at any moment. <br /> <b><br />* The Sunday Times, June 6, 1971 </b><br /> <br /> THE ROAD FROM BANGLADESH <br /> <br /> The life of the refugee produces its own particular kind of hopelessness. Isolated in a foreign country, physically weak, surrounded by strangers, these Bengalis swiftly find themselves victims of increasing lethargy, silently awaiting any new blow from an almost universally hostile world. The old men, who in their own country had great dignity, are now reduced to queuing like children for food. If they are ill, like the half-crippled man with his stick and umbrella, they merely sit and wait for someone to help them. No one does. If they are your, or part of a united family, they can at least scavenge for food and fuel to recreate a vagabond imitation of their former life in Pakistan. <br /> <br /> <b>* International Herald Tribune, June 8, 1971 </b><br /> <br /> TALK HEARD IN INDIA OF WAR WITH PAKISTAN ON REFUGEES <br /> <br /> Calcutta, June 7 (WP)- Talk of a war with Pakistan has increased here as a result of the continuing flow of refuges into India, which confronts this country with an enormous, unwanted burden. <br /> <br /> <b>* International Herald Tribune, June 14, 1971 </b><br /> <br /> WEST PAKISTAN NEWSMAN SAYS ARMY SLAUGHTERED EASTERNERS <br /> <br /> London, June 13 (NYT)- A West Pakistani journalist who accompanied the Pakistani journalist when it crushed the independence movement in East Pakistan alleged yesterday that the government troops “deliberately massacred” people in East Bengal. <br /> <br /> Mr. Mascarenhas writes that the Pakistani government has suppressed “the second and worse horror which followed when its own army took over the killing”. He says that officials in West Pakistan privately estimate that 250,000 persons have been killed by both sides in the fighting–not including those who have died from hunger or disease. <br /> <br /> <b>* International Herald Tribune, June 14, 1971 </b><br /> <br /> PAKISTAN ARMY SCORCHES BORDER: BENGAL GUERRILLAS TRAIN IN INDIA <br /> <br /> Shikarpur, India, June 13 (AP)- The Pakistan army had launched a scorched-earth operation along the frontier between East Pakistan and India, according to Indian military and civilian authorities on the spot. <br /> <br /> President Yahya Khan’s troops are burning frontier villages, destroying jute and sugar-cane plantations and ordering those inhabitants who have not already fled to India to pull back at least five miles from the border, the Indians report. <br /> <br /> The operation seems designed as a defensive measure against guerrilla attacks by East Pakistani secessionist forces-the Mukhti Fauj-building up their strength in the safety of Indian territory. <br /> <br /> <b>* The Sunday Times, June 20, 1971 </b><br /> <br /> EAST PAKISTAN : THE SILENT VOICE OF U THANT <br /> <br /> As world opinion becomes increasingly increased at the West Pakistani army’s brutal region of terror in East Bengal, and at the pitiful sight of the ever-growing millions of refugees fleeing form that terror, one voice remains conspicuously silent. It is the voice of the Secretary General of the United States Nations, U Thant. <br /> <b><br /></b> <b>* International Herald Tribune, June 22, 1971 </b><br /> <br /> INDIA AND PAKISTAN <br /> <br /> India’s suggestion that international aid to Pakistan be suspended “until a political solution acceptable to the people of East Bengal is found” is offensive in its reference to East Pakistan as “East Bengal”, but otherwise apt. It is unthinkable that donors would want to underwrite a minority military government’s cruel war against its own citizens, thousands of whom it has murdered, millions of whom it has forced into flight. Moreover, strictly from the technical standard of whether Pakistan in its disrupted condition can spent aid funds efficiently, it hardly can qualify. <br /> <br /> <b>* International Herald Tribune, June 28, 1971 </b><br /> <br /> THREE MONTH LATER, FEAR STILL REIGNS IN DACCA <br /> <br /> Dacca (NYT)- People talk with foreigners in a whisper and keep looking behind them to see if anyone is listening. Soldiers and special police-brought from West Pakistan, more than, 1,000 miles away stop and search cars and buses and persons carrying bundles. <br /> <br /> Arrests are made and denied. When families ask the martial law authorities what has happened to a son or father, the army replies that he was released after questioning and that if he has not returned home, then maybe he has fled to India. <br /> <br /> Many persons listen to the clandestine Bangladesh (Bengal Nation) Radio every day, although the penalties are severe. <br /> <br /> This is the nervous and unhappy flavor of Dacca, capital of East Pakistan, three months after the army launched its offensive to try to crush the Bengali autonomy movement throughout the province. <br /> <br /> The army is clearly in control of this city, but “normality”- the word the government uses to describe conditions here- does not exist. <br /> <br /> Dacca today can best be described as a city under the occupation of a military force that rules by strength, intimidation and terror, but which has been unable to revive an effective civil administration. <br /> <br /> <b>* The Daily Telegraph, June 29, 1971 </b><br /> <br /> REIGN OF TERROR STILL BY ARMY IN EAST BENGAL <br /> <br /> The British Parliamentary Delegation to East Bengal led by Mr. Arthur Bottomley, Labour MP for Middles borough East left Dacca for Calcutta yesterday in a frustrated and gloomy mood. <br /> <br /> He has spent some hours in a vain attempt to visit Boliadi, a village 15 miles north of Dacca, which was destroyed at dawn on Sunday morning by the West Pakistan Army. <br /> <br /> For reasons not yet explained six villages have recently been razed to the ground in this area, to the north of the small industrial town of Tongi, and firing can still be heard there.<br /> <br /> <table border="1" style="width: 100%px;"><tbody> <tr><th bgcolor="#add8e6" colspan="3" style="text-align: center;">June 1971</th> </tr> <tr class="alt-table-row"> <td width="10%">6/9/1971</td> <td width="25%">New York Times</td> <td><a href="http://www.docstrangelove.com/uploads/1971/foreign/19710609_nyt_disease_hunger_and_death_stalk_refugees_along_indias_border.pdf" target="_blank">Disease, hunger and death stalk refugees along India’s border</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="10%">6/10/1971</td> <td width="25%">Le Monde, France</td> <td><a href="http://www.nybangla.com/Weekly%201971/June/2nd%20week/june2_lm.jpg" rel="lightbox[12]" target="_blank">Bengal corpses in the wake of a crusading army</a></td> </tr> <tr class="alt-table-row"> <td width="10%">6/10/1971</td> <td width="25%">Reuters</td> <td><a href="http://www.nybangla.com/Weekly%201971/June/2nd%20week/june2_r.jpg" rel="lightbox[12]" target="_blank">Move to cut Aid to Pakistan</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="10%">6/10/1971</td> <td width="25%">Washington Post</td> <td><a href="http://www.nybangla.com/Weekly%201971/June/2nd%20week/june2_wp.jpg" rel="lightbox[12]" target="_blank">East Pakistan : A Wound Unhealed</a></td> </tr> <tr class="alt-table-row"> <td width="10%">6/13/1971</td> <td width="25%">The Sunday Times</td> <td><a href="http://www.docstrangelove.com/uploads/1971/foreign/19710613_tst_editorial_stop_the_killing.pdf" target="_blank">EDITORIAL: Stop the killing</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="10%">6/13/1971</td> <td width="25%">The Sunday Times</td> <td><a href="http://www.docstrangelove.com/uploads/1971/foreign/19710613_tst_genocide_front_page.pdf" target="_blank">Genocide (Front Page story)</a></td> </tr> <tr class="alt-table-row"> <td width="10%">6/13/1971</td> <td width="25%">The Sunday Times</td> <td><a href="http://www.docstrangelove.com/uploads/1971/foreign/19710613_tst_genocide_center_page.pdf" target="_blank">Genocide (Center Page story)</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="10%">6/13/1971</td> <td width="25%">New York Times</td> <td><a href="http://www.docstrangelove.com/uploads/1971/foreign/19710613_nyt_pakistani_charges_massacre_by_army.pdf" target="_blank">Pakistani charges massacre by army</a></td> </tr> <tr class="alt-table-row"> <td width="10%">6/18/1971</td> <td width="25%">LIFE</td> <td><a href="http://www.nybangla.com/Weekly%201971/June/3rd%20Week/Life.htm" target="_blank">They are dying so fast that we can’t keep count</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="10%">6/20/1971</td> <td width="25%">New York Times</td> <td><a href="http://www.docstrangelove.com/uploads/1971/foreign/19710620_nyt_the_only_way_to_describe_it_is_hell.pdf" target="_blank">The only way to describe it is hell</a></td> </tr> <tr class="alt-table-row"> <td width="10%">6/21/1971</td> <td width="25%">New York Times</td> <td><a href="http://www.docstrangelove.com/uploads/1971/foreign/19710621_nyt_east_pakistan_is_reopened_to_newsmen.pdf" target="_blank">East Pakistan is reopened to newsmen</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="10%">6/23/1971</td> <td width="25%">New York Times</td> <td><a href="http://www.docstrangelove.com/uploads/1971/foreign/19710623_nyt_editorial_abetting_repression.pdf" target="_blank">EDITORIAL: Abetting repression</a></td> </tr> <tr class="alt-table-row"> <td width="10%">6/25/1971</td> <td width="25%">Hong Kong Standard</td> <td><a href="http://www.docstrangelove.com/uploads/1971/foreign/19710625_hks_editorial_another_genghis.pdf" target="_blank">EDITORIAL: Another Genghis</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="10%">6/28/1971</td> <td width="25%">Newsweek (Page 43-44)</td> <td><a href="http://www.genocidebangladesh.org/?p=212" target="_blank">The Terrible Blood Bath of Tikka Khan</a></td></tr> </tbody></table> </div> </div>

Press Quotes: June 1971

* The Times, June 4, 1971 SECRET CATALOG OF GUILT AND DISASTER OVER EAST PAKISTAN Within the space of a few short weeks both East ...

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Press Quotes: May 1971

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh75peDn8yPrxYWy0tJDuRMDZRyYwLF_GbdVk41aNcvZuIvKGE_diF5x3L184Wcx7BoSQNCAVavRWZlS1aQTVDYWYi6RzJMkpz2KDxx0hRCo0w1N0VgUXq_iB_CIimEe0d4LhvFCMOpJYw/s1600/fpq.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="332" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh75peDn8yPrxYWy0tJDuRMDZRyYwLF_GbdVk41aNcvZuIvKGE_diF5x3L184Wcx7BoSQNCAVavRWZlS1aQTVDYWYi6RzJMkpz2KDxx0hRCo0w1N0VgUXq_iB_CIimEe0d4LhvFCMOpJYw/s640/fpq.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr> </tbody></table> <b>* International Herald Tribune, May 4, 1971 </b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /> PAKISTAN SAYS INDIA CREATES ATMOSPHERE OF CONFRONTATION <br /> <br /> Karachi, May 3, (NYT)- Pakistan accused India today of ‘creating an atmosphere of confrontation’ and said Indian border units had shelled Pakistani positions. <br /> <br /> <b>* International Herald Tribune, May 8-9, 1971 </b><br /> <br /> EAST PAKISTAN MILITARY CHIEF DENIES SLAUGHTER OCCURRED <br /> <br /> Dacca, East Pakistan, May 7 (NYT)- Gen Tikka Khan, the military governor of East Pakistan, said today that his staff had estimated that 150 persons were killed in Dacca on the night of March 25, when the army moved to reassert control over the province. <br /> <br /> The General speaking at a reception, said that other estimates of the number of people killed, ranging up to 10,000 were wildly exaggerated. <br /> <br /> <b>* International Herald Tribune, May 19, 1971 </b><br /> <br /> MRS. GANDHI LAMENTS LACK OF AID FOR PAKISTAN REFUGEES <br /> <br /> New Delhi, May 18 (AP)- Prime Minister Indira Gandhi complained today that “no prosperous country” or any of the “upholders of democracy has tried to help the nearly three million East Pakistani refugees now in India. <br /> <br /> <b>* International Herald Tribune, May 22-23, 1971 </b><br /> <br /> DEATH IN ‘GOLDEN BANGLADESH’ <br /> <br /> Firm figures of massacre in East Pakistan, as anywhere, are hard to verify. Some say thousands, others insist on two hundred thousand. Probably 50,000 is a conservative estimate. Numbers of refugees are more obtainable: 650,000 in four Indian states on May 1. <br /> <br /> <b>* The Weekly Economist, May 29, 1971 </b><br /> <br /> HOW NOT TO FACE FACTS <br /> <br /> President Yahya needs to acknowledge realities, Mrs. Gandhi needs to maintain her cool, and the rest of us should be more helpful. <br /> <br /> It is a standard practice of governments, especially those which are fighting wars, to putout self-justifying propaganda. This propaganda may fail to convince, which is troublesome. Or it may convince so well that the propagandists themselves are taken in, which is positively dangerous. The Government of Pakistan has clearly dug itself a credibility gap. The question now is whether it has also buried its head in the sand. <br /> <br /> <b>* International Herald Tribune, May 29-30, 1971 </b><br /> <br /> REBELS CALLED STILL ACTIVE IN EAST PAKISTAN CLASHES WITH ARMY TERRORISM REPORTED <br /> <br /> New Delhi, May 28 (NYT)- Despite official descriptions of normality in East Pakistan, guerrilla activity and the army crackdown continue, according to reports from the area. <br /> <br /> The foreign informants report that the Pakistani Army has been able to widen its control of vital installations and major towns and cities. But they say that guerrilla and terrorist activity by Bengali insurgents-but tressed by Bengali noncooperation in general– has prevented the army from establishing an effective civil administration in most of East Pakistan. <br /> <br /> <b>* International Herald Tribune, May 31, 1971 </b><br /> <br /> CHOLERA OUTBREAK REPORTED : INDIA PUTS PAKISTANI REFUGEES AT 4 MILLION <br /> <br /> New Delhi, May 30 (Reuters)- Indian announced today that more than four million East Pakistanis have fled into its territory since the Martial-Law crackdown in their province. <br /> <br /> Reports have said living conditions in overcrowded temporary border camps have led to 300 deaths from cholera and gastroenteritis.<br /> <br /> <table border="1" style="width: 100%px;"><tbody> <tr><th bgcolor="#add8e6" colspan="3" style="text-align: center;">May 1971</th> </tr> <tr class="alt-table-row"> <td width="10%">5/1/1971</td> <td width="25%">Far Eastern Economic Review</td> <td><a href="http://www.nybangla.com/Weekly%201971/May/1st%20Week%20May/far_eastern_economic_review_refe.htm" target="_blank">India-Pakistan: warclouds mass</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="10%">5/2/1971</td> <td width="25%">New York Times</td> <td><a href="http://www.docstrangelove.com/uploads/1971/foreign/19710502_nyt_the_political_tidal_wave_that_struck_east_pakistan.pdf" target="_blank">The political tidal wave that struck East Pakistan</a></td> </tr> <tr class="alt-table-row"> <td width="10%">5/6/1971</td> <td width="25%">New York Times</td> <td><a href="http://www.docstrangelove.com/uploads/1971/foreign/19710506_nyt_foreign_news_reports_criticized.pdf" target="_blank">Foreign news reports criticized</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="10%">5/7/1971</td> <td width="25%">New York Times</td> <td><a href="http://www.docstrangelove.com/uploads/1971/foreign/19710507_nyt_pakistani_general_disputes_reports_of_casualties.pdf" target="_blank">Pakistani general disputes reports of casualties</a></td> </tr> <tr class="alt-table-row"> <td width="10%">5/7/1971</td> <td width="25%">Washington Post</td> <td><a href="http://www.nybangla.com/Weekly%201971/May/1st%20Week%20May/May1_WP_1971.jpg" rel="lightbox[12]" target="_blank">Aide admits massacre in East Pakistan</a> </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="10%">5/9/1971</td> <td width="25%">New York Times</td> <td><a href="http://www.docstrangelove.com/uploads/1971/foreign/19710509_nyt_bengalis_depict_how_a_priest_died.pdf" target="_blank">Bengalis depict how a priest died</a></td> </tr> <tr class="alt-table-row"> <td width="10%">5/10/1971</td> <td width="25%">New York Times</td> <td><a href="http://www.docstrangelove.com/uploads/1971/foreign/19710510_nyt_all_serious_opposition_seems_ended_in_east_pakistan.pdf" target="_blank">All serious opposition seems ended in East Pakistan</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="10%">5/12/1971</td> <td width="25%">New York Times</td> <td><a href="http://www.docstrangelove.com/uploads/1971/foreign/19710512_nyt_editorial_the_vultures_of_bengal.pdf" target="_blank">EDITORIAL: The vultures of Bengal</a></td> </tr> <tr class="alt-table-row"> <td width="10%">5/12/1971</td> <td width="25%">Washington Evening Star</td> <td><a href="http://www.nybangla.com/Weekly%201971/May/2nd%20Week%20May/May2_WES_1971.jpg" rel="lightbox[12]" target="_blank">Vultures too full to fly: East Pakistani Calamity defies belief</a> </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="10%">5/13/1971</td> <td width="25%">New York Times</td> <td><a href="http://www.docstrangelove.com/uploads/1971/foreign/19710513_nyt_army_men_in_pakistan_see_heresy_in_western_style_education_there.pdf" target="_blank">Army men in Pakistan see heresy in Western style education there</a></td> </tr> <tr class="alt-table-row"> <td width="10%">5/13/1971</td> <td width="25%">The Baltimore Sun</td> <td><a href="http://www.nybangla.com/Weekly%201971/May/2nd%20Week%20May/May2_BS_1971.jpg" rel="lightbox[12]" target="_blank">US asked not to aid Pakistan</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="10%">5/14/1971</td> <td width="25%">The Baltimore Sun</td> <td><a href="http://www.docstrangelove.com/uploads/1971/foreign/19710514_bs_editorial_pakistan_story.pdf" target="_blank">EDITORIAL: Pakistan story</a></td> </tr> <tr class="alt-table-row"> <td width="10%">5/16/1971</td> <td width="25%">New York Times</td> <td><a href="http://www.docstrangelove.com/uploads/1971/foreign/19710516_nyt_that_shadow_in_the_sky_is_a_vulture_a_fat_one.pdf" target="_blank">That shadow in the sky is a vulture – a fat one</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="10%">5/16/1971</td> <td width="25%">The Boston Globe</td> <td><a href="http://www.nybangla.com/Weekly%201971/May/3rd%20Week%20May/May3_BG_1971.jpg" rel="lightbox[12]" target="_blank">“Jai Bangla” A Bengali cry of national pride, now muted</a> </td> </tr> <tr class="alt-table-row"> <td width="10%">5/22/1971</td> <td width="25%">Saturday Review</td> <td><a href="http://www.genocidebangladesh.org/?p=217" target="_blank">Genocide in East Pakistan</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="10%">5/25/1971</td> <td width="25%">New York Times</td> <td><a href="http://www.docstrangelove.com/uploads/1971/foreign/19710525_nyt_pakistani_strife_said_to_continue.pdf" target="_blank">Pakistani strife said to continue</a></td> </tr> <tr class="alt-table-row"> <td width="10%">5/27/1971</td> <td width="25%">The Guardian</td> <td><a href="http://www.docstrangelove.com/uploads/1971/foreign/19710527_guardian_letter_east_bengal_atrocities.pdf" target="_blank">LETTER: East Bengal atrocities</a></td></tr> </tbody></table> </div> </div>

Press Quotes: May 1971

* International Herald Tribune, May 4, 1971 PAKISTAN SAYS INDIA CREATES ATMOSPHERE OF CONFRONTATION Karachi, May 3, (NYT)- Pakist...

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April 1971

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHhRa8BSdIlGujXzW_1Nn5eeM7XVkqLbsjdz5iKvSJQ0-keOpUw6E85oY3FTLrqHwk32jBDpgi0cORL8XIg8oFbMZ9tRklSLzoiAAnPZqVAell02P04bIxWq_0-oIHnYeLouO11ADbr_g/s1600/en.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="332" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHhRa8BSdIlGujXzW_1Nn5eeM7XVkqLbsjdz5iKvSJQ0-keOpUw6E85oY3FTLrqHwk32jBDpgi0cORL8XIg8oFbMZ9tRklSLzoiAAnPZqVAell02P04bIxWq_0-oIHnYeLouO11ADbr_g/s640/en.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> </td></tr> </tbody></table> <b>April 1:</b><br /> <br /> <ul> <li><a href="http://www.docstrangelove.com/uploads/1971/foreign/19710330_nyt_heavy_killing_reported.pdf">New York Times reports</a> heavy killing in Dhaka.</li> </ul> <br /> <br /> <ul> <li>Muslim League President <a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0402_daulatana_commitment.htm">Mumtaz Daultana</a>:</li> </ul> <br /> <blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;"> Mujib’s demands were much as President Yahya had spelled out in his address to the nation, except that Yahya had not detailed Mujib’s views on an interim central government. Mujib had wanted Yahya to remain as President with no political government at the Center. Mujib was not “particularly concerned” about the Six Points and was willing to accept an interim arrangement based on the 1962 Constitution. However, he envisaged that the President would allow the Awami League to exercise full control over the affairs of East Pakistan, while the President would perform a coordinating role for inter-provincial affairs of the West Wing.</blockquote> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /> <ul> <li>On the “two-Assembly” proposal, Daultana said Mujib had been rather vague as to whether he really envisaged two separate assemblies or two subcommittees of the National Assembly.</li> </ul> <br /> <br /> <ul> <li>Mujib replied, and Daultana accepted his response as sincere, that while he was under great pressure to declare an independent Bangla Desh, he wanted to maintain Pakistan. Mujib was convinced the West Pakistan establishment as represented by Yahya and Bhutto would never permit Bengalis to rule Pakistan.</li> </ul> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>April 3:</b><br /> <br /> <ul> <li><a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0403_1971_rogers.htm">Background to the Thinning Out of the U.S. Presence in East Pakistan</a></li> </ul> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>April 4:</b><br /> <br /> <br /> <ul> <li style="text-align: justify;">The Pakistani ambassador to USA Agha Hilaly <a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0406_71_telegram_dep_state.pdf">tells</a> Assistant Secretary (USA) Sisco:</li> </ul> <br /> <blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;"> The army had to kill people in order to keep the country together.</blockquote> <br /> <ul style="text-align: left;"> <li>“<a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0403_71_the_slaughter_in_east_pakistan.htm">The Slaughter in East Pakistan</a>“, Editorial, The Times, London</li> </ul> <br /> <blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;"> “From the evidence available one must conclude that the aim was so to wipeout the Awami League leadership that it could no longer provide an effec­tive leadership for any resistance movement.”</blockquote> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>April 6:</b><br /> <br /> <ul> <li>Archer Blood, the US Consul General, officers of USAID and USIS sents the famous <a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0406teleuscon2.htm">blood telegram</a> to the Department of State condemning the failure of the US to denounce the suppression of democracy and the widespread attrocities.</li> <li><a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0406_conversation_nixon_kissinger.htm">Converstaion between Nixon and Kissinger</a></li> </ul> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>April 7:</b><br /> <br /> <ul> <li>“<a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0407_71_grim_fight.htm">Foreign evacuees from East Pakistan tell of grim fight</a>“, Sydney H. Schanberg, in New York Times.</li> </ul> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>April 8:</b><br /> <br /> <ul> <li><a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0408_1971_telegram22.htm">Telegram From the Embassy in Pakistan to the Department of State</a>:</li> </ul> <blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;"> “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 consolidate position on ground, resistance movement likely to pass to more radical and left extremist groups such as Naxalites.<br />Bhutto is eager for power and he may be prepared make deal with military to play key, if not leading role, in new central government.”</blockquote> <b>April 10:</b></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <br /> <ul> <li>The <a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0410_proclamation.htm">proclamation of independence order from Mujib Nagar</a> (which was issued on April 10 shall be deemed to have come into effect from March 26, 1971).</li> <li>US Consul General <a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0410_71_telegram1249.htm">Archer Blood’s telegram from Dhaka</a>:</li> </ul> <br /> <blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;"> “It is, in our opinion, a minor miracle that no American was killed or injured by trigger-happy Pak troops fresh from killing and looting during the delay caused by our accetance of Govt. of Pakistan arrangements.”</blockquote> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>April 11:</b><br /> <br /> <ul> <li><a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0411_radio_taj.htm">Radio adress by Mr. Tajuddin Ahmed,</a> Prime Minister, on behalf of the Government of Bangla Desh headed by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, broadcast by Swadhin Bangla Desh Betar Kendra to the people of Bangladesh.</li> </ul> <blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;"> “Today a mighty army is being formed around the nucleus of professional soldiers, from the Bengal Regiment and E.P.R. who have rallied to the cause of the liberation struggle. These have been joined by the Police, Ansars and Mujahids and now by thou­sands of Awami League and other volunteers and are being trained into a fighting force ready to use the captured weapons from the defeated West Pakistani mercenaries and fresh arms being purchased from funds collected by our Bengali Brothers overseas.<br />In Chittagong and Noakhali we have commissioned Major Zia Rahman of the Bengal Regiment to take full command of operations. His heroic defence of Chittagong City against overwhelming odds, which included attacks from the air and sea, will take its place with the defence of Stalingrad in the annals of warfare.”</blockquote> <br /> <ul style="text-align: left;"> <li><a href="http://www.nybangla.com/Weekly%201971/April/2nd%20Week/NYbangla_71April2.jpg">Mujib is the Head of War Cabinet for Bangladesh</a>.</li> </ul> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>April 12:</b><br /> <br /> <ul> <li><a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0412_prospectsforpak.htm">CIA’s assessment about the present and prospective state of Pakistani civil war and role of India and other powers</a>.</li> </ul> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>April 13:</b><br /> <blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;"> “Chinese government holds that what is happening in Pakistan at present is purely internal affair of Pakistan, which can only be settled by Pakistan people themselves and which brooks no foreign interference whatsoever.” -<a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0413_71_chou_letter.htm">Chou En Lai</a></blockquote> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>April 14:</b><br /> <br /> <ul> <li>“<a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0414_71_rhetoric_and_reality.htm">Rhetoric and Reality</a>”, Editorial, Guardian, London</li> </ul> <br /> <blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;"> “Nobody can tell precisely what Yahya’s strategists whispered in his ear three weeks ago. They appear to have thought that cutting off the head would kill Bengali nationalism: precisely the reverse. They appear to have forgotten about world opinion. They appear, most insanely of all, to have ruled India out of the military calculations, so that the uncontrolled border and aid seeping in has them as much by the throat as proliferatin- diplomatic complications.”</blockquote> <br /> <ul style="text-align: left;"> <li><a href="http://www.nybangla.com/Weekly%201971/April/3rd%20Week/BG_April3Week.jpg">Liberation forces organized, General MAG Osmani made Chief in command</a></li> </ul> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>April 16:</b><br /> <br /> <ul> <li>"<a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0416_71_blood_of_bangladesh.htm">Blood of Bangla Desh</a>", New Statesman, London:</li> </ul> <br /> <blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;"> “If blood is the price of a people’s right to independence, Bangla Desh has overpaid. The Bengalis’ case for statehood may be hard to refute, but it is inconvenient to every one else. And yet, by an unusual combination of circum­stances, Bangla Desh has managed to obey all the rules. So, this may be the moment to consider what we, and other countries, mean by those splendid words which recur like a chorus in the United Nations charter: `the right to self-deter­mination of peoples’. Objectively or subjectively, in Chinese or English, in capi­talist or socialist jargon, it is hard to fault the East Bengalis, or justify their abandonment by all the major powers.”</blockquote> <br /> <ul style="text-align: left;"> <li>Memorandum from Senior Review Group meeting regarding <a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0416_71_pakistan_american_relations.htm">Pakistan – American relations</a></li> </ul> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>April 17:</b><br /> <br /> <ul> <li>The formation of Bangladesh Government: The First Bangladesh Government is Formed in exile. Awami League leaders convene in the district of Meherpur near the Indian border in Jessore, in the village of Baidyanathtala later renamed Mujibnagar, and affirm Sheikh Mujib’s March 26 proclamation for an independent Bangladesh. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman is declared the President of the newly formed Republic, and Syed Nazrul Islam the Vice-President. Nazrul Islam assumes the reponsibilities of the Interim President, and appoints Tajuddin Ahmed as the Prime Minsiter to lead the provisional government.</li> <li>* <a href="http://1971.uttorshuri.net/clippings/Congressional_Record.jpg">Tajuddin Ahmed’s April 10, 1971 Proclamation</a></li> <li>* <a href="http://banglapedia.search.com.bd/HT/M_0359.HTM">Members of The Mujibnagar Government</a></li> <li>More here: “<a href="http://genocidebangladesh.org/?p=107">Mujibnagar Day: A milestone in our liberation war</a>”</li> <li>BANGLA DESH BECOMES A REPUBLIC -<a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0417_decl_taj.htm"> THE SUNDAY STATESMAN, New Delhi-April 18, 1971</a></li> </ul> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>April 18:</b><br /> <br /> <ul> <li><a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0417_1971_telegram2.htm">Telegram</a> from the Department of State to the embassy in Pakistan on the Provisional Government of Bangla Desh.</li> </ul> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>April 19:</b><br /> <br /> <ul> <li><a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0419_1971_srg_meeting.htm">Minutes of Senior Review Group meeting regarding Pakistan</a>.</li> </ul> <br /> <blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;"> “I agree I used to think that 30,000 men couldn’t possibly subdue 75 million, which I suppose is the Western way of looking at it. But if the 75 million don’t organize and don’t fight, the situation is different.” - Kissinger</blockquote> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>April 20:</b><br /> <br /> <ul> <li><a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0420_pstatementmuzaffar.htm">Press Statement issued</a> by Professor Muzaffar Ahamed, President of National Awami Party (NAP), Bangla Desh concerning full support to Bangla Desh Government:</li> </ul> <br /> <blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;"> “We declare in unequivocal terms that the government headed by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman is the only legally constituted government of Bangla Desh. And urge upon all the democratic and progressive nations of the world ‘to recognise the newly-born state and its government and to render all material help and moral support.”</blockquote> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>April 21:</b><br /> <br /> <ul> <li><a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0421_71_bhasani_appeal.htm">Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhasani’s appeal to world leaders</a>:</li> </ul> <br /> <blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;"> “I appeal to you. Mr. Secretary-General (UN), in the name of humanity to issue an immediate appeal to stop these brutal massacres of innocent people and to extend all possible help for the relief of the victims of dictator General Yahya Khan against military rule in Bangla Desh. I would welcome sending your observers inside Bangla Desh to see the nature and volume of looting, arson, mass killings and molestation of women by West Pakistani Army so that they can reveal the true picture of the sordid tale of Bangla Desh to the people of the world through the United Nations.”</blockquote> <br /> <ul style="text-align: left;"> <li><a href="http://www.nybangla.com/Weekly%201971/April/4th%20Week/BG_April4Week2.jpg">Justice Abu Sayeed Chowdhury made special representative of Bangladesh Government</a>.</li> </ul> <br /> <b>April 22:</b><br /> <br /> <ul style="text-align: left;"> <li><a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0422_71_bhasani.htm">Press statement of Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhasani</a>, President of National Awami Party, Bangladesh:</li> </ul> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;"> “The question is whether the people of the world and nation of the world will support the struggle of the 71 crore people of Bengal for independence or support the abominable conspiracy of the dictatorial exploiting ruling clique which is indulg­ing in mass murder.<br />Yahya, who is a Muslim himself, in the name of religion is mercilessly killing lakhs of Muslims, Hindus, Christians and Buddhists. His soldiers who say that they are Muslims are raping women, including Muslim women. Though Muslims themselves, they are destroying mosques. They kill Muslims who are offering prayers. What will the Muslim world do about this? Will they support the un-Islamic antihumanity abominable policy of Yahya? Or will they support the cause of truth, justice and love as preached by Islam ?”</blockquote> <b>April 27:</b><br /> <br /> <ul style="text-align: left;"> <li style="text-align: justify;">Maulana Abdul Mannan, General Secretary of Muslim League issued a statement saying that “patriotic” (by which he meant Islamic minded) people imbued with the zeal of crusading (Jihad) had come forward to welcome the (maurauding) army of West Pakistan.</li> </ul> <br /> <b>April 28:</b><br /> <br /> <ul style="text-align: left;"> <li style="text-align: justify;">Tajuddin <a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0428_71_tajuddin_plea.htm">pleas for arms aid</a> and thus help a new-born country to free itself from the clutches of a murderous army. (The Times of India- New Delhi-April 29, 1971)</li> <li style="text-align: justify;">Henry Kissinger wrote in a <a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0428_71_memo_president.htm">secret memo to President Nixon</a>:</li> </ul> <br /> <blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;"> The Pakistani army was poised to “retake” physical control of the major towns and that the ressistance was too poorly organised. He also said that the West Pakistanis were afraid that their economy would crash without emergency foreign aid. Till this day the country survives on foreign aid, like Bangladesh. Kissinger feared that Yahya might be forced to let East Pakistan (Bangladesh) go if this news leaked out.</blockquote> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <ul> <li>Kissinger recommended Give serious assistance to Yahya Khan to end the war and bring about an arrangement which would be transitional to autonomy in Bangladesh. He suggested sending aid to Pakistan so that later the US would be in a position to pressurize Pakistan into adhering to the arangement.</li> <li>The feedback from Nixon was an instruction not to squeeze Yahya Khan at the moment.</li> </ul> <br /> <b>April 29:</b><br /> <br /> <ul style="text-align: left;"> <li style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0429_71_memo_haig.htm">Memorandum from Haig to President Nixon</a> on relief assistance for East Pakistani refugees in India:</li> </ul> <blockquote style="text-align: justify;"> According to the Indians, there are now over 500,000 East Pakistani refugees and they expect their numbers could eventually total one to two million. The magnitude of this problem-coming suddenly as it does-is beyond India’s limited resources.<br />It is recommended that you approve this $2.5 million modest program of assistance to East Pakistani refugees to be administered through appropriate international and voluntary agencies.*<br />* President Nixon initialed his approval of the recommendation on April 29. The Embassy in India was informed of the President’s decision in telegram 75479 to New Delhi, May 1.”</blockquote> </div> </div>

April 1971

  April 1: New York Times reports  heavy killing in Dhaka. Muslim League President  Mumtaz Daultana : Mujib’s demands we...

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Press Quotes: April 1971

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh75peDn8yPrxYWy0tJDuRMDZRyYwLF_GbdVk41aNcvZuIvKGE_diF5x3L184Wcx7BoSQNCAVavRWZlS1aQTVDYWYi6RzJMkpz2KDxx0hRCo0w1N0VgUXq_iB_CIimEe0d4LhvFCMOpJYw/s1600/fpq.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="332" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh75peDn8yPrxYWy0tJDuRMDZRyYwLF_GbdVk41aNcvZuIvKGE_diF5x3L184Wcx7BoSQNCAVavRWZlS1aQTVDYWYi6RzJMkpz2KDxx0hRCo0w1N0VgUXq_iB_CIimEe0d4LhvFCMOpJYw/s640/fpq.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr> </tbody></table> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <b>* International hearald tribune, April 2, 1971</b> <br /> <br /> DHAKA SAID TO BE BOMBED: ALL-OUT PAKISTAN OFFENSIVE REPORTED <br /> <br /> New Delhi, April 1 (Reuters):- Indian press and radio reports said tonight that the Pakistan Army, Navy and Air Force had launched an all-out offensive to quell Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s resistance in East Pakistan. <br /> <br /> All India radio and the Press Trust of India News agency, quoting reports reaching Calcutta said the drive followed the arrival of troops reinforcements from West Pakistan. <br /> <br /> The radio said the Pakistan Air Force had bombed Dhaka and several other towns and that heavy fighting was going on for control of the capital. <br /> <br /> <b>* The Libyan Times, April 2, 1971</b> <br /> <br /> PAK. GOVT. SAYS INDIANS ARE NOW INFILTRATING TO HELP REBELS <br /> <br /> London, (UPI)- The Pakistan government said yesterday that armed Indians were “inflitrating the border areas of East Pakistan.” <br /> <br /> Radio Pakistan quoted a Foreign Office Spokesman as saying the Pakistan government was fully alive to the needs of the situation. <br /> <br /> <b>* The Daily Telegraph, April 3, 1971 </b><br /> <br /> MASS KILLINGS IN TERROR CAMPAIGN BY PAKISTAN ARMY <br /> <br /> Killing on a mass scale are reported to be continuing in East Pakistan, indicating that the Army has shown no let-up in the terror campaign begun after President Yahya Khan gave it his “full authority’ to restore central Government control. <br /> <br /> <b>* Daily American, April 3, 1971 </b><br /> <br /> E. PAKISTAN FORCES STILL FIGHTING OVER WIDESPREAD AREAS <br /> <br /> New Delhi, April 2 (AP)- Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s independence forces apparently were active in vast sections of the East Pakistan countryside today as the Pakistan government officially acknowledged that the province was not as normal as originally claimed. <br /> <br /> For the first time since the civil war broke out between the West Pakistan dominated army and the Sheikh’s followers in the eastern wing, the government-controlled Radio Pakistan did not report normalcy throughout the province. <br /> <br /> <b>* The Observer, April 4, 1971 </b><br /> <br /> THE EXPLOSION OF A NATION <br /> <br /> Whatever its military outcome, there will be no winners in the brutal conflict now going on East Pakistan. Nor will the war, which was so shortsighted started, damage only the interests of the two parties most immediately engaged in the conflict–Punjabi-dominated Pakistan and the Muslim Bengalis. It will almost certainly promote the risks of revolutionary warfare in a particularly explosive part of Asia, threatening India, Pakistan and Burma. And it will possibly draw both the Russians and the Chinese into this arena. <br /> <br /> <b>* Newsweek, April 5, 1971 </b><br /> <br /> PAKISTAN PLUNGES INTO CIVIL WAR <br /> <br /> Until the very last moment, it looked as if the two proud men entrusted with Pakistan’s density might still be able to avert a head-on clash. From the East Pakistani capital of Dacca came optimistic reports that President Mohammed Yahya Khan and Mujib–as the leader of secessionist-minded East Pakistan is known-were about to reach a compromise. But then, with stunning suddenness, the pieces of Pakistan’s complicated political puzzle flew apart. In the East Pakistan cities of Rangpur and Chittagong, federal troops poured machine gun fire into mobs of demonstrating Bengali nationalists. Swiftly, Yahya issued orders to his army to “crush the movement and restore the full authority of the government”. In his turn, Mujib proclaimed East Pakistan the “Sovereign, independent People’s Republic of Bangladesh (Bengali Nation)”. And with that, Pakistan was plunge into civil war. <br /> <br /> <b>* Time April 5, 1971 </b><br /> <br /> PAKISTAN: TOPPLING OVER THE BRINK <br /> <br /> With the awesome fury of a cyclone off the Bay of Bengal, civil war swept across East Pakistan last week. In city after crowded, dusty city the army turned its guns on mobs of rioting civilians, Casualties mounted into the thousands. Through the full toll remained uncertain because of censorship and disorganization in the world’s most densely populated corner (1,400 people per sq. mi.) at week’s end some estimates had 2,000 dead. Even if President Agha Mohammad Yahya Khan is prepared to accept casualties of geometrically greater magnitude, the outcome is likely to be the final breakup of East Pakistan and the painful birth of a new nation named Bangladesh (Bengal State). <br /> <br /> <b>* The daily telegraph, April 5, 1971 </b><br /> <br /> INDIA CANNOT STAND SILENT ON BENGAL, SAYS MRS.GANDHI <br /> <br /> India could not remain a silent spectator of events in East Pakistan, Mrs. Gandhi, Prime Minister, said yesterday, But she called on Indians to keep emotions in check. <br /> <br /> <b>* International herald tribune, April 5, 1971 </b><br /> <br /> PAKISTAN CHARGES INDIANS ARE GIVING ARMS TO REBEL <br /> <br /> New Delhi, April 4 (NYT)- Radio Pakistan has charged that nine Indian “vehicles’ loaded with arms and ammunition crossed the East Pakistan border and were stopped by West Pakistani troops. <br /> <br /> <b>* International herald tribune, April 6, 1971 </b><br /> <br /> PAKISTANI ARMY IN BIG CITIES : REBELS HOLD MUCH OF EAST PAKISTAN <br /> <br /> Chuadanga, East Pakistan, April 5 (AP)- Sheikh Mujibur Rahaman’s independence forces held on today to stretches of East Pakistani territory along the border with India, vowing to fight until they defeat the Pakistan Army. <br /> <br /> <b>* The daily telegraph, April 8, 1971 </b><br /> <br /> USE OF U.S. JETS AND TANKS IN BENGAL WORRIES NIXON <br /> <br /> The American Government, as chief supplier of arms to Pakistan, has made it’s first move to express concern over reports that American military equipment is being used against civilians in East Pakistan. <br /> <br /> The Assistant Secretary of State, Mr. Joseph Sisco, is reported to have voiced this feeling in a meeting with the Pakistan Ambassador, Mr. Agha Hilaly. <br /> <br /> <b>* Daily American, April 9, 1971 </b><br /> <br /> PAKISTAN SAYS INDIA MASSES FOR POSSIBLE INTERVENTION <br /> <br /> New Delhi, April 8 (AP)- The Pakistan government said yesterday that the Indian armed forces were preparing ‘for possible operations’ in East Pakistan. <br /> <br /> <b>* Daily American, April 9, 1971 </b><br /> <br /> REBELS CONTUNUE TO GAIN IN EAST PAKISTAN <br /> <br /> New Delhi, April 9 (UPI)- The Bengali secessionist forces have claimed almost complete control of the western part of East Pakistan, reports in the Indian Press said today. <br /> <br /> <b>* International herald tribune, April 12, 1971 </b><br /> <br /> CONCERN GROWS IN CONGRESS OVER ARMS AID TO PAKISTAN <br /> <br /> Washington, April 11 (NYT)- The United States is continuing to ship to Pakistan ammunition and spare for weapons under a program begun in 1967. <br /> <br /> There is growing evidence that the Pakistani Army has been using American tanks, jet aircraft and other equipment in its attempt to crush the movement for autonomy by the predominantly Bengali citizens in the eastern half of the country. <br /> <br /> <b>* Time, April 12, 1971 </b><br /> <br /> PAKISTAN: ROUND 1 TO THE WEST <br /> <br /> “There is no doubt” said a foreign diplomat in East Pakistan last week, “that the word massacre applies to the situation.” Said another Western official: “It’s a veritable bloodbath. The troops have been utterly merciless.” <br /> <br /> As Round I of Pakistan’s bitter civil war ended last week, the winner– predictably was the tough West Pakistan army, which has a powerful force of 80,000 Punjabi and Pathan soldiers on duty in rebellious East Pakistan. Reports coming out of the East via diplomats, frightened refugees and clandestine broadcasts varied widely. Estimates of the total dead ran as high as 300,000. A figure of 10,000 to 15,000 is accepted by several Western governments, but no one can be sure of anything except that untold thousands perished. <br /> <br /> Mass Graves <br /> <br /> Opposed only by bands of Bengali peasants armed with stones and bamboo sticks, tanks rolled through Dacca, the East’s capital, blowing houses to bits. At the University, soldiers slaughtered students inside the British Council building. “It was like Chengis Khan,” said a shocked Western official who witnessed the scene. Near Dacca’s marketplace, Urdu-speaking government soldiers ordered Bengali-speaking townspeople to surrender, then gunned them down when they failed to comply. Bodies lay in mass graves at the University, in the old city, and near the municipal dump. <br /> <br /> <b>* The Time, April 13, 1971 </b><br /> <br /> WITNESS TO A MASSACRE IN EAST PAKISTAN <br /> <br /> An Account of Three Days of Carnage at Dacca University: <br /> <br /> A student who survived the three days of carnage at Dacca University last month has given an eyewitness account of how the West Pakistani Army systematically shot down students and lecturers who were trapped in the encircled dormitories. <br /> <br /> “I jumped out of the dormitory window and hid in the top of the tree for the night”, he told a science lecturer at Notre Dame College, Dacca, who has now sought asylum in Calcutta. <br /> <br /> “The firing continued. In the morning there was a lull and I saw some Pakistani soldiers giving orders to the terrified bearers. After a while I saw the bearer dragging the bodies of students and lecturers towards the football ground. <br /> <br /> “They were ordered to dig a huge grave. The Pakistani soldiers told the eight or nine bearers to sit down. After a while they were ordered to stand and line up near the grave. The guns fired again and they fell next to the bodies of my friends.” <br /> <br /> <b>* International Herald Tribune, April 13, 1971 </b><br /> <br /> EAST PAKISTAN PROCLAIMS ITS INDEPENDENCE <br /> <br /> New Delhi, April 12 (AP)- An independent republic of Bangladesh (Bengali Nation) was formed tonight, with Sheikh Mujibur Rhaman as president of the secessionist province of East Pakistan, Indian radio monitors reported. <br /> <br /> They said that announcement of the government’s formation was heard on a newly set-up Free Bangladesh Radio, which had gone off the air two weeks ago, a few days after the civil war in the province broke out between the Sheikh’s followers and the West Pakistan-dominated army. <br /> <br /> Both of Indian’s national news agencies carried the announcement. <br /> <br /> The Free Bangladesh Radio also was quoted as announcing that Tajuddin ahmed, a close associate of Sheikh Mujib, would be the prime minister and foreign minister. <br /> <br /> Syed Nazrul Islam, Vice-President of the Sheikh’s outlawed Awami League, was named vice-president Bangladesh, the radio added. <br /> <br /> <b>* The Times, April 14, 1971 </b><br /> <br /> EAST BENGAL RESISTANCE CRUMBLES AS TROOPS ADVANCE <br /> <br /> Chuadanga, East Pakistan, April 13, Armed resistance in much of East Bengal was crumbling fast today before the advancing columns of President Yahya Khan’s Pakistan Army. <br /> <br /> <b>* International Herald Tribune, April 15, 1971 </b><br /> <br /> REBELS ASK INTERNATIONAL AID: PAKISTAN ARMY PUSHES DRIVE AS THOUSANDS FLEE TO INDIA <br /> <br /> New Delhi, April 14 (AP)- East Pakistan independence forces appealed today to other countries for arms and ammunition as the Pakistan Army intensified a two-pronged offensive to crush the three-week old rebellion in the secessionist province. <br /> <br /> Meanwhile, refugees from East Pakistan poured into India today, fleeing from the advancing Pakistan Army troops. ‘What was a trickle has become a stream’, said a high Indian official, describing the influx of refugees. <br /> <br /> <b>* The Daily Telegraph, April 17, 1971 </b><br /> <br /> PAKISTAN ARMY TAKES BANGLADESH CAPITAL <br /> <br /> Pakistan Government forces last night took the town of Chuadanga, proclaimed two weeks ago as the provisional capital of Bangladesh, the breakaway eastern province. <br /> <br /> <b>The Observer, April 18, 1971 </b><br /> <br /> THE FADING DREAM OF BANGLADESH <br /> <br /> Calcutta, 17 April- Troops from West Pakistan loyal to General Yahya Khan, the country’s military ruler are now rolling up the map of Bangladesh. They have ended, for the time being, Bengali dreams of secession and freedom in East Pakistan. <br /> <br /> In spite of their passionate hopes, the unwar like Bengalis have been no match for the Frontier soldiers from the West- traditionally the best and most ruthless warriors on the Indian subcontinent. <br /> <br /> But after a 200-mile journey through the tragic landscape of Bangladesh. I am sure that from now on President Yahya will hold his eastern province only by force and that his rule will be harassed by continual resistance, however, ill-organised and futile it may be. The Bengalis will never forget or forgive the happening of the past few weeks. <br /> <br /> <b>* Wall Street Journal, April 21, 1971 </b><br /> <br /> A FLICKERING CAUSE <br /> <br /> East Pakistanis pledge to fight to the death but mostly they don’t…. They lack Arms, Leadership to Prolong their Revolt; No Aid by other Nations. <br /> <br /> <b>* International Herald Tribune, April 24-25, 1971 </b><br /> <br /> BANGLADESH ISSUES APPEAL FOR RECOGNITION AS A NATION <br /> <br /> New Delhi, April 23 (Reuters)- The so-called Bangladesh (Bengali Nation) government in East Pakistan tonight sent an appeal to world governments for recognition as the Pakistan Army gained more ground in its push against the secessionist regime’s forces. <br /> <br /> <b>* The Sunday Times, April 25, 1971 </b><br /> <br /> SPECTER OF FAMINE OVER EAST BENGAL <br /> <br /> An appalling picture of widespread devastation throughout the country is given by the latest reports reaching The Sunday Times from East Bengal. The vast, stricken area will take many weeks to make even a partial recovery from its wounds, and ‘normality’ in any pre-March, 1971, sense can probably never be restored. <br /> <br /> <b>* Newsweek, April 26, 1971</b> <br /> <br /> PAKISTAN: VULTURES AND WILD DOGS <br /> <br /> For more than two weeks, the Pakistani Army of President Mohammad Yahya Khan had played curious waiting game. Siting tight in their well-fortified cantonments in the rebellious eastern wing of their divided country, the federal troops virtually ignored the taunts of the secessionist ‘liberation forces’. But then early last week, the lull came to a sudden end. Springing from their strong-holds the Punjabi regulars simultaneously staged more than a dozen devastating attacks from one end of beleaguered East Pakistan to the other. And when the blitzkrieg was over, it was clear that the less-than-one-month-old Republic of Bangladesh (Bengali Nation) had been delivered a stunning blow. <br /> <br /> <b>* The Libyan Times, April 27, 1971 </b><br /> <br /> INDO-PAKISTAN RELATIONS KEEP MOVING TO THE WORST BY THE HOUR <br /> <br /> Moscow, (AP, UPI) – M. Arshad Hussein, special envoy of Pakistani President Mohamed Yahya Khan met yesterday with Soviet Preminer Alexei Kosygin for a private conference on undisclosed subjects. <br /> <br /> An official announcement said Pakistani Ambassador to Moscow also took part in the meeting. <br /> <br /> Arshad Hussein arrived in Moscow about five days ago, apparently to serve as Yahya Khan’s spokesman with Soviet Officials about the trouble in East Pakistan and the explosive India-Pakistani climate.<br /> <br /> <table border="1" style="width: 100%px;"><tbody> <tr><th bgcolor="#add8e6" colspan="3" style="text-align: center;">April 1971</th> </tr> <tr class="alt-table-row"> <td width="10%">4/1/1971</td> <td width="25%">New York Times</td> <td><a href="http://www.nybangla.com/Weekly%201971/April/1st%20Week/CR_April_1971.jpg" rel="lightbox[12]" target="_blank">Appaling tragedy in East Pakistan</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="10%">4/3/1971</td> <td width="25%">New York Times</td> <td><a href="http://www.docstrangelove.com/uploads/1971/foreign/19710403_nyt_a_resistance_fighter_tells_his_story.pdf" target="_blank">A resistance fighter tells his story</a></td> </tr> <tr class="alt-table-row"> <td width="10%">4/4/1971</td> <td width="25%">The Sunday Times</td> <td><a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article5014490.ece" target="_blank">Nicholas Tomalin witnesses a massacre</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="10%">4/4/1971</td> <td width="25%">New York Times</td> <td><a href="http://www.docstrangelove.com/uploads/1971/foreign/19710404_nyt_britons_tell_of_killings.pdf" target="_blank">Britons tell of killings</a></td> </tr> <tr class="alt-table-row"> <td width="10%">4/4/1971</td> <td width="25%">New York Times</td> <td><a href="http://www.docstrangelove.com/uploads/1971/foreign/19710404_nyt_editorial_all_part_of_a_game_a_grim_and_deadly_one.pdf" target="_blank">EDITORIAL: ‘All part of a game’ – a grim and deadly one</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="10%">4/4/1971</td> <td width="25%">Sunday Telegraph</td> <td><a href="http://www.docstrangelove.com/uploads/1971/foreign/19710404_st_starvation_threat_to_e_pakistan.pdf" target="_blank">Starvation threat to E. Pakistan</a></td> </tr> <tr class="alt-table-row"> <td width="10%">4/5/1971</td> <td width="25%">Newsweek</td> <td><a href="http://www.nybangla.com/Weekly%201971/April/1st%20Week/Newsweek4_5_71.jpg" rel="lightbox[12]" target="_blank">Pakistan plunges into civil war</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="10%">4/7/1971</td> <td width="25%">New York Times</td> <td><a href="http://www.docstrangelove.com/uploads/1971/foreign/19710407_nyt_editorial_bloodbath_in_bengal.pdf" target="_blank">EDITORIAL: Bloodbath in Bengal</a></td> </tr> <tr class="alt-table-row"> <td width="10%">4/9/1971</td> <td width="25%">New York Times</td> <td><a href="http://www.docstrangelove.com/uploads/1971/foreign/19710409_nyt_families_flee_town.pdf" target="_blank">Families flee town</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="10%">4/13/1971</td> <td width="25%">The Guardian</td> <td><a href="http://www.docstrangelove.com/uploads/1971/foreign/19710413_guardian_image_refugees_leaving_kushtia.pdf" target="_blank">PICTURE: Refugees flee Kushtia</a></td> </tr> <tr class="alt-table-row"> <td width="10%">4/14/1971</td> <td width="25%">The Guardian</td> <td><a href="http://www.docstrangelove.com/uploads/1971/foreign/19710414_guardian_editorial_rhetoric_and_reality.pdf" target="_blank">EDITORIAL: Rhetoric and reality</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="10%">4/14/1971</td> <td width="25%">New York Times</td> <td><a href="http://www.docstrangelove.com/uploads/1971/foreign/19710414_nyt_bengalis_form_a_cabinet_as_the_bloodshed_goes_on.pdf" target="_blank">Bengalis form a cabinet as the bloodshed goes on</a></td> </tr> <tr class="alt-table-row"> <td width="10%">4/16/1971</td> <td width="25%">CBS Evening News</td> <td><a href="http://www.nybangla.com/Weekly%201971/April/3rd%20Week/CBS_April3Week1.jpg" rel="lightbox[12]" target="_blank">East Pakistani Refugees Fleeing to India</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="10%">4/17/1971</td> <td width="25%">New York Times</td> <td><a href="http://www.docstrangelove.com/uploads/1971/foreign/19710417_nyt_hours_of_terror_for_a_trapped_bengali_officer.pdf" target="_blank">Hours of terror for a trapped Bengali officer</a></td> </tr> <tr class="alt-table-row"> <td width="10%">4/18/1971</td> <td width="25%">New York Times</td> <td><a href="http://www.docstrangelove.com/uploads/1971/foreign/19710418_nyt_in_this_case_war_is_hell_for_one_side_only.pdf" target="_blank">In this case, war is hell for one side only</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="10%">4/18/1971</td> <td width="25%">New York Times</td> <td><a href="http://www.nybangla.com/Weekly%201971/April/3rd%20Week/NYTApril_3Week1971a.jpg" rel="lightbox[12]" target="_blank">Keating report stirs Pakistanis</a> </td> </tr> <tr class="alt-table-row"> <td width="10%">4/19/1971</td> <td width="25%">Newsweek</td> <td><a href="http://www.genocidebangladesh.org/?p=215" target="_blank">Pakistan: Reign of Terror</a> </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="10%">4/25/1971</td> <td width="25%">New York Times</td> <td><a href="http://www.docstrangelove.com/uploads/1971/foreign/19710425_nyt_refugees_worry_indian_officials.pdf" target="_blank">Refugees worry Indian officials</a></td> </tr> <tr class="alt-table-row"> <td width="10%">4/26/1971</td> <td width="25%">Newsweek </td> <td><a href="http://www.genocidebangladesh.org/?p=214" target="_blank">Pakistan: Vultures and Wild Dogs</a></td></tr> </tbody></table> </div> </div>

Press Quotes: April 1971

* International hearald tribune, April 2, 1971 DHAKA SAID TO BE BOMBED: ALL-OUT PAKISTAN OFFENSIVE REPORTED New Delhi, April 1 (R...

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March 1971

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHhRa8BSdIlGujXzW_1Nn5eeM7XVkqLbsjdz5iKvSJQ0-keOpUw6E85oY3FTLrqHwk32jBDpgi0cORL8XIg8oFbMZ9tRklSLzoiAAnPZqVAell02P04bIxWq_0-oIHnYeLouO11ADbr_g/s1600/en.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="332" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHhRa8BSdIlGujXzW_1Nn5eeM7XVkqLbsjdz5iKvSJQ0-keOpUw6E85oY3FTLrqHwk32jBDpgi0cORL8XIg8oFbMZ9tRklSLzoiAAnPZqVAell02P04bIxWq_0-oIHnYeLouO11ADbr_g/s640/en.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr> </tbody></table> <b style="text-align: left;">March 01:</b></div> </div> <div> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>People tuned their radios and turned their TVs on because President Agha Yahiya Khan was supposed to address the nation. However, someone else read out a statement that President Yahya Khan has <a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0301_71_yahya_press_statement.htm">announced</a> the postponement until “a later date” of the National Assembly. He termed it Pakistan’s “<a href="http://genocidebangladesh.org/?p=100">gravest political crisis</a>.” Hundreds of thousands of enraged people took the streets.</li> </ul> </div> <div> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li><a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0301_71_mujib_calls.htm">Mujib reacts and calls for emancipation of Bengalees</a>.</li> </ul> </div> <div> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>Mujib held a press conference and said that this was not democracy but dictatorship and as a sign of revolt the people would observe general strike on 2nd March in Dhaka and the whole country on the 3rd. He also said further announcements would be held on March 7th.</li> </ul> </div> <div> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>Mr. Shirajul Alam Khan (the man with the idea), ASM Rab and Shajahan Shiraj of Chhatra (Student) League believed that only an armed revolution to create an independent socialist Bangladesh was the way. They demanded the indepndence of Bangladesh right away.</li> </ul> </div> <div> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>For the first time in Bengali history, slogans demanding independence for Bangladesh were heard: “Bir Bangali ostro dhoro Bangladesh shwadhin koro (Courageous Bengalis, take up arms and free Bangladesh)”.</li> </ul> </div> <div> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>Governor East Pakistan Admiral S. M. Ahsan, who refuses to open fire on the Bengalis if they go on strike, is replaced by General Sahibzada Yaqoob Khan.</li> </ul> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <blockquote class="tr_bq"> “In response to a request from the Government of Pakistan, a decision was reached in Washington on March 1 to divert to West Pakistan 150,000 tons of wheat intended for disaster relief in East Pakistan. The request was triggered by grain shortages and rising prices in West Pakistan.” -<a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0326_specialactionsgroup.htm">WSAG minutes</a></blockquote> </div> </div> <div> <b>March 2:</b><br /> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>Curfew was clamped in Dhaka from 8 am to 7 pm. However, the indomitable Bangalees took to the streets. Many were gunned down by the Pakistani troops.</li> </ul> </div> <div> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li><a href="http://genocidebangladesh.org/?p=101">Bengalees reacts</a>. Mujib <a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0302_mujib_condemns_firing.htm">denounced firing on unarmed men and declares province-wide Hartal</a> on each day from 3rd March 1971 to the 6th March, 1971 from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. in all spheres.Defiant students (Central Students Action Committee) at Dhaka University led by A. S. M Abdur Rab (VP of the student government), Shajahan Siraj (GS of student govt), Nur-e-Alam Siddiqui, and Abdul Kuddus Makhan held a massive rally. Here for the first time the Independent Bangla Flag (currently Bangladesh flag is the same just without the golden map of Bangladesh inside the red circle) was raised by Rab at the historic Battala at the University of Dhaka.</li> </ul> </div> <div> <b>March 3:</b><br /> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>Rab and Siraj read out the declaration of Independence of Bangladesh at a public rally in the presence of Sheikh Mujib fearing that since Mujib was in negotiations with Yahiya the revolutionary spirit was on the wane. But Mujib called for <a href="http://genocidebangladesh.org/?p=102">a non-violent non-cooperation movement</a> instead of revolution. This day which was to have been the day for the sitting of the National Assembly was observed as a day of national mourning. Mujib demands in a meeting "<a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0303skspeechpbmeeting.htm">Withdraw forces, transfer power</a>".</li> </ul> </div> <div> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>Curfew imposed in Sylhet, Rangpur, Chittagong, and Khulna. Angry mob burned the Pakistani flag angered by the decision to postpone the Assembly session.</li> </ul> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>Yahya Khan continues to posture for negotiations while non-bengali regiments of soldiers are surreptitiously flown into Dhaka from West Pakistan. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman <a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0303m_reject_invite.htm">rejected the invitation of President Yahya Khan</a> to attend the proposed meeting of the leaders of all the parliamentary groups in the national assembly on March 10.</li> </ul> </div> <div> <b>March 4:</b><br /> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li><a href="http://genocidebangladesh.org/?p=96">Non cooperation movement continued</a>. <a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0304_71_mujib_congratulates.htm">Mujib congratulates people for stirring response to his call</a>. He had asked the Govern­ment and non-Government offices where employees have not yet been paid their salaries, to function between 2-30 p.m. to 4-30 p.m. for the purposes of disbursing salaries during the next two days of Hartal.</li> </ul> </div> <div> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li><a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0304_71_haroldsaunders.htm">US Embassy’s communication confirms</a>:</li> </ul> <blockquote class="tr_bq"> <div style="text-align: justify;"> “Mujib has admitted to several foreign correspondents “off the record” that he will announce the equivalent to independence for East Pakistan on Sunday (March 7). He did, however, go on to say that the East and West wings should write their respective constitutions and thereafter discussions over the form of linkage could take place. </div> </blockquote> <blockquote class="tr_bq"> <div style="text-align: justify;"> At least one Pakistani air force C-130 has been seen flying into Dacca and there are recurrent reports of forces being flown into Dacca via the Pakistani commercial airline and of the movement of troops from the West via ship….It is known that there is pressure from some elements in the military to make a quick repressive strike against the East Pakistani leaders in hopes of cowing them and the rest of the province.”</div> </blockquote> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>General Khan resigns protesting Yahya’s refusal to visit East Pakistan; General Tikka Khan takes over as Governor East Pakistan.</li> </ul> </div> <div> <b>March 5:</b><br /> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>Public demonstrations against a West Pakistani scheme to prevent the Bengalees from forming a Government are brutally suppressed. <a href="http://genocidebangladesh.org/?p=97">300 killed in army actions on protesters</a>. <a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0305_71_army_withdrawn.htm">Army Withdrawn to Barracks- East Wing protest continues- Firing in Tongi, Rajshahi.</a></li> </ul> </div> <div> <b>March 6:</b><br /> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>President Yahiya Khan announced that the Assembly session would be held on the 23rd of March and appointed General Tikka Khan as the Governor of East Pakistan. <a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0306_71_text_yahya_broadcast.htm">Text of the address to the nation by the President Yahya Khan, broadcast over Radio Pakistan network.</a> Minutes of senior review group meeting in US Department of state including <a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0306_71_minutesreview.htm">Henry Kissinger</a>:</li> </ul> <blockquote class="tr_bq"> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Another reason for our not taking the lead is that West Pakistan is very suspicious that we are supporting a separate East Pakistan state. If we tell Yahya to call off the use of force, it will merely fuel this suspicion.</div> </blockquote> </div> <div> <b>March 7:</b><br /> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li><a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0307_71_minority_group.htm">Mujib said after two day long AL working committee meeting</a>:</li> </ul> <blockquote class="tr_bq"> <div style="text-align: justify;"> “It is only too clear to the people of the country and indeed the world that it is a minority group of Western Wing which has obstructed and is continuing to obstruct the transfer of power”.</div> </blockquote> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>Sheikh Mujibur Rahman announced his decision to participate in the National Assembly session provided his four-point demand was accepted before the session. This negligence, <a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0307_skdecision.htm">he said</a>, towards the leaders of the majority party was in fact a dishonour shown to the seven crore people of Bangla Desh.</li> </ul> </div> <div> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li><a href="http://genocidebangladesh.org/?p=99">Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s speech at the Racecourse Ground in front of about a million people</a>.</li> </ul> <blockquote class="tr_bq"> <div style="text-align: justify;"> “Mujib announced 4 preconditions for participating in the Assembly session.  </div> </blockquote> <blockquote class="tr_bq"> <div style="text-align: justify;"> 1. Withdrawal of the martial law<br /> 2. Return of the troops back to their barracks.<br /> 3. Power handed back to the elected people’s representatives.<br /> 4. Proper investigation into the killings of unarmed civilians.  </div> </blockquote> <blockquote class="tr_bq"> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Finally, raising his fist Bangabandhu cried out at the top of his voice : “OUR STRUGGLE THIS TIME IS A STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM, OUR STRUGGLE THIS TIME IS A STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE. JOY BANGLA.”</div> </blockquote> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>He asked that every house become a fort and attack the enemy wherever they can.</li> </ul> </div> <div> <b>March 8:</b><br /> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>“People’s rule” by Bangabandhu, became the order of the day. The Bangalis were supremely disciplined and dedicated in this matter. Every man, woman and child scrupulously following the dictates of the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.</li> </ul> </div> <div> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>Mujib asked for black flags to be raised on roof-tops for a week. He again asked for total shutdown and that no money be transmitted from the East to the West for an indefinite period.</li> </ul> </div> <div> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>In the evening Tajuddin Ahmad issued several clarifications and exemptions to mitigate public hardship and to prevent damage to the East Bangla economy.</li> </ul> </div> <div> <b>March 9:</b><br /> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>Maulana Bhasani held a mammoth rally at Paltan Maydan extending his support to Mujib. 2 Bhasani asked Yahiya Khan to acknowledge the independence of Bangladesh.</li> </ul> </div> <div> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>Tikka Khan had arrived in Dhaka a few days after the non-cooperation movement had started, to take up the dual role of Governor and Martial Law Administrator for the Eastern part. But he had not yet sworn it. Finally he decided to be formally sworn in as Governor and summoned the chief justice of East Bangla for the purpose of administering the oath. Justice Siddique very politely declined. So did the other judges of the Dhaka High Court. This proved that Bangabandhu’s directives were being obeyed even at that top level.</li> </ul> </div> <div> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>Leftist forces of Bangla in exile formed the Bangladesh Jatiyo Mukti Songram Somonnoy Committee (Bangladesh National Freedom Struggle Organizing Committee) with Bhasani as the leader at Beleghata, Kolkata (Calcutta), West Bengal, India.</li> </ul> </div> <div> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>The Bangladesh government in exile also formed the All Party Advisory Committee under Bhasani’s leadership. The others were Moni Singh (Founder of the Communist Party of Bangladesh) and Muzaffar Ahmed (NAP), Monoranjan Dhar, Tajuddin Ahmed and Khondokar Mushtaq Ahmed.</li> </ul> </div> <div> <b>March 10:</b><br /> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>Sheikh Mujibur Rahman sent a telegram to the UN Secretary General informing him that the human rights of the Bangalees (Bengalis) were being trampled. He asked for UN Secretary General’s help in stopping the flow of arms and ammunition from the west that were being used to kill the Bangalee civilians. Japanese, German and UN workers were withdrawn to their respective countries.</li> </ul> </div> <div> <b>March 11:</b><br /> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li><a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0311_71_keep_economy_full.htm">Keep economy in full gear in the name of Bangladesh: Tajuddin</a></li> </ul> </div> <div> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li><a href="http://www.icdc.com/~paulwolf/pakistan/blood11mar1971.htm">Chances of a political situation</a> – from a telegram of US consulate:</li> </ul> <blockquote class="tr_bq"> <div style="text-align: justify;"> It is difficult to be completely objective in Dhaka in March when, out of discretion rather than valor, our cars and residences sport balck flags and we echo smiling greetings of ‘Joy Bangla’ as we move about the streets. Daily we lend our ears to the outpouring of the Bengali dream, a touching admixture of bravado, wishful thinking, idealism, animal cunning, anger and patriotic fervor. We hear on Radio Dacca and see on Dacca TV the impressive blossoming of Bengali nationalism and we watch the pitiful attempts of students and workers to play at soldiering.</div> </blockquote> </div> <div> <b>March 12:</b><br /> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>Air Marshall Asgar Khan at Lahore said that if Bangladesh gains independence then, West Pakistan wont survive 5 years.</li> </ul> </div> <div> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li><a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0312_71_political_solution.htm">Memorandum from U.S. Embassy in Islamabad to Secretary of State on possible outcomes of the crisis.</a></li> </ul> </div> <div> <b>March 10-13:</b><br /> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>Pakistan International Airlines canceling most of it’s international services, concentrated all available aircraft of ferrying “Government Passengers” to Dhaka. But those were the troops in civilian dress.</li> </ul> </div> <div> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>Yahia gives <a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0313_memo_kissinger_nixon.htm">explicit warning</a> that force would be used against any move for separation.</li> </ul> </div> <div> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>Asked by a foreign journalist if he planned to go for a unilateral declaration of independence (UDI), Mujib sounded ambiguous: “Independence? No, not yet.” At around the same time, when another foreign newsman questioned Mujib’s challenging of the authority of the Pakistan government in the province, the Awami League chief snapped: “What do mean by government? I am the government.”</li> </ul> </div> <div> <b>March 14:</b><br /> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>People did not go to work in defiance of <a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0313_71_civilian_staff.htm">martial orders</a>.</li> </ul> </div> <div> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>Mian Mumtaz Muhammad Khan Daultana, Chief of the Council Muslim League said that Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s demands were quite reasonable and should be accepted to end the present political crisis in Pakistan. (<a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0313_71_mujib_demands.htm">The Dawn, Karachi March 14, 1971</a>)</li> </ul> </div> <div> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>Syed Siddiqul Hasan Gilani, Chief of the Parliamentary Affairs of the Jamaati­Islami, said that the responsibility for the present crisis lay with Mr. Z. A. Bhutto, the People’s Party Chief, who had aggravated the situation by threatening to boycott the National Assembly session on March 3. (<a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0313_71_jamaat_leader_blames.htm">The Dawn, Karachi March 14, 1971</a>)</li> </ul> </div> <div> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li><a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0314_71_report_meeting.htm">Maulana Mufti Mahmud, leader of the Jamiatul Ulema-i-Islam Parliamentary Party</a> said:</li> </ul> <blockquote class="tr_bq"> <div style="text-align: justify;"> “In spite of the disastrous gravity of the situation in East Pakistan, of the tremendous heat and pressure generated there and the scope thus given to disrup­tive forces, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman has shown his stature and his firm commit­ment to the solidarity of Pakistan, by putting in the present crisis four demands that are not in the least parochial or regional, but exclusively based on a national approach.”</div> </blockquote> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>Mr. Zulfikar All Bhutto, Chairman of the Pakistan People’s Party <a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0315_71_speech_bhutto.htm">addressing a public meeting in Nishtar Park</a> said there were two Wings of the country. The People’s Party was in majority in this Wing and the Awami League in East Pakistan. If power was to be transferred to the majority parties of the two Wings, it should be given to the Awami League in East Pakistan and to People’s Party in West Wing.</li> </ul> </div> <div> <b>March 15:</b><br /> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>Mujib claims he has taken over administration of East Pakistan except for the cities of Dhaka, comilla and Jessore – <a href="http://www.icdc.com/~paulwolf/pakistan/mujib15mar1971.htm">Central Intelligence Bulletin</a></li> </ul> </div> <div> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>Announcement of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman – issued 35 directives (laws) to carry on with civilian rule.(<a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0315_71_non_cooperation_movement.htm">THE DAWN, Karachi-March 16, 1971</a>):</li> </ul> </div> <div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <blockquote class="tr_bq"> - Non-co-operation movement to go on.<br /> - Peoples determination commended.<br /> - Fresh action programme as struggle enters 3rd week.</blockquote> </div> </div> <div> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>President Yahiya Khan <a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0315_sisco.htm">arrived</a> along with several other generals at Dhaka at 2:20 pm to meet Mujib for “negotiations”.</li> </ul> </div> <div> <b>March 16:</b><br /> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>Mujib arrived at the President House hoisting a black flag to protest the horrendous massacre for the so called negotiations.</li> </ul> </div> <div> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>“<a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0316_71_rule_majority.htm">Pakistan’s Peoples Party cannot be ignored in country’s governence</a>” says Bhutto in a press conference.</li> </ul> </div> <div> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>Minority parties leaders in West Pakistan <a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0316_71_minority_parties.htm">criticise Bhutto’s speech</a>.</li> </ul> </div> <div> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>Air Marshal Asghar Khan says "<a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0316_71_statement_asghar_khan.htm">Bhutto’s stand is self contradictory</a>":</li> </ul> <blockquote class="tr_bq"> <div style="text-align: justify;"> On the one hand, Mr. Bhutto has opposed the “grouping” of provinces in West Wing and on the other is suggesting transfer of power to the “majority party in West Pakistan”. “Politically there is no West Pakistan. There are four provinces in this Wing of the country. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman is at present “holding the Country together.” Because, if East Pakistan goes, West Pakistan will also disintegrate.</div> </blockquote> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>West Pakistan political leaders slate Bhutto-Press report on March 16, 1971 (<a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0316_71_wali_urges.htm">THE DAWN, Karachi-March 16, 1971</a>)</li> </ul> </div> <div> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>Professor Ghulam Azam, Amir of the Jama’at-i-Islami said that it had been crystal clear from the statement of Mr. Bhutto that he did not want to see Pakistan United. The Jama’at leader alleged that Mr. Bhutto had engaged himself in "a conspiracy" immediately after the last general elections to divide the nation to fulfil his desire. He made an appeal to the President “not to help Mr. Bhutto in any way to break Pakistan”.</li> </ul> </div> <div> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>Prof. Azam said that immediate lifting of Martial Law and transfer of power to the elected representatives of the people could only save the nation from crisis.</li> </ul> </div> <div> <b>March 18:</b><br /> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>Second day of “negotiations”. Mujib <a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0319_71_mujib_declines.htm">declines to accept probe body</a> set up by the Martial Law Administrator Zone B “to go into the circumstances which led to the calling of the Army in aid of civil power in various parts of East Pakistan between March 2 and March 9″.</li> </ul> </div> <div> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>Meanwhile, Sheikh Mujib has sent Capt. Mansur Ali, leader of Parliamentary party in the East Pakistan Assembly. Khandaker Mushtaque Ahmed, Vice-President, East Pakistan Awami League and Mr. Abidur Reza Khan, MNA-elect to Chittagong to make an on the spot enquiry into the recent firings and other incidents there.</li> </ul> </div> <div> <b>March 19:</b><br /> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>Clash near Dacca – <a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0320_71_clash_near_dacca.htm">Curfew clamped in Joydevpur</a>.</li> </ul> </div> <div> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>After <a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0320_71_dacca_talks.htm">90 minutes of heated discussion</a> with Yahiya, Mujib heard that the military had fired upon people at Tongi, Joydebpur and other places. Hearing this he found no reason to continue talks.</li> </ul> </div> <div> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>Mujib condemned the killings <a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0320_71_mujib_condemns_firing.htm">and said</a>:</li> </ul> <blockquote class="tr_bq"> <div style="text-align: justify;"> No sacrifice would be considered enough to emancipate the people of “Bangla Desh”. Bangla Desh can not be suppressed by force. If necessary we shall give the last drop of our blood to see that our posterity lived happily as a free citizen in a free country.</div> </blockquote> </div> <div> <b>March 20:</b><br /> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>Mujib and Yahiya talked for 2 hours, this time with their advisers.</li> </ul> </div> <div> <b>March 21:</b><br /> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>Mujib and Yahiya talked again as thousands agitated in the streets of Bangladesh. Pakistan People’s Party chief Z. A. Bhutto came to Dhaka for “talks” with Mujib. With Bangabandhu finally consenting to Bhutto’s joining the talks, Yahya Khan had him come over to Dhaka. Angry crowds of Bengalis dogged Bhutto and his team all the way to the Sheraton.</li> </ul> </div> <div> <b>March 22:</b><br /> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>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. After talks, Yahiya again postponed the session of the National Assembly.</li> </ul> </div> <div> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li><a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0322_71_daultana_wali_mufti_resent_postponement.htm">Daultana, Wali, Mufti resent postponement of the National Assembly</a>.</li> </ul> </div> <div> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>“<a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0322_71_political_crisis_will_be_resolved.htm">Political crisis will be resolved</a>” – says President Yahya Khan in a message.</li> </ul> </div> <div> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>In the message given on the occasion of bringing out of special supplements captioned, “Emancipation of Bangla Desh” by most dailies, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman described the present movement as the struggle for total emanci­pation of seven crore Bengalees. This struggle will continue until the final goal is achieved, he said and added, the people of Bangla Desh could no more be silenced by bullets, guns and bayonets because they are united today (<a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0323_71_victory_is_ours.htm">THE DAWN, Karachi-March 23, 1971</a>).</li> </ul> </div> <div> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>Bhutto said in a <a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0322_71_agreement_subject.htm">press conference</a> he had a “satisfactory meeting” with Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and hoped to meet him again. Bhutto said they were examining the broad agreement reached between the President and Awami League Chief Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and assured that his party would make every effort to reach an understanding to end the present crisis.</li> </ul> </div> <div> <b>March 23:</b><br /> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>Mujib declared 23rd March as a holiday. At his residence in Dhanmondi, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman raised the Bangladesh flag, to the cheers of the crowd gathered on the road outside his gate. It was the Bangladesh flag that was displayed on his car as it wound its way through the streets and into the President’s House for a fresh round of negotiations with President Yahya Khan. The Awami League submitted a draft of what was considered its final proposals regarding a transfer of power to the Yahya Khan team on the day. General Peerzada promised to get back to the AL the next day.</li> </ul> </div> <div> <b>March 24:</b><br /> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>The advisers of Yahiya and Mujib met. Mujib <a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0324_71_mujib_warns.htm">warns against bid to impose decision</a>:</li> </ul> <blockquote class="tr_bq"> <div style="text-align: justify;"> “Whatever conspiracy you indulge in you will not succeed in suppressing the demands of the people. We would not bow our heads to any force. We will free the people of Bangla Desh”.</div> </blockquote> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>Mr. Tajuddin Ahmed, General Secretary of East Pakistan Awami League, <a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0324_71_tajuddin_call.htm">urged the people to be vigilant</a> and to be ready to make any sacrifice to defeat the conspiracies of anti-people forces.</li> </ul> </div> <div> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>Rumors abounded that Yahiya would hand over power on the 25th. Bhutto and his heavy body guard stayed at the Intercontinental Hotel (Sheraton Hotel).</li> </ul> </div> <div> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>Major Ziaur Rahman and M. R. Choudhury asked Major Rafiq to abandon his (Rafiq’s) plans of pre-emptive attack on the Pakistanis to disarm them before they got a chance to attack. Zia and Choudhury said that the Pakistanis would not do anything and Rafiq’s ill-conceived plans would result in all of their deaths.</li> </ul> </div> <div style="text-align: left;"> <b>March 25:</b></div> <div> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>Daytime - newspaper headlines read that 150 people were killed in various parts of the country by the armed forces. Mujib <a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0325_regretsdelay.htm">regrets delays</a> and fears that the talks were decoys. Mujib <a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0325_71_mujib_regrets_delay.htm">condemns attempts to divide Bengalees and Mohajir</a>.</li> </ul> </div> <div> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>Sheikh Mujib <a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0325mujibcallsstrike.htm">gave a call for a general strike throughout ‘Bangla Desh’</a> on March 27th as a mark of protest against heavy firing upon the civilian population in Saidpur, Rangpur and Joydevpur.</li> </ul> </div> <div> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>Mujib <a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0325_71_mujib_orders_resumption.htm">orders resumption of jute trade telecom links</a> to function via Manilla.</li> </ul> </div> <div> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>“Only way out is to accept Awami League demands”, <a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0325_71_only_way_out.htm">statement by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman</a>.</li> </ul> </div> <div> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>The staff and employees of the Hotel Intercontinental ceremoniously hoisted a regular sized ‘Joy Bangla flag’ replacing the smaller one at the main mast. The new flag measuring 100 x 60 inches was unfurled in the presence of a large number of people including foreign journalists.</li> </ul> </div> <div> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>Rumors flew around of imminent military action against the Awami League, indeed against the population.</li> </ul> </div> <div> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>Mr. Z. A. Bhutto’s <a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0325_71_p-p-p_a-l_direct_talks.htm">Press conference in Dacca on March 25, 1971</a>: Mr. Bhutto said that the quantum of autonomy sought by the Awami League was some thing which could be termed as "more than autonomy". It was bordering on sovereignty.</li> </ul> </div> <div> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>Yahiya and his generals secretly fled Dhaka by 6 pm. Three battalions took up position in Dhaka as per previous plans.</li> </ul> </div> <div> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>Around 11 PM the army pounced on sleeping citizens of Dhaka to execute <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Searchlight">operation searchlight</a>. The goal was to “crush” Bengali resistance in which Bengali members of military services were disarmed and killed, students and the intelligentsia systematically liquidated and able-bodied Bengali males just picked up and gunned down. By midnight, Dhaka was literally burning, especially the Hindu dominated eastern part of the city. Although the violence focused on the provincial capital, Dhaka, the process of ethnic elimination was also carried out all around Bangladesh. Hindu areas all over Bangladesh suffered particularly heavy blows.</li> </ul> </div> <div> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>Death squads roamed the streets of Dacca, killing some 7,000 people in a single night. It was only the beginning. Within a week, half the population of Dacca had fled, and at least 30,000 people had been killed. Chittagong, too, had lost half its population.</li> </ul> </div> <div> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>Thus began the worst genocide of history… a genocide that many would like to forget and many would like that the new generation not hear about. The international media and reference books in English have published casualty figures which vary greatly, from 5,000–35,000 in Dhaka, and 200,000–3,000,000 for Bangladesh as a whole.</li> </ul> </div> <div> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>The main phase of Operation Searchlight ended with the fall of the last major town in Bengali hands in mid May.</li> </ul> </div> <div> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>These systematic killings served only to enrage the Bengalis, which ultimately resulted in the secession of East Pakistan later in the same year.</li> </ul> </div> <div> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was arrested by the Pakistani Army late at night. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto watched from the window of his suite at the Sheraton and saw the offices of The People newspaper blazing.</li> </ul> </div> <div> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>More on <a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/mar_71_operation_searchlight.htm">operation searchlight</a> -from the “Witness to Surrender” by Siddiq Salik.</li> </ul> </div> <div> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li><a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0325_71_hamoodur_comision.htm">Hamoodur Rahman Commission’s report</a> on the state of preparedness of the armed forces.</li> </ul> </div> <div> <b>March 26:</b><br /> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>The violence unleashed by the Pakistani forces on March 25, 1971, proved the last straw to the efforts to negotiate a settlement. Following these outrages, a declaration from Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was distributed widely:</li> </ul> <blockquote class="tr_bq"> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Today Bangladesh is a sovereign and independent country. On Thursday night, West Pakistani armed forces suddenly attacked the police barracks at Razarbagh and the EPR headquarters at Pilkhana in Dhaka. Many innocent and unarmed have been killed in Dhaka city and other places of Bangladesh. Violent clashes between E.P.R. and Police on the one hand and the armed forces of Pakistan on the other, are going on. The Bengalis are fighting the enemy with great courage for an independent Bangladesh. May Allah aid us in our fight for freedom. Joy Bangla. (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberation_War_of_Bangladesh#cite_note-35">source</a>)</div> </blockquote> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>A telegram containing the text of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s declaration reached some students in Chittagong in 26th of March early hours.</li> </ul> </div> <div> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>Soon after the Pakistan army took over Dacca Betar Kendro in the early hours of March 26, 1971. The Pakistanis renamed the radio station as “Radio Pakistan Dacca” and used it to announce martial law orders. On the evening of that same day a small radio station started broadcasting defiantly in the face of the Pakistan military’s bloody onslaught on the Bengalis. The clandestine radio station, located in Kalurghat north of the city of Chittagong called itself Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendro -SBBK (Free Bengal Radio Station).</li> </ul> </div> <div> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>The first persons to broadcast that “Sheikh Mujibur Rahman has declared the 75 million people of East Pakistan as citizens of the sovereign independent Bangla Desh.” in the evening on March 26, 1971 from Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendro in English were Ashikul Islam, a WAPDA engineer, and in Bengali, Abul Kashem Sandwipi. Later in the evening M. A. Hannan also broadcast the declaration from the telegram in a speech. (<a href="http://www.docstrangelove.com/uploads/1971/bo/19720423_bo_swadhin_bangla_betar_kendra.pdf">Bangladesh Observer</a>, April 23, 1972)</li> </ul> </div> <div> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>March 26, 1971 is considered the official Independence Day of Bangladesh.</li> </ul> </div> <div> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>As evening descended on March 26, Bhutto arrived back in Karachi, to tell waiting newsmen: “Thank God, Pakistan has been saved.” In the evening, <a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0326_71_yahya_broadcast.htm">General Yahya Khan addressed Pakistanis</a> to announce an outlawing of the Awami League and a determination to punish Sheikh Mujibur Rahman for his “act of treason” in challenging the authority of the government of Pakistan.</li> </ul> </div> <div> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li><a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0326_memo_kissinger_nixon.htm">Memorandum</a> from Kissinger to Nixon:</li> </ul> <blockquote class="tr_bq"> <div style="text-align: justify;"> “The West Pakistani army has moved to repress the East Pakistan secession movement. Our embassy believes that the military probably has sufficient strength to assert immediate control over Dacca and other major cities, but is not capable of maintaining control over an extended period.”</div> </blockquote> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>Minutes of the <a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0326_specialactionsgroup.htm">Washington special actions group meeting</a>:</li> </ul> <blockquote class="tr_bq"> <div style="text-align: justify;"> “After reviewing the situation in East Pakistan, the WSAG agreed that the U.S. should continue its policy of non-involvement in the dispute between West and East Pakistan. In particular, the U.S. should avoid being placed in a position where it could be accused of having encouraged the break-up of Pakistan. The WSAG agreed that the U.S. should delay action on any request that might be forthcoming for recognition of an independent East Pakistani regime.”</div> </blockquote> </div> <div> <b>March 27:</b><br /> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>The Kalurghat Bridge area was controlled by an East Bengal Regiment under Major Ziaur Rahman who revolted against the Pakistani army. Bengali soldiers were requested to gueard the station. On request of Belal Mohammed of the SBBK, at 19:45 hrs on 27 March 1971, Major Ziaur Rahman broadcasted the announcement of the declaration of independence which is as follows.</li> </ul> <blockquote class="tr_bq"> <div style="text-align: justify;"> This is Shadhin Bangla Betar Kendro. I, Major Ziaur Rahman, at the direction of Bangobondhu sheikh Mujibur Rahman, hereby declare that the independent People’s Republic of Bangladesh has been established. At his direction, I have taken command as the temporary Head of the Republic. In the name of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, I call upon all Bengalis to rise against the attack by the West Pakistani Army. We shall fight to the last to free our Motherland. By the grace of Allah, victory is ours. Joy Bangla.</div> </blockquote> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>Major Ziaur Rahman’s declaration of independence on behalf of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was a moral boosting impact to the nation considering the fact that an army major is on the side of Sheikh Mujib. He was <a href="http://www.docstrangelove.com/2008/01/09/swadhin-bangla-betar-kendro-and-bangladeshs-declaration-of-independence/#foreign_news">quoted</a> in international media as the provisional Commander-in-Chief of the Liberation Army.</li> </ul> </div> <div style="text-align: left;"> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>Source:</li> </ul> <ul style="text-align: left;"><ul> <li><a href="http://www.library.shuchinta.com/germanRadio.mp3">Audio of Zia’s announcement</a> (An interview with Belal Mohammed)</li> </ul> </ul> <ul style="text-align: justify;"><ul> <li><a href="http://www.docstrangelove.com/2008/01/09/swadhin-bangla-betar-kendro-and-bangladeshs-declaration-of-independence/">Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendro And Bangladesh’s Declaration Of Independence</a> – Mashuqur Rahman & MMR Jalal (also published in Prothom Alo and the Daily Star)</li> </ul> <ul> <li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaheed_Minar">Shaheed Minar </a>(Monument to commemorate the martyrs of the Language Movement) was blown up by the army with demolition charges.</li> </ul> </ul> </div> <div style="text-align: left;"> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_telegram">Archer Blood</a>, the American Consular General sent <a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0328_selectivegenocide.pdf">a telegram</a> to different American consulate offices and embassies around the world expressing extreme horror at the systematic killing.</li> </ul> <blockquote class="tr_bq"> <div style="text-align: justify;"> 1. Here in Decca we are mute and horrified witnesses to a reign of terror by the Pak[istani] Military. Evidence continues to mount that the MLA authorities have list of AWAMI League supporters whom they are systematically eliminating by seeking them out in their homes and shooting them down.<br /> <br /> 2. Moreover, with the support of the Pak[istani] Military. non-Bengali Muslims are systematically attacking poor people’s quarters and murdering Bengalis and Hindus.</div> </blockquote> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li><a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0327_telegram.htm">A telegram from the Embassy in India</a> to the Department of State on the subject of Government of India’s reaction to East Pakistan Developments.</li> </ul> </div> <div style="text-align: left;"> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>During the debate in Lok Sabha Indira Gandhi, the Prime Minister of India made an intervention and <a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0327pminterventionloksobha.htm">talked</a><a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0327pminterventionloksobha.htm"> about the political situation in East Pakistan</a>. She also discussed about it in <a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0327pminterventionrajsabha.htm">Rajya Sabha</a>:</li> </ul> <blockquote class="tr_bq"> <div style="text-align: justify;"> “We are interested in this matter for many reasons, firstly as one Member has said, that Shri Mujibur Rahman has stood for the values which we ourselves cherish the values of democracy, the values of secularism and the values of socialism. We are also concerned with the truly wonderful and unique way in which the people there had stood behind him and behind these values. We are no less full of sorrow and grave concern and even agony at what is happening there but I can only appeal to the Hon. Members that this is not a moment when the Government can say anything more and whatever the Government may or may not be able to do it would not be wise if this becomes a matter for public debate.”</div> </blockquote> </div> <div style="text-align: left;"> <b>March 28:</b><br /> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li><a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0328_71_samuelhoskinson.htm">Memorandum</a> From Samuel Hoskinson of the National Security Council Staff to the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger).</li> </ul> </div> <div style="text-align: left;"> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>Sidney H. Schanberg was one of 35 foreign newsmen expelled Saturday morning from East Pakistan. He cabled his dispatch from Bombay, India titled “<a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0328_71_artillery.htm">IN DACCA, TROOPS USE ARTILLERY TO HALT REVOLT</a>”</li> </ul> </div> <div style="text-align: left;"> <b>March 29:</b><br /> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>New York Times said 5,000-7,000 people were killed in Dhaka. The Sydney Morning Herald said, 10,000 – 100,000 were killed.</li> </ul> </div> <div style="text-align: left;"> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>Rain exposed two mass graves, one at Zahrul Huq Hall and the other at Rokeya Hall.</li> </ul> </div> <div style="text-align: left;"> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li><a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0329_indian_reaction.htm">US department of State secret memo predicts</a> Indian future response to situation:</li> </ul> </div> <div style="text-align: left;"> <ul style="text-align: justify;"><ul> <li>a. Tolerate privately provided cross-border assistance to the East Bengalis ; This assistance could range from propaganda support to weapons and explosives.</li> </ul> </ul> </div> <div style="text-align: left;"> <ul style="text-align: justify;"><ul> <li>b. Permit East Bengal dissidents to use India as a refuge and to conduct cross­border activities from within India.</li> </ul> </ul> </div> <div style="text-align: left;"> <ul style="text-align: justify;"><ul> <li>c. Covertly provide supplies, including weapons, and perhaps some training, to East Bengal dissidents.</li> </ul> </ul> </div> <div style="text-align: left;"> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li><a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0329_71_telconv1.htm">Telephone conversation between President Nixon and Kissinger</a>.</li> </ul> </div> <div style="text-align: left;"> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>Archer Blood sends <a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0329_crackdown.pdf">another telegram</a>:</li> </ul> <blockquote class="tr_bq"> <div style="text-align: justify;"> American priests in old Dacca reports that army acted with no provocations on part of Bengalis except barricade erection. Army exclusively responsible for all fires. Technique was to set houses afire and then gun down people as they left their homes. Stated army looking for Awami Leaguers but more indiscriminate rather than selective in approach. Most army destructions on 25th and 26th night, lesser on March 27th and March 28th.  </div> </blockquote> <blockquote class="tr_bq"> <div style="text-align: justify;"> We have received reliable reports of troops engaged in looting homes. Military reportedly is standing by while non-Bengalis looting Bengali dwellings. </div> </blockquote> <blockquote class="tr_bq"> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Police were simply executed in Mohammadpur and elsewhere as Army considered them as potential threat. 800 Police killed in surprise attacks. The East Pakistan Rifles camp in Peelkhana had 1000 EPRs present. 700 Killed, 200 overpowered and 100 escaped.</div> </blockquote> <blockquote class="tr_bq"> <div style="text-align: justify;"> House to house searches underway with ex Bengali servicemen being special target and shot at site whenever found. “No police seen anywhere in Dhaka”.</div> </blockquote> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>“<a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0329_71_chronicle.htm">26 hour chronicle of Dacca drama</a>” -A diary through the eyes of Robert Kaylor of UPI of what happened in Dacca when the Pakistani Army took control.</li> </ul> </div> <div style="text-align: left;"> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li><b>March 30:</b></li> </ul> </div> <div style="text-align: left;"> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>Telegram from <a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0330_71_telegram_amconsul.pdf">Archer Blood</a>:</li> </ul> <blockquote class="tr_bq"> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The university professors believed they were subject to a pre-planned purge and the burning of university documents suggested that the army wanted to eliminate all traces of the current “trouble making” elements at the university. </div> </blockquote> <blockquote class="tr_bq"> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Six naked female bodies were found with bits of rope dangling from the ceiling fans at Rokeya Hall. Apparently the girls were raped, shot and hung from the heels. </div> </blockquote> <blockquote class="tr_bq"> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The army burned Hindu and Bengali (Bangalee) areas in the Old Dhaka and shot ocupants as they came out. Hindus undeniably were specual focus of military brutality. Large fires burned on 30 and 31 March mostly in Hindu predominant areas. There were steady gunfire (1 shot every 10 seconds) in those areas. Large number of prisoners were taken into the EPR (East Pakistan Rifles) base.</div> </blockquote> </div> <div style="text-align: left;"> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>First signs of ressistance: A British report said that army unit faced ressistance was in a desparate situation near Pabna.</li> </ul> </div> <div style="text-align: left;"> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li><a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0330_71_nixon_kissinger.htm">Telephone conversation between Nixon and Kissinger.</a></li> </ul> </div> <div style="text-align: left;"> <b>March 31:</b></div> <div style="text-align: left;"> <br /> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li><a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0331_71_telegram_amconsul_dacca.pdf">Another Telegram</a> from American consulate in Dhaka on the number of atrocities prdicts 4000-6000 death.</li> </ul> </div> <div style="text-align: left;"> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li><a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0331_71_telegram2_amconsul_dacca.pdf">More on Army terror campaign</a> and evidence that military faced some difficulties elsewhere.</li> </ul> </div> <div style="text-align: left;"> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>Letter from <a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0331_1971_letter_hilaly.htm">Yahya Khan to Kissinger</a>.</li> </ul> </div> <div style="text-align: left;"> <ul style="text-align: justify;"> <li>Minutes of meetings at <a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0331_1971_minutes.htm">US Deaprtment of state</a>:</li> <li><blockquote class="tr_bq"> Dr. Kissinger: Does the government have Mujibur Rahman?<br /> <br /> Mr. Blee: They captured him. Presumably he is in West Pakistan, perhaps in Quetta.<br /> <br /> Dr. Kissinger: Will they execute him?<br /> <br /> Lt. Gen. Cushman: Yahya accused him of treason. Possibly he has been shot already or was shot inadvertently.<br /> <br /> Dr. Kissinger: Are we going to keep VOA quiet about reports coming from our Consul?</blockquote> </li> <li>From an editorial in <a href="http://www.profile-of-bengal.com/p-b/www.profile-bengal.com/0331_71_in_the_name_of_pakistan.htm">New York Times</a>:</li> </ul> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <blockquote> The United States, having played a major role in training and equipping Pakistanis armed forces, has a special obligation now to withhold any military aid to the Yahya Government. Economic assistance should be continued only on condition that u major portion be used to help bind up East Pakistan’s grievous wounds.</blockquote> </div> <div> Source: Bangladesh Genocide Archive<br /> <div style="text-align: left;"> </div> <div id="stcpDiv" style="left: -1988px; position: absolute; top: -1999px;"> Source: Bangladesh Genocide Archive</div> </div> </div> </div>

March 1971

March 01: People tuned their radios and turned their TVs on because President Agha Yahiya Khan was supposed to address the na...

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