Victory day of Bangladesh

Introduction: In political science, (a) population, (b) territory, (e) government, and (d) sovereignty are widely accepted and generally known as the elements of a State. According to the Montevideo Convention of 1933, a State also needs to have capacity to enter into relations with other States. Bangladesh, the then East Pakistan, in 1971, had her own population of 75 million having allegiance to the leader Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and a land area of 147,610 km (56.993 sq mi). This area of land was vested on the eastern provisional-State for independent administration after the 1947 partition between India and Pakistan. In exercise of its right to self. determination, the first (provisional) government of Bangladesh was formed by the elected representatives of Bangladesh on the 10th April 1971, and the formal swearing was held on the 17th April 1971, at Mujibnagar. Thus, a de facto government turned into a de jure one with the force of the Proclamation of Independence which served as an interim constitution for the country. Till the Constitution was formally drafted and adopted, this government administered the country having functional executive and legislative wings both during and after liberation war. The Proclamation of Independence was given retrospective effect from the 26th of March, 1971. 

Historical background of Bangladesh movement: In 1947, India was partitioned by the British, creating the 'Dominion of Pakistan', which was two separate regions to the north-west and northeast of India. The new dominion was governed from West Pakistan, which led to frictions between the two regions. In the 1970 general elections, the Bangla-based Awami League won an overall majority, but the West Pakistani regime was reluctant to hand over power. On March 25th 1971, Pakistani troops were used to quell the growing unrest. This marked the start of the War of Independence, also known as the War of Liberation. During the War of Liberation, Mukti Bahini, a guerrilla resistance movement consisting of the Bangladeshi military, paramilitary forces and civilians was created. In November 1971, India entered the war, supporting East Pakistan. This led to victory for East Pakistan on December 16th 1971 with the Pakistan army's surrender to the Mukti Bahini at the Race Course Maidan (now Suhrawardy Udyan) in Dhaka. 

Genocide and atrocities: The genocide in Bangladesh began on 26 March 1971 with the launch of Operation Searchlight, as West Pakistan (now Pakistan) began a military crackdown on the Eastern wing (now Bangladesh) of the nation to suppress Bengali calls for self-determination. During the nine-month-long Bangladesh War for Liberation, members of the Pakistani military killed between 200,000 and 3,000,000 people and raped between 200,000 and 400,000 Bengali women, according to Bangladeshi and Indian sources, in a systematic campaign of genocidal rape. As a result of the conflict, a further eight to ten million people, mostly Hindus, fled the country to seek refuge in neighbouring India. It is estimated that up to 30 million civilians were internally displaced out of 70 million. During the war, there was also ethnic violence between Bengalis and Urdu-speaking Biharis. Biharis faced reprisals from Bengali mobs and militias and from 1,000 to 150,000 were killed. 

Resistance by Mukti Bahini: Mukti Bahini appellation of the forces of the war of liberation. The immediate precursor of the Mukti Bahini was Mukti Fauj, which was preceded denominationally by the Sangram Parishads formed in the cities and villages by the student and youth leaderships in early March 1971. When and how the Mukti Fauj was created is not clear nor is the later adoption of the name Mukti Bahini. It is, however, certain that the names originated from the people who joined the liberation struggle. The Mukti Bahini obtained strength from the two main streams of fighting elements: members of armed forces of erstwhile East Pakistan and members of the urban and rura sangram parishads. On 12 April 1971 Colonel (later General) M.A.G. Osmany assumed the command of armed forces at Teliapara (Sylhet) headquarters. Osmany was made the commander-in chief of Bangladesh Armed Forces on 17 April 1971. Serious initiative for organizing the Bangladesh liberation army was taken between 11 and 17 July. In a meeting of the sector commanders in Calcutta four important resolutions were taken in consideration of strategic aspects of the war, existing problems and future course of resistance. 

Surrender of Pakistan army: The liberation forces started carrying out massive raids into enem fronts from October 1971. After the signing of the Indo-Soviet Treaty in August 1971, India began to demonstrate more interest in the Bangladesh war. And finally, India entered the war o December 1971. In fact, the Indian soldiers were already participating in the war in different guises since November when the freedom fighters had launched the Belonia battle. Because of the g morphology of Bangladesh, the war could not be won too swiftly. Even then, Dhaka was liberated in a matter of two weeks, the previous successes of the freedom fighters during the preceding few months having been a major contributing factor. On 16 December 1971, commander of the 14 division of Pakistan army Major General Jamshed surrendered to Indian General Nagra near Mirpur bridge in Dhaka. At 10.40 am, the Indian allied force and Kader Siddiqui entered Dhaka city. That signaled the end of 9-month long War of Liberation of Bangladesh. Stray battles were still waged at various places of the country. The Commander of Eastern Command of the Pakistan Army Lt General Ameer Abdullah Khan Niazi surrendered to the commander of the joint Indo-Bangladesh force and the chief of Indian eastern command Lt. General Jagjit Singh Aurora. The Bangladesh Forces were represented at the ceremony by Group Captain AK Khondakar. 

Conclusion: Today marks 50 years of Bangladesh as an independent country. Today, we feel proud as a nation for how far we have come in only a little less than half a century since independence. But not only is today a moment of elation for us all, it is also one of grief and mourning. The massacre that the barbarous Pakistani military junta embarked upon in March 25, 1971 has left permanent scars on our collective conscience.