On March 31, 1971, Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi moved a resolution in parliament strongly criticising the military action in Bangladesh.
At 4:00am on March 30, 1971, Bangladeshi forces, comprising East Pakistan Rifles (EPR), police and civilians under the leadership of Abu Osman Chowdhury, then a major and commander of the fourth wing of EPR, attacked the Pakistan occupation army in Kushtia from three sides.
In the evening, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was flown via helicopter from the cantonment, where he was detained, to the Tejgaon Airport. Afterwards, he was flown to Karachi by a special military aircraft.
On March 28, 1971, American Consul General in Dhaka, Archer K Blood, sent a telegram to Islamabad and Washington captioned “selective genocide”. He reported that they were “mute and horrified by a reign of terror by the Pakistan military” in East Pakistan. Pointing towards various pieces of evidence, Blood suggested that Awami League supporters and Hindus were being systematically targeted by the martial law administrators.
American Consul General Archer K Blood in a situation report submitted on March 27, 1971, wrote that according to numerous accounts, including eye witness reports, the Pak military crackdown on Bangalee nationalists has been carried out throughout Dacca swiftly, efficiently (despite heavy resistance from some quarters, including pro-Awami League police and East Pak Rifles), and often with ruthless brutality.
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in a press statement issued today, called for a general strike throughout Bangladesh on March 27 against the army’s action in certain places in East Pakistan including Saidpur, Rangpur and Joydevpur.
There was a final meeting between Awami League’s team and Yahya’s advisers on March 24, 1971, at 6:00pm.
The representatives of president Yahya Khan and an Awami League team met twice today.
US President Richard Nixon in a letter issued today to Pakistan President Yahya Khan expressed his concern over the loss of life and human suffering in East Pakistan. However, he sympathised with Yahya and said, “I understand the anguish you must have felt in making the difficult decisions you have faced.”
A heavy fight broke out today at Teliapara, Sylhet. Pakistani Army in the guise of Indian BSF breached the defences of Bangladesh force and were in firing position.
The books authored and published during a war always have an archival quality; they capture the time in its crudest form. They are a seamless blend
The Pakistani government said today that news of slaughter carried out by Awami League members in East Pakistan before March 25 “has been kept strictly secret for fear of reprisals in West Pakistan”.
The Bangladesh government decided to refer to the Human Rights Commission of the United Nations the question of genocide in the newborn republic.
West Pakistan newspapers on May 3 quoted government sources as denying that large numbers of refugees were fleeing East Pakistan to neighbouring India.
Faced with growing pressures among British MPs of all parties for intervention in Bangladesh war, Sir Alec Douglas-Home, British foreign secretary,
About four million people in south-central Bangladesh, ravaged by a cyclone and tidal wave in November 1970, were facing starvation because the war had halted emergency food distribution, reported the Washington Post.
A delegation headed by Labour MP John Stonehouse and top officials of War on Want, Christian Aid and Oxfam, called on Sir Alec Douglas Home, British foreign secretary, and told him that Britain should do something so that international relief work could be started in Bangladesh.
Bangladesh Prime Minister Tajuddin Ahmed today appealed to neighbouring countries to grant immediate recognition to Bangladesh and to give unconditional arms aid and thus help a newborn country free itself from the clutches of a murderous army.
