December 16, 1971. Dhaka was gripped by euphoria. People were shouting “Joy Bangla” from the streets to rooftops. Many were hugging each other, celebrating freedom.
Throughout the day, they carried out guerrilla operations against the Pakistan army in different areas and went to sleep without any food at night. As the dawn approached, the occupation forces came stealthily and killed them all when they were asleep.
April 23, 1971. A sudden burst of gunshots broke the afternoon silence in the remote Baghoil village of Pabna. All the innocent villagers could do was scream and run to save their lives from the trigger-happy Pakistan military.
When a column of Pakistan army vehicles entered Dewrachhara Tea Garden in Moulvibazar in the afternoon of May 3, 1971, most of the workers there were alarmed but had little strength left to do anything about it.
In an interview with Priyam Pritim Paul of The Daily Star, Major (Retd) Rafiqul Islam Bir Uttam, a Member of Parliament, and Commander of Sector-1 during the Liberation War, discussed some of the initial episodes of the Liberation War of 1971. Below are excerpts of the conversation.
To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the victory that led to the birth of Bangladesh, attention should be paid to the devastating humanitarian crisis that unfolded during the nine-month war.
In conversation with Ayesha Jalal, Mary Richardson Professor of History and Director of Center for South Asian and Indian Ocean Studies at Tufts University, USA
For a couple of months after the 1970 elections everything seemed simple and straightforward.
The birth of Bangladesh was not an Indian invention to dismember Pakistan, which attacked northern and western Indian airfields on the evening of December 3, 1971.
It was a long arduous path that we had to wade through to reach the momentous day of glory which was proclaimed by our great leader and Father of the Nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
My first meeting with Mr. P N Haksar took place at his residence at 9 Race Course Road, on 30 May 1971. It was a Sunday, 11 in the morning, five days after I reached New Delhi, looking for better understanding of India’s Bangladesh policy.
It was late afternoon on probably the last Sunday of November 1971. After finishing work for the day at the Netaji Field Hospital in Bakchara village, my father Dr. Sisir Kumar Bose suddenly decided to drive towards the Bongaon border.
It was March 1971, some day between the 7th and the 25th. I was a student of class ten, listening with amazement to the subversive language flying among the crowd gathered in front of General Post Office in Dhaka,
50 years ago, on this day, Bangladesh was born out of a bloody war. In the face of a brutal massacre by the Pakistani military, the freedom-loving people of this land, with their unwavering resolve and monumental sacrifices,
Joy Bangla! Long live Bangladesh! It was the clarion call of our Liberation War of 1971 which still fills our heart with a wild thrill.
