Shadhinota Dibosh: the Story of Bangladesh’s Declaration of Independence.
This is the 2nd article of a series describing significant events in the history of Bangladesh — briefly highlighting the buildup to, and the effects of, these fateful days. The first article on Ekushey February can be found here.
In Bangladesh, March 26th is known as Shadhinota Dibosh or Independence Day. Although every country has it’s own variation of a national day or independence day, Bangladesh’s is particularly fascinating because of the language and liberation movement which led up to it, and the bloody war that followed it.
The Bengali Language Movement of the 1950s laid the foundation for a liberated Bangladesh in response to decades of systemic racism, including economic, cultural and linguistic oppression.
Initially divided into the Eastern province of Pakistan after the partition of British India, Bengalis in East Pakistan first pursued an agenda of autonomy through the democratic process to advocate for themselves. However, the pursuit of full-fledged independence quickly became the only viable option in the face of widespread marginalization.
Both government and military personnel and infrastructure were heavily dominated by West Pakistan. Bengalis made up the majority of the population, but only held 7% of civil service positions in 1955, while it is estimated just 10% of the military force was stationed in East Pakistan.
Economically, the disparities were blatant. Bengali jute (a fibre) was the country’s main export, yet East Pakistan received only 2.5% of Pakistan’s total development spending in 1951, and just 7% of total aid between 1947 and 1961.
Culturally, Urdu was declared the lone state language—though only 3% of the Pakistani population spoke Urdu at the time, while 56% spoke Bengali . The West Pakistani administration thought of Bengali as a Hindu language and consequently removed Bengali from school curricula.
During provincial elections in 1954, politicians who supported increased autonomy won decisive victories across the board in East Bengal. These results were seen as a major setback by the central government in West Pakistan, who consequently dismissed the results, declared a state of emergency and dissolved the provincial assembly of East Pakistan. Instead, the central government called for nationwide general elections in 1959.
However, before such general elections could take place, the Pakistani military took control of the entire country — in part due to the realization that Bengali autonomy would again win decisive victories. Under the leadership of General Ayub Khan, the military abolished the constitution, banned political parties and declared martial law.
Somewhat irrelevant, but worth noting that Ayub Khan had a particularly racist view of Bengalis: “they [the Bengalis] have all the inhibitions of down-trodden races and have not yet found it possible to adjust psychologically to the requirements of the new born freedom.”
Ayub Khan’s military regime eventually established a new constitution in 1962, where they ended universal suffrage. Elections were held soon after but were widely condemned as sham undemocratic elections, using an undemocratic system known as Basic Democracy.
Effectively, a puppet government was selected to represent military wishes and to serve Ayub Khan’s dictatorship.
It was at this point that the Awami League (AL), the dominant political force in East Pakistan at the time, started championing the cause of the Bengalis — namely autonomy (though not yet officially independence). The AL’s leader, Mujibur Rahman, announced the Six Point Movement in Lahore in 1966 which called for greater autonomy of East Pakistan and for the re-establishment of true democracy across Pakistan.
Rahman was seen as a threat by the West Pakistan military establishment, and as such, he was placed under detention under charges of conspiring with India to divide Pakistan. These allegations raised Sheikh Mujib to the status of a national hero in East Pakistan, and led to mass uprisings in defense of his name.
Sheikh Mujib was eventually released in 1969, and the Awami League was invited to negotiate with the military and government on issues of national unity in Pakistan. However, these negotiations ended in failure — and eventually led to the resignation of Ayub Khan in 1969. Khan returned power to the military, who were led by General Yahya Khan. The new military regime promised to remain in control of Pakistan for only a brief period, and in only a transitional capacity — with elections planned for 1970.
That same year, Cyclone Bhola hit East Pakistan (as well as West Bengal in India) and left upwards of 500,000 dead. The ruling Yahya military regime was strongly criticized by both Bengalis and the international community for its minimal and delayed response to the tragedy. The lackluster reaction further cemented the realization among Bengalis that they needed to control their own fate.
Yahya Khan actually continued a trip in China for days after the cyclone, and only returned to fly over the affected areas — claiming that the reports of damage were exaggerated.
The promised provincial and national elections of 1970 served as a referendum on the status quo in East Pakistan. The Awami League scored resounding victories across the board — provincially, they won 298 of 310 total seats; nationally (including East and West Pakistan), the AL won a majority with 167 of 313 total seats. With these victories, the Awami League was poised to form the central government for all of Pakistan — creating an opportunity to finally address decades of systemic oppression and marginalization against Bengalis through the democratic process. East Pakistan autonomy was all but inevitable with the AL in power.
However, in response to election results, the dominant political party of West Pakistan — the Pakistan People’s Party — stated their refusal to participate in a National Assembly led by the AL. Meanwhile, though the Pakistan military had promised to relinquish authority once elections had been completed, General Yahya Khan maintained control by delaying the first session of the newly elected government. The result was a political standstill.
Negotiations between the 3 groups were held to determine how best to form a National Assembly. However, at the same time, the Pakistani military had quietly begun to position themselves for military operations with massive troop buildups in East Pakistan — with the intent to crush Bengali nationalism. Although the AL soon became aware of the amassing of troops, they continued negotiations, assuming the movements were a show of force by the military.
These troop buildups led to sporadic clashes between Bengali civilians and the military — all while negotiations were ongoing. On March 7th 1971, given stalled negotiations, Mujibur Rahman asked Bengalis to prepare for resistance, but fell short of calling for independence. Instead, the AL called for non-violent, non-cooperative resistance in the form of refusal to pay taxes, nationwide strikes, control of state media for the opposition, and the hoisting of black flags.
These moves were fairly successful in shifting control of East Bengal away from the Pakistani establishment and into the hands of the AL. In fact, a concern of the Pakistani military was that their troops in East Bengal weren’t receiving adequate rations and supplies due to the non-cooperation.
One week later, on March 15th, General Yahya Khan spoke in Dhaka giving hope for renewed negotiations between all parties. However, it was later discovered that this visit was intended to deceive Bengalis into thinking negotiation was still on the table, while the army prepared for attack.
Yahya Khan was never willing to negotiate; at a conference in West Pakistan just before Operation Searchlight he stated: “Kill three million of them [Bengalis] and the rest will eat out of our hands.” As part of their military preparations, foreign journalists were systematically deported— successfully hiding the upcoming atrocities from the rest of the world.
At 11:00 pm on the 25th of March 1971, the Pakistani military began Operation Searchlight in East Pakistan. The operation sought to eliminate as many politicians, intellectuals and student leaders as possible and to demilitarize Bengali troops — with the intention of pacifying the Bengali nationalist movement. Mass killings, rape, violence and looting became rampant across Dhaka and in other parts of East Bengal. The military assumed that by April 10th, the resistance in Bangladesh would be crushed.
Two things are worth noting here. Firstly, ethnic Biharis (Urdu-speaking) in East Pakistan were also being attacked and killed by some Bengali nationalists prior to Operation Searchlight. This provided the Pakistani Army sufficient support in West Pakistan to carry out attacks in East Bengal with the aim of pacifying Bengali nationalism. Secondly, some of the top brass of the Pakistani military refused to support the planned attacks against Bengali civilians, and consequently resigned.
While Operation Searchlight was starting, Bengali political leaders were also meeting that same night to determine final plans for liberation. They determined that a provisional government was to be set-up in India, which would coordinate the armed resistance against the Pakistani military. That night, Bengali units of the Pakistani military defected and joined the liberation movement.
Radio broadcasts from both Mujibur Rahman and Major Ziaur Rahman inspired the rest of the country to take up resistance. Mujibur Rahman, who would later be described as the father of the nation, sent out a message that became known as his first declaration of independence:
“This may be my last message: From today Bangladesh is independent. I call upon the people of Bangladesh wherever you may be and with whatever you have, to resist the army of occupation to the last. Your fight must go on until the last soldier of the Pakistan occupation army is expelled from the soil of Bangladesh and final victory is achieved.”
A few hours later, into the early morning of March 26th, Sheikh Mujib dictated his second declaration of independence message:
“Pakistan Army suddenly attacked EPR (East Pakistan Rifles) base at Pilkhana, Rajarbagh Police Line and killing citizens. Street battles are going on in every street of Dhaka and Chittagong. I appeal to the Nations of the World for help. Our freedom fighters are gallantly fighting with the enemies to free the motherland. I appeal and order you all in the name of Almighty Allah to fight to the last drop of blood to liberate the country. Ask police, EPR, Bengal regiment and Ansar to stand by you and to fight. No compromise. Victory is ours. Drive out the last enemy from the holy soil of motherland. Convey the message to all Awami League leaders, workers and other patriots and lovers of freedom. May Allah bless you. Joy Bangla.”
Due to a variety of factors including poor telecommunications infrastructure and West Pakistani control, dissemination of these initial messages was poor. It wasn’t until the evening of March 27th that the majority of Bangladeshis were notified of the declaration of independence. Many first heard the announcement of independence, via a radio message, from Major Ziaur Rahman, setting the resistance into motion:
“This is Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendro. I, Major Ziaur Rahman, at the direction of Bangabandhu 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.”
In Bangladesh, there’s some debate as to who actually first announced independence. Sadly, that debate is more about present-day political posturing then it is about preserving history.
Nationalism in Bangladesh grew out of necessity — rising from legitimate cultural, linguistic and economic grievances. Frustrated with widespread discrimination and marginalization that existed in Pakistan, nationalist movements at first sought Bengali autonomy while remaining a part of the state of Pakistan. However, the military regimes and dictatorships of the 1960s soon made it clear that Bengalis would never exist as equals in a united Pakistan — through democratic and fiscal marginalization, and having failed to support Bengalis in the aftermath of the deadliest cyclone of all time, and by refusing to allow a democratically elected Bengali political party to take control of the National Assembly.
And so Bangladesh was born, declared independent, in blood on the 26th of March. It was only to become free nine months later, after a brutal war of liberation, on the 16th of December 1971 — now known as Bijoy Dibosh or Victory Day.
