The Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971

Written By Dhruv Arora (Grade 5)

In the year 1947, the British Empire left their diamond colony, India, because of the I.N.C. and Muslim League pressurising the British to leave and as the UK had massive debt after the Second World War, they accepted. They divided the British Raj into India and Pakistan. Furthermore, they divided Pakistan into east and west. They were one country but the west was the lesser populated homeland and the east was the more populated colony. The east gained independence in 1971 because of the Indian Republic.

Whenever an East Pakistani became president, they would be targeted by West Pakistani politicians. The situation got so bad that the East Pakistani government was located in a girls’ boarding school in Dhaka (then called Dacca) because there was no other building in the whole province that was big enough to house a government. Even in politics, people of West Pakistan voted predominantly for the Muslim League and people of East Pakistan voted predominantly for the Awazi League. Back then and even now, Pakistan was more like a military junta than a parliamentary republic. Each leader of Pakistan was basically to just follow the military’s wish, not following the people’s wish. This shows that Pakistan’s supposed democracy is not a democracy and this is one of the reasons that India won every war. 

Meanwhile, in 1970, the Bhola cyclone ravaged Bangladesh and killed more than 500,000 people. The Indians kindly sent support, along with the UN, but the west did not give any humanitarian aid. Only some jet planes and that’s it. Secondly, a military coup happened in 1970 when the government of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was overthrown by a West Pakistani.

The Bengali genocide happened in 1971 because of the new Pakistani government being deeply unpopular in Bangladesh. Pakistani Armies marched and killed 3 million Bengalis in cold blood. This was the last straw for the tired and angry Bengalis. Bangladesh began rebelling and on December the 3^rd, 1971, India joins on the side of the rebels, now controlled by the Mukti Bahani group.

While India was fighting in Bangladesh, Pakistan launched an operation to take the city of Bhuj, a prominent airbase. The Indians were massively outnumbered, the Pakistani force was 100 times bigger than the Indian one, but the Indians bravely fought and won. Indian forces then won the war and an independent Bangladesh was established. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman became the first leader of Bangladesh and India proudly boasted another victory against Pakistan.

Featured Image Courtesy – WION