Bangladesh

Justin Yochim

After having massacred 15,000 unarmed civilians in a single day, the Pakistani soldiers were feeling their oats. They bragged about their invincibility to Simon Dring: "These bugger men," said one Punjabi lieutenant, "could not kill us if they tried." "Things are much better now," said another officer. "Nobody can speak out or come out. If they do we will kill them - they have spoken enough - they are traitors, and we are not. We are fighting in the name of God and a united Pakistan." In the name of God and a united Pakistan, genocide had just begun.

Justin Yochim

Caught completely by surprise, some 200 students were killed in Iqbal Hall, headquarters of the militantly antigovernment students' union, I was told. Two days later, bodies were still smoldering in burnt-out rooms, others were scattered outside, more floated in a nearby lake, an art student lay sprawled across his easel.... Army patrols also razed nearby market area. Two days later, when it was possible to get out and see all this, some of the market's stall-owners were still lying as though asleep, their blankets pulled up over their shoulders.

Justin Yochim

Dhaka University was targeted and Hindu students were gunned down. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was arrested shortly after declaring Bangladesh independent. The rest of the Awami League leadership went into hiding and those that survived eventually fled to . The genocide had just begun:

Justin Yochim

East and West Pakistan spoke different languages and were very different. East Pakistan accounted for the majority of it's population, but it was economically and politically insuperior to West Pakistan. Bengalis people were persecuted for speaking their native language and for being Muslims who had changed from Hinduism or for being Hindus. Pakistan, translated as "The Land of the Pure", was intolerant of Bengalis because they were not "pure" Muslims.

Justin Yochim

In August 1947, a new country named Pakistan containing mostly Muslims was created. These were two separate areas far east and far west of the Indian subcontinent, separated by over a thousand miles of Indian territory. The Western zone was popularly termed West Pakistan and the Eastern zone was initially termed East Bengal and later, East Pakistan.

Justin Yochim

In the face of the ongoing massacres, a guerilla army formed under the leadership of rebel Bengali military officers and organized student activists. This guerilla army, known as the Mukti Bahini in Bengali, fought a war of attrition with the Pakistani army until December, 1971. The Mukti Bahini received training and support from the Indian government as it resisted Pakistani occupation. The Pakistani army was constantly harassed by the Bangladeshi resistance. In response the Pakistani army slaughtered more Bengalis.

Justin Yochim

It was only the beginning. "Within a week, half the population of Dacca had fled, and at least 30,000 people had been killed. Chittagong, too, had lost half its population. All over East Pakistan people were taking flight, and it was estimated that in April some thirty million people [!] were wandering helplessly across East Pakistan to escape the grasp of the military." (Payne, Massacre, p. 48.) Ten million refugees fled to , overwhelming that country's resources and spurring the eventual Indian military intervention. (The population of Bangladesh/East Pakistan at the outbreak of the genocide was about 75 million.)

Justin Yochim

Led by American-supplied M-24 World War II tanks, one column of troops sped to Dacca University shortly after midnight. Troops took over the British council library and used it as a fire base from which to shell nearby dormitory areas.

Justin Yochim

On February 22, 1971 the generals in West Pakistan took a decision to crush the Awami League and its supporters. It was recognized from the first that a campaign of genocide would be necessary to eradicate the threat: "Kill three million of them," said President Yahya Khan at the February conference, "and the rest will eat out of our hands." (Robert Payne, Massacre [1972], p. 50.) On March 25 the genocide was launched. The university in Dacca was attacked and students exterminated in their hundreds. Death squads roamed the streets of Dacca, killing some 7,000 people in a single night.

Justin Yochim

On March 7, 1971, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the head of the Awami League, gave a speech at the Dhaka Race Course that mobilized the Bengali nation for resistance. He began the speech with a call to arms: The struggle this time is for emancipation! The struggle this time is for independence! On March 25, 1971, the Pakistani Army launched Operation Searchlight to "eliminate" the Awami League and its supporters in East Pakistan . The goal was to "crush" the will of the Bengalis. The killing began shortly after 10 p.m. In the first 48 hours the orgy of killing had ravaged Dhaka city. The Hindu population of Dhaka took the brunt of the slaughter.

Justin Yochim

One of the journalists that remained in Dhaka was Simon Dring. On March 30, 1971 he filed a chilling report of the massacre that took place in Dhaka on the night of the 25th of March. Dring reported that in 24 hours of killing the Pakistan Army had slaughtered as many as 7000 people in Dhaka and up to 15,000 people in all of Bangladesh. The Pakistan Army employed tanks, artillery, mortars, bazookas and machine guns against the unarmed population of Dhaka. Their targets were students, local police, intellectuals, political leaders, Awami League supporters, Hindus and ordinary citizens. They carried out their ruthless killing spree with military precision.

Justin Yochim

The "old town" part of Dhaka city was singled out for destruction by the Pakistanis because of strong Awami League support there and because there were many Hindu residents in the area. Here is how Simon Dring described the attacks on unarmed civilians:

Justin Yochim

The Kalurghat Bridge area was controlled by an East Bengal Regiment under Major Ziaur Rahman who revolted against the Pakistani army. Bengali soldiers were requested to gueard the station. At 7:45 pm on March 27, 1971 Major Ziaur Rahman, on request of Belal Mohammed of Shwadhin Bangla Betar Kendra, broadcast Bangladesh's independence on behalf of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. With the following words, the armed resistance to the army began:

Justin Yochim

The Pakistanis began their killing spree in the major cities of Dhaka, Chittagong and Comilla. However, as terrified Bengalis fled to the countryside, the Pakistani Army followed. Pakistan began to fly in additional troops into Bangladesh to continue the genocidal campaign. The goal was the extermination of the Bengali nation. Hindus in particular were targeted for extermination. Bengali Muslims, however, did not escape the Pakistani killing machine since Bengali Muslims were considered "tainted" by their Bengali/Hindu culture.

Justin Yochim

The genocide was carried out in three phases. The first phase was "operation searchlight" started on 25th March and carried on till early May. "Search and Destroy" was the second phase lasted from Mid May to early October which targetted to cull the insurgency by the Muktibahini. "Scorched earth" is the final phase which saw the outbreak of the India Pakistan war started on 3rd of December and ended with the surrender of Pakistani army's Eastern command on December 16, 1971.

Justin Yochim

The lead unit was followed by soldiers carrying cans of gasoline. Those who tried to escape were shot. Those who stayed were burnt alive. About 700 men, women and children died there that day between noon and 2 p.m., I was told. ...In the Hindi area of the old town, the soldiers reportedly made the people come out of their houses and shot them in groups. The area, too, was eventually razed.

Justin Yochim

The tension between East and West Pakistan began explode over in 1970 after West Pakistan's small response to the devastation of the cyclone of 1970 in East Pakistan . Almost half a million Bengalis died as a result of the cyclone and the response by the Pakistani government. In the midst of the tension, the Pakistani military rulers decided to hold the first democratic elections in history. The Awami League, representing Bengalis in East Pakistan, won the majority of seats in the National Assembly. However, the military of West Pakistan refused to allow the Awami League to form a government.

Justin Yochim

The troops stayed on in force in the old city until about 11 p.m. on the night of Friday, March 26, driving around with local Bengali informers. The soldiers would fire a flare and the informer would point out the houses of Awami League supporters. The house would then be destroyed - either with direct fire from tanks or recoilless rifles or with a can of gasoline, witnesses said.

Justin Yochim

The will of the Bengali people was not broken on the night of March 25, 1971. On the contrary, while Dhaka burned so burned the illusion of a united . The first persons to broadcast that "Sheikh Mujibur Rahman has declared the 75 million people of East Pakistan as citizens of the sovereign independent Bangla Desh.

Justin Yochim

This is Shadhin Bangla Betar Kendro [Free Bangla Radio]. I, Major Ziaur Rahman, at the direction of Bangobondhu 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.

Justin Yochim

Yahya Khan and the Pakistan Army planned their genocide well. Yahya Khan aimed to crush the Bengali spirit once and for all. Before the crackdown all foreign journalists were expelled from East Pakistan. Only a handful managed to evade the Pakistani Army by hiding out. These few journalists exposed to the world the planned genocide that was about to unfold.

Justin Yochim

in the evening on March 26, 1971 from Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendro in English were Ashikul Islam, a WAPDA engineer, and in Bengali, Abul Kashem Sandwipi. Later in the evening M. A. Hannan also broadcast the declaration from the telegram in a speech. (Bangladesh Observer, April 23, 1972)