The 1971 Timeline

The latest additions: US State Dept plans for collaborating with Jamaat-i-Islami against the "Communists" (7 August 1951); The full text of the plan for Operation Searchlight (25 March 1971); links to Sheikh Mujib's two speeches(7 March 1971 & 10 January 1972); newly released US documents from the Nixon-Kissinger administration; biographical portraits of Dhiren Datta and Maulana Bhashani

The Partition of India
East Bengal celebrates its freedom from British colonial rule as it becomes a province of Pakistan. West Bengal remains with India, which celebrates its own independence the following day.

A mass exodus ensues, especially in Punjab, where Hindus and Muslims feel forced into  territories awarded to India and Pakistan, respectively. Communal violence erupts among people uprooted and displaced by a political decision over which they had no control.

Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the leader of the Muslim League, becomes the Governor General of Pakistan, now a member of the British Commonwealth.

The Language Movement
Bengalees, who speak Bangla, constitute 54% of the population of Pakistan at its inception. But Urdu is widely favored by the establishment in the Western wing, even if only a tiny minority really speak it. The major native languages in the West are: Punjabi, Baluchi, Sindhi, and Pashtu (Pakhtun).

In the first session of the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan (CAP), Dhirendranath Datta moves a resolution for recognizing Bengali as one of the state languages. The leading politicians — including representatives from East Bengal, almost all of whom are non-Bengalees — ignore Datta's plea. This is viewed by the Bengalees as a sign of unfair dominance by the minority elites of the Western provinces, and a step towards eradication of Bengalee cultural identity, the latter being “tainted” by Hindu influences and therefore not in full compliance with the principles and ideals of Pakistan.

A few weeks later, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, reiteratres in a Dhaka University Convocation that Urdu will be the only Official Language of Pakistan. This sparks off immediate student protest.

Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani, a populist leader from East Bengal, founds the Awami Muslim League at Narayanganj. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman is chosen to be one of its three Assistant General Secretaries. In September, another party with the same name is formed by Pir Manki Sharif in the North-West Frontier Province. In February 1950, the two Leagues are integrated. A popular leader in Bengal, Hussain Shahid Suhrawardy, becomes the President of this newly formed party called the Pakistan Awami Muslim League.

The Basic Principles Committee of the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan announces its recommendations that Urdu should be the only state language. It sparks off a wide wave of resentment in East Bengal.

Politicians and students join their forces for a broader movement under the leadership of Maulana Bhashani of Awami League.

As demonstrations and unrests seem to get out of control, the Government cracks down by imposing a curfew in Dhaka; a number of demonstrators are killed in front of the Dhaka Medical College over a period of one week (February 21-27, 1952).

The First Martyrs to die for their native language: Rafiq, Salam, Jabbar, Barkat, and Salauddin. More die in police shootings in the following days. A makeshift memorial is dedicated to these martyrs at the spot of killings: the Shaheed Minar becomes an icon of the Bengalees' pride in their culture and history, and of their resistance against imposition of all things foreign. The Shaheed Minar also becomes a place where many future movements for the basic rights of the Bangalees are born.

The Awami Muslim League becomes Awami League, reflecting its evolution into a more secular organization.

Abul Kasem Fazlul Huq, also known as the “Tiger of Bengal,” who had in 1940 moved the Lahore Resolution calling for a separate land for the Indian Muslims about to gain independence from the British Raj, forms his own Krishak Sramik Party (the Peasant and Labor Party).

In the first ever election since Pakistan's independence, the United Front, comprised of the Awami League and the Krishak Sramik Party, wins most of the seats in the East Bengal Legislative Assembly. The Muslim League, which had earlier played a significant role in the pre-Partition politics along with the Indian Congress Party, wins only 9 of the 310 seats in the Provincial Assembly.

The Bengali dominated United Front Government is dismissed by the Governor General of Pakistan because of apparently seditious remarks made by its Chief Minister A. K. Fazlul Huq. The Governor General imposes his direct rule in East Pakistan. Later the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan is also dissolved, and Mohammed Ali Bogra forms a government without a parliament. The Army's Chief of Staff Ayub Khan becomes the Defense Minister.

The west wing provinces of the Punjab, Baluchistan, Sindh, and NWFP are grouped into one unit called West Pakistan. The West Pakistan Bill had been passed, a fortnight earlier, to give a rational basis of equality between the two wings. East Bengal is renamed East Pakistan.

The first constitution of Pakistan is adopted. Pakistan becomes an Islamic Republic, with a President replacing the position of the Governor General. Bangla is adopted as a state language along with Urdu. Nonetheless, East Pakistanis are prevented from any share of power in the central government through sufficient provisions in the new constitution.

Maulana Bhashani resigns as President of the Awami League; forms the National Awami Party (NAP).

Martial Law
With the support of General Mohammad Ayub Khan, President Iskander Mirza abrogates the Constitution, dismisses the Central and Provincial governments, dissolves the Assemblies, and proclaims Martial Law in the country. All meetings and demonstrations are forbidden and political parties banned. Popular politicians are either imprisoned — including Sheikh Mujib, Maulana Bhashani, and Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan (the latter a progressive leader from NWFP and a close associate of Mahatma Gandhi) — or their activities are restricted.

Within the same month, General Ayub Khan exiles Iskander Mirza to the Great Britain before assuming all powers, along with the rank of Field Marshal.

Ayub Khan is elected President for a five-year term.

Martial Law ends with the enactment of a new constitution designed by Ayub Khan. The ban on political parties is lifted. A new National Assembly is elected through a multi-tiered system of "Basic Democracy".

Ayub Khan is elected President for a second five-year term, this time defeating Fatema Jinnah, the sister of M. A. Jinnah.

The second India-Pakistan War breaks out over Kashmir.

Political discontent, especially in the much neglected East Pakistan, resurfaces in the aftermath of the war.

The Six Points Movement
Before a convention of opposition parties held in Lahore, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman puts forward his demand for a federal governing system with full autonomy for the two wings of Pakistan:

Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, the heir to a feudal landlord in Sindh and a member of the Military Dictator Ayub Khan's cabinet, quits and launches Pakistan People's Party (PPP).

The Agartala Conspiracy Case
is made public. It involves Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and thirty-five other Bengalees who allegedly wanted to separate East Pakistan and establish an independent Bengal, with Indian assistance.

Hearing for the Agartala Conspiracy Case begins. Thomas William, a British lawyer and a member of the British Parliament, files a writ petition in Dhaka High Court on behalf of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman challenging the legality of the formation of the tribunal. He is assisted by Abdus Salam Khan, Ataur Rahman Khan, and others.

Violence breaks out between people demonstrating against Ayub Khan's martial law regime and the police.

The Agartala Conspiracy Case is withdrawn, and Sheikh Mujib is released, at the insistence of some of the West Pakistani leaders meeting with Ayub Khan in a round table discussion for restoring peace.

Ayub Khan hands over power to General Yahya Khan; martial law is imposed for the second time. Yahya Khan promises to return power to people's representatives (March 25-26, 1969).

The General Election
The Awami League wins 167 of the 300 seats in the National Assembly of Pakistan; Sheikh Mujib emerges as an undisputed leader of the Bangalees with 268 of the 279 seats in the East Pakistan Provincial Assembly going to the Awami League.

Mujib reiterates his Six Points as the basis for a new constitution and autonomy for East Pakistan.

The current Martial Law Dictator Yahya Khan refers to Mujib as “the future Prime Minister of Pakistan.” But Bhutto refuses to accept Mujib's leadership in the Central Assembly.

Public demonstrations against a West Pakistani scheme to prevent the Bengalees from forming a Government are brutally suppressed. Yahya Khan continues to posture for negotiations while non-bengali regiments of soldiers are surreptitiously flown into Dhaka from West Pakistan.

Sheikh Mujib addresses a huge crowd at the Dhaka Racecourse: makes his historical call to the Bangalees to “build a fortress in each and every household...” and to “fight for their freedom...”

Yahya Khan leaves Dhaka surreptitously. The Pakistani Army begins Operation Searchlight, an indiscriminate campaign of killing. Tanks roll into the Dhaka University Campus, the barracks of the East Pakistan Regiment, the Rajarbagh Police Line, and parts of the old town with a largely Hindu population. International journalists are asked to stay put in the Hotel Intercontinental.

Bhutto, who had come to Dhaka for the negotiations, leaves the following day, and proclaims on his arrival in Karachi: “Thank God! Pakistan has been saved.”

Sheikh Mujib is arrested around 1:30 AM and taken to the Cantonment. But his call for an all out struggle for independence has already reached the Bengalees around the country, who put up their spontaneous resistance in the face of an unexpected show of brutality, especially on the civilian population. Bangali members of the armed forces in the Cantonments revolt as they are ordered to surrender their weapons; many are killed brutally.

Ziaur Rahman, a Major in the East Pakistan Regiment, takes command of his forces in Chittagong, a port city in the South-East on the Bay of Bengal; Maj. Zia makes a number of announcements over the radio in the name of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as the leader of the nascent state on March 26 and 27. The Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra (the “Independent Bangla Broadcasting Center”) is born, which later operates from West Bengal.

The Genocide Begins
The systematic but indiscriminate killing spree by the Pakistani army spreads to the rest of the country; all Bengalees, irrespective of their religions, are targeted as “Hindu loving agents of India” — or very inferior kinds of Muslims anyway — and therefore unworthy of citizenship of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

Villages are burned. Women are raped and mutilated; many are imprisoned as slaves for the officers and soldiers of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan; there is a mass exodus across the border into India (West Bengal, Tripura); famine and disease break out in the Refugee Camps.

Weary refugees walk on to freedom passing by corpses of their brethern. Photographer unknown, from Dateline Bangla Desh, edited by Ajit Bhattacharjea, Jaico Publishing, Bombay, June 1971.

The Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi makes a worldwide appeal to resolve this humanitarian crisis; few goverments, except for Russia (the former USSR) and Israel, pay any attention.

The US Government is using the Pakistani Government as a middleman to improve its relations with China, and adopts a “hands off” policy regarding the Pakistani regime's atrocities being carried out in East Pakistan.

The First Bangladesh Government is Formed in exile. Awami League leaders convene in the district of Meherpur near the Indian border in Jessore, in the village of Baidyanathtala later renamed Mujibnagar, and affirm Sheikh Mujib's March 26 proclamation for an independent Bangladesh. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman is declared the President of the newly formed Republic, and Syed Nazrul Islam the Vice-President. Nazrul Islam assumes the reponsibilities of the Interim President, and appoints Tajuddin Ahmed as the Prime Minsiter to lead the provisional government.

The 3rd India-Pakistan War Breaks Out

On the eve of certain defeat of the Pakistani occupation forces, their local collaborators, known as Al Badr, Al Shams, and Razakar (“Islamic Volunteer Forces”) pick up leading intellectuals from a list prepared by Gholam Azam (the leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami in East Pakistan).

Among the killed are doctors, lawyers, literateurs, journalists, and university professors. Some of them were known or suspected to be sympathetic to the cause of Bangladesh and for helping the Muktibahini (Freedom Fighters).

But most are chosen possibly to cripple the newborn secular nation by eliminating its best intellectuals, so that a possibility remains for the Islamic Fundamentalists to make a comeback. The operation is interrupted as the Pakistan Army prepares to surrender; the Collaborators go into hiding (many flee the country to seek shelter in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, the U.K., and the USA).

The Pakistani commander Amir Abdullah Khan Niazi surrenders to Lt. Gen. Jagjit Singh Aurora, the Commander of the Joint Forces, at the same Dhaka Racecourse where Sheikh Mujib had made his historic call for independence only nine months and nine days earlier.

People begin their search for the remains of the missing ones at the numersous execution grounds and mass gravesites around the country.

Sheikh Mujib Returns to Dhaka via London, with a stop-over in New Delhi
Mujib's first diplomatic achievement: Indian troops leave Bangladeshi soil, dispelling any fear of a new occupation by a new colonizer.

While looking for his missing brother Shahidullah Kaisar, film-maker Zahir Raihan disappears — his car is found outside an enclave serving to protect the Biharis; the anti-liberation forces are still believed to be active in their subversive roles against pro-liberation intelligentsia.

The Simla Talks at the behest of the Indira Gandhi Government over the fate of the Pakistani Prisoners of War end up in unconditional pardoning of all; in return the Pakistani governmernt agrees to return all the Bangladeshi Civil Servants and Army Officers held in various concentration camps since 1971; however, it also refuses to admit the Biharis stranded in Bangladesh opting for Pakistani citizenship.

Sheikh Mujib also pardons most of the native (Bangalee) Collaborators, except for those accused of criminal activties.

A famine breaks out in 1974 which is viewed as the direct result of inefficiency and corruption by politicians and civil servants.

Sheikh Mujib sidelines Tajuddin Ahmed, while Khondakar Mustaq Ahmed, a holdover from the Pakistani Muslim League, wins Mujib's confidence.

In spite of the Mujib Government's commitment to democracy and socialism, the Awami League finds itself in opposition to the growing Left movement. The Jatiya Rakshibahini, a para-military formed with mostly pro-Mujib Fredom Fighters, becomes a symbol of excessive and repressive government.

The Fourth Amendment of the Constitution establishes a one party rule by the newly formed Bangladesh Krishak Sramik Awami League; Mujib cites widespread corruption and failure of the goverment to address the needs of the poor.

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman is assassinated by a group of Army officers led by Col. Faruk Ahmed, Col. Rashid, and a Maj. Dalim; among the dead are Mujib's wife, his three sons including the eight year old Shiekh Russel, and two daughters-in-law.

The only family members of Mujib who survive are his two daughters, Sheikh Hasina and Sheikh Rehana; they were abroad at the time with their respective families.

Khondkar Moshtaque Ahmed becomes the President; the four key figures from the Mujibnagar Government, who had sidelined Moshtaque for his suspected subversive activities in Calcutta, West Bengal during the War, are brutally murdered in Dhaka Central Jail. Moshtaque's first (and last) major directive is to design a National Costume (for men only, apparently) that includes his favorite Islamic cap.

The four leaders of the Liberation War murdered in captivity on November 3, 1975. L-R: Syed Nazrul Islam, Tajuddin Ahmed, Captain M Mansur Ali, and AHM Quamruzzaman.

The lower ranks in the army stage a coup; Col. Taher quells the uprising and rescues Ziaur Rahman, now a Maj. Gen.; Zia later assumes full control and declares Martial Law.

Zia puts down no less than 17 coups; sets his own record for the number of political killings.

In the meanwhile, exiled Pakistani Collaborators are repatriated from Pakistan and Saudi Arabia (including Gholam Azam, the de facto leader of the Jamat-i-Islami in Bangladesh).

The (pro-Pakistani) “Muslim Leaguers” are also repatriated politically in order to provide a base for Zia's newly Bangladesh Nationalist Party.

Between the rules of the two Martial Law Dictators (Zia & Ershad), the Constitution is amended to first include “Bismillah... (In the name of God...)” and then to completely erase Secularism.

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