Darkness descends …
Bangladesh, 1971.
Bangladesh, 1971.
On March 25, 1971, the leaders of the Awami League waited all day for the telephone call General SGMM Peerzada had promised to make regarding a fresh round of talks between the party and the regime. The call did not come, of course, even though the Awami League had not quite given up hope about a proclamation being issued by President Yahya Khan on the modalities of a transfer of power.
Things were quite different in the military establishment. Having received the green signal from Yahya Khan, General Tikka Khan phoned General Khadem Husain Raja and told him: ‘It is tonight.’ That was the first sign of an impending military assault on Bengalis. All afternoon and evening, Pakistani army officers helicoptered across the province, to spread the word among the various army formations that they should be on standby for military operations to begin. A number of West Pakistani political leaders visited Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman to bid him farewell.
Sometime after dusk, General Yahya Khan boarded a Pakistan International Airlines flight to Karachi. The orders were that the military assault, codenamed Operation Searchlight, would not begin until his aircraft had safely landed in Karachi. By 10 pm, it had become clear to Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman that an armed assault on citizens was on the way. He exhorted the senior leaders of his party to move to safety. Even so, when Kamal Hossain met him around 10 pm, he asked him if there had been any phone call from the regime. Hossain replied in the negative before leaving Bangabandhu’s residence.
Rumours of an imminent strike by the army led students of Dhaka University and citizens in general into putting up barricades in different parts of the city to thwart movements by the soldiers. No one, at that point, could visualize the scale of the ferocity with which the army planned to strike.
The Pakistan army cracked down between 11 and 11.30 pm. Different units of the army fanned out in various directions. Tanks, armoured cars and trucks loaded with soldiers headed for Dhaka University, the Shaheed Minar, the Race Course (where the Kali Mandir was situated), Bangabandhu’s residence on Road 32 Dhanmondi, Hotel Intercontinental and Old Dhaka. Tracer fire lit up the night sky, with guns roaring all across town. The army moved to remove all foreign journalists from the Intercontinental and put them on flights out of the province.
The Shaheed Minar was reduced to rubble. The Kali Mandir suffered a similar fate. At Jagannath Hall and other halls of Dhaka University, soldiers stormed broke into rooms and dormitories and murdered hundreds of students. They killed Professor Gobinda Chandra Dev of the department of philosophy and Professor Rafiqul Islam of mathematics. They grievously wounded Professor Jyotirmoy Guhathakurta of the department of English. Guhathakurta was to die of his wounds a few days later.
Senior leaders of the Awami League, including Syed Nazrul Islam, Tajuddin Ahmed, M. Mansoor Ali and AHM Quamruzzaman made their way out of Dhaka in line with Bangabandhu’s instructions.
Throughout the night between March 25 and March 26, the Pakistan army killed Bengalis. All day on March 26, the killings went on unabated.
https://opinion.bdnews24.com/2016/03/25/darkness-descends/
Bangladesh, 1971.
Bangladesh, 1971.
On March 25, 1971, the leaders of the Awami League waited all day for the telephone call General SGMM Peerzada had promised to make regarding a fresh round of talks between the party and the regime. The call did not come, of course, even though the Awami League had not quite given up hope about a proclamation being issued by President Yahya Khan on the modalities of a transfer of power.
Things were quite different in the military establishment. Having received the green signal from Yahya Khan, General Tikka Khan phoned General Khadem Husain Raja and told him: ‘It is tonight.’ That was the first sign of an impending military assault on Bengalis. All afternoon and evening, Pakistani army officers helicoptered across the province, to spread the word among the various army formations that they should be on standby for military operations to begin. A number of West Pakistani political leaders visited Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman to bid him farewell.
Sometime after dusk, General Yahya Khan boarded a Pakistan International Airlines flight to Karachi. The orders were that the military assault, codenamed Operation Searchlight, would not begin until his aircraft had safely landed in Karachi. By 10 pm, it had become clear to Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman that an armed assault on citizens was on the way. He exhorted the senior leaders of his party to move to safety. Even so, when Kamal Hossain met him around 10 pm, he asked him if there had been any phone call from the regime. Hossain replied in the negative before leaving Bangabandhu’s residence.
Rumours of an imminent strike by the army led students of Dhaka University and citizens in general into putting up barricades in different parts of the city to thwart movements by the soldiers. No one, at that point, could visualize the scale of the ferocity with which the army planned to strike.
The Pakistan army cracked down between 11 and 11.30 pm. Different units of the army fanned out in various directions. Tanks, armoured cars and trucks loaded with soldiers headed for Dhaka University, the Shaheed Minar, the Race Course (where the Kali Mandir was situated), Bangabandhu’s residence on Road 32 Dhanmondi, Hotel Intercontinental and Old Dhaka. Tracer fire lit up the night sky, with guns roaring all across town. The army moved to remove all foreign journalists from the Intercontinental and put them on flights out of the province.
The Shaheed Minar was reduced to rubble. The Kali Mandir suffered a similar fate. At Jagannath Hall and other halls of Dhaka University, soldiers stormed broke into rooms and dormitories and murdered hundreds of students. They killed Professor Gobinda Chandra Dev of the department of philosophy and Professor Rafiqul Islam of mathematics. They grievously wounded Professor Jyotirmoy Guhathakurta of the department of English. Guhathakurta was to die of his wounds a few days later.
Senior leaders of the Awami League, including Syed Nazrul Islam, Tajuddin Ahmed, M. Mansoor Ali and AHM Quamruzzaman made their way out of Dhaka in line with Bangabandhu’s instructions.
Throughout the night between March 25 and March 26, the Pakistan army killed Bengalis. All day on March 26, the killings went on unabated.
https://opinion.bdnews24.com/2016/03/25/darkness-descends/
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