Terrifying memories of March 25

March 25, 1971. It was a Thursday. It is remembered that on March 22, Colonel M. G. Osmani (the then Chief of Staff of the Mukti Bahini) held a meeting with former Bengali soldiers at Bangabhaban. During this meeting, Colonel Osmani asked Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, "Do you think that tomorrow will be a crucial day?" Bangabandhu replied, "No, I think it will be the twenty-fifth." Then Osmani asked him sharply, "Tomorrow is March 23, Pakistan Day. Will they not want to do anything on that occasion?" Bangabandhu replied, "They can do anything at any moment. There is no need for a specific day. What a precise calculation Bangabandhu made! He calculated and said that the Pakistanis would crack down on March 25.

In mid-March, when discussions were ongoing with Yahya Khan, Bangabandhu's four of us—those who later played key roles in the liberation war as commanders of the Mujib Bahini—Mani bhai, Siraj bhai, Rajjak bhai, and I were briefed every night on what had happened, what was happening, and what was likely to happen. They never thought that military ruler Yahya Khan would transfer power. They said, "Yahya Khan's time is needed, and so is mine. Get ready. I will be attacked; but I won't be the aggressor. Only when they attack and we are attacked will the people of the world understand that without declaring independence, I had no other option."

On March 23, which was Pakistan Day, the Pakistani flag was nowhere to be seen except in the cantonment areas. Asghar Khan wrote in his book, "I was surprised during my visit to East Pakistan because I didn't see the symbol of Pakistan anywhere in East Pakistan, except in the cantonment areas."

Before the discussions began with Yahya Khan, Asghar Khan had asked Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, "What could happen next?" Bangabandhu replied, "Yahya Khan will come. An economist will accompany him. Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission MM Ahmed will come. A judge, Cornelius, will also accompany them. Some other people will come, and they will come to talk to me, but this conversation will not yield any results. One day, they will attack the Bengali nation, and on that day, the unity of Pakistan will be broken."

On March 23, we flew the flag of independent Bangladesh from door to door across Bengal. In my memory, the horrifying incident of mass killing on March 25, 1971, remains vivid. On March 25, many people came to Bangabandhu's residence. Many pleaded, "Bangabandhu, vacate House No. 32." Bangabandhu said, "If they don't find me, they will do atrocities in Dhaka city. They will massacre millions. I am the leader of the majority party, the elected representative of the people. I cannot seek refuge elsewhere. I will stay in my home because I have sacrificed my life for the people of Bengal. Life and death are intertwined. I have repeatedly embraced death to achieve my goal. I will stay here. There is no doubt that my country will be independent."

Bangabandhu bid farewell, blessing everyone, "You go, I have done what I could." Mani bhai and I bid farewell to Bangabandhu last, at 11 p.m. He blessed us by placing his hand on our heads. He told us that wherever we go, we will receive financial and material support. He kissed our foreheads and bid us farewell that night.

As we were leaving Bangabandhu's place, barricades lined the streets. Moni bhai had been distributing leaflets on the way to Segunbagicha. We went to Moni bhai's house. Then, at midnight, Operation Searchlight, the most ruthless genocide in history, began according to the plan. On the night of March 25, the barbaric Pakistani forces attacked unarmed and defenseless people in Dhaka city with tanks and heavy weapons. The whole city turned into hell after midnight. Fires erupted everywhere. The Pakistani military launched the most barbaric massacre in history, starting with the murder of Bengalis. Only terrifying sounds echoed in every direction. The Pakistani forces killed hundreds of thousands of people in a single night. We were there that night.

On March 26, in a speech aimed at inciting the masses, Yahya Khan stated, "Sheikh Mujib has been arrested. Mujib is a traitor. This time he will not be spared." He declared the Awami League banned, saying, "The Awami League should have been banned earlier. Their leaders should have been arrested earlier."

The following day, on March 27, a curfew was imposed for two hours in the interest of public safety. I, along with others, sought refuge at the residence of Awami League leader Borhanuddin Gagan in Keraniganj, having no shelter in Dhaka. After spending two nights in Keraniganj, on March 29, I, along with my brother Mani, national leader Captain Mansur Ali, Kamaruzzaman, and others, including Dr. Abu Hanifah, who had ventured to Kolkata during the liberation struggle, embarked on a journey through Dhaka, Narayanganj, Manikganj, Sirajganj, Sariakandi, and Balurghat to enter India on April 4, seeking asylum.

From March 25 to December 16, Pakistan's military conducted a brutal genocide spanning nine months. The "Operation Searchlight" targeted four main areas in Dhaka: Bangabandhu's residence, Dhaka University campus, Rajarbagh Police Lines, and the then Pilkhana EPR (now BGB). Along with these locations, Rajshahi, Jessore, Khulna, Rangpur, Saidpur, Comilla, Sylhet, and Chittagong were also within the purview of Operation Searchlight.

During the liberation war, more than three lakh people were killed by the Pakistani military. A report in the Australian newspaper Herald Tribune states that on the night of March 25 alone, the Pakistani army killed 100,000 people in Dhaka city. American Senator Edward Kennedy visited refugee camps in India in 1971 and directly accused the Pakistani military of conducting genocide. The "Guinness Book of World Records" mentions the genocide in '71 as one of the top five most horrific mass killings in world history.

The editorial comment in the international arena was that in '71, the Pakistani military "killed three million" or thirty lakh Bengalis. Dan Cogin, a renowned journalist who covered the liberation war, quoted a Pakistani captain saying, "We can kill anyone for anything. We are accountable to no one." A notable editorial comment from this renowned publication was, "It is the most incredible, calculated thing since the days of the Nazis in Poland." According to the international community, during '71, the Pakistani military "killed three million" or 30 lakh Bengalis.

Support for this figure is found in the Encyclopedia Americana. In these reports, it is written that the brutality of the Pakistani military in Bangladesh was as terrifying as the barbarity of the Nazi forces in Poland during the Second World War. Pakistani General Rao Forman Ali wrote in his diary, "paint the green of East Pakistan red," indicating his intention to turn the green fields of Bangladesh into red with blood. An article published in the Herald Tribune from the United States on June 1, 1971, states, "To escape Pakistan's genocide, millions of Muslims and others are flowing into India like a stream." Newsweek wrote on April 26, just one month after the start of the Liberation War, "Under the directives of Islamabad, the military is systematically killing potentially capable individuals such as students, engineers, doctors, and leaders." In his book "Massacre," Robert Payne quotes Yahya Khan as saying, "Kill three million of them and the rest will eat out of our hands."

In a report by the United Nations in 1981, it is mentioned, "Among the genocides of human history, the highest number of people killed in a shorter span of time is in Bangladesh in 1971. An average of 6,000 to 12,000 people were killed every single day... This is the highest daily average in the history of genocides." Even after the Liberation War, in the investigation of genocide in Bangladesh, the "Hamoodur Rahman Commission" formed in Pakistan admitted the genocide in Bangladesh and held responsible individuals accountable for trial.

Many countries have gained independence in the world, but the transformation of an entire Bengali nation into an armed force under the leadership of one leader, with the sacrifice of over 3 million lives and the sacrifice of more than 200,000 mothers and sisters in exchange for victory in the nine-month-long genocidal war, is an unprecedented event in the history of mankind!

Author: Member, Advisory Council, Bangladesh Awami League; Member of Parliament, Bangladesh National Parliament.