March 25 Massacre

Politics and Bureaucracy

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.