A freedom fighter is honored in all lands and in
all times, because he fights for a noble cause which is the freedom of the
motherland. Freedom is the birthright of man, but sometimes this right is
denied to a nation by foreign rulers. As a result, armed conflict takes places
between and if freedom-loving people and the occupation forces. Sometimes the
war continues for years and if the people are united and determined then the
freedom fighters win and the country achieves independence. The people of
Bangladesh fought a glorious war of independence against the Pakistani
occupation forces in 1971.
In this Great War the Bangali members of the armed forces the students and the
people from all walks of life took part. They fought for long nine months and
defeated the well-trained Pakistani forces. Bangladesh became a free country.
The people who fought against the Pakistani army and the people who took part
in the war effort are called the freedom fighters. Many of the freedom fighters
sacrificed their lives for the cause of the motherland. We owe our freedom of
these noble freedom sacrificed their lives for the cause of the motherland. We
owe our freedom of these noble freedom fighters. The freedom fighters will
remain immortal in the history of Bangladesh
Mukti Bahini (Bengali: মুক্তি বাহিনী "Liberation Army"), also termed as the
"Freedom Fighters" or FFs, collectively refers to the armed
organizations who fought against the Pakistan Army during theBangladesh Liberation War. It was dynamically formed by (mostly) Bengali regulars and
civilians after the proclamation of Bangladesh's independence on March 26, 1971. Subsequently
by mid-April 1971, the Bengali officers and soldiers of East Bengal Regiments
formed the "Bangladesh Armed Forces" and M. A. G. Osmani assumed its command. The civilian groups
continued to assist the armed forces during the war. After the war Mukti Bahini
became the general term to refer to all forces (military and civilian) of
former East Pakistani origin fighting against the Pakistani armed forces during
the Bangladesh Liberation War. Often Mukti Bahini operated as an effectiveguerrilla force to keep their enemies on the run. Inspired
in part by revolutionary Che Guevara,[1]they have been compared to the French Maquis, Viet Cong, and the guerrillas of Josip Broz Tito in their tactics and effectiveness.[2]
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Contents
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Origins
Although Mukti Bahini was formed to fight off
the military crackdown by the Pakistan army on March 25, 1971
during the climax of the Bangladesh freedom movement, The crisis had already started
taking shape with anti-Ayub uprising in 1969 and precipitated into a political
crisis at the height of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's Six-point movement beginning in the 1970s. In March 1971, rising political discontent
andcultural nationalism in what was then East Pakistan (later, Bangladesh)
was met by harsh[3] suppressive force from the ruling elite of the
West Pakistan establishment[4] in what came to be termed Operation Searchlight.[5] India started actively aiding and re-organising
what was by this time already the nucleus of the Mukti Bahini.This led to a
crackdown by West Pakistan forces[6] became an important factor in precipitating the
civil war as a sea of refugees (estimated at the time to be about 10 million)[7][8] came flooding to the eastern provinces of
India.[7]
The immediate precursor of the Mukti Bahini was
Mukti Fauj ("Fauj" is the Urdu originally from Persian borrowed from Arabic for "Brigade" exported into several languages in South Asia including Bengali), which was preceded
denominationally by the sangram parishads formed in the cities and villages by the student
and youth leaderships in early March 1971. When and how the Mukti Fauj was
created is not clear nor is the later adoption of the name Mukti Bahini. It is,
however, certain that the names originated generically refer to the people who
fought in the Bangladesh liberation war.
Since the anti-Ayub uprising in 1969 and during the height of Mujib's six points
movement, there was a growing movement among the Bengalis in East Pakistan to
become independent driven by the nationalists, radicals and leftists. After the
election of 1970, the subsequent crisis strengthened that feeling within the
people. Sheikh Mujib himself was facing immense pressure from most prominent
political quarters, especially the ultra-nationalist young student leaders, to
declare independence without delay. Armed preparations were going on by some
leftist and nationalist groups, and the Bengali army officers and soldiers were
prepared to defect. At the call of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman the people of East
Pakistan joined in a peaceful movement for non-cooperation from 3 March 1971,
and 7th march and onward, which lasted up to midnight of 25 March 1971. On this
date the Pakistani Army cracked down upon unarmed civilians to take control of
the administration. During the army crackdown on the night of March 25, 1971,
there were reports of small scale resistance notably at Iqbal Hall, Dhaka University and at the Rajarbagh Police Headquarter. The
latter initially put a strong fight against the Pakistan Army. As political
events gathered momentum, the stage was set for a clash between the Pakistan
Army and the Bengali people vowing for independence. Bengali members of the
Army were also defecting and gathering in various pockets of the country.
All these early fights were disorganized and
futile because of the greater military strength of the Pakistani Army. Outside
of Dhaka, resistance was more successful. The earliest move towards
forming a liberation army officially came from the declaration of independence
made by Major Ziaur Rahman of East Bengal Regiment on behalf of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. In the declaration made from Kalurghat Betar Kendra (Chittagong) on March 27, 1971, Zia assumed the title of
"provisional commander in chief of the Bangladesh Liberation Army",
though his area of operation remained confined to Chittagong and Noakhali areas. Major Ziaur Rahman's declaration on
behalf of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman marked a break with Pakistan by the Bengali units of the army.
Organization during war
Though prolonged Bengali resistance was not
anticipated by Pakistani planners of Operation Searchlight,[9] when the Pakistani Army cracked down upon the
population, the Mukti Bahini were becoming increasingly visible. Headed by
Colonel (later, General) M. A. G. Osmani, a retired Pakistani Army officer, this band was raised as
Mujib's action arm and security force before assuming the character of a
conventional guerrilla force. After the declaration of independence, the
Pakistani military sought to quell them, but increasing numbers of Bengali
soldiers defected to the underground
"Bangladesh army". These Bengali units slowly merged into the Mukti
Bahini and bolstered their weaponry.
On April 12, 1971 Colonel (later General) M. A. G. Osmani assumed the command of armed forces at Teliapara
(Sylhet) headquarters. Osmani was made the
commander-in-chief of Bangladesh Armed Forces on April 17, 1971. Serious
initiative for organising the Bangladesh liberation army was taken between
11–17 July. In a meeting of the sector commanders in Kolkata, four important resolutions were taken in
consideration of strategic aspects of the war, existing problems and future
course of resistance. These were:
§ Composition and tactics of the combatants would
be as follows:
§ Guerrilla teams comprising 5 to 10 trained
members would be sent to specific areas of Bangladesh with specific assignments
§ Combat soldiers would carry out frontal attacks
against the enemy. Between 50 and 100 per cent would carry arms. Intelligence
volunteers would be engaged to collect information about the enemy. 30 percent
of these people would be equipped with weapons;
§ The regular forces would be organised into
battalions and sectors.
§ The following strategies would be adopted while
carrying out military operations against the enemy
§ A large number of guerrillas would be sent out
inside Bangladesh to carry out raids and ambushes;
§ Industries would be brought to a standstill and
electricity supply would be disrupted;
§ Pakistanis would be obstructed in exporting
manufactured goods and raw materials;
§ Communication network would be destroyed in
order to obstruct enemy movements;
§ Enemy forces would be forced to disperse and
scatter for strategic gains;
§ The whole area of Bangladesh would be divided
into 11 sectors.
Other than the organizations of Mukti Bahini who
were generally trained and armed by the Indian Army, there were independent
guerrilla groups led by individual leaders, either nationalists or leftists,
who were successfully controlling some areas.
Regular and irregular forces
Leaflets and pamphlets played an important role
in driving public opinion during the war.
The regular forces later called Niomita Bahini (regular force) consisted of the members of the East Bengal Regiments (EBR), East Pakistan Rifles (EPR, later BDR), police, other paramilitary forces and the
general people who were commanded by the army commanders in the 11 sectors all
over Bangladesh. Three major forces: Z-Force under the command of
Major (later, Major General) Ziaur Rahman,
K-Force under Major (later Brigadier ) Khaled Mosharraf and S-Force under Major (later Major
General) K M Shafiullah were raised afterwards to fight battles in efficient manners. The irregularforces,
generally called Gono Bahini (people's army), were those who were trained more
in guerrilla warfare than the conventional one.
The irregular forces, which after initial
training joined different sectors, consisted of the students, peasants, workers
and political activists. Irregular forces were initiated inside Bangladesh
province to adopt guerrilla warfare against the enemy. The regular forces were
engaged in fighting the usual way.
The Mukti Bahini obtained strength from the two
main streams of fighting elements: members of armed forces of erstwhile East Pakistan and members of the urban and rural youths many
of whome were volunteers. Other groups included members of sangram parishads,
youth and student wings of Awami League,
NAP, Leftist-Communist Parties and radical groups. The Mukti Bahini had several
factions. The foremost one was organized by the members of the regular armed
force, who were generally known as Freedom Fighters (FF). Then there was
Bangladesh Liberation Forces (BLF) led by four youth leaders of the political
wing of Sheikh Mujib's Awami League and the third one generally known as
Special Guerrilla Forces (SGF) led by the Communist Party of Bangladesh,
National Awami Party, and Bangladesh Students Union. They then jointly launched
guerrilla operations against the Pakistani Army causing heavy damages and casualties. This
setback prompted the Pakistani Army to induct Razakars, Al-Badrs and Al-Shams (mostly members ofJamaat-e-Islami and other Islamist groups), as well as other
Bengalis who opposed independence, and Biharis who had settled during the time of partition.
This helped Pakistan stem the tide somewhat as the monsoon approached in the months of June and July.
Bangladesh Navy
Bangladesh Navy was constituted in August 1971. Initially, there
were two ships and 45 navy personnel. These ships carried out many successful
raids on the Pakistani fleet. But both of these ships were mistakenly hit and
destroyed by Indian fighter planes on 10 December 1971, when they were about to
launch a major attack on Mongla seaport.
Bangladesh Air Force
Bangladesh Air Force started functioning on 28 September at Dimapur in Nagaland, under the command of Air Commodore AK Khondakar. Initially, it consisted of 17 officers, 50 technicians, 2 planes
and 1 helicopter. The Air Force carried out more than twelve sorties against
Pakistani targets and was quite successful during the initial stages of the
Indian attack in early December.
Independent forces
In addition, there were also some independent
forces that fought in various regions of Bangladesh and liberated many areas. These
includedMujib Bahini which was organized in
India. Major General Oban of the Indian Army and Student League leaders Serajul Alam Khan, Sheikh Fazlul Haque Mani, Kazi Arif Ahmed, Abdur Razzak, Tofael Ahmed, A. S. M. Abdur Rab, Shahjahan Siraj, Nur E Alam Siddiqi, and Abdul Quddus Makhon were organisers of this Bahini. There was the Kaderia Bahini under Kader Siddique of Tangail, Afsar Bahini and Aftab Bahiniof Mymensingh,Tiger Bahini under Abu Siddique Ahmed of Netrakona Latif Mirza Bahini of Sirajganj, Akbar Hossain Bahini of Jhinaidah,Quddus Molla and Gafur
Bahini of Barisal, Hemayet Bahini under Hemayet Uddin of Faridpur..There were also
several communist/leftist groups who clashed with the Pakistan Army, and
controlled some areas independently.
Leftist factions
In addition,there were some other groups of
freedom fighters which were controlled by the Leftist parties and groups
including the NAP and Communist Parties. Among others, Siraj Sikder raised a strong guerrilla force which fought
several battles with the Pakistani soldiers in Payarabagan, Barisal. Although
there were ideological conflicts among the communist parties (most notably,
split into pro-soviet and pro-Chinese factions and widespread split within the
pro-Chinese faction) on deciding a common action in the context of Bangladesh
Liberation, many of the individuals and leaders of Mukti Bahini were deeply
influenced by the leftist ideology in general. There were strong concerns among
the Indian authority and members of the Awami League led provisional government
not to lose the control of the liberation war to the leftists. Nevertheless
many leftists overcame these internal and external difficulties and actively
participated in the Liberation war with the main nucleus of the Mukti Bahini.
Sectors of Liberation War
The eleven sectors
Immediately after formation, the new government
of Bangladesh shifted its focus on organizing the war against Pakistan Army. A
Cabinet meeting of Bangladesh government on July 11, 1971 appointed Col. M. A.
Goni Osmani as Commander in Chief, Lt. Col. Abdur Rab as Chief of Army Staff
and Group Captain A K Khandker as Deputy Chief of Army Staff and Chief of Air
Force.
In this meeting Bangladesh was divided into
Eleven Sectors and each Sector was assigned a Sector Commander. The 10th Sector
was directly placed under the Commander in Chief (C-in-C) and included the
Naval Commandos and C-in-C’s special force.[10]
The Sector Commanders were chosen from defected
officers of Pakistan army who joined the Mukti Bahini. These trained officers
directed the guerrilla warfare as well as trained the independence militia who
lacked formal training on military operations. Most of these training camps
were situated near the border area and were operated with direct assistance
from India.
For better efficiency in combat operations, each
of the sectors were divided into a number of sub-sectors. The table below
provides a list of the sectors along with the name of the sector commanders.
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Sector
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Area
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Sector Commander
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1
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Chittagong District, Chittagong Hill Tracts, and the entire eastern area of theNoakhali District on the banks of the river Muhuri.
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2
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3
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Area between Churaman Kathi (near Sreemangal)
and Sylhet in the north and Singerbil of Brahmanbaria in the south.
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Major KM Shafiullah, later replaced by Major
ANM Nuruzzaman.
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4
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Area from Habiganj District on the north to Kanaighat Police Station on the south along the
100 mile long border with India.
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Major Chittarajan Datta, later replaced by
Captain A Rab.
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5
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Area from Durgapur to Danki (Tamabil) of Sylhet District and the entire area up to the eastern borders
of the district.
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Major Mir Shawkat Ali
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6
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Wing Commander M Khademul Bashar
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7
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Major Nazmul Huq, later replaced by Subedar
Major A Rab and Kazi Nuruzzaman.
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8
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Major Abu Osman Chowdhury, later replaced by
Major MA Manzur.
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9
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Major M A Jalil later replaced by Major MA Manzur
and Major Joynal Abedin.
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10
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This sector was constituted with the naval
commandos.
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Indian commander MN Sumanta.
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11
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Mukti Bahini in the final phase
The liberation forces started carrying out massive
raids into enemy fronts from October 1971. After the signing of the Indo-Soviet Treaty in August 1971, India began to demonstrate more interest in the
Bangladesh war. Eventually India legally entered the war on 3 December 1971 (Indo-Pakistani War of 1971) after Pakistan's preemptive air raids on some Indian cities in
the western border. In fact, the Indian soldiers were already participating in
the war in different guises since November when the independence fighters had
launched the Belonia battle. When the Indian Army planned to avoid battles and
seize the capital Dhaka in the shortest campaign possible, the Mukti Bahini
made the task much easier by confining the Pakistani army and holding them back
from moving towards to capital.
Despite the difficult terrain of Bangladesh, the
war was won rapidly. Dhaka was liberated in a matter of two weeks. The Mukti
Bahini were a major contributing factor in the Indian Victory fighting both as
irregulars, and as conventional forces alongside the Indians. Several actions
in the heart of the capital and the killing of Monaem Khan, a loyalist,
anti-Bengali and ex-governor of East Pakistan, proved the effectiveness and
capability of the guerrillas.
On 16 December 1971, commander of the 14
division of Pakistan army Major General Jamshed surrendered to Indian General
Nagra near Mirpur bridge in Dhaka. At 10.40 am, the Indian allied force and Kader Siddique entered Dhaka city. That signaled the end of the
9-month long War of Liberation of Bangladesh. Scattered battles were still
waged at various places of the country.
The Commander of Eastern Command of the Pakistan
Army, Lt. General A. A. K. Niazi surrendered to the commander of the joint Indo-Bangladesh force
and the chief of Indian eastern command Lt. General Jagjit Singh Arora. The Bangladesh Forces were represented
at the ceremony by Group Captain A. K. Khandker.
See also
References
5.
^ Anatomy of Violence:
Analysis of Civil War in East Pakistan in 1971: Military Action: Operation
Searchlight Bose S Economic and Political Weekly Special Articles, October 8,
2005
6.
^ The Pakistani Slaughter That Nixon Ignored ,
Syndicated Column by Sydney Schanberg, New
York Times, May 3, 1994
7.
^ a b Crisis in South Asia - A report by Senator Edward Kennedy to the Subcommittee
investigating the Problem of Refugees and Their Settlement, Submitted to U.S.
Senate Judiciary Committee, November 1, 1971, U.S. Govt. Press.pp6-7
Jagjit singh Arora
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