March milestones

The month of March holds extraordinary significance in the annals of history in Bangladesh. It encompasses all the important events, including the military crackdown by Pakistani forces, the perpetration of inhuman brutality, and a spate of killings leading to the liberation struggle and the birth of Bangladesh at the end of 1971. In other words, March saw the making of a history which is perhaps unparalleled in the recorded history of modern times.

According to the noted writer and chronicler, Syed Badrul Ahsan, it was the best of times for the Bengali nation, for it was a time when the powerful message went out that Bengalis were on the path to liberty as a nation. It is a record of the 26 days from March 1 to March 26 that needs to be told time and again, especially to the younger generation. Those 26 days were an exciting phase in history when Sheikh Mujibur Rahman took charge of the eastern flank of Pakistan that was yet to become a country.

Things started when President Yahya Khan suddenly announced (on March 1) that the session of the newly elected National Assembly, scheduled for March 3 in Dhaka, had been deferred. The reasons were not hard to guess. The military had capitulated to Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader who had decided he would not go to Dhaka, threatening to break the legs of any West Pakistani lawmakers who would go. He needed assurances that the Awami League (AL) would not press its Six Points in the Constitution-making process. Bhutto was obviously playing into the hands of the Pakistan army, whose senior officers were looking for a way to prevent Mujibur Rahman from becoming Pakistan’s first elected Prime Minister. The AL, with its 167 seats in a chamber of 313 seats, was the majority party and was qualified to form Pakistan’s central government. On the other hand, the PPP and the military were determined to prevent that.

Meanwhile, Admiral SM Ahsan, Governor of East Pakistan, resigned as he disagreed with the decision to put off the assembly session. Later, it was the turn of General Sahibzada Yaqub Khan, the Martial Law Administrator in East Pakistan, to resign. President Yahya Khan subsequently appointed General Tikka Khan as Governor and Martial Law Administrator. Tikka Khan arrived in Dhaka (on March 6). Justice B.A. Siddiky, Chief Justice of the East Pakistan High Court, refused to swear him in. Then, on March 2, the students of Dhaka University hoisted the Bangladesh flag before a huge crowd, marking the beginning of the events to unfold. And so, it was that Mujib assumed the leadership of what had quickly transformed into the de facto state of Bangladesh. His authority extended all over Bangladesh. The world was witnessing the birth of Bangladesh.

It did not help the Pakistani establishment that Yahya Khan, seeing the ire of the Bengalis, swiftly convened a Round Table Conference (RTC) for March 10 in Rawalpindi. In his wisdom, Sheikh Mujibur just as swiftly rejected the RTC, for he and his party would have nothing to do with measures patently aimed at undermining the results of the general elections held in December 1970. He spoke at a public rally on March 3, and, a few days later on March 7, he made a clarion call for independence. His speech remains a historic address that stirred the Bengalis. He was under pressure from his followers, especially the student community, to go for an outright declaration of independence on March 7. The astute politician that he was, he navigated his way carefully through the crisis. However, he was not willing to be branded a secessionist.

Events moved fast in Bangladesh, or East Pakistan as it was formally known. Mujib’s home at 32 Dhanmondi turned into the centre of national politics, with thousands of people making their way to the place. Artists, businessmen, government employees, teachers, students, doctors, policemen, and retired Bengali military officers acknowledged Mujibur’s leadership as the legitimate focus of political authority.

Significantly, with Mujib in charge, Yahya would be treated like any foreign visitor when he arrived in Dhaka on March 15. Beginning the next day, he and Mujib, along with their teams, engaged in several rounds of negotiations on a settlement of the crisis. Surprisingly, the President’s team, mainly comprising generals, was unable to present a draft proposal of its own at the negotiations. Yahya Khan himself had little or no understanding of the AL’s Six Points. In Dhaka, the junta team was worried about the means of a transfer of power, given that the country was under Martial Law, which had been imposed when Yahya Khan took over from Ayub Khan in March 1969. At one point, Yahya Khan informed Mujibur Rahman that he would like Bhutto to join the talks. Mujib made it known to the president that he was not interested in talking to Bhutto. Bhutto and his team, with no formula of their own on a constitutional approach to the problem, arrived in Dhaka on March 21. The next day, Bhutto and Mujib met at the President's House before they met Yahya Khan.

The narrative was typical of Bhutto. According to him, the Bengali leader warned that if they did not reach an understanding, the army would first destroy Mujib and then Bhutto. Bhutto’s version of the meeting was never corroborated by either the AL or the People’s Party. The tripartite meeting between Mujib, Bhutto, and Yahya Khan focused on the AL’s Six Points. An exasperated Pakistani regime then resolved to opt for military action in Bangladesh.

In the evening of March 25, General Yahya Khan and his entire delegation stealthily left Dhaka without officially ending the negotiations. Instructions were given to the army that military action against the Bengalis was not to be initiated until Yahya Khan’s aircraft had landed in Karachi. In Dhaka, once the presidential aircraft took off, General Tikka Khan directed General Khadim Hussain Raja to take “action.” The Pakistan army sprang into action across Dhaka. The genocide, named Operation Searchlight, commenced. In the early hours of March 26, Mujibur Rahman declared Bangladesh’s independence as a sovereign state. Soon after, the Pakistan army arrested Mujib from his residence and moved him to the cantonment before flying him to West Pakistan.

The rest is history. The current month of March remains very emotional and packed with history for Bangladeshis who sacrificed so much for their liberation and the gift of a new country emerging from 24 years of brutality unleashed on Bengalis by Pakistan. It would augur well if Pakistan takes a leaf out of this portion of history and never repeats the mistake, possibly to prevent further dismemberment.

The writer is a retired IPS officer, Adviser NatStrat, and a former National Security Advisor in Mauritius. Views expressed are personal