Timeline of Bangladesh Liberation War
The Bangladesh Liberation War started on March 26, 1971 and ended on December 16, 1971. Some of the major events of the war are listed in the timeline below.
Timeline
Before the war
- March 1: General Yahya Khan calls off the session of National Council to be held on March 3 in a radio address.[1]
- March 7: Sheikh Mujibur Rahman - leader of Awami League party that had just won a landslide victory in East Pakistan in the Federal Elections - announces to a jubilant crowd at the Dhaka Race Course ground, "The struggle this time is the struggle for our emancipation! The struggle this time is the struggle for independence!".[2]
- March 9: Workers of Chittagong port refuse to unload weapons from the ship 'Swat'.
- March 10: Expatriate Bengali students demonstrate in front of the United Nations Headquarters and calls for UN intervention to put an end to violence on Bengali people.[3]
- March 16: Yahya Khan starts negotiation with Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
- March 19: Nearly 50 people die as Pakistan Army opens fire on demonstrators at Jaydevpur.[4]
- March 24: Pakistan Army opens fire on Bengali demonstrators in Syedpur, Rangpur and Chittagong. More than a thousand people are killed.[5]
Events of the War
March
- March 25: Pakistan Army starts Operation Searchlight in Dhaka and rest of the country, attacking political activists, students, and Bengali members of armed forces and police
- March 26: Independence of Bangladesh is declared by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman shortly before his arrest. This is Bangladesh's official Independence Day.
- March 31: Kushtia resistance begins.
April
May
July
- July 11–17: Sector Commanders Conference 1971.
August
September
October
- October 13: Dhaka guerrillas kill Abdul Monem Khan, governor of East Pakistan.
- October 28: Battle of Dhalai Outpost, Srimongol.
- October 31 to November 3: Battle of Dhalai: Indian attack from Tripura into East Pakistan to stop Pakistani cross-border shelling.
November
- November 9: Six small ships constitute the first fleet of Bangladesh Navy.
- November 16: Battle of Ajmiriganj, an 18 hour encounter between MB and Pakistan army. A famous freedom fighter, Jagatyoti Das, is martyred.
- November 20 to November 21: Battle of Garibpur: Indian attack in Boyra salient in East Pakistan
- November 21: Mitro Bahini, the joint force of Bngladesh and Indian army is formed.
- November 22 to December 13, and sporadic fighting to December 16: Battle of Hilli: Indian attack on Bogra in East Pakistan.
December (Indo-Pakistan War)
- December 3: Bangladesh Air Force destroys Pakistani oil depots[9].. Pakistani air attacks on India result in India declaring war on Pakistan.
- December 4 : Battle of Longewala: Indians stop a Pakistani invasion directed at Jaisalmer.
- December 5 : Battle of Basantar: Indians attack and take over Pakistani territory opposite Jammu.
- December 6: India becomes the first country to recognize Bangladesh. Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra becomes Bangladesh Betar.
- December 7: Liberation of Jessore, Sylhet and Moulovi Bazar.
- December 8: Operation Python: Indian naval attack on Karachi
- December 9: Battle of Kushtia: Indian attack from West Bengal into East Pakistan.
- Chandpur and Daudkandi liberated.
- December 10: Liberation of Laksham. Two Bangladeshi ships sunk mistakenly by Indian air attack.
- December 11: Liberation of Hilli, Mymenshingh, Kushtia and Noakhali. USS Enterprise is deployed by the USA in the Bay of Bengal to intimidate Indian Navy.
- December 13: Soviet Navy deploys a group of ships to counter USS Enterprise.
- December 14: Selective genocide of nationalist intellectuals. Liberation of Bogra.
- December 16: Pakistan Army surrenders to Mitro Bahini represented by Jagjit Singh Aurora of the Indian Army faction of the military coalition.
- Freedom of Bangladeshi people.
- December 22: The provisional government of Bangladesh arrives in Dhaka from exile.
See also
References
- ^ March 1, 1971 - Liberation War Museum
- ^ [1]
- ^ March 10, 1971 - Liberation War Museum
- ^ March 19, 1971 - Liberation War Museum
- ^ March 24, 1971 - Liberation War Museum
- ^ Locals still have nightmare about supreme sacrifices of Lt. Azim, 200 others The New Nation, Internet Edition, May 8, 2009
- ^ A Tale of Millions, Islam, Major Rafiqul Bir Uttam, p 211
- ^ Jahanara Imam, Ekatturer Dinguli
- ^ মুক্তিযুদ্ধে বিমান (Airplanes of liberation war), The Daily Prothom Alo, December 25, 2009