For Whom:1. Young people who hates boring history textbooks but wants to know about the uber-cool war we fought in 1971
2. Young Bangladeshi students who has a difficulty in reading Bangla.3. Expatriate Bangladeshi kids looking for a brief history lesson about their own country that is deliberately written in cheesy English.4. Anyone who wants a birds eye view about the coolest thing we Bangladeshis did in last 5000 years.
5. Anyone who wants some morale to destroy the obstacles ahead!
Dear Cool Dude,
Wassup!!
Hope you are chilling like a black ops operative who just completed his last mission with a 95% kill rate.
This article is NOT to teach you anything, it is neither an attempt to portray you as an ignorant jerk (I know, some jackass “Senior-Citizens” try to do so).
Aim of this piece is to inform you about the coolest thing we Bangladeshis have ever done in last 5000 years. In the year of 1971, we beat the hell out of a big, fat, professional army and sent them packing like a dog having its tail between its legs.
That, my friend, was hardcore. Imagine a Call of Duty game scenario with you against an entire army, who are ten times more trained and equipped than you. Imagine, there will be no second chance once you are hit on the chest. Imagine, the pain is real.
Just Imagine!
If you know this story, my friend, I bet you can use the morale to destroy any obstacle daunting you. Come on man, whatever your situation is, it can’t be as bad as facing a murderous army with no arms or training!
So the story starts in 1947 when the Brits, our 200 year colonial masters, left us and divided the subcontinent with two parts: India and Pakistan.
The division was based on a totally shitty idea called two nations theory, where Hindus were sent to India and Muslims were sent to Pakistan. This was ridiculous because both the countries had mixed population, hundreds of religions coexisting for thousands of years.
Even more ridiculous was the idea of Pakistan itself, a country where the two parts were 1400 miles away! We the Bengalis lived in East Pakistan, whereas the West Pakistan was occupied by people from Punjab, Sindh, Baloch etc.
Green Parts in the Map are East and West Pakistan in 1947
We Bengalis played the pivotal role to get an independent Pakistan but we were the ones they treated like stray dogs. West Pakistani leadership took us for cowards, they thought we were inferior to them because of our height and skin color. Damn, those racist idiots even hated the fact that we eat rice and fish!
In 1952, the jerkiness meter of the West Pakistani Leadership reached a new height. They forced us to speak their language called Urdu and told us to forget our mother tongue, Bangla.
I still have tough time to figure out who came up with the idea. Its like, “Hey Bradd, from today you must stop flirting with Angelina in English, it has to be done in Japanese!” Jeeze! As you can guess,we instantly refused. We were determined NOT to call our dogs as “kuttey” in Urdu, we preferred “”Kukur” in Bengali and so on. We were so mad that we ignored the grimmest of death threats.
As a result, after a dozen deaths of Bengali protestors, West Pakistani government was forced to recognize Bangla as a state language. This incident is now world-famous, you can Google “International Mother Language Day” and see for yourself.
Shaheed Minar, the mausoleum to commemorate the Language martyrs
In 1965 Pakistan had a war with India where the entire East Pakistan was totally undefended. East Bengal Regiment, the army Unit of Pakistan comprising of Bengali soldiers, saved Pakistan from utter disgrace by using suicidal methods. Still, the West Pakistanis kept looking down upon us. In 1970 there was a massive cyclone where thousands of poor Bengalis died. Not a single West Pakistani leader took it seriously. They even joked about it saying, “East Pakistan has so many people that the dead guys will not be missed!”
That year, there was an all-Pakistan Election where Bengalis won under the leadership of a 6 feet tall charismatic guy, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. This man was so charismatic that millions of Bengalis were literally ready to die for him, at the gesture of his finger point.
When the West Pakistani leadership started dilly-dally to transfer the power to us Bengalis, our leader was super-angry. In March 7, he declared in front of millions: “This is the struggle for our freedom, this is the struggle for our independence!”
A Poster of Our Leader And His Famous Finger
West Pakistanis, like the dumbos they were, did what their thick skull told them to do: they started a military crackdown at all over the country on 25 March.
Pak army started to shoot anything that moves on the street. Their commander declared, “By April 10 everything will be under control, there will be little or no resistance”
This is what happened in 25 March,1971
This is what happened in 25 March,1971
That knucklehead was up for the surprise of his life.
Independence was declared on behalf of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (who would later be called as Banga-Bandhu, friend of Bengal) on 26th March, right before he was arrested by Pak army and sent to West Pakistan jail. Bengali section of Pakistan Army immediately revolted, mass people from all sections of society (students, farmers, teachers, day laborers, shopkeepers etc.) joined the struggle to free the country from the occupying Pak Army.
Young freedom fighters on guard
India, the arch enemy of Pakistan, found an opportunity to break the United Pakistan in this struggle. They opened the border and supplied us with arms, ammunition and training. Around ten million people fled to West Bengal where they were supported by their government.
These people with seven days to 1 month training reentered Bangladesh and harassed Pak army in every possible way. A major fraction of Bengali population ended up being the traitors, they supported Pak army to kill, loot and pillage their own kind. They are still hated and called by the name “Razakars”.
Among the freedom fighters there was a team called “Crack Platoon”- a highly specialized, handpicked commando unit who operated inside Dhaka. They were only 17 in number but their guerrilla attacks made mighty Pak Army piss their pants on a regular basis.
Russia was a superpower back then, and they supported our cause in United Nations. Indian Prime Minister fought for us in the diplomatic front. Intellectuals and artists stood by our cause: singers like Joan Baez and George Harrison sang for us.
Pakistan army killed an unbelievable number of three million people and raped 200000 women within a short span of 9 months, yet we refused to give up. Our intellectuals were killed on the verge of our victory, they did it with the help of Razakars to destroy our future development as a nation.
On 3 December, Indian Army joined hands with our freedom fighters, Mukti Bahini, and after a brief two weeks of combined fighting, Pak army surrendered on 16 December, which we celebrate as our victory day. For 9 months our freedom fighters fought with very limited training and arms against a hardcore professional army and beat them up-which is an unbelievable feat itself. Indian help rapidly accelerated our freedom, but it was the super brave freedom fighters who gave it in the back of Pak army.
Look how the Pak general surrendering like a wet cat!
Pak Army left, but their collaborators remained. Our father of the nation, Banga-BandhuSheikh Mujibur Rahman was killed in 1975, and the state entered into a dark age with dozens of military coups.
In 1991 we returned to democracy and in 2013, the young people of Bangladesh got united once again: this time for hanging the war criminals.
We have got an independent country but the war is still on. Our forefathers went through excruciating pain, they made utmost sacrifices so that we can breathe in a free and independent country where people from all religion,race and belief can live in peace.
As their descendants, it is our duty is to love our country passionately, become the best in what we do and make this country a heaven on earth.
Can we do it?
HELL YES!!!!