The day we won our victory

Illustration: TBS

Every nation has some days which are inscribed in the pages of history with letters of gold. These days carry memories of the glorious events that inspire people, that make people feel proud. The Bangladeshi people by tradition love freedom, but the Pakistani tyrants and oppressors kept us suppressed with the power of their guns for 24 years. They deprived us of all that we deserved and aspired to achieve. We wanted to speak our mother tongue, we wanted economic emancipation, we wanted due share of the national wealth, we wanted proportionate participation of our people in defence forces and civil administration. But we were treated as inferiors everywhere. We were rated as second class citizens in our own land.   

The capital was situated in the then West Pakistan. All the headquarters of the army, navy and air-force were located there, and they were headed by men of that part of Pakistan. Pakistan International Airlines at that time had its overhauling unit built there. Even ISSB which was responsible for recruiting commissioned officers had to ferry all candidates to West Pakistan for facing the final tests. All training centres for cadets of the army, navy and air-force were based there. The East Pakistan Rifles (EPR) gates in the then East Pakistan were manned by the Urdu-speaking soldiers who never spoke Bangla. They showed a clear attitude of hatred towards our mother tongue. The national cricket and football teams had one or two players from this part of Pakistan, and they were always seen sitting on the sidelines. A captain or a major from that part, while walking along a road in Dhaka or elsewhere, felt like a king and we were treated like his subjects. The Pakistani rulers always cared to consolidate army power along their border with India, but the border in the eastern part was always left unprotected.

All these unjust acts and behaviour of the Pakistani tyrants caused tremendous hatred among the conscious people of our country. Frustration and dismay accumulated over the years. Still our people waited with patience hoping that good sense would prevail and things would be straightened. But their evil design got exposed in 1948 when Muhammad Ali Jinnah declared that Urdu would be the state language of Pakistan. The suppressed anger of our people exploded. They went to the streets with banners, chanting their refusal to accept what the Pakistani ruler intended. Some valuable lives were lost due to indiscriminate fire by the Pakistani soldiers. This incident added fuel to the fire. The resistance of the people gained momentum. In 1971, this resistance turned into an armed struggle to thwart the occupation forces of Pakistan. Our valiant freedom fighters through nine months of bloody war achieved victory on this day of December in 1971. This is a day that the nation is proud about, this is the day the whole nation celebrates with due respect shown to the three million people who made the supreme sacrifice to win victory for us and for our posterity.

The seed of discontentment was sown by the British colonists who divided India and Pakistan before leaving the subcontinent in 1947. Forming a state with eastern and western parts which had more than 1,000 miles of Indian territory between them, was never a smart idea. On top of that they put the responsibility on the political leaders of West Pakistan to decide our fate. That was the worst decision of the British colonial rulers.

The Bangla speaking people were always a majority in Pakistan. So, if at all, there had to be a state language, it should have been Bangla. But the utter disrespect to our mother-tongue that was shown by the Pakistani rulers gave rise to anger among our people. Finally, the language movement forced them to accept Bangla as a state language. This language movement served a more important purpose: it created awareness among the people about their rights which was instrumental in bringing them together under the umbrella of the Awami League. In the general elections of 1970, Sheikh Mujib won an unprecedented majority. But President Yahya Khan started concocting fables to avoid handing over power to our leader. 

A series of meetings followed but nothing positive came out, it was only taking time to facilitate the Pakistani army to come into play. On 7 of March in 1971, Sheikh Mujib delivered the historic speech in the Ramna Race Course, urging the people to prepare for the struggle of freeing the country from the grips of Pakistani tyrants. During the dead of night on 25 March, 1971 the occupation forces of Pakistan let loose the dragon of hell. It caused loss of innumerable lives. Children were killed, old men and women massacred. It was genocide in the real sense of the term. On 26 March 1971, our dear leader was arrested and taken to an undisclosed prison in Pakistan. On 26 March, independence was declared by Major Ziaur Rahman on behalf of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman from a radio centre in Kalurghat in Chattogram. 

A full-fledged war started, and Pakistani occupation forces deployed all their resources to subdue the resistance of our freedom-fighters. Thousands of our brothers and sisters were killed, houses were gutted, factories, schools and colleges were burnt and damaged beyond use. Our domestic animals were taken away, even crops were spoiled. The struggle of our people got momentum as a Bangladesh government was formed on 17 April 1971 in a remote area near Kushtia, which was popularly known as Mujibnagar. Occupation forces gradually became weak and demoralised. The participation of the Indian forces further quickened the achievement of our victory. The Pakistani forces finally surrendered to the joint forces of India and the Mukti Bahini on 16 December 1971. A new nation gracefully showed up in the world map. Jubilant people sang and danced on the streets, they carried our new-born flag as a symbol of national identity. A solemn promise was made to safeguard the victory of the newly founded sovereign country: Bangladesh.

So, here we are today. Let this day be another occasion for us to be united in our promise to build a prosperous Bangladesh that is free from poverty, hunger and corruption. Let the three million people who laid down their dear lives for the freedom of our country be remembered in our daily prayers.

Abdul Hai is an educationist.