Bangladesh is celebrating her 39th year of independence. Throughout these long long thirty nine years, Bangladesh has seen many pleasant as well as unpleasant happenings. The trials of the war criminals are yet to see the light of justice; still Bangladesh has moved a long way from her former tender self. This year, the 2010 is special in many ways, we have seen the first of many ( hopefully) double series victories by the tigers, the capture of some renown political leaders for war crimes, the largest fire accident in Bangladesh’s history etc, but this year is also special because of the moth December. The December of 1971 and the 2010 are identical- the days match perfectly!! The 1st December was on Wednesday in 1971, so is 1st December of 2010.
Before proceeding, I would like to share brief information on liberation war of 1971. On March 25th, the Pakistan army initiated The Genocide ‘Operation Searchlight’ led by Tikka Khan ‘The Most Daring and Heartless‘ Pakistan army officer at that time to curb the Bengali nationalist movement. From March 26th, the freedom fights begun. Bangladesh was divided into Eleven Sectors under Sector Commanders for better efficiency.
| Sector# | Area | Sector commander |
|---|---|---|
| 01 | Chittagong District, Chittagong Hill Tracts, and the entire eastern area of the Noakhali District on the banks of the river Muhuri. The headquarters of the sector was at Harina. |
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| 02 | Districts of Dhaka, Comilla, and Faridpur, and part of Noakhali District. |
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| 03 | Area between Churaman Kathi (near Sreemangal) and Sylhet in the north and Singerbil of Brahmanbaria in the south. |
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| 04 | Area from Habiganj District on the north to Kanaighat Police Station on the south along the 100 mile long border with India. The headquarters of the sector was initially at Karimganj and later at Masimpur. |
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| 05 | Area from Durgapur to Danki (Tamabil) of Sylhet District and the entire area up to the eastern borders of the district. The headquarters of the sector was at Banshtala. |
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| 06 | Rangpur District and part of Dinajpur District. The headquarters of the sector was at Burimari near Patgram. |
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| 07 | Rajshahi, Pabna, Bogra and part of Dinajpur District. The headquarters of the sector was at Taranngapur. |
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| 08 | In April 1971, the operational area of the sector comprised the districts of Kushtia, Jessore, Khulna, Barisal, Faridpur and Patuakhali. At the end of May the sector was reconstituted and comprised the districts of Kuhstia, Jessore, Khulna, Satkhira and the northern part of Faridpur district. The headquarters of the sector was at Benapole. |
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| 09 | Barisal, Patuakhali, and parts of the district of Khulna and Faridpur. |
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| 10 | This sector was constituted with the naval commandos. |
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| 11 | Mymensingh and Tangail along with parts of Rangpur- Gaibandha, Ulipur, Kamalpur and Chilmari. The headquarters of the sector was at Teldhala until October 10, then transferred to Mahendraganj. |
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Other than these 11 sectors, there were 3 major guerilla forces active during liberation war:
Let’s have a look from 1st December to 16thDecember:
- Z Force, under Major Ziaur Rahman, consisted of 1, 3 and 8 East Bengal Regiment.
- K Force, commanded by Major Khaled Mosharraf, was created with 4, 9 and 10 East Bengal Regiment.
- S Force, under Major K.M. Safiullah, was created in October 1971 and consisted of 2 and 11 East Bengal Regiment.
Let’s have a look from 1st December to 16thDecember:
| Day | What happened? |
|---|---|
| December 3rd | The Bangladesh Air Force, composed of 9 Bengali pilots and 50 technicians defecting from the Pakistan Air Force, launches attacks on oil depots at Naryanganj and Chittagong and communication lines, flying light aircrafts-1 DC-3 Dakota, 1 Twin Otter, 1 Alouette III helicopter donated by India. |
| December 4th | Shamshernagar was liberated from the Pak army. India officially invades East Pakistan . |
| December 6th | India becomes the first country to recognize Bangladesh. Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra becomes Bangladesh Betar. |
| December 7th | Liberation of Jessore, Sylhet and Moulovi Bazar by the mitro bahini. |
| December 8th | Chandpur and Daudkandi liberated from the Pak army. |
| December 10th | Liberation of Laksham. Two Bangladeshi ships sunk mistakenly by Indian air attack. |
| December 11st | Mitro bahini Liberated Hilli, Mymenshingh, Kushtia and Noakhali. USS Enterprise is deployed by the USA in the Bay of Bengal to intimidate Indian Navy. The 2nd Parachute Battalion Group of the Indian Army carries out the Tangail Airdrop, aiming to take Poongli Bridge on the Jamuna and cut off the retreat of the 93 Brigade of the Pakistani Army. |
| December 13th | Soviet Navy deploys a group of ships to counter USS Enterprise. |
| December 14th | Pakistan Army and its local collaborators carried out a systematic execution of the leading Bengali intellectuals Liberation of Bogra from the oppressing . Pakistan Army and its local collaborators carried out a systematic, selective genocide of the leading Bengali intellectuals. Mitro bahini liberated Bogra. |
| December 15th | IAF ( Indian Air Force) bombed the then governor house(now Banga Bhaban) at Dhaka which accelerated the decision of Pak forces’ surrender. |
| December 16th | 90,000 Pakistan Army and its collaborators surrender to Mitro bahini represented by Lieutenant General Jagjit Singh Aurora of the Indian Army faction of the military coalition. Bangladesh achieved her deserved independence. |
Bangladesh has earned her independence at the cost 3 million lives. So a heartiest request to all out there- Don’t pretend to be patriotic just because it’s the month of victory, feel the sacrifices of the martyrs who gave away their everything just to make sure we can breathe under the free sky. Let us respect them for their magnitude of self sacrifice for our beloved country.Guest Author: Rashed Ul Hasan