Bangladesh celebrates its 56th Independence Day
The Bangladesh Independence Declaration was proclaimed by Ziaur Rahman, based on a message from Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Mass protests and Operation Searchlight triggered the Liberation War.
Today marks the 56th anniversary of the declaration of independence of Bangladesh (former East Pakistan) read on radio station by Ziaur Rahman after a text from Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on the 26th of March 1971. This was the culmination of a month of public protest known as the Non-CooperationMovementtriggeredbythedenial of the AwamiLeague’sright to form a government despite its victory in the 1970 general elections.
This holidaytakes place a month after the Language Martyrs' Dayof 21 February, which ignitedsparks of thenationalistmovement when university student of Dhakkaprotested the establishment of Urdu as the national language of the whole territory when Bangladesh was still part of the dominion of Pakistan. Bengali wasfinallyestablished as an official language alongside Urduin 1956. In 1999, UNESCO established the International MotherLanguageDay the same dayin tribute to their struggle.
It alsomarks the start of the Bangladesh Liberation Warfollowing theOperationSearchlight carried out by the Pakistan army on the 25th of March 1971.These events led to the Bangladesh genocide, which caused an estimated 300,000 deaths according to the lowest estimates, and has not yet received wide international recognition.
Sources:
-Gary J. Bass,The Blood Telegram
-Britannica – “Bangladesh Liberation War”
Faudel Taouli
Contributing writer at EUReflect.