Latest news with #Bangabandhu
India.com
18-07-2025
- Politics
- India.com
Two leaders met in the bathroom to stop Pakistan from dividing, why was there a need to create Bangladesh?
Two leaders met in the bathroom to stop Pakistan from dividing, why was there a need to create Bangladesh? Violence has erupted once again in our neighbouring country Bangladesh. People have come out on the streets. The ancestral house of India's great filmmaker Satyajit Ray was also vandalised. Last year too, riots started in Bangladesh in July which soon turned into severe violence. Due to which Sheikh Hasina not only had to leave the post of PM, but also had to leave the country to save her life and had to take refuge in India. Did you know Dhaka Television had clearly refused to play the Pakistani national anthem? That is when the Pak Army considered the Awami League a separatist organization. In fact, on March 23, 'Lahore Resolution Day' was being celebrated, the idea of an independent Muslim country was announced for the first time. However, this time the scene is a little different from the last time, this time there are clashes between the workers of two parties. On the other hand, after the Pakistani army and intelligence agency, now Pakistani terrorist groups have also entered Bangladesh. In such a situation, should it be believed that Bangladesh is once again on the path of becoming Pakistan? Why there was a need to create Bangladesh, what was going on in Pakistan a few months before the creation of Bangladesh? Why did Bangladesh become a separate country? When India got independence from the British in 1947, it was divided into two parts. On the basis of religion, a new country Pakistan was created on the map. The newly-formed nation Pakistan was divided into eastern and western provinces. People of East Pakistan spoke Bengali. Women wore colorful saris. On the contrary, Urdu and Punjabi were dominant in West Pakistan. There was a culture of burqa and hijab. 55 percent of Pakistan's population lived in East Pakistan and 45 percent in West Pakistan. Out of the total 313 seats in the Parliament of Pakistan i.e. the National Assembly, 169 were in East Pakistan (present Bangladesh) and 144 in West Pakistan (present Pakistan). Despite this, 80 percent of the budget was spent on only 45 percent of the people. That is, it was spent on West Pakistan. The leaders who ran the government were also from the West and they considered the people of East Pakistan as second class citizens and for the Pak Army they were nothing more than insects. When the people of East Pakistan raised their voice against inequality and economic discrimination, the Pak Army suppressed their voice. Abusive words were used against East Pakistanis. They were considered weak and inferior. If they went to the police to tell their plight, the police also blamed them. In 1952, there was a movement in Pakistan regarding the Bengali language, in which many students lost their lives. This was just the beginning. Why did Bangabandhu file a case? Sheikh Mujibur Rahman alias 'Bangabandhu', the head of East Pakistan's political party Awami League, raised his voice against political inequality and economic discrimination towards his province. After the Indo-Pak war of 1965, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman said in Lahore, 'Provincial autonomy is also necessary to bring uniformity in the economic development of both the provinces.' This suggestion of Awami League leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was not only ignored, but a case was lodged against him in 1968 under the 'Agartala Conspiracy'. It was alleged that he was conspiring with India to break East Pakistan. 1970 elections added fuel to the fire of Partition Neither the government considered the East Pakistanis important nor the administration listened to them. The people were growing angry with the attitude of the people in the government and the misbehavior of the police and the army. While demanding their rights, the East Pakistanis started demanding an independent nation. The general elections held in December 1970 added fuel to the fire of partition in Pakistan. Before the 1970 general elections, Pakistan was under President's rule and dictator General Yahya Khan was the President. In the general elections, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's Awami League had fielded candidates on 169 seats including East Pakistan, out of which it won 167 seats, while the Pakistan People's Party won only 81 seats out of 138 seats in West Pakistan. The majority figure to form a government in Pakistan was 157 seats. Sheikh Mujiburahman had the majority to form the government, but the leaders of West Pakistan did not want Bengalis to rule them. Pakistan's military dictator General Yahya Khan refused to make Sheikh Mujiburahman the Prime Minister. On March 7, 1971, Sheikh Mujiburahman gave a historic speech at the Race Course Ground in Dhaka. He declared East Pakistan independent and named the country Bangladesh. 'Let western leaders form the government', the conversation that took place in bathroom After this, on March 15, 1971, when Yahya Khan reached Dhaka to talk about the transfer of power, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman came to meet him in a white car. There was also a black flag on the car. When Yahya Khan took Sheikh Mujibur Rahman to the drawing room of the Government House for talks, Sheikh protested. John Sisson and Leo Rose, while referring to this meeting in their book 'War and Secession: Pakistan, India and Creation of Bangladesh', wrote- Sheikh Mujiburahman wanted to talk in private. Yahya Khan ordered two chairs to be placed in the bathroom. After this, the talks to save Pakistan started in the bathroom. The talks lasted for about two and a half hours. On 19 March, Yahya invited Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, leader of the Pakistan People's Party, to Dhaka to join the talks. Once again the three – Sheikh, Yahya and Bhutto – met. Yahya tried to mediate between Bhutto and Sheikh, but the two were not on speaking terms. Then Yahya joked to lighten the atmosphere and said- 'You both are behaving like a newly married couple.' Yahya held their hands and asked them to talk, then Bhutto and Sheikh Mujibur started talking to each other. After this discussion, it was agreed that Bangladesh would exist within a united Pakistan, but on 23 March, all plans were ruined. In fact, on 23 March, 'Lahore Resolution Day' was being celebrated all over Pakistan. On this day in 1940, the idea of an independent Muslim country was announced for the first time. On 3 December 1971, Indian soldiers jumped into the battlefield to stop the brutality of the Pakistani army. The war between India and Pakistan took place on all three fronts. Within 13 days, the Pakistani army had to surrender. In this war, more than 93 thousand Pakistani soldiers surrendered to the Indian army and a new nation was born in the form of Bangladesh.
United News of India
17-07-2025
- Politics
- United News of India
Ex-PM Sheikh Hasina condemns Gopalganj violence, calls it pre-planned conspiracy by NCP-CA Md Yunus
Dhaka, July 17 (UNI) Post the violent clashes in Bangladesh's Gopalganj region between members of the National Citizen Party (NCP) and the now-banned Awami League, which led to four AL members getting killed and two dozen injured, in firing by the army and police, ex-Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has slammed the incident, claiming that the attack was a pre-planned conspiracy by Chief Advisor Mohammed Yunus and his "mob" gang. Issuing a statement, the former premier called upon the citizens to unite in the spirit of progressive, democratic, modern, and non-communal ideals to "crush the tyranny of murderer-fascist Yunus", 'the godfather of mob terrorism', and to protect Bangladesh, reports Daily Republic. Extending her condolences to the departed, and wishing speedy recovery to the injured, she also expressed her gratitude to the 'brave people of Gopalganj—born of a heroic land—for standing up and resisting Yunus.' The NCP comprises student members who had orchestrated the July-August protests of last year which led to her ouster on August 5, 2024. Accusing the NCP and the Yunus administration of attacking Bengali identity itself, by attacking the residence of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the memorial museum of the 1971 Liberation War, and 'desecrating' the national flag, anthem, and constitution, Hasina accused the two parties of perpetrating widespread 'genocide, police killings, rape, robbery, mugging, and looting.' 'The public enemy, murderer-fascist, anti-national, and patron of terrorism, Yunus — through his mob terrorism and the so-called NCP—has instigated newly emerged militant-terrorists who, following the pattern of August 5, again mobilised under the banner of a so-called 'March to Gopalganj' programme with the intent to demolish the resting place of Bangabandhu in Tungipara, the very heart of Bengali identity,' she added. She further critiqued the NCP and CA Yunus' attack on Mujibism (the tenets of Bangladesh's political identity), and said 'Bangabandhu and Bangladesh are one and inseparable. An attack on either will not go unanswered by the Bengali nation. And today, the people of Gopalganj did not sit silently. In the struggle to protect Bangladesh and Bangabandhu, the brave people of Gopalganj, despite all odds, defied tear gas, bullets, and repression, and defended Bangabandhu's mausoleum. 'The mercenary forces of the murderer-fascist Yunus opened fire indiscriminately on innocent civilians in Gopalganj. In response, several have been martyred by law enforcement gunfire, and countless others have been seriously injured. This despicable terrorism by the state-sponsored forces and goons unleashed by murderer-fascist Yunus surpasses even medieval barbarity. 'I strongly condemn, protest, and denounce this horrific massacre and the state-patronised terrorism,' she said.
Time of India
16-07-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Bangladesh plunges into crisis as Islamists attack Awami League in Mujib birthplace
Bangladesh plunges into a major political crisis with several killed in violence following Islamists rampage and shooting by Army in Sheikh Mujib's birthplace and burial ground in Gopalganj district. The Bangladesh Army launched a crackdown but a number of innocents were killed and Section 144 has been imposed with the situation spiraling out of control. Explore courses from Top Institutes in Select a Course Category Others Finance Technology others MBA Artificial Intelligence Leadership Data Analytics CXO PGDM Digital Marketing Healthcare healthcare MCA Cybersecurity Data Science Data Science Degree Operations Management Product Management Public Policy Project Management Management Design Thinking Skills you'll gain: Duration: 7 Months S P Jain Institute of Management and Research CERT-SPJIMR Exec Cert Prog in AI for Biz India Starts on undefined Get Details Skills you'll gain: Duration: 9 months IIM Lucknow SEPO - IIML CHRO India Starts on undefined Get Details Skills you'll gain: Duration: 16 Weeks Indian School of Business CERT-ISB Transforming HR with Analytics & AI India Starts on undefined Get Details Skills you'll gain: Duration: 28 Weeks MICA CERT-MICA SBMPR Async India Starts on undefined Get Details Nobel peace laureate Muhammad Yunus, who took over as interim head, said in a post on X that members of the National Citizen Party (NCP) [led by the students], police and media were attacked during a peaceful rally on Wednesday, with cars vandalised and individuals assaulted. Tensions had been brewing since Tuesday over the NCP's planned rally and march, fuelled by widespread campaigning on social media. The overall situation in the town remains extremely tense. Sources said Islamists had planned the attack against the Awami League coinciding with the July "uprising". "Amid total impunity, members of Bangladesh Army can be seen torturing and dragging down a civilian in Gopalganj, to instill a climate of fear across the nation. The ill-fated civilian was among thousands who took to the streets to protest against state-sponsored repression by Yunus regime, including extrajudicial killing, arbitrary arrests, detention, rise in crime wave and the latest plot to wipe out symbols associated with the founding father of the country Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman from his birthplace Gopalganj," read a statement issued by the Awami League. Live Events "We condemn in strongest terms the continuous patronage by the armed forces against their total inaction in face crime wave perpetrated by Yunus-sponsored mob backed by Islamists when historic Dhanmondi 32, where the founding father was assassinated, was demolished by mob and people are killed on streets for refusal to pay extortion. We assert that by involving with this brutal crackdown, Bangladesh Army showed it has forsaken its neutrality," the Awami League stated.
United News of India
15-07-2025
- Business
- United News of India
Bangladesh interim government to convert PM House into a museum
Dhaka, July 15 (UNI) The Bangladesh interim government today decided to convert the Prime Minister's official residence - the Gonobhabhan – built by 'Bangabandhu' Sheikh Mujibur Rahman into a museum dedicated to the July Uprising, a top adviser said. Titled the 'July Uprising Memorial Museum', the memorial is built at a price of $9.2 million, reports Business Standard BD. Two proposals for completing the project by August 5 through direct procurement were approved during the day at a meeting of the Economic Affairs Advisory Committee, chaired by Financial Advisor Salehuddin Ahmed. Speaking to reporters at the Secretariat following the meeting, the finance advisor confirmed that the museum will feature both electro-mechanical (E/M) and civil development components. The E/M segment includes electrical wiring, switches, and related systems, while the civil portion covers the remainder of the structural work. The decision to turn the residence into a museum was approved in a previous session of the advisory council last year, though it was not enacted for a while. The museum will open on August 5, to mark the victory of the July Uprising, which saw the resignation and departure of ex-PM Sheikh Hasina last year. UNI ANV SSP
The Wire
28-06-2025
- Politics
- The Wire
How Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Ignored Fidel Castro's Friendly Advice and Paid the Price
The following is an excerpt from the book Mujib's Blunders: The Power and the Plot Behind His Killing. Fidel Castro was right in giving a prescient and timely warning to Bangabandhu that showing magnanimity to his political enemies, who had dourly opposed the Liberation War, would be considered as a sign of inherent weakness in his character and not as a moral virtue. His benevolence would only spur them on to conspire and act with greater gusto and vengeance against him and his government and, in the process, frustrate his dream of building a s onar (golden) Bangladesh. Castro was among the few world leaders who had paid the most glowing tribute to Bangabandhu saying he had not seen the mighty Himalayas but had seen Mujib. And yet Bangabandhu paid no heed to Castro's advice as he thought that by accommodating the committed pro-Pak minded officers in the top echelons of his administration and uniformed services, he had been able to win their trust and confidence. 'Mujib's Blunders', Manash Ghosh, Niyogi Books, 2025. However, when he started getting hard evidence of how some of his ambitious plans and projects were being sabotaged by an influential section of the bureaucracy, he confided in his party colleagues that he had committed a big blunder by placing repatriates in key bureaucratic posts. He had confessed saying he had tried to build a Bangladesh of his dreams with untrustworthy Pakistani materials and admitted that this was the 'worst mistake' of his life. Castro, being a seasoned revolutionary, who had spent years in the jungle fighting the forces of the ruthless Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista, was a better judge of his political enemies than Bangabandhu. After overthrowing the Batista regime, Castro weeded out from his revolutionary government all those who directly or indirectly were loyal to or supporters of the dictator Batista because he knew very well that by retaining the remnants of the previous regime meant germinating the idea of a counter-revolution. Castro had drawn lessons from revolutionary history which was replete with instances of revolutionary governments, when ascending power, getting rid, lock, stock and barrel, of defeated forces from their government apparatus as both the victorious and defeated forces could not co-exist and work in the same system under the same umbrella as they were mutually incompatible. Castro had also warned Bangabandhu that he should watch out for CIA machinations as 'it was out to get him.' Already, it was doing everything possible to overthrow a popularly elected government of Salvador Allende in Chile. But an overconfident Bangabandhu took no notice of such warnings as he felt his generous gestures to win over pro-Pak repatriates would help him earn their respect, confidence and loyalty. Bangabandhu made a series of serious blunders as the repatriates started arriving in Dacca by special flights. He had no fixed policy on repatriates. In fact, his policy differed from person to person. Public attention was focussed specially on three repatriates, the first of whom was Lt General Khwaja Wasiuddin, the only highest ranking serving Bengali officer in the top echelon of the Pakistan Army. In 1971, Lt General Khwaja Wasiuddin was the commander of Pakistan's biggest infantry corps and had fought against India on the western front but was interned along with his family after 16 December. But people in Bangladesh were especially keen to know what Bangabandhu would do to A.B.S. Safdar, deputy director general of Intelligence Bureau, Pakistan, who in 1970-71 while based in Dacca was specifically tasked to collect intensive intelligence on Mujib and his associates within and outside the Awami League and submit them to the martial law regime for follow up action. The third repat, Abdur Rahim, a very senior officer of the Pakistan Police Service, was also the focus of public and bureaucratic attention. Public interest was aroused because Lt General Wasiuddin belonged to the Dacca Nawab family and was a much-decorated officer for having served creditably on the Burma front during World War II in the Royal British Indian Army. He was respected by Bengalis for being proud of his Bengali identity even though he and his family could not speak a word of Bangla. This is because it was a tradition in the Nawab family that its members conversed, read and wrote only in Urdu as it was considered the language of refined and elite Muslim Bengalis. Bangla, on the other hand, was considered the language of unrefined and boorish Bengalis. I can distinctly recall when I met him for the very first time after his repatriation at his temporary residence in Dacca's Dhanmondi residential area, the first thing he had said quite apologetically was that he could understand but not converse in Bangla. 'Much as I would like to talk to you in Bangla, I won't be able to continue for long because my Bangla is not good at all. I am sorry and embarrassed for that. I am comfortable in English and Hindi.' A story I heard from Colonel Abu Osman Chowdhury about General 'Wasi' made my interest grow in knowing him. He was the only Bengali officer in the Pakistan Army who had his nameplate and designation written in Bengali outside his Rawalpindi cantonment office chamber. For this he fought a protracted battle with the GHQ which was not willing to give in to his demand as it would set a 'bad precedent.' But Wasiuddin was unrelenting. He was venerated as a father figure by all Bengali officers and men posted in West Pakistan because of which he was looked upon by all of them as their friend, philosopher and guide. Considering his seniority and professional standing in the Pakistan Army, finding a suitable posting for him in the Bangladesh Army had become a difficult proposition for Mujib though General M.A.G. Osmani, who led the Mukti Bahini and informally was also the Defence minister of the provisional Mujibnagar government, wanted to make him Chief of Army Staff (COAS). Mujib's job of finding a suitable placement for General Wasi had become more difficult as the large bevy of repatriated officers had raised this demand, though muted, that he was the most capable and suitable candidate to be the Army Chief to build Bangladesh's nascent army on the 'right lines.' This was not only because of his vast wealth of experience and long years of service, but also because he could not be expected to serve under a junior officer who was already the COAS. A key muktijoddha officer of the Niyomito Bahini, Major K.M. Shafiullah, who in three years after liberation (because of his stellar role during the Liberation War), got four out of turn promotions to become a major general, was already the COAS. Moreover, making a defeated commander, irrespective of battle honours and laurels won by him, the chief of a victorious army (read Mukti Bahini) in the 1971 war would have been unacceptable to freedom fighters and would have given rise to serious disciplinary and chain of command problems. Already considerable bad blood had been created as the repatriates and officers of the Niyomito Bahini were vying with each other to fill other top jobs in the military hierarchy. There was apprehension that with discipline being already low in the Niyomito Bahini, there was a possibility that it could get worse if the sources of friction between the two were not eliminated. So Wasi's absorption in the Bangladesh Army had placed Mujib in a Catch-22 situation. Mujib chose the easy way out. He decided to retire him from the army and placed his services at the disposal of the foreign ministry which made him the country's envoy to Kuwait. The presence of two different entities with identical competing goals to go up in the military hierarchy in the formative years of Bangladesh's defence services gave rise to fault lines which became visible in all the three services in uniform. Both the groups dissed one another with below the belt sarcastic gibes, one questioning the loyalty of repatriates to Bangladesh and the other doubting the professionalism of muktijoddha officers of the Niyomito Bahini to deserve out of turn promotions and enjoying prized postings. After the repatriated officers had been absorbed in all the three services, whenever promotions in the top echelons of the military were announced the first question asked even by civilians was 'whether the promotees were repatriates or muktijoddha s?' This perception of divisiveness was confined not only to the men in uniforms but it had also spread among civilians and all sections of society which with time got worse. In a year's time the fault lines became wider and longer and starkly visible. Nay, I would say they even became palpable, because a year later it manifested itself through the killing of the 'Father of the Nation' along with almost his entire family and four senior leaders of the Awami League—Tajuddin Ahmed, Syed Nazrul Islam, Captain Mansur Ali and A.H.M. Qamaruzzaman—who had led the Liberation War during its most critical phase. About three months later three very senior and daring Niyomito Bahini muktijoddha s—Major General Khaled Mosharraf, Brigadier K.N. Huda and Brigadier A.T.M. Haider, each one highly respected for being a soldier of soldiers and known for exceptional acts of heroism and bravery during the Liberation War, (both Mosharraf and Haider were sector and sub-sector commanders of Comilla and Sylhet and Noakhali sectors) were similarly gunned down by soldiers said to be owing allegiance to those led by Colonel Abu Taher who were trying to usher in 'Sipahi-Janata revolution' in Bangladesh. They had also killed over 15 other officers on similar grounds. Taher had trekked from Quetta across West Pakistan to enter India to join the Niyomito Bahini in mid-August when the preparation for the final phase of the Liberation War had just begun. Those rebellious soldiers were told that Khaled, Huda and Haider had ousted Khondokar Mushtaq from power and were endangering national security by installing a 'stooge government that would be friendly to India.' By killing Mosharraf, Haider and Huda and leaving Khondokar Mushtaq untouched, whose game Taher was playing has still remained an unsolved mystery. But there is no doubt that he and his soldiers had targeted all those officers and men who were in the forefront of the Liberation War, including Major Abu Osman Chowdhury, whose office and house were raided in Dacca's Kurmitola cantonment. They first headed to his office, and upon not finding him there they then proceeded straight to his home. Not finding him at home either enraged them so much that they first got hold of his wife Nazia, and after physically assaulting and violently abusing her in the foulest possible language possible, they then proceeded to pump ten bullets into her. Before they left Osman's house they kicked her blood-soaked body around the floor. The mystery surrounding this gruesome killing of an officer's wife by ordinary foot soldiers has remained an unsolved mystery till this day. Manash Ghosh is a veteran journalist.
