Shamsuddoza Sajen

The books authored and published during a war always have an archival quality; they capture the time in its crudest form. They are a seamless blend

The Pakistani government said today that news of slaughter carried out by Awami League members in East Pakistan before March 25 “has been kept strictly secret for fear of reprisals in West Pakistan”.

The Bangladesh government decided to refer to the Human Rights Commission of the United Nations the question of genocide in the newborn republic.

West Pakistan newspapers on May 3 quoted government sources as denying that large numbers of refugees were fleeing East Pakistan to neighbouring India.

Faced with growing pressures among British MPs of all parties for intervention in Bangladesh war, Sir Alec Douglas-Home, British foreign secretary,

About four million people in south-central Bangladesh, ravaged by a cyclone and tidal wave in November 1970, were facing starvation because the war had halted emergency food distribution, reported the Washington Post.

A delegation headed by Labour MP John Stonehouse and top officials of War on Want, Christian Aid and Oxfam, called on Sir Alec Douglas Home, British foreign secretary, and told him that Britain should do something so that international relief work could be started in Bangladesh.

Bangladesh Prime Minister Tajuddin Ahmed today appealed to neighbouring countries to grant immediate recognition to Bangladesh and to give unconditional arms aid and thus help a newborn country free itself from the clutches of a murderous army.

In a memorandum sent to President Richard Nixon today, the US President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs Henry Kissinger provided three policy options towards the East Pakistan crisis:

The 28’year’old vice consul of Pakistan in the US renounced his ties with the Pakistani government today, saying he would “not serve a government killing our own people”.

National Awami Party President Moulana Bhashani renewed his appeal to several world leaders to help the cause of Bangladesh. In a telegram,

US State Department sent a telegram to the US Embassy in Pakistan on April 24, 1971. The telegram provided a critical overview of the East Pakistan situation based on US Assistant Secretary Sisco’s meetings with Pakistan Ambassador Hilaly and Indian Ambassador Jha.

The Pakistan radio said tonight that Pakistan had decided to close down the Deputy High Commission office in Calcutta and had asked India to close her Deputy High Commission office in Dacca.

Maulana Bhashani, president of the National Awami Party (NAP-Bhashani), said in a press statement that the examples of Chiang-ki-shek in China and Czar in Russia and British oppression in undivided India or zulum of Jalem Yazid at Karbala pale into insignificance before the latest example of atrocity perpetrated by Yahya’s army.

Driven by the Pakistani troops’ genocide in Bangladesh, the influx of evacuees had been so great in Bongaon in 24-Parganas district that admission into one of the three camps had been stopped by the state government and a fourth camp was being opened.

Maulana Bhashani, leader of the National Awami Party (Bhashani), had written personal letters to Chairman Mao and the Premier of the People’s Republic of China, Chou en-Lai, expressing surprise at Peking’s support to the Pakistani military junta.

The Bangladesh cabinet met today and issued instructions to Col MAG Osmani for preparing a strategy to oust the occupation army from certain important strongholds.

The predominantly Bangalee staff of Pakistan’s diplomatic mission in Calcutta took over the establishment today and transformed it into a mission of the newly proclaimed provisional government of Bangladesh.

The independence of Bangladesh was formally proclaimed today at Baidyanathtala, Meherpur.

The swearing-in of the cabinet members of the Bangladesh government-in-exile scheduled to take place on April 15, 1971 was postponed owing to the eruption of fighting in Kushtia.