Veteran diplomat M Humayun Kabir discusses the geopolitical history of Bangladesh's Liberation War in an exlcusive interview.

The 1940s witnessed the rise of some of the first movements for self-determination in East Pakistan. Politicians, journalists, and intellectuals like Moazzem Ahmed Chowdhury, Abdul Aziz Bagmar, Sirajul Alam Khan, and many others played a pivotal role in these early struggles for liberation.

Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman issued a statement on March 4, 1971, requesting that government and non-government offices where employees had not yet been paid remain open between 2:30pm and 4:30pm to disburse salaries during the next two days of the hartal.

Security is beefed up at the diplomatic zone, what the authorities explained as routine measure ahead of Independence Day on March 26.