Election of 1970 and the Declaration of

Independence by Bangobondhu

Presented By
Ataus Samad Raju
Senior Lecturer
Dept. of Natural Science
Port City International University
Email: [email protected]
 Election of 1970 and the Declaration of
Independence by Bangobondhu
1. Election result and centres refusal to
comply.
2. The non-co-operation movement
3. the 7th March.
4. Operation Searchlight.
5. Declaration of Independence by
Bangobondhu and his arrest.
 1. Election result and centers
refusal to comply.
• General elections were held in
Pakistan on December 7,1970 to
elect members of the National
Assembly.
• They were the first general
elections since the independence
of Pakistan and ultimately the only
ones held prior to the
independence of Bangladesh.
• Voting took place in 300
constituencies, of which 162 were
in East Pakistan and 138 in West
Pakistan. A further 13 seats were
reserved for women
• The result was a victory for
the Awami League, which
gained an absolute majority,
winning 160 of the 162
general seats and all 7
women's seats in East
Pakistan.
• The PPP won only 81 general
seats and 5 women's seats, in
West Pakistan.
• The general elections of 1970
are considered one of the
fairest and cleanest elections
in the history of Pakistan, with
about twenty-four political
parties taking part.
• Awami League emerged as the
single majority party in the
Pakistan National Assembly with
167 seats out of a total of 313.
• The National Assembly was
initially not inaugurated as the
military dictator Yahya Khan and
the PPP chairman Zulfikar Ali
Bhutto did not want a party from
East Pakistan heading the federal
government.
• The military rulers of Pakistan
refused to allow the Awami
League to form a government. A
conspiracy was plotted by the
then Pakistani military
dictator Yahya Khan along
with Zulfikar Ali bhutto.
• Provincial elections
were held in East
Pakistan on 17
December 1970, ten
days after general
elections.
• The result was a
landslide victory for the
Awami League, which
won 288 of the 300
seats.
2.The non-co-operation movement
• Non-cooperation movement was a political
movement launched by Sheikh Mujibur
Rahman and Bangladesh Awami League from 2
March to 25 March 1971. The Purpose of the
movement was to seek autonomy for East
Pakistan from the central government
of Pakistan.
• This movement was directed for autonomy of
East Pakistan as against the administration of the
centre. On 7 March, Bangabandhu Sheikh
Mujibur Rahman declared the programme of
non-cooperation movement through his guideline
speech delivered in the Race Course Maidan.
• Sheikh Mujibur Rahman termed this decision as
'unfortunate', and in protest he called hartal in
Dhaka on 2 March and in the whole of East
Pakistan on 3 March. People at large started non-
cooperation movement under the leadership of
Awami League in order to establish their rights.
• Sheikh Mujibur Rahman gave a clarion call for
non-cooperation movement against the dilly-
dally attitude of the military junta to transfer
power on the basis of election, and for direct
non-cooperation of Pakistan People's Party, the
major political party of West Pakistan.
• On 7 March, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
delivered a pre-scheduled speech in the Race
Course with guidelines for movement. In the
speech he highlighted four vital points:
a) withdrawal of martial law,
b) retreat of the army to the barrack,
c) to investigate into the killing of the people in
the province and
d) transfer of power to the elected
representatives.
Incidents during non-cooperation
movement
• At the outset of non-
cooperation movement
the student organisations
formed the Swadhin
Bangla Chhatra Songram
Parishad on 2 March. The
flag of independent
Bangladesh was hoisted
in the students gathering
at Dhaka University.
• 3 March a countrywide
hartal called. Dhaka
University teachers met
at Bat-Tala and declared
their solidarity with the
independence struggle
under the leadership of
Bangabandhu Sheikh
Mujibur Rahman.
• 4 March complete hartal
observed all over the
country. All businesses,
governance and
communications came to
a standstill. Maulana
Abdul Hamid Khan
Bhashani gave an
ultimatum for
establishing an
independent and
sovereign Bangladesh
immediately.
• 5 March Dhaka students headed by ASM Abdur Rob,
Abdul Quddus Makhan and other student leaders
brought a lathi (club) procession in the city.
Intellectuals and professionals headed by Dr Ahmad
Sharif took an oath expressing allegiance to the
movement for independence.
• 7 March: Sheikh Mujibur Rahman leader of Awami
League party that had won a landslide victory in East
Pakistan in the Federal Elections in 1970, but never
been granted authority announces to a jubilant crowd
at the Dhaka Race Course ground, "The struggle this
time is the struggle for our emancipation! The struggle
this time is the struggle for independence!".
• 9 March: Workers of Chittagong port refuse to unload
weapons from the ship 'Swat'.
• 10 March: Expatriate Bengali students
demonstrate in front of the United Nations
Headquarters and calls for UN intervention to put
an end to violence on Bengali people.
• 16 March: Yahya Khan starts negotiation with
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
• 19 March: Nearly 50 people die as Pakistan Army
opens fire on demonstrators at Jaydevpur.
• 24 March: Pakistan Army opens fire on Bengali
demonstrators in Syedpur, Rangpur and
Chittagong. More than a thousand people are
killed.
 3. the 7th March.
• The 7th March Speech of
Bangabandhu was a speech
given by Sheikh Mujibur
Rahman, the founding
father of Bangladesh on 7
March 1971 at the Ramna
Race Course in Dhaka to a
gathering of over two
million people.
• It was delivered during a
period of escalating
tensions between East
Pakistan and the powerful
political and military
establishment of West
Pakistan.
• The speech lasted about
19 minutes and concluded
with, "The struggle this
time, is a struggle for our
liberty. The struggle this
time, is a struggle for our
independence. Joy
Bangla!"
• He announced a civil • The speech is believed to
disobedience movement have informally
in the province, calling for addressed the Bengali
"every house to turn into people to prepare for a
a fortress". The speech war of independence
inspired the Bengali amid widespread reports
people to prepare for a of armed mobilisation by
war of independence West Pakistan.
amid widespread reports • On 30 October
of armed mobilisation by 2017, UNESCO added the
West Pakistan. speech to the Memory of
• In the speech, the World Register as
Bangabandhu informally a documentary heritage.
declared independence of
Bangladesh
• He gave several directives for a civil disobedience
movement, instructing that:
 People should not pay taxes;
 Government servants should take orders only
from him;
 The secretariat, government and semi-
government offices, and courts in East Pakistan
should observe strikes, with necessary
exemptions announced from time to time;
 Only local and inter-district telephone lines
should function;
 Railways and ports could continue to function,
but their workers should not co-operate if they
were used to repress the people of East Pakistan.
Importance
• Bangabandhu's speech is
• The 7th March speech of played throughout the
Bangabandhu Sheikh country during the
Mujibur Rahman various national occasions
provided inspiration to and continues to
the Bengali people in reverberate in hearts and
their quest for freedom minds of the Bengali
and emancipation. people.
• The speech also energized • This speech continues to
the entire nation and enthrall our people and
prepared the people for will continue to inspire
the forthcoming succeeding generations
Liberation struggle.
 4. Operation Searchlight.

• Operation Searchlight The

ruthless and brutal armed
operation undertaken by
the Pakistan army on 25
March 1971 in order to curb
the movement of the
freedom loving Bangalis
against the autocratic rule
of the Pakistani rulers. It
was termed as 'Operation
Searchlight' by the military
authority.
• Military operations were being taken under
'Operation Searchlight' on and from 11-30 pm of 25
March to middle of May in all the big towns of the
province.
• The purpose of this operation was to arrest or kill
the distinguished Awami League leaders, student
leaders and Bangali intellectuals in the main cities of
the then East Pakistan including Dhaka, to disarm
the Bangali personnel's of military, para military and
police forces and to capture armory, radio station
and telephone exchange, thereby to take over the
control of the province of East Pakistan by ruthlessly
curbing the non-cooperation movement headed by
Bangabandhu.
• The Pakistani soldiers came out of the
cantonment at 11-30 pm, launched
indiscriminate attack on the demonstrating
Bangalis in the Farm Gate area, and thus initiated
the Operation Searchlight. Then as per schedule
they launched simultaneous attack on Peelkhana
and Rajarbagh.
• At 1-30 am they arrested Bangabandhu Sheikh
Mujibur Rahman from his residence. At dead of
night they launched operation at the residential
quarters of the teachers of Dhaka University
including the then Iqbal Hall, Jagannath Hall,
Rokeya Hall and killed a huge number of students
including nine teachers.
• Under the same planning, serious attack was
made on old Dhaka, Tejgaon, Indira Road, Mirpur,
Mohammadpur, Dhaka airport, Ganaktuli,
Dhanmondi, Kalabagan, Kathalbagan etc.
• In the same night many people were killed and
injured in Chittagong by the firing of the army.
The Pak army launched indiscriminate attack and
created havoc within the very month of March
under the 'Operation Searchlight' having their
post at the cantonment.
• The offices of the dailies like the Ittefaq, Sangbad
and the Peoples were set on fire for their support
to the movement of the Bangalis. A good number
of journalists, media personnels were burnt to
death.
• On the eve of the genocide on 25 March,
President Yahya Khan left Dhaka for Karachi. But
Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, the president of the Pakistan
People's Party, who came to Dhaka for having a
dialogue with Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, observed
the operation from the Hotel Intercontinental of
Dhaka.
• On the day following on the eve of his departure,
Bhutto highly appreciated the action of the army
on the previous night and commented, 'Thanks
to God that Pakistan could have been saved'. All
the army officials including Yahya Khan expressed
ovation to the army action.
• From the report of Simon Dring published
under the caption Dateline Dacca in the Daily
Telegraph of 29 March it was revealed that
200 students of Iqbal Hall, teachers and their
family members numbering 12 in the
University residential area were killed on that
night.
• In old Dhaka 700 people were burnt to death.
Information gathered from various home and
foreign sources reveal that on that fateful
night seven thousand Bangalis were killed in
Dhaka city itself.
 Declaration of Independence by
Bangobondhu and his arrest.
• The independence of Bangladesh was
declared on 26 March 1971 at the
onset of the Bangladesh Liberation
War. The declaration was made
by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur
Rahman; and widely circulated in the
international press in late March 1971.
• On 10 April, the Provisional
Government of Bangladesh issued a
proclamation on the basis of the
previous declaration and established
an interim constitution for the
independence movement.
 The declaration
• In the evening of 25 March, Bangabandhu convened a
meeting of senior Bengali nationalist leaders,
including Tajuddin Ahmad and Colonel M A G Osmani, at his
residence in Dhanmondi. They were briefed by Bengali
insiders within the military of an impending crackdown. The
nationalist leaders decided to form a provisional
government in exile in India and launch an armed struggle
for independence.
• 26 March In a message form, Bangabandhu declared
independence just before he was arrested at about 1:30
am. The message is said to have been made available to
EPR shortly after midnight and it was duly broadcast
through EPR radio communication system. Because the
system was VHF frequency crystal controlled, not very
many people did listen to the declaration. The message
went:
“This may be my last message, from today
Bangladesh is independent. I call upon the
people of Bangladesh wherever you might
be and with whatever you have, to resist
the army of occupation to the last. Your
fight must go on until the last soldier of the
Pakistan occupation army is expelled from
the soil of Bangladesh and final victory is
achieved”.
• David Loshak, correspondent of British newspaper The
Daily Telegraph, was staying in Dhaka then. He said that
the sound of the English announcement was very low.
“Perhaps it was pre-recorded," he wrote.
• Bangali senior staff of Peelkhana signal core Major
Shawkat Ali tried to transmit the declaration, but the
Pakistani forces detained him while he was sending the
declaration of independence through wireless around
12:30 am.
• An analysis of the international media on March 26 and
27 in 1971 shows that newspapers of at least 25
countries across the world published the news about the
declaration of Bangladesh's independence by
Bangabandhu.
• On March 27 in 1971, the New York Times reported that
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was arrested shortly after he
had declared independence.
• 2.30 pm on 26 March 1971, Mujib's telegram was widely
reported on radio on 26 March 1971. M. A. Hannan,
secretary of the Awami League in Chittagong, read out the
statement in Bengali at 2.30 pm and 7.40 pm from a radio
station in Chittagong. The text of the Hannan's broadcast
stated the following.
“Today Bangladesh is a sovereign and independent country.
On Thursday night West Pakistani armed forces suddenly
attacked the police barracks at Razarbagh and the EPR
headquarters at Pilkhana in Dhaka. Many innocent and
unarmed have been killed in Dhaka city and other places of
Bangladesh. Violent clashes between EPR and Police on the
one hand and the armed forces of Pindi on the other, are
going on. The Bengalis are fighting the enemy with great
courage for an independent Bangladesh. May God aid us in
our fight for freedom. Joy Bangla.”
• On 27 March 1971, On 27 March 1971, Major
Ziaur Rahman broadcast Mujib's message in
English which was drafted by Abul Kashem Khan,
he red:
“This is Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra. I, Major Ziaur
Rahman, on behalf of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur
Rahman, hereby declare that the independent
People's Republic of Bangladesh has been
established. I call upon all Bengalis to rise against
the attack by the West Pakistani Army. We shall
fight to the last to free our motherland. By the
grace of Allah, victory is ours”
• 30 March From the Shadhin Bangla
Betarkendra Major Ziaur Rahman again
declared that the Pakistan army, air force and
navy had launched a combined operation
against the civilian and killing people
indiscriminately.
• Zia's broadcasts were picked by a Japanese
ship anchored in Chittagong Port and
transmitted to Radio Australia.
Any Question ?
Thank you
 Sample Question
• Describe Non-cooperation movement (1971).
• Discuss the importance and significance of Election of 1970.
• Discuss result of general election 1970 in Pakistan. Why Bangabandhu
declared Non-Cooperation Movement?
• Describe the election of 1970 and explain its aftermath.
• Analyze the importance of the oration of 7 March in achieving the
liberation of Bangladesh.
• Discuss the historic 7th March speech and its significance.
• Write a note on the declaration of independence of the Bangladesh
• What is Operation Searchlight? Write a brief note on Operation
Searchlight.
• What is the operation searchlight?
• Write down the importance of the speech of 7th March deliberated
by Bangobondhu.
• Evaluate the historical speech of 7th March (1971) of Bangobondhu.