1st Edition
Recounting the Memories of Bangladesh’s Liberation War Why It Is Still Relevant
This book encapsulates the creation of Bangladesh with stories of some of those who made it happen —from the perspectives of people who fought for recognition of Bangla as one of the state languages of Pakistan, those who brought the stories of war to life as it progressed through the Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendro, operations by valiant military men, sacrifices of Birangonas (women of valour) whose contribution to the liberation of Bangladesh has often been neglected, martyrs who laid down their lives for the birth of the nation, and those who worked among the freedom fighters and refugees and kept their morale high.
The emergence of Bangladesh in 1971 shaped both the nation and its narratives that revolved around partition of the subcontinent earlier in 1947. The history of Bangladesh was rewritten from the people’s perspective. The struggle of individuals and families who contributed to the liberation of Bangladesh is etched in blood and it is but natural that their perspectives would inform those interested in studying the history of liberation in a larger context. More than fifty years have passed since Bangladesh was liberated. Yet stories of individual suffering, sacrifices and contributions illustrate how people endured the repression inflicted by the Pakistan Army on them and yet fought gallantly. Three million were killed, 2 million were raped and 10 million became refugees in India. Bangladesh’s liberation war also represents the struggle of a people to preserve their culture and identity. This book captures all these and much more, bringing in reminiscences of what 1971 represented to those who contributed directly to the war of liberation.
The book will be of interest to scholars and researchers of politics and international relations, partition studies, South Asian studies and refugee and diaspora studies. The chapters in this book were originally published in Strategic Analysis.
Foreword
Sujan R. Chinoy
Introduction - Peoples War and Struggle for Bangladesh’s Liberation: The Historical Context
Smruti S. Pattanaik
1. Making of the Bangladesh State: Shaheed Dhirendranath Datta, Bengali Language Movement and Birth of a Nation
Aroma Dutta
2. Operation Kilo Flight: Night Attack By Otter Aircraft – A First-Hand Account
Shamsul Alam
3. The Saga of Sylhet
Ian Cardozo
4. My Days at the Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendro: The Radio Broadcasting Centre During Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971
Nasreen Ahmad
5. The Road to Victory Day 1971: An Insider’s Account
Meghna Guhathakurta
6. Interrogating the Spirit of 1971: Beyond Historicisms
Lubna Marium
7. Working with the Refugees, 1971
Julian Francis
8. 1971: Memories, Facts and Words Overheard
Afsan Choudhury
9. India–Bangladesh Ties: Half Century of Consolidation
Pinak Ranjan Chakravarty
10. Bangladesh–India Relations: Strengthening Historical Ties
Shamsher M. Chowdhury, Bir Bikram
11. Opportunity of the Century
Mohammed Ayoob
12. Bangladesh: A Half Century into Freedom
Syed Badrul Ahsan
13. Historicising the Birangona: Interrogating the Politics of Commemorating the Wartime Rape of 1971 in the Context of the 50th Anniversary of Bangladesh
Nayanika Mookherjee
14. Histories and Memories of the Liberation War: Saranarthis in Tripura
Anindita Ghoshal
15. Waging War Through Humour: Political Cartoons and the War of 1971 as Depicted in Calcutta-Based Print Media
Urvi Mukhopadhyay
16. The Liberation War of 1971 and India
Smruti S. Pattanaik
17. The United States and Bangladesh
Jayanta Kumar Ray
18. Liberation War Through the Cinematic Lens
Tanvir Mokammel
From the Archives
19. Historic 7 March 1971 Speech of Bangabandhu
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
20. Resolution Regarding Recent Development in East Bengal, 31 March 1971 and Statement Regarding Situation in Bangla Desh, May 24, 1971.
Indira Gandhi
21. Bangla Desh and Our Policy Options
K. Subrahmanyam
22. We Don’t Know Defeat
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
23. Speech of the Prime Minister of India, Mrs. Indira Gandhi at a Public Rally in Dacca, 17 March 1972
Indira Gandhi
Biography
Smruti S. Pattanaik is a Fellow at the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA), New Delhi, India. Her research focuses on politics in South Asia and India’s neighbourhood policy. She has conducted extensive field research on Bangladesh, focussing on the liberation war, identity politics and democracy. She has been a Visiting Fellow at the Department of International Relations at the University of Dhaka, where she spent more than a year studying Bangladesh.
