days-of-the-liberation-struggle By Kazi Salma Sultana

Bangabandhu’s Call for Radio Broadcast of His Speech

By Kazi Salma Sultana

5 March 1971. The day witnessed widespread strikes alongside protests and resistance. Throughout East Pakistan, processions, meetings, and demonstrations continued. Each passing day saw the movement grow stronger. Following Bangabandhu’s call for civil disobedience and his declaration of independence, the ruling authorities in Rawalpindi were compelled to take notice.

On this day, freedom-loving Bengalis filled the streets with slogans, shaking the city with their fervour. Chants of “Brave Bengalis, take up arms, make Bangladesh independent” and “Our address is Padma, Meghna, Jamuna” echoed through the thoroughfares.

During the civil disobedience movement and strikes called by Bangabandhu, the armed forces opened fire on 5 March, killing 222 people in Chittagong and four workers in the Tongi industrial area, while injuring 25 others. This news triggered widespread outrage among the people of Dhaka.

On the same day, 325 prisoners marched from Dhaka Central Jail to the Shaheed Minar to join the liberation struggle. Seven prisoners were killed by guards while breaking open the prison gate. In the evening, it was officially announced that the army in Dhaka had been withdrawn to the barracks.

The National Awami Party (Balochistan) condemned the suspension of the National Assembly session as undesirable and undemocratic. Additionally, retired Air Vice-Marshal Asghar Khan stated that it was essential to transfer power to the majority party to preserve national unity.

Maulana Golam Gaus Hazari asserted that Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had no right to speak on behalf of elected members from West Pakistan. Manik Golam Zilani stressed that there was no alternative but an immediate transfer of power to the majority party. Yet the then Pakistani ruling authorities paid no heed to these statements.

On this day, banks remained open under Bangabandhu’s instructions. Special prayers were held in mosques for the souls of those killed in recent shootings. Across the country, protest meetings and processions were organised. In Lahore, funeral prayers were offered in absentia for the martyrs of the recent unrest in East Pakistan, and special prayers were held in various mosques for national unity during this critical time.

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Chairman of the People’s Party, held discussions for more than five hours with President Yahya Khan at the Presidential House in Rawalpindi. The Pakistani military prepared to act, assuming that if 20,000 Bengalis were killed, the movement might end.

Retired Air Marshal Asghar Khan arrived in Dhaka from Karachi in the afternoon and met Bangabandhu at his residence in Dhanmondi in the evening.

At night, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman described a foreign broadcast claiming “Sheikh Mujibur is willing to share power with Bhutto” as “malicious” and a “flight of fancy.”

Responding to Bangabandhu’s call for civil disobedience, poets, writers, and teachers took to the streets in processions. A rally was organised by the Chhatra League and DUCSU, starting from Baitul Mukarram.

One of the movement’s leaders, Tofail Ahmed, called on the Dhaka Radio Centre to relay Bangabandhu’s speech directly from the Racecourse Ground on 7 March. That night, Awami League General Secretary Tajuddin Ahmed issued a statement condemning the military for shooting unarmed civilians, workers, peasants, and students in Dhaka, Chittagong, Rajshahi, Khulna, Rangpur, Sylhet, and elsewhere in East Pakistan, calling such indiscriminate killings a crime against humanity.

Following Bhutto’s meeting with President Yahya in Rawalpindi, the party spokesman Abdul Hafiz Pirzada stated that, regardless of how one judged the Awami League’s reaction to the suspension of the National Assembly, it was highly undesirable and entirely unjustifiable.

Author: Journalist and Political Analyst