Subscribers can listen to the audio version of today’s post here.
Bangladesh used to be called East Pakistan. The name change resulted from what came to be known as the Bangladesh Liberation War. Bengali nationalists had been fighting since March of 1971, but nine months later neighboring India joined in the hostilities on the side of Bangladesh, and that was quickly that.
--On This Day in History, Shit Went Down: November 21, 1971--
It began with a genocide. Pakistan was ruled by a military junta and in the spring of 1971 went on a mass killing spree of Bengalis in East Pakistan that took the lives of hundreds of thousands, possibly millions. There was also a lot of rape. A Bangladeshi guerrilla force named Mukti Bahini, aided by neighboring India, continued to fight for independence. This was right on India’s eastern border, and 10 million Bengali refugees fled to India, while another 30 million were displaced internally. Then India decided it was time to directly intervene.
With the departure of the British in 1947, the former colony was split into India, Pakistan, and East Pakistan. This partitioning was not a peaceful process, and ever since then India and Pakistan have really not liked each other very much. That’s why they both have a bunch of nukes pointing at each other. Fortunately, neither side had nukes yet in 1971. Continues below …
The U.S. and Russia still have about 12,000 nukes pointed at each other. Compared to that, what’s $5 to become a paying subscriber? Click the green button.
On November 21, 1971, there was the Battle of Garibpur. A strategically located village, Garibpur was inside Pakistan-held territory. Mukti Bahini fought alongside the Indian Army’s 14 Punjab Battalion and the 45 Cavalry. These were not horse cavalry, but big fucking Soviet-made tank cavalry.
It is unknown what the total casualties were, but both sides took a brutal shitkicking and there was plenty o’ death. Nevertheless, the India/Mukti Bahini forces emerged victorious. Twelve days later India officially declared war on Pakistan, and it was a short one. Lasting only 13 days, India beat the fuck out of Pakistan, forcing the surrender of the East Pakistan Military. The war ended on December 16, 1971, and the following year the majority of member states of the United Nations recognized Bangladesh as an independent nation.
Although December 16 was when the war was won, that is not Bangladesh’s Independence Day. March 25, 1971 was when West Pakistan attacked to “pacify” the region. With the genocide just beginning, the following day the Bengalis said well fuck you guys we’re proclaiming our independence now, issuing a declaration on March 26 that began with “Today Bangladesh is a sovereign and independent country.”
Bangladesh is now the eighth most populous nation in the world.
Support keeping this daily column free and get access to subscriber only content:
Get the book On This Day in History Sh!t Went Down.