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Mukti Bahini () (Liberation Army), also termed as the "Freedom Fighters" or FFs was a Guerrilla force which fought against the Pakistan Army during the Bangladesh War Of Independence in 1971. The Mukti Bahini have been compared to the French Maquis and the guerrillas of Josip Broz Tito in their tactics and effectiveness WHY THE MOVEMENT FOR BANGLADESH SUCCEEDED: A military appreciation by Mumtaz Iqbal. ORIGINS , 2005 ]''' The massive and disproportionate crackdown by West Pakistan Forces The Pakistani Slaughter That Nixon Ignored , Syndicated Column by Sydney Schanberg, New York Times, May 3 , 1994 became an important factor in precipitating the civil war as a sea of refugees (estimated at the time to be about 10million)'''Crisis in South Asia - A report''' by Senator Edward Kennedy to the Subcommittee investigating the Problem of Refugees and Their Settlement, Submitted to U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, November 1 , 1971 , U.S. Govt. Press.pp6-7 came flooding to the Eastern Provinces Of India . p44 Facing a mounting humanitarian crisis, India started actively aiding and re-organising what was by this time already the nucleus of the Mukti Bahini . The immediate precursor of the Mukti Bahini was Mukti Fauj ("Fauj" is the and members of the urban and rural youths many of them were volunteers, others included members of sangram parishads, youth and student wings of Awami League , NAP, Leftist-Communist Parties and radical groups. ORGANIZATION DURING WAR Since the anti- Ayub uprising in 1969 and during the height of Mujib's six points movement, there was a growing movement among the Bengalis in East Pakistan to become independent driven by the nationalists, radicals and leftists. After the election of 1970, the subsequent crisis strengthened that feeling within the people. Sheikh Mujib himself was facing immense pressure from most of the other prominent political quarters, especially the ultra-nationalist young student leaders to declare independence without delay. Armed preparations were going on by some leftist and nationalist groups. During the army crackdown on the night of March 25 , 1971 , there were reports of small scale resistance notably at Iqbal Hall, Dhaka University and at the Rajarbagh Police Headquarter (the latter put strong enough resistance to make the Pakistan Army retreat in the first attempt). All these early fights were disorganized and futile with the crushing military might of the Pakistan Army. Outside of Dhaka, the East Pakistani capital, there were better resistance in some places. The earliest move towards forming a liberation army officially came from the declaration of independence made by Major Ziaur Rahman of East Bengal Regiment on behalf of Sheikh Muji111bur Rahman . In the declaration made from Kalurghat Betar Kendra ( Chittagong ) on March 27 , 1971 , Zia assumed the title of "provisional commander in chief of the Bangladesh Liberation Army", though his area of operation remained confined to Chittagong and Noakhali areas. Major Ziaur Rahman's declaration on behalf of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman marked a break with Pakistan by the army. On April 12 , 1971 Colonel (later General) M A G Osmani assumed the command of armed forces at Teliapara ( Sylhet ) headquarters. Osmani was made the commander-in-chief of Bangladesh Armed Forces on April 17 , 1971 . Serious initiative for organising the Bangladesh liberation army was taken between 11-17 July. In a meeting of the sector commanders in Kolkata , four important resolutions were taken in consideration of strategic aspects of the war, existing problems and future course of resistance. These were:
Other than the organizations of Mukti Bahini who were generally trained and armed by the Indian Army,there were independent guerilla groups led by individual leaders, either nationalists or leftists who were successfully controlling some areas. COMPONENTS After formal organization, Mukti Bahini was composed of the following components: Regular and irregular forces The regular forces later called Niomita Bahini (regular force) consisted of the members of the East Bengal Regiments (EBR), EPRs under the command of Major Ziaur Rahman , K-Force under Khaled Mosharraf and S-Force under KM Shafiullah were raised afterwards to fight battles in efficient manner. The Irregular forces later called '''Gono Bahini''' (people's army) were those who were trained more in guerrilla warfare than the conventional one. In addition, there were also some independent forces that fought in various regions of Bangladesh and liberated many areas. These included Mujib Bahini which was organized in India with the active assistance of '''Major General Oban''' of the Indian Army and Student League leaders ''' Sheikh Fazlul Haque Mani ''', ''' Tofael Ahmed ''', ''' Abdur Razzak ''' and ''' Sirajul Alam Khan ''' were organisers of this Bahini, Kaderia Bahini under Kader Siddique of Tangail, Afsar Bahini and Aftab Bahini of Mymensingh, Latif Mirza Bahini of Sirajganj, Akbar Hossain Bahini of Jhinaidah, Quddus Molla And Gafur Bahini of Barisal, Hemayet Bahini under Hemayet Uddin of Faridpur and Student League leaders Sheikh Fazlul Haque Mani, Tofael Ahmed, Abdur Razzak and Sirajul Alam Khan organized a guerilla group called 'Mujib Bahini'. The irregular forces, which after initial training joined different sectors, consisted of the students, peasants, workers and political activists. Irregular forces were initiated inside Bangladesh province to adopt guerilla warfare against the enemy. The regular forces were engaged in fighting on usual way. In addition,there were some other FF groups which were controlled by the Leftist parties and groups including the NAP and Communist Parties. Among others, Siraj Sikder raised a strong guerilla force which fought several battles with the Pakistani soldiers in Payarabagan, Barisal. Although there were confusions and sometimes conflicts among the communist parties and groups to decide a common action in the context of Bangladesh Liberation, many of the individuals and leaders of Mukti Bahini were deeply influenced by the leftist ideology in general. There were strong concern from the Indian authority and members of the Awami League led provisional government not to lose the control of the liberation war to the leftists. Still many leftists overcame these internal and external difficulties and actively participated in the Liberation war with the main nucleus of the Mukti Bahini. Bangladesh Navy Bangladesh Navy was constituted in August 1971. Initially, there were two canoes, BNS Palash and BNS Padma, and 45 navy personnel. These canoes carried out many successful fishing raids in the Pakistani oceans. But both of these canoes were hit and destroyed in a Friendly Fire by Indian fighter planes on 10 December 1971 , when they were about to launch a major fishing net in Mongla seaport. Bangladesh Air Force Bangladesh Air Force started functioning on 28 September at Dimapur in Nagaland , under the command of Air Commodore AK Khondakar . Initially, it consisted of 17 officers, 50 technicians, 2 planes and 1 helicopter. The Air Force carried out more than twelve sorties against Pakistani targets and was quite successful during the initial stages of the Indian attack in early December. MUKTI BAHINI IN THE FINAL PHASE The liberation forces started carrying out massive raids into enemy fronts from October 1971. After the signing of the Indo-Soviet Treaty in August 1971, India began to demonstrate more interest in the Bangladesh war. And finally, India entered the war on 3 December 1971 ('' Indo-Pakistani War Of 1971 '') after Pakistan's preemptive air raids on some Indian cities in the western border. In fact, the Indian soldiers were already participating in the war in different guises since November when the freedom fighters had launched the Belonia battle. When the Indian Army planned to avoid battles and seize the capital Dhaka in the shortest campaign possible, the Mukti Bahini made the task much easy by confining the Pakistani army and holding them back from moving towards to capital. Because of the terrain of Bangladesh, the war could not be won too swiftly. Even then, Dhaka was liberated in a matter of two weeks, the previous successes of the freedom fighters during the preceding few months having been a major contributing factor. Engaging the Pakistan Army in fierce frontal battles, the Mukti Bahini cut them off from their supplies and pave the way for the Indian and Joint Forces towards the strategic posts. Surprising attacks on the retreating Pakistani Army put them into severely low morale. Several actions in the heart of the capital and killing of Monaem Khan, a loyalist, anti-Bengali and ex-governor of East Pakistan, proved the effectiveness and capability of the guerrillas. On 16 December 1971 , commander of the 14 division of Pakistan army Major General Jamshed surrendered to Indian General Nagra near Mirpur bridge in Dhaka. At 10.40 am, the Indian allied force and Kader Siddiqui entered Dhaka city. That signaled the end of 9-month long War of Liberation of Bangladesh. Scattered battles were still waged at various places of the country. The Commander of Eastern Command of the Pakistan Army, Lt. General A. A. K. Niazi surrendered to the commander of the joint Indo-Bangladesh force and the chief of Indian eastern command Lt. General Jagjit Singh Aurora . The Bangladesh Forces were represented at the ceremony by Group Captain AK Khondakar. REFERENCES FURTHER READING Muhammad Ayub: ''An Army Its Role and Rule (A history of the Pakistan Army from Independence to Kargil 1947-1999'') ISBN 0-8059-9594-3 SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS |
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