The speech of Bangabandhu on 7th March, 1971 is a historic document not only for the freedom seeking Bangladeshi people but for all of them across the globe crossing the religion, race, creed and nationality. The background to Bangabandhus great speech
The events that took place prior and preceding to the speech on 7th March give the speech its proper context and spirit
Masihul Huq Chowdhury
The speech of Bangabandhu on 7th March, 1971 is a historic document not only for the freedom seeking Bangladeshi people but for all of them across the globe crossing the religion, race, creed and nationality.
Our struggle is for our freedom. Our struggle is for our independence. through which our Father of The Nation announced a civil disobedience movement, asking for every house to turn into a fortress. It was indeed a clarion call for our Liberation War which began 18 days later, when the Pakistan Army launched Operation Searchlight on the dark night of 25th March against Bengali civilians, intelligentsia, students, politicians, and armed personnel. 26th March is The Independence Day for our nation. Beyond any doubt, the proclamation of independence was clearly voiced in the speech. This speech has a historic relevance and context, not just another speech which just was aired as a stray incident.
Our country experienced one of the devastating cyclone in the world history on 12th November, 1970. The 1970 cyclone is one of the deadliest natural disaster in recent history. The exact death toll will never be known, but it is estimated that between 300,000 and 500,000 people lost their lives. The cyclone formed over the central Bay of Bengal on November 8 and traveled north, intensifying as it did so. It reached its peak with winds of 185 km/h (115 mph) on November 11, and made landfall on the coast of Bangladesh the following afternoon. The storm surge devastated many of the offshore islands, wiping out villages and destroying crops throughout the region. In the most severely affected Tamizuddin, over 45% of the population of 167,000 was killed by the storm. The delay in rescue activities and relief operations by the administration under the junta Yahya Khan was severely criticised both local and international press and donor agencies. On the backdrop of this sad episode, the first general election of Pakistan (both east and west provinces) was held on 7th December, 1970. Voting took place for 300 parliamentary constituencies and the the provincial assemblies of 5 provinces took place. Awami League won 160 out of the total 300 general assembly seats. Out of the total 5 provinces, Awami League won East Pakistan province while the allied National Awami Party of Wali Khan won North West Frontier Province and Balochistan. While Pakistan Peoples Party won Punjab and Sindh provincial elections. The government claimed a high level of public participation and a voter turnout of almost 63%. The total number of registered voters in the country was 56,941,500 out of which 31,211,220 were from the Eastern part while 25,730,280 from the Western part. Despite this clear mandate to Awami League, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the leader of Pakistan People Party did not allow the Prime Ministerial role to the leader of winning party, Sheikh Mujib. Instead, Bhutto proposed two Prime Ministers, one for each wing. Negotiations began in Dhaka between the two sides. In January 1971, after the first round of negotiations, President Yahya Khan promised in the Dhaka airport that Sheikh Mujib would be the next prime minister and that the newly elected National Assembly would convene on 3 March 1971. However, Bhutto was vehemently opposed to a Bengali becoming prime minister, and he began a campaign of racially charged speeches across West Pakistan to invoke fear of Bengali domination. He warned West Pakistani MPs-elect not to travel to the East. Fearing a civil war, Bhutto secretly sent an associate, Mubashir Hasan, to meet with Sheikh Mujib and members of his inner circle. It was decided that Sheikh Mujib would serve as prime minister, with Bhutto as president. On 3 March, the convening of the National Assembly was postponed until 25 March, leading to an outcry across East Pakistan. This led to a massive public pressure from the people of our country to announce independence from Pakistan.
The speech on 7th of March at The Race Course was on this context and felt as the need of the hour. The Pakistan junta reacted to this speech with Operation Search Light on the midnight of 25th March attacked the people of this country with unprecedented brutality where the Nazi force of Adolph Hitler will even shy off.
The creation of Pakistan on the basis of religion was improper and irrational from the very outset. The racist mindset of the ruling class of West Pakistan supported by subordinate mindset of a section of the ruling class and elites of East created the space for the draconian environment. On 23 March 1956, Pakistan removed the status of a Dominion of the British Commonwealth and became an Islamic Republic after framing its own constitution. The first general election was scheduled for early 1959. Severe political instability led President Iskander Mirza to abrogate the constitution on 7 October 1958 and impose martial law. The power was handed over to General Ayub Khan who assumed presidency. Both the freedom on culture and economy was clamped down. During the era of Cold War, the role of Pakistan and D8 was a very critical one. That is why the involvement of armed forces in the politics became crucial. The population of the East part was even denied their basic rights.
The events that took place prior and preceding to the speech on 7th March give the proper context and spirit of the speech. This speech is not only for specific days rather it should be projected properly with the context and relevance to the people specially the young and youth giving the proper understanding of the independence.
The writer, a banker by profession, has worked both in local and overseas market with various foreign and local banks in different positions
