Operation Searchlight : Triumph of Evil
25 March is a dark day not only for Bengali people, but also for entire humanity. On this day in 1971, Pakistan Army had started their heinous military venture- ‘Operation Searchlight’.
The operation was begun at the late hours of the date. And with this, the 267 days long killing of 3 million Bengali people & rape of half a million women had begun. Near about 10 million people left the country (then East Pakistan) to escape the brutality. It was cold blooded & pre-planned murder of a population. Pakistani (then west Pakistan) politicians & generals took the decision in January, 1971 to commit Bengali Genocide.
Awami League under the leadership of undisputed Bengali leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman achieved majority in Pakistan General Election of 1970. But West Pakistanis denied to handover authority to the democratically elected Awami League, instead they were plotting how to demise the rise of Bengali people. The west Pakistani leader & military-men always rely upon using force. Here, in the question of Bengali people, they followed their violent instinct & decided to crush the Bengalis using military force. They thought as consequence Bengalis would be frightened & become a slave nation for west Pakistanis.
In January, 1971, President Yahiya Khan, PPP’s leader Julfiqar Ali Bhutto & Pakistani military generals met in Larkana, Sindh Province, West Pakistan. They took decision that the authority wouldn’t be transferred to Mujib & west Pakistani military force would be deployed in East Pakistan to crush the rise of Bengali people. They thought, in the span of 24 years, Bengalis rebelled so many times & bounded west Pakistani authority to accept their claims. So, they thought about the ultimate solution for the Bengalis- the mass killings of Bengali civilians in East Pakistan; they thought that it would silent the Bengali people, once & for all.
Pakistanis gave a name to their vicious plan- ‘Operation Searchlight’.
West Pakistanis chose the right person for this darkest job. General Tikka Khan, infamously known as ‘butcher of Baluchistan’, was appointed as chief of East Pakistan Military Command. Tikka knew how to crush a national rise through massacre & torture, he had elaborate experience in Baluchistan.
General Tikka commanded his men in ‘operation searchlight’ to commit the violence against Bengalis in fullest means. He said, ‘I don’t need people, just the soil’.
Major Gen. Rao Farman Ali & Brig. Gen. Jahanzeb Arbab followed the command of Tikka, soldiers under their command were the rarest in human history who had committed such big scale merciless atrocity.
Major Gen. Rao Farman Ali, a mastermind of Bengali intellectuals massacre, wrote in his diary- ‘Green soil of east Pakistan would be turned red’.
In his diary, Gen. Farman also wrote about the Bengali intellectuals massacre. After the victory of Bangladesh, few pages of this diary were salvaged by Bengali freedom fighters from governor house of Dhaka. Another Pakistani General, Niazi mentioned the diary in his book- ‘The Betrayal of East Pakistan’.
To execute ‘Operation Searchlight’, west Pakistani forces were being organized in East Pakistan from February, 1971. Mujib-Bhutto-Yahiya meeting of March, 1971 was just part of west pakistani plan; through this meeting, they wanted to keep Bengalis busy in political gaming while west Pakistani troops & arms were coming to east.
West Pakistani forces of 22 Baluch & 13 Frontier Force Regiment were coming to Dhaka in civil dress by Pakistan International Airlines (PIA). West Pakistanis tried to keep the heat low but such big preparation was hard to hide. PIA’s Bengali crews & officials noticed this and denied to work in those fights. Even two patriot Bengali crews of PIA planned to blow off a bowing plane carrying west’s troops in civil dress but they were caught by Pakistan intelligence. After that Pakistan Air-force took control of PIA flights management.
Light arms were carried by the troops coming via air-routes. Heavy arms & artillery were brought to east via maritime means. Such venture was MV SWAT, it came to Chittagong port with seven thousands tons of ammunition. Pakistanis also brought tanks to Dhaka for the operation, six M-24 tanks of 29 Cavalry from Rangpur.
It was not rare but only event of such heavy military preparation just to crush a civilian political movement. Pakistanis tried to demise Bengalis from both aspects- spirit & population. They thought such violence would made Bengalis subordinate to Pakistanis forever.
West Pakistanis knew that when the operation so brutal would start, Bengalis would revolt & Bengali members of military forces, East Pakistan Rifles (EPR) & police would join the rebellion. So they didn’t involve any Bengali personnel in this as precautionary, instead they had a vicious plan for them.
Pakistani generals planned to attack EPR headquarter at Pilkhana, Police headquarter at Rajarbagh & killing of Bengali soldiers of army at cantonments of East Pakistan as the first blow of operation searchlight. So that there couldn’t be any resistance from Bengali armed personnel.
The Night of blood:
25 March, 1971. Yahiya khan left Dhaka. Before leaving Dhaka, he sat with Gen. Tikka Khan, Gen. Hamid, Gen. Mitha, Gen. Iftekhar, Gen. Khuda Dadh, Gen. Rao Farman Ali about the execution of operation searchlight. They decided to begin the crackdown from 6 pm.
Pakistan Army was fully prepared to execute the operation. Troops were deployed at Dhaka city, Chittagong City & other important locations in East Pakistan.
About 10.30 pm, pakistani troops occupied tv & radio stations in Dhaka. One hour later, around 11.30 pm, full scale killing spree against Bengali people had begun. As first shot, EPR headquarter, Police Headquarter, University of Dhaka, EBRC of Chittagong were under attack. Thousands of innocent Bengalis were killed in that night. In second phase, Pakistan army began to kill civilian Bengalis.
It was the beginning of nine months long killing mission of Pakistan against Bengali Nation. It was a genocide to subjugate Bengali nation in East Pakistan. The perpetrators were Pakistan Military and their Bihari & East Pakistani collaborators. The Bengali Genocide of 1971 is still the largest & bloodiest human disaster since WWII.
Pakistan Army arrested the undisputed & elected leader of Bengalis Sheikh Mujibur Rahman after midnight. It was a plan of Pakistanis as a final blow to silent Bengalis of East Pakistan forever.
Before get arrested, at first hour (midnight) of March 26, in response to the merciless killing of Bengali People by Pakistan Army and failure of political discussion, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman declared the formal Independence Declaration of East Pakistan as Bangladesh (Country of Bengali People). A new sovereign state was being born whose birth history would be written in blood & tears. Two weeks earlier, on historic March 7, Sheikh Mujib warned people of East Pakistan about West Pakistan’s ill intentions and urged to the people to be prepared for freedom struggle.
With the formal declaration of independence, the liberation war (MuktiJuddho) of Bengalis had begun. Almost all Bengali members of Pakistan Military Forces, Para-Military Forces & Police responded to the call of Mujib & formed resistance since the beginning of Pakistani attacks. Members of Awami League, Student League & civilians joined the resistance that night. Civil, political & military i.e. all aspects of Bengali people joined in the freedom struggle; it was a people’s war.
One of the main players of this atrocity, west Pakistani politician Zulficar Ali Bhutto was in Dhaka on that night. He wanted to see that how violently & mercilessly Gen. Tikka Khan could execute the Larkana plan- the dissolution of Bengali identity of East Pakistan.
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