Operation searchlight in 1971 Bangladesh.pptx

Operation searchlight in 1971 Bangladesh

1. Operation Searchlight

2. The ruthless and brutal armed operation undertaken by the Pakistan army on 25 March 1971 in order to curb the movement of the freedom loving Bangalis against the autocratic rule of the Pakistani rulers. It was termed as 'Operation Searchlight' by the military authority.

3. The purposes of this operation was- to arrest or kill the distinguished Awami League leaders, student leaders and Bangali intellectuals in the main cities of the then East Pakistan including Dhaka, to disarm the Bengali personnel of military , para military and police forces to capture radio station and telephone exchange , to take over the control of the province of East Pakistan by ruthlessly curbing the non-cooperation movement headed by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

4. The Operation Searchlight was scheduled to be launched at 13 hours of 26 March . But in the evening of 25 March the Awami League chief Sheikh Mujibur Rahman having no positive and tangible result in his discussion with President Yahya Khan had a call to the people to prepare themselves for an all out struggle. The Pakistan's brutal army started their dirty war, “Operation Searchlight” in the mid-night (around 11 P.M) of 25th March 1971 to stop the legal demands of Bengali nation to be allowed to form central government of Pakistan.

5. The following measures were scheduled to be taken under Operation Searchlight: 1. The operation shall be started in the whole of East Pakistan. 2. Maximum number of politicians and student leaders, teachers and activists of cultural organisations shall have to be arrested . 3. The operations in Dhaka shall have to be made a cent percent success. To that end the Dhaka University shall have to be captured. 4. The security of the cantonment must be ensured . 5. All sorts of domestic and international communications must be disrupted. Telephone exchange, radio, TV, tele printer service, transmitter in the foreign consulates must be disrupted.

6. 6. The soldiers of the EPR must be disarmed and in their places West Pakistani soldiers shall be deputed to patrol the armoury, and the control of the armoury shall be vested upon them. 7. In the first phase , the operational zones will be Dhaka, Khulna, Chittagong, Comilla , Jessore , Rangpur, Syedpur and Sylhet. The operation planning in Chittagong, Sylhet, Jessore , Rangpur and Comilla shall be implemented by air, if necessary.

7. The Pakistani soldiers came out of the cantonment at 11.30 pm. Attack on the demonstrating Bangalis in the Farm Gate area Attack on Peelkhana and Rajarbagh 1.30 am- arrested Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Foreign newspaper published this news on 01 April. killed a huge number of students including nine teachers . many people were killed and injured in Chittagong by the firing of the army. A good number of journalists, media personnel were burnt to death. old Dhaka, Tejgaon , Indira Road, Mirpur, Mohammadpur , Dhaka airport, Ganaktuli , Dhanmondi , Kalabagan , Kathalbagan etc .

8. On the eve of the genocide on 25 March, President Yahya Khan left Dhaka for Karachi. But Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, the president of the Pakistan People's Party, who came to Dhaka for having a dialogue with Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, observed the operation from the Hotel Intercontinental of Dhaka. In old Dhaka 700 people were burnt to death . Information gathered from various home and foreign sources reveal that on that fateful night seven thousand Bangalis were killed in Dhaka city itself.