I will focus on what a very small group of Bangladeshis in Colorado did to help the independence movement in Bangladesh. It consisted of only three Bangladeshi families living in Denver and similar number of students at Colorado University (CU) and Colorado State University (CSU). At that time no more than several thousand Bengalis were living abroad in the USA, Canada and the UK. The movement for Bangladesh independence in North America was in a much bigger context. It was considered necessary to form a national organisation to represent and unite all the Bangladeshis of the USA, and also to represent views of the Bangladeshi people. With that in mind, the Bangladesh League of America and Canada was formed in Chicago along with other umbrella organisations, such as the Bangladesh Defence League formed in New York, and the Bangladesh Information Center formed in Washington.

The national committee was needed to establish certain legitimacy: that most Bangladeshis were in favour of a split from Pakistan into a separate nationhood; that the new nation already had a government in exile; and that the Bangladeshis living in North America were representing the will of Bangladesh people. The committee also wanted to establish certain facts: that there was a genocide perpetrated methodically by the Pakistan army with the full approval of the Pakistan government; that the American weapons were being used in the killing, and, therefore, arms shipment to Pakistan must stop immediately; and that an immediate relief effort was necessary to reduce the plight of the refugees. The committee wanted to include the support of academicians, activists, Senators, Congressmen, journalists, musicians, and simply the world opinion. The task was not easy considering that Nixon-Kissinger had sided with Pakistan in a defence treaty alliance. In America we arranged and participated in numerous meetings with American media, politicians and laymen just to stay ahead of Pakistani propaganda in the US.

I was the President of the Colorado Chapter of Bangladesh League of America at that time. Our beloved brother late Dr. F. R. Khan, the world famous architect, designer of the Sears Tower in Chicago, was the President of its national committee. It was a time of great tension and anxiety for us watching on television the great sufferings of the Bangladeshi people. That disturbed us. The members of the league would spend sleepless nights with a mission to make American citizens aware of the political cause of the Bangladeshis. The league wrote letters to U.S. Senators, Congressmen, and influential people in America. Our group contacted newspaper reporters, who published stories about the massacre of Bangladeshi people and its leading intellectuals. I was interviewed a few times by the journalists and the local television newscasters. Justice Mahmud Hussain, who had just arrived from Bangladesh at the time, joined the lecture circuit traveling to various campuses in Colorado. (He later returned to Bangladesh and retired as a Justice of the High Court in Dhaka). Mr. Abdul Muhith, the Economic Secretary of the Pakistan Embassy at that time defected from the Pakistan Embassy. Mr. M. R. Siddiqui arrived in Washington, D.C. during this period, and on August 5, 1971 he represented Bangladesh as the first ambassador to the United States from Bangladesh, a nation not yet recognised by the US government. Both Mr. M. R. Siddiqui and Mr. Abdul Muhith came to Denver, Colorado, to help advance the cause of Bangladesh independence and we organised a news conferences for them in the Blue Room of Denver Stapleton Airport.

The Denver group also organised a cultural programme to raise funds for Bangladesh.

Among the fund-raising efforts to help the Bangladeshi refugees, George Harrison's concert, Concert for Bangladesh was held in New York that attracted the attention of most of the world.

Our efforts paid off. The efforts of the Bangladesh League of America brought about some significant changes in the public opinion in America. On May 6, 1971, the Senate Relations Committee unanimously passed the Case-Mondale resolution that stopped military aid or further arms sale to Pakistan. The US government recognised Bangladesh as a new country, which paved the way for financial help from the world community for the survival of the new Bangladesh nation.

Our struggle for Bangladesh independence has been recently recorded by Dr. Abul Kalam in a magazine named KATHA published by Bangladesh expatriates living in the State of Colorado (Ref: KATHA, second volume, page 10-12, published in April 2005).

The present caretaker government of Professor Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed is a blessing for Bangladesh. He and his colleagues are showing real statesmanship in governing the country in a manner unknown to the people of Bangladesh in our history.

We, the expatriates living in America, fully support the efforts of the caretaker government and its determination to root out the evils of society.