MARCH 13, 1971: Military regime issues threat

As the situation in the then East Pakistan worsened  by the day, the martial law authorities on March 13 ordered all employed civilians to rejoin their duties at the military establishments. 

The order specified that failure to do so would result in dismissal along with being tried as an absconder.

Following the issue of the military directive, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman gave a statement saying because the Bangalees were fighting against military rule such an order would prove to be provocative.

By now, Bangabandhu had solidified his position as the leader of a nation on the cusp of its birth. Whispers spread worldwide that Pakistan, in its current form, was finished.

There were now no longer any demands for a solution but one; total transfer of power to the Awami League chief.

Former National committee member Afazuddin Fakir in a “Letter of Authority” urged President Yahya Khan to hand over power.

All the battalions of the East Pakistan Regiment be managed by Bangalee officers, he said adding the demand to withdraw the excess influx of military in East Bengal over the last month.

Pakistan's house of cards was about to collapse and no threats could delay the inevitable. West Pakistan too demonstrated that by now they knew that if Pakistan was to be saved, Sheikh Mujib's four demands were to be heeded.

They were no longer seen as a demand; they had morphed into being an ultimatum, one that could no longer be denied.

There was no turning back now. Freedom was written in every stone.

Source: The Liberation War Museum