Bangabandhu told journalists, off the record, that 7th March speech would be equivalent to announcement of independence
The CIA recently made available online several thousand documents on Bangladesh's pre- and post-independence events. Today, The Daily Star publishes a declassified document which hints that Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had intended his 7th March speech to be an announcement of independence. The document is printed below, as released by the CIA. One part of a sentence was redacted by the agency before declassification.
Central Intelligence Agency
Directorate of Intelligence
4 March 1971
INTELLIGENCE MEMORANDUM
PAKISTAN
(Situation as of 1200 EST)
1. Shiek[h] Mujibur Rahman's call, during a mammoth rally in Dacca yesterday, for a peaceful, disciplined "struggle" helped to reduce tension in the city on the night of 3-4 March. Mujib, however, also called on his followed to refuse to pay taxes to a non-representative government and asked them to disrupt communications in the city. In line with the latter, he urged the Bengalis to build barricades and dig ditches across the roads to impede the movement of troops.
2. In an interview last night with several foreign correspondents, Mujib was evasive about his plans but eventually admitted "off the record" that at the rally he has scheduled for 7 March he will announce the equivalent of independence for East Pakistan. This will involve the writing of separate constitutions by East and West Pakistan with the subsequent discussions of the form of linkage that might be possible. The US Consul General in Dacca notes that a two constitution-two prime minister solution had previously been suggested for the two wings of Pakistan and that Z. A. Bhutto, leading West Pakistan politician, reportedly had expressed his agreement with it.
3. Mujib in his interview claimed the West Pakistanis had been secretly reinforcing their armed forces in the East wing. A US official reported seeing the arrival of PAF C-130 at Dacca late on 3 March. The US Embassy in Ceylon reports a local newspaper carried pictures in its 3 March edition of two PAF C-130s at the International Airport in Colombo. (All Pakistani air-craft, both civilian and military, are prohibited from crossing over India due to the recent plane hi-jacking crisis, and they have been flying between West and East Pakistan via Colombo.) Meanwhile, [redacted] a shipload of West Pakistani troops is due to arrive at the East Pakistani port of Chittagong soon.
4. Across the border in Calcutta, the citizens of West Bengal are watching the activities of their fellow Bengalis in East Pakistan with great interest. Calcutta newspapers are giving top play to Pakistani developments and sympathy is being expressed for the East Pakistanis. Most citizens of West Bengal recognize that the creation of a "Greater Bengal" would be difficult, but there is widespread belief that Pakistan will split and near unanimous hope that present trade and communication barriers between East Pakistan and West Bengal can be eliminated.
5. The US Consul General in Dacca foresees no real danger for the American community in East Pakistan unless sustained fighting develops between the Bengalis and the army, and then only if the army loses control resulting in a complete breakdown in law and order. The Consul General estimates that if evacuation of US nationals became necessary, some 900 would avail themselves of the opportunity.
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