That dark, momentous night

IT was indubitably a defining moment for the Bengali nation, subjugated yet yearning to breathe free in those tumultuous days of March 1971. Finally, on March 25, the Pakistani military decided to bludgeon the Bengalis into submission forever.
It was the beginning of the glorious war of liberation and also a genocide that accounted for countless deaths which stunned the world with the sheer barbarity of what was being done in the name of protecting Pakistan -- a forlorn cause by the end of that explosive month.
They violated all norms of civility and democracy as they pounced on the unarmed civilians, instead of transferring power to the Awami League which had emerged as the majority party in the December 1970 elections. The rulers broke their promise when Bengalis for the first time in Pakistan's history were set to take control of the statecraft, and quite legitimately at that. Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was leading the nation from the front and negotiating with the Pakistanis, with his typical firmness, as per the law and constitution of the country. However, the Pakistani rulers were prepared to negotiate on their terms only. It was indeed a diabolically treacherous exercise to keep the dialogue alive while bringing in war machines from West Pakistan. They were clearly preparing for a brutal assault on the people of the then East Pakistan.
The way Yahya Khan and ZA Bhutto left Dhaka, leaving people of East Pakistan at the mercy of a horde of killers, was a clear indication of how they viewed East Pakistan and its people and what a mockery it was on their part to negotiate with the leaders of the Awami League.
They did succeed in killing people. The "Operation Search Light" conducted in Dhaka on that dreadful night alone left thousands dead. They included intellectuals, students and the members of police and EPR. There were raids on many places like the University of Dhaka, a centre of progressive thinking since its birth, Rajarbagh Police Line, the EPR Headquaters at Peelkhana etc. The first night of the cowardly attack might have caught the Bengalees rather unawares. But soon the freedom loving people vowed to take up arms and drive the invaders out of this sacred land.
The enemy resorted to killing, rape, arson and looting but could not subdue the indomitable spirit that aroused the nation to resisting the attackers with everything at their disposal. Victory came, at a huge cost though, nine months later. We salute the martyrs but for whose supreme sacrifice the country would not have been liberated in just nine months.