Recalling the great victory of 1971

We remember the historic victory the Bengali nation achieved on this day in 1971. A recapitulation of it pacquires increased intensity when we recall the many tribulations and the immensity of suffering that went into our national triumph. The emergence of the sovereign state of Bangladesh in 1971 was not a run of the mill affair brought about by political negotiations around a table. It was an achievement arising out of a concerted war of national liberation, in which tens of thousands of men and women in the Mukti Bahini in particular and the people of Bangladesh in general put their lives on the line as they sought to send the Pakistan occupation army and its local collaborators packing. It was a war forced on us and over the nine months of it 3,000,000 of our fellow Bengalis were to die; 200,000 women would be raped by Pakistan's soldiers; 10,000,000 would seek refuge in India and whole villages and towns would be left ravaged. We opted to hit back, to let the enemy know that the country belonged to us and that sooner rather than later his stranglehold on Bangladesh would go.
Today, thirty six years after that momentous victory, it is appropriate that we pay tribute to all men and women who made it possible for us to take our place in the comity of free nations. We recall the historic contributions made by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman to the growth of our nationalism and indeed to our armed struggle for freedom. We will be failing in our responsibilities if we do not pay tribute to the brave men who, as the leaders of the Mujibnagar government, sketched out the details of the guerrilla war that would eventually lead us to freedom. We recall the great contributions made by all our sector commanders and all the soldiers of the Mukti Bahini in the war. And we have not forgotten the very significant moral and material support given to us by Indian government and people in our struggle against the forces of occupation. No remembrance of victory can be complete without recalling the courage and resilience of the entire population of Bangladesh in that time of fear.
As we observe Victory Day this year, let us remain aware of the priorities before us. And they centre on what we must do to face up to the assaults lately made on the spirit of the War of Liberation by the known collaborators of the Pakistan occupation army. The sector commanders of the war formed a human chain demanding trial of war criminals. Large sections of society, indeed the people of Bangladesh as a whole, have clearly supported such moves. It now remains for us to have that goal realised, for that is the only way in which we can do away with all threats to our national sovereignty and cultural dignity.