From: kazi@hercules.cis.udel.edu (Zunaid Kazi)
Subject: Precursor to victory
Organization: University of Delaware, Newark
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1992 02:31:44 GMT

Prelude to liberation: The Declaration of Independence

[Excerpted from _The History of the Liberation Movement in Bangladesh_,
 Author J. S. Gupta]     

...meanwhile a message in the form of a telegram reached the hands of
a few students from Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. The students were excited to
receive Mujib's message to the people, but were at a loss to decide
what should be done with it. AT last it struck them that the message
could be broadcast from Agrabad Station of Radio Pakistan...

..The message was translated into Bengali by Dr. Manjula Anwar. As they
took the message to the radio station. announcer Kazi Hosne Ara was
picked up on the way...

..The Armed police guards posted there were Bengali's who immediately
opened the locks and allowed them to go in. Kazi Husne Ara rushed out
and brought with her Mahbub Hassan, Belal Ahmed and Abul Kashem Sandwipi.

Making hurried trips between AGrabad broadcasting station and its 
transmission center at Kalurghat they failed to secure permission from
higher authorities to run the station...

It was decided that they should go back to the other side of Kalurghat
bridge where rations had just been delivered to the jawans of East
Bengal Regiment under the command of Major Ziaur Rahman and plead with
them for assistance to run the Kalurghat transmitter as a broadcasting
station...

...The engineer [Ashikul Islam] had an interview with the commandant
who agreed to send some military guards to protect the Kalurghat
Transmitter...

..As the Bengali soldiers took positions to guard the transmission
centre, the rebels put their heads together and secured the help of a
few engineers of the Kalurghat industrial complex to convert it into
a broadcasting station.

As Kalurghat was getting organized into a nerve-centre for coordinating
the liberation struggle, Baluch troops had invaded the EBR barracks where
under the command of Major Zia a bloody battle raged. Major Zia had to
retreat and with a battalion of troops came to Kalurghat. He was made
commandant of the rebel forces at Kalurghat where the transmitter was
now ready for broadcasting. As contact could not be established between
the leaders of the Awami League, Major Zia was requested by the rebel
station to broadcast a message of independence to the people of Bangladesh.

At 7:45 pm on 26th March 1971, Major Zia broadcast the message which became
historic in the struggle for independence.

	"This is Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra. I, Major Ziaur Rahman, at
	 the direction of Bango Bondhu Mujibur Rahman, hereby declare 
	 that the independent People's Republic of Bangladesh has been
	 established. At his direction, I have taken command as the
	 temporary head of the republic. In the name of Sheikh Mujibur
	 Rahman, I call upon all Bengalis to rise against the attck by
	 the west Pakistani Army. WE shall fight to the last to free
	 our motherland. By the grace of Allah, victory is ours.
	 Joy Bangla."

...Major Zia's message was picked up by a Japanese ship anchored mid-
stream in Chittagong harbour. When the news of this declaration was 
broadcast by Radio Australia, the rest of the world came to know of
it...

[End of excerpts from the book]

There was an earlier broadcast of the Declaration of Independence. Very
few people heard that declaration. Zia's famous "Ami Major Zia Bolchhi"
message has now become a household phrase.

The previous declaration was broadcast on the morning of March 26, 1971.
The message went:

	"Today Bangladesh is a sovereign and independent country. On
	 thursday night West Pakistani armed forces suddenly attacked
	 the police barracks at Razarbagh and the EPR headquarters at
	 Pilkhana in Dhaka. Many innocent and unarmed have been killed
	 in Dhaka city and other places of Bangladesh. Violent clashes
	 between EPR and Police on the one hand and the armed forces 
	 of Pindi on the other, are going on. The Bengalis are fighting
	 the enemy with great courage for an independent Bangladesh.
	 May God aid us in our fight for freedom. Joy Bangla."


-- Zunaid Kazi
   kazi@cis.udel.edu

Newsgroups: soc.culture.bangladesh,soc.culture.indian,soc.culture.pakistan