Bangladesh Liberation War

The Bangladesh Liberation War ( Muktijuddho) was a revolutionary war for the independence of Bangladesh in 1971.Library of Congress The war was between East Pakistan (later with the help of India) and West Pakistan and lasted nine months. West Pakistan is called Pakistan today.

Because of the war, 10 million refugees left the country and 30 million people left their homes. Between 300,000 and 3 million people were killed, majority of them civilians, by the Pakistan Army.Debasish Roy Chowdhury:  Asia Times Online, 23. Juni 2005, abgerufen am 3. Dezember 2016 (englisch). Many Bengali women were raped, and there are documented cases of forced prostitution. Between 200,000  and 400,000 Bengali women were raped. Pakistan's leaders openly supported the crime by labelling Bengali freedom fighters as "Hindus" and Bengali women as "the booty of war". But in reality, more than 80 percent of the Bengali people were Muslim at that time. The Pakistani Army committed genocide on larger parts of the Bengali population. This is known as the 1971 Bangladesh atrocities today. The Bengali Hindus bore the brunt of the massacres committed by the Pakistan Army as they began systemically targeting and exterminating Hindu villages.

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's party won the Pakistan elections of 1970 and the military junta that ruled the country decided he must not be Prime Minister. The resulting war started on 26 March 1971 and finished on 16 December. A category 3 cyclone also happened during the war.

Ghulam Azam and Motiur Rahman Nizami were convicted for war crimes. Azam died before a final hearing. Nizami was executed for his crimes in May 2016.

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Category:Wars involving India
Category:Wars involving Pakistan
Category:Wars of independence
Category:1971 in Bangladesh
Category:1971 in Pakistan