Provisional Government of Bangladesh

The 1970 general election, the first of its kind in Pakistan after years of military rule, was held on 7 December 1970. The Awami League, led by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, secured 160 out of 300 seats, becoming the majority in the National Assembly. With the elections concluded, president Yahya Khan was to inaugurate the National Assembly, and the elected legislators were to draft a new constitution. With the Awami League being in the majority in the assembly, there remained no obstacle to writing a constitution that complied with the six points demand. As a result, anxiety among the West Pakistani opposition parties and the military junta was on the rise.[7]

On 1 March 1971, Yahya Khan postponed the inaugural session of the National Assembly on 3 March, indefinitely. According to him, "it was imperative to give more time to the political leaders to arrive at a reasonable understanding on the issue of Constitution making".[8][9] Sheikh Mujib immediately called for non-cooperation by his people, effectively taking control of East Pakistan.[10] Mujib kept issuing regular directives to people and party workers. Non-cooperation was an immediate success; people spontaneously defied a curfew imposed by the Army. On 3 March, Yahya Khan announced a round table conference would be held in Dhaka on 10 March to settle the disputes over the constitution.[11] On 7  March, however, in a speech in front of a massive gathering, Sheikh Mujib called for an indefinite general strike, asking his people to be prepared for any emergency and issued an ultimatum to the junta.[12]

On 15 March, Yahya Khan arrived in Dhaka and met Mujib the next day. A series of meetings took place between them until late March. At Yahya's insistence, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, leader of the West Pakistani opposition party (PPP), joined them from 21 March.[13] Mujib assured Yahya that his party would not harm West Pakistan's interests. During those talks, news of war preparations in East Pakistan reached the Awami League leadership. Troops and arms were being concentrated from West Pakistan. Mujib urged Yahya to stop the reinforcements, warning him of the consequences. The Awami League leadership expected that on 24 March final negotiations would take place,[14] however, that day passed with no meeting. On 25 March they learned that Yahya's delegation had secretly left Dhaka, leaving the discussions unfinished, killing any hope for a peaceful settlement.[14]

Sheikh Mujib kept ordering his workers to escape to safety. Mujib refused to escape until 25 March, fearing it would be used as a pretext to massacre innocent Pakistanis.[15] On 25 March, the night Yahya secretly left Dhaka and the Pakistan Army cracked down on the Bangladeshi population there, killing thousands of people. Like the entire nation, the Awami League's leadership was taken by surprise; they scattered, each busy finding their own path to safety, and losing contact with one another for a few days.

It was known days later that Sheikh Mujib had been arrested on the night of 25 March. Before his arrest, he broadcast the independence of Bangladesh in a radio message.[16]

Following the Pakistan Army crackdown on 25 March, Awami League leaders Tajuddin Ahmad, general secretary of the party, and Amir-ul Islam escaped Dhaka and crossed the Indian border on 30 March.[17] They were received at the border outpost by the regional head of the Indian Border Security Force (BSF), Golok Majumdar.[18] Majudmar immediately transported them to Kolkata with him. There, on the night of 30 March and the next day, Tajuddin and Islam had discussions with BSF chief Khusro Faramurz Rustamji, who had come from Delhi after learning of their arrival.[19] On 1 April, Tajuddin and Islam, accompanied by Majumdar, left for Delhi aboard a military cargo plane.[20]

In Delhi, Tajuddin met with India's Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, on 4 April.[21] At their second meeting the following day, Gandhi informed him that Sheikh Mujib had been arrested and transported to Pakistan though Pakistan had not made this official yet.[22] Asked about the Bangladesh government, he replied, having consulted with Amir-ul Islam the day before, that a provisional government had been formed with Sheikh Mujib as its president with the senior Awami League leaders who had attended the Mujib-Yahya talks as cabinet members. Tajuddin presented himself as the prime minister.[23] Except for Sheikh Mujib, the whereabouts of the other members was unknown. Two crucial resolutions were reached in that meeting: India opened its borders to Bangladeshi refugees saving millions of lives in the upcoming days when Pakistani aggression reached outside major cities, and India allowed the Bangladesh Government to operate within Indian territory.[24] The Indian government also promised to help the Bangladeshi liberation war by any means possible.

While Tajuddin was in Delhi, part of the Awami League leadership congregated in Kolkata. Many of them, notably the youth and student leaders, viewed Tajuddin's meeting with the Indian prime minister as an outrageous act sidelining them.[25][lower-alpha 1] On returning to Kolkata, on 8 April, Tajuddin found and met the group of leaders, including A H M Qamaruzzaman, and informed them of the Delhi meeting's outcomes, including the provisional government.[27][28] Some of the leadership present there questioned Tajuddin's legitimacy as prime minister.[28] The youth leader Sheikh Mani rejected the idea of the cabinet outright. Instead, he proposed setting up a revolutionary council dedicated to conducting armed resistance only.[27] Amir-ul Islam explained the inadequacy of the revolutionary council and the necessity of a legal government. After this, and following Qamaruzzaman's mediation, most of the leadership at the meeting accepted Tajuddin's proposal.[27]

On 10 April, Tajuddin, Amir-ul Islam, Sheikh Mani and others boarded an old Dakota plane borrowed from the Indian government and set off in search of other cabinet members scattered around the borders.[29][30] Flying at low altitudes, the plane stopped at various airstrips at the borders.[29] After picking up cabinet members Muhammad Mansur Ali, Abdul Mannan, and Syed Nazrul Islam from various places on the way, on 11 April, the entourage arrived in Agartala, capital of the Indian state of Tripura, where many other Awami League leaders had taken refuge, including Khondaker Mostaq Ahmad and Colonel M. A. G. Osmani.[30]

Reunited in Agartala, the Awami League leadership pondered the cabinet agenda and distributing cabinet offices. In the absence of President Sheikh Mujib, Syed Nazrul Islam served as acting president, Khondaker Mostaq took the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Qamarauzzaman was given the State Minister's office, Mansur Ali the Finance Ministry, Abdul Mannan took his responsibility as the Minister-In-Charge of Information and Broadcasting Ministry,[31] and Osmani, a retired veteran of the Pakistan army, was appointed commander-in-chief of the armed forces.[30][32] The entire cabinet returned to Kolkata on 13 April, set to take oath at some yet unoccupied place in Bangladesh.[31]

Sculpture of the cabinet members of the Provisional Government of Bangladesh at Mujibnagar

The oath taking ceremony took place on 17 April, at a village along the India-Bangladesh border, called Baidyanathtala, in Kushtia district (currently Meherpur district), on Bangladeshi soil.[33][lower-alpha 2] The ceremony was conducted by Abdul Mannan.[35] Professor Muhammad Yusuf Ali read the proclamation of independence,[35] drafted by Amir-ul Islam, an Awami League MNA-elect and barrister of the Dacca High Court, with the help of Subrata Roy Chowdhury, a barrister of the Calcutta High Court,[36] retroactively in effect from 10 April.[30] Answering a journalist during the ceremony, Tajuddin named the place Mujibnagar, after Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.[37] Later the government-in-exile came to be popularly known as the Mujibnagar Government. Mujibnagar was abandoned quickly after the oath ceremony as participants feared a raid by Pakistani forces.[38] The government settled in Kolkata, in exile, for the rest of the war—briefly at a house on Ballyganj Circular Road[39] and then at 8 Theatre Road.[40]

The proclamation of independence issued on 10 April served as the interim constitution of Bangladesh until 1972 and provided the legal basis of the provisional government. It declared that as Pakistan has failed to convene its elected legislators for framing a new constitution on 3 March and instead launched an "unjust and treacherous war", Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, had fulfilled aspirations for self-determination by declaring independence of Bangladesh on 26 March:[41]

Whereas in the facts and circumstances of such treacherous conduct Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the undisputed leader of the 75 million people of Bangladesh, in due fulfilment of the legitimate right of self-determination of the people of Bangladesh, duly made a declaration of independence at Dacca on March 26, 1971, and urged the people of Bangladesh to defend the honour of and integrity of Bangladesh[41]

The proclamation declared formation of a constituent assembly, consisting of the elected legislators, and Bangladesh as a people's republic with "equality, human dignity and social justice" as its fundamental principles:

We the elected representatives of the people of Bangladesh, as honour bound by the mandate given to us by the people of Bangladesh whose will is supreme duly constituted ourselves into a Constituent Assembly, and having held mutual consultations, and in order to ensure for the people of Bangladesh equality, human dignity and social justice declare and constitute Bangladesh to be sovereign Peoples' Republic and thereby confirm the declaration of independence already made by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.[41]

According to prime minister Tajuddin's secretary Faruq Aziz Khan:

The prime minister had a small office room no bigger than 10'x10'. A small secretariat table and a few chairs were all the furniture the PM's office had. An iron chest and a steel cabinet occupied most of the space of this little room ... Behind this room there was a bigger room about 25'x20' in size which was the PM's bed room cum sitting and dining room, all combined in one.[42]

The other wing of the building which had almost similar accommodation was occupied by the commander-in-chief of the army Col. M.A.G. Osmani while the upper floor was occupied by some M.N.As and M.Ps as a kind of a hostel. It also housed the offices of the acting president Syed Nazrul Islam, finance minister M. Mansoor Ali and home minister Mr. Qamruzzaman.

[43]

Pakistan was diplomatically assisting its ally the United States in its rapprochement with Communist China.[62] India as a non-aligned under the premiership of its first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru's daughter Indira Gandhi. She agreed to join with the Provincial Bangladesh Government; from 21st November the Indian Army took over control from BD Forces.[63] 'Youth camps' were set up in border areas to train youths in guerrilla warfare. A sizable guerrilla force was raised within a few months.

From late June, the first batch of trained BD Forces guerrillas, a fee hundred in number, entered and began operating within occupied Bangladesh.[64] Their repeated hit-and-run attacks on Pakistan Army bases and communication systems hampered the Pakistan Army.

During this juncture India signed a friendship treaty with the USSR in August, Russian armament supply to India began. Till then about a 500 guerrillas were trained.[65] It was planned that the number would be increased by 10,000 more, by training 1,000 guerrillas per month.[65] From late August, besides limited training and supplying the BDF, the Eastern Command of the Indian Army, headquartered in Kolkata, got involved in setting their monthly 'ops target'.[65] Major General B N Sarkar of the Indian Army was appointed as the military liaison between the Indian government and the Provincial Government of Bangladesh. In a naval operation, BDF naval commandos, blew up two Pakistan Navy ships anchored at Chittagong port in Bangladesh.[66]

At the beginning of the war, threw divisions of the Pakistan Army were stationed in East Pakistan.[67].[67] From 25 March to 7 April, Pakistan forces in East Pakistan (Bangladesh) were reinforced by two more divisions from Pakistan.[68] For a decisive offensive against Pakistan, Indian forces were reinforced with forces stationed in its northern front, securing the border with China. Indian military strategists scheduled the decisive offensive in winter.[67] Meanwhile, the Bangladesh Forces would destroy the border outposts, thus making it easier for the guerrillas to pour in and operate within the country.

BDF guerrillas kept attacking government headquarters, military check posts, bridges, railways, and power stations. As a result, land transportation capacity in occupied Bangladesh reduced to one-tenth by September.[69] From the second week of October, guerrilla operation intensified further.[69] By late October, only 90 of the 370 outposts survived.[70]

In early December, in the wake of a Pakistan air strike on Indian territory, India declared war with Pakistan and recognized Bangladesh. US president Richard Nixon bluffed a presence of the Seventh Fleet into the Bay of Bengal. The USSR opposed the move and also deployed a single warship in the Bay of Bengal. The Pakistan forces surrendered on 16 December in Dhaka.

In September, 40 members of the national and provincial assemblies of the South Zone, headquartered in Barasat, issued a statement expressing dissatisfaction on the provisional government's performance.[71] They asked for revocation of the prime minister's Zonal Administrative Council order (GA/810/345) and instead forming a committee consisting of Awami League members.[71] They also complained about the members of the Planning Commission as 'none of them is Awami Leaguer nor do they believe in the ideology of Awami League'.[72] They asked for prime minister Tajuddin Ahmad's resignation from the cabinet and Awami League.[73]

The Chhatra League, the student wing of the Awami League, and labor groups united under a separate force, initially called the Bangladesh Liberation Force (BLF) and later Mujib Bahini. Though initially commissioned by Osmani to recruit youths for the regular Bangladesh Forces,[65] they eventually emerged as an independent armed force, under the auspices of the Indian intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing(RAW).[74][75] Mujib Bahini clashed with the regular forces at various places. Sector Commanders of the regular forces and Osmani urged the government to bring them under the same command.[65] Prime minister Tajuddin himself expressed his concern about Mujib Bahini to Indian officials on occasion[75] and to Prime Minister Gandhi at their meeting on 22 October.[76] The situation, however, never improved.

By August, Minister of Foreign Affairs Khondaker Mostaq Ahmad and his cohorts at his ministry secretly established a liaison with the United States, a key ally of Pakistan, without the Government's knowledge.[77] With Sheikh Mujib on trial in Pakistan for high treason, the same group was also spreading the 'either freedom or Mujib' doctrine.[78] Indian intelligence agencies had discovered the fact just before Mostaq was scheduled to lead the Bangladesh delegation to the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Tajuddin removed Mostaq from the UN delegation and sacked him later in December, after the war.[79]

• Government in exile
• The Jai Bangla

• Mujibnagar Government