Quotes of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman – 25 March 1971

I have given you independence, now go and preserve it.

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman

While speaking to Bengali Nationalist  –  Few hours before his arrest on the night of 25th March 1971 and Begging of a Genocide by  Pakistani forces in operation Searchlight. 

Operation Searchlight was a planned military operation carried out by the Pakistan Army to curb the Bengali nationalist movement in – East Bengal Named by Pakistan  East Pakistan in March 1971

On the night of 25 March 1971 the Pakistani Army launched Operation Searchlight. Time magazine dubbed General Tikka Khan, the “Butcher of Bengal” for his role in operation Searchlight.

Robert Payne, an American journalist estimated that 7,000 people had been killed  in that night

Operation Searchlight
Part of Bangladesh Liberation War
Date26 March 1971 – 25 May 1971[1]LocationEast Pakistan (now Bangladesh)ResultTemporary West Pakistani occupationOrganization of Bengali popular resistance
Belligerents
 Provisional Government 
 Mukhti Bahini
 Awami League
 Pakistan Armed Forces
Commanders and leaders
 Premier Tajuddin Ahmad Col. M. A. G. Osmani President Yahya Khan LGen Tikka Khan LGen A.A.K Niazi MGen A.O. Mitha MGen Rao Farman Ali RAdm M. Shariff BGen William Harrison ACdre Inamul Haq
Strength
Bengali Forces: ~8,000 Bengali soldiers from East Bengal Regiments Paramilitary Forces:
East Pakistan Rifles:~13,000 soldiers
and approximately 30,000+ members of East Pakistan Police and Ansar armed with .303 riflesCivilian volunteers:unknown (usually unarmed)
Reinforcements: unknown number of unarmed ex-servicemen and civilians
Pakistan Army: 14th Infantry Division, estimated 18,000+ soldiers, 1 armoured regiment (75 M24 Chaffeetanks). Paramilitary Forces: ~3,000 East Pakistan Rifles, 1800 East Pakistan Police personnel
Reinforcements: The 9th and 16th Infantry divisions from West Pakistan
Pakistan Air Force: 20 F-86 Sabre, 3 T-33 trainers, 4 Helicopters, 5 C-130Hercules transport planes.Pakistan Navy:4 Gunboats and 1 Patrol Boat, 1 Destroyer.
Casualties and losses
Mukti Bahini: ~4,000+POWs, 10,000 KIA(Pakistan claim)[citation needed]~6,000 KIA and woundeda few POWs.
Civilian death toll: Estimated 300,000 to 3 Million Bengali civilians.
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