Tariq Rahman (Photo from ANI file)
Bangladesh Prime Minister Tariq Rahman on Wednesday condemned the atrocities committed by the Pakistan Army during Operation Searchlight on March 25, 1971. In a message shared online to mark Genocide Day, he said the Pakistani army carried out “one of the worst genocides in history against the defenseless people of Bangladesh in the name of Operation Searchlight.”
“Rahman described March 25 as one of the “most shameful and brutal days,” adding that it was a “pre-planned massacre.”He said that the Pakistan Army opened indiscriminate fire on teachers and students of Dhaka University, including innocent civilians at Pilkhana and Rajarabagh police lines.
Rahman said that the 8th East Bengal Regiment in Chattogram officially began armed resistance against the genocide by declaring “We Revolt”, beginning the nine-month armed liberation war.
The Pakistani army’s attacks followed the results of the 1971 general elections in Pakistan, which Sheikh Mujibur Rahman won. Soon after the result came out, the Pakistani army arrested him and carried out widespread violence against the Bengali-speaking population of the region.Bangladesh celebrates its 56th Independence Day on Thursday. The country concluded its general elections earlier this year after prolonged violence and protests that led to the overthrow of Sheikh Hasina’s government. Tariq Rahman’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party won the February elections in a landslide victory.
