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Mukti Bahini (Template:Lang-bn "Freedom fighters (FF)" or "Liberation Army) were Bengali militants from erstwhile East Pakistan, who fought against the Pakistan Army in Bangladesh Liberation War (1971). The force was the predecessor of Bangladesh Armed Forces.

Background

The Mukti Bahini consisted of Bengali members of Pakistan armed forces and civilians from East Pakistan, in response to the Operation Searchlight on March 25, 1971, a violent military operation carried out by the Pakistan Army to curb the Bengali nationalist movement through selective genocide of Bengali people.

The force used Guerrilla warfare tactics to fight against the Pakistan Army. India provided economic, military and diplomatic support to the Mukti Bahini, leading West Pakistan to launch Operation Chengiz Khan, a preemptive attack on the western border of India which started the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971.The operation also precipitated the 1971 Bangladesh genocide and caused roughly 10 million refugees to flee to India as well as the death of 1 - 3 million civilians. Essentially Bengali intelligentsia, academics and Hindus were targeted for the harshest treatment, with significant indiscriminate killing taking place. These systematic killings enraged the Bengalis, who declared independence from Pakistan, to achieve the new state of Bangladesh

Involvement in War

Mukti Bahini fought against Pakistan army in various battlegrounds throughout the country and also performed guerilla operations in different army camps and establishments. Toward the end of the war they rescued thousands of rape victims who were forcefully kept as slaves at Pakistani army camps.

War Crimes

Mukti Bahini ran various torture camps throughout the East Pakistan, where non-Bengali people, mainly West Pakistanis and Bihari people were kidnapped and tortured to death, often skinned alive, burnt and physically tormented. Thousands of Pakistani females regardless of age were brutally raped and murdered. Various estimates put these figures to minimum of 50,000 to 1 million killed. Mukti Bahini was succeeded by the Bangladesh Armed Forces.

Dissolution

On 16 December 1971, the allied forces of the Mukti Bahini and the Indian army defeated the Pakistan Army deployed in the East. The resulting surrender was the largest in number of prisoners of war since World War II.

References

1. Jahan, Rounaq (1 February 1973). "Bangladesh in 1972: Nation Building in a New State". Asian Survey. 13 (2): 31. doi:10.2307/2642736.
2. Eyal Benvenisti (23 February 2012). The International Law of Occupation. Oxford University Press. pp. 189–. ISBN 978-0-19-163957-9. Retrieved 20 December 2012.
3. The War Heroine Speaks: A Special Series on Women & Bangladesh’s Independence War | ANUSHAY'S POINT
4. Statistics Of Pakistan's Democide
5. When The Indian Sponsored Mukti Bahni Murdered 1 Million Biharis | PKKH.tv

See also

• Helal Uddin Ahmed. "Mukti Bahini". In Sirajul Islam (ed.). Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh. Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.

• Bangladesh Liberation War