Tariq Rehman (ANI file photo)
Bangladesh Prime Minister Tariq Rahman on Wednesday condemned the brutal acts committed by the Pakistan Army during Operation Searchlight on March 25, 1971. In a letter shared online on the occasion of Genocide Day, he said that the Pakistani Army carried out one of the most heinous massacres in history against the unarmed people of Bangladesh in the name of Operation Searchlight.“Rahman described 25 March as one of the most “humiliating and cruel days”, and said it was “a pre-planned massacre”.He said the Pakistani Army opened indiscriminate fire on teachers and students at Dhaka University, including innocent civilians, at Pilkhana and Rajarbagh police lines.Rahman said the 8th East Bengal Regiment in Chattogram formally launched armed resistance against the massacre by declaring ‘We Revolt’, beginning the nine-month armed liberation war.The attacks by the Pakistani Army followed the 1971 general election results in Pakistan, in which Sheikh Mujibur Rahman won. Soon after the results, the Pakistani army arrested him and carried out large-scale violence against the Bengali-speaking population of the region.Bangladesh will celebrate its 56th Independence Day on Thursday. General elections were held in the country earlier this year after prolonged violence and protests, which led to the ouster of Sheikh Hasina’s government. Tariq Rahman’s BNP won a landslide victory in the elections held in February.