"If they don't, we will make them accept."
-Sheikh Hasina, current Prime Minister of Bangladesh
-Sheikh Hasina, current Prime Minister of Bangladesh
Bangladesh: Out of War, a Nation Is Born
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The video above, shows Benglai people cheering and jumping after gaining independence from the nine month war and the signing of the surrender document.
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Prime Minister of Bangladesh Statement on 04/17/1971.pdf | |
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The Recognition Story by M.M. Rezaul Karim a former ambassador, 1970s
"Since the Victory Day on 16 December 1971, all Bangladeshi expatriates living abroad and engaged in the Bangladesh movement promptly started pressing for the recognition of Bangladesh as a sovereign independent country. Following surrender of the Pakistani troops in Dhaka on that day, there was no longer any need for seeking support from any quarters for the movement for independence of Bangladesh. Bangladesh was then a reality and already emerged as a sovereign independent nation. Bangladesh was the creation of a long arduous struggle between two sets of people --- the exploiters and the exploited--- belonging to the same country. The first country to recognise Bangladesh as a sovereign, independent nation was India, on 6 December 1971, as the closest ally and friend. The forceful diplomatic support that ensued later at the United Nations, specially by India and the then Soviet Union, paved the way to counter heavy propaganda of the Pakistani regime aided by some powerful friendly nations at the UN Security Council. The first countries which followed India in recognizing Bangladesh were from Eastern Europe. It was the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) which took the lead on 11 January. Bulgaria acted the next day and all other Warsaw Pact countries followed them with the mother country, USSR.according recognition on 25 January. This group of countries, such as the GDR, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Rumania and the Soviet Union had extended all-out diplomatic and other support for the cause of Bangladesh since before liberation. The next group of countries which recognized Bangladesh belonged to the European Union. The Conservative government of Britain under Prime Minister Edward Heath delayed recognition, under the pretext they would do so together with other members of the European Union...
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This followed a series of countries from all over the world from Australia to Canada and from Japan to Argentina. South Asia (except Pakistan), South East Asia and other parts of the world came in the forefront. Malaysia acted on 31 January followed by other ASEAN nations. Senegal was the first African country to act, sometime in February. Canada came in on 14 February, Japan in March and it took USA another month to follow suit, in April. The Arabs were quite late in the game. The division of the largest Muslim state, for whatever reason may it have been, was something they could not stomach easily. The first Arab country to recognize Bangladesh was Iraq, which did so on 8 July. Within a few weeks the Bangladesh Foreign Minister led a delegation to Iraq to obtain supply of Iraqi crude for oil-starved Bangladesh. By the end of 1972 almost all important countries, except Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and China, accorded recognition to Bangladesh. The two countries, who were the last to recognize Bangladesh, in late 1975, were the staunch allies and devoted friends of Pakistan, namely Saudi Arabia and China. Saudi monarch gave in to the Pakistani propaganda that Bangladesh was born due to the machinations of a Hindu India determined to divide and weaken the largest Muslim state in the world. China, on the other hand, suffered from complete misunderstanding about the very raison d'etre of Bangladesh till she recognized Bangladesh on 8 October 1975. These two countries have since realized their total misconception and are now among the closest friends and partners in progress of Bangladesh."
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"Three million people were killed, ten million had to take shelter in neighbouring India, millions were internally uprooted from their hearths and homes, thousands of women were raped, and countless number of people were injured and maimed. Throughout our liberation struggle, Pakistan occupation forces committed every form of gross violation of human rights in Bangladesh; yet the world body could not take any action to stop them."
-Syed Muazzem Ali,
a former Bangladesh Foreign Secretary and one of the founding members of the Bangladesh Mission in Washington DC in 1971.
-Syed Muazzem Ali,
a former Bangladesh Foreign Secretary and one of the founding members of the Bangladesh Mission in Washington DC in 1971.