Bangladesh genocide

The Bangladesh genocide was started by the Pakistan Army on 25 March, 1971 to curb the Bengali nationalist movement after the 1970 Pakistan parliamentary elections when the Awami League won a majority 167 of 169 the East Pakistan seats in the National Assembly but none of West Pakistan's 138 seats. On February 28, 1971, Yahya Khan, then President of Pakistan, postponed the national assembly meeting scheduled for March, and sent the Pakistan Army to take control. The major cities of East Pakistan were captured on March 26, and then all opposition, political or military, were eliminated within one month.

“…… we were told to kill the hindus and Kafirs (non-believer in God). One day in June, we cordoned a village and were ordered to kill the Kafirs in that area. We found all the village women reciting from the Holy Quran, and the men holding special congregational prayers seeking God’s mercy. But they were unlucky. Our commanding officer ordered us not to waste any time.”

(Confession of a Pakistani Soldier)

According to the New York Times (3/28/71) 10,000 people were killed; the New York Times (3/29/71) stated that 5,000-7,000 people were killed in Dhaka; The Sydney Morning Herald (3/29/71) reported that 10,000 - 100,000 were killed; the New York Times (4/1/71) informed that 35,000 were killed in Dhaka during Operation Searchlight (March 25 to April 10). In all, this campaign resulted in an estimated 10 million Bangla Deshi refugees crossing over to India (according to Senator Edward Kennedy's report to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee) and 3 million deaths as reported by relief agencies and estimated by the Bangladesh government.

The Acorn