Gonobahini ( bn, গণবাহিনী "''People's Army''") was the armed wing of the

Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal The Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal ( bn, জাতীয় সমাজতান্ত্রিক দল, 'National Socialist Party of Bangladesh', JSD or 'জাসদ', JASAD) is a political party in Bangladesh. The party was founded by Serajul ...

. The group was mainly composed of former

Mukti Bahini The Mukti Bahini ( bn, মুক্তিবাহিনী, translates as 'freedom fighters', or liberation army), also known as the Bangladesh Forces, was the guerrilla resistance movement consisting of the Bangladeshi military, paramilitary ...

members from the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War.

History

In 1972, a section of the

Bangladesh Chhatra League The Bangladesh Chhatra League ( bn, বাংলাদেশ ছাত্রলীগ; translation: Bangladesh Students' League; BSL), formerly known as the East Pakistan Student League, often simply called the Chhatra League, is a students' p ...

, the student wing of the

Bangladesh Awami League Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

split to form the

Jatiyo Samajtantrik Dal The Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal ( bn, জাতীয় সমাজতান্ত্রিক দল, 'National Socialist Party of Bangladesh', JSD or 'জাসদ', JASAD) is a political party in Bangladesh. The party was founded by Serajul ...

, led by

Serajul Alam Khan Serajul Alam Khan (also known as "Dada" and "Dadabhai"; born January 6, 1941) is a Bangladeshi political analyst, philosopher and writer. He is one of the founders of Swadhin Bangla Biplobi Parishad (English: Independent Bengal Revolutionary C ...

. The party called for establishing

socialism Socialism is a left-wing Economic ideology, economic philosophy and Political movement, movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to Private prop ...

through an armed revolution. As a result, the Gonobahini was formed and led a violent

insurgency An insurgency is a violent, armed rebellion against authority waged by small, lightly armed bands who practice guerrilla warfare from primarily rural base areas. The key descriptive feature of insurgency is its asymmetric nature: small irr ...

against the government of

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Sheikh Mujibur Rahman ( bn, শেখ মুজিবুর রহমান; 17 March 1920 – 15 August 1975), often shortened as Sheikh Mujib or Mujib and widely known as Bangabandhu (meaning ''Friend of Bengal''), was a Bengali politi ...

. In 1974,

Hasanul Haq Inu Hasanul Haq Inu (born 12 November 1946) is a Bangladeshi politician and the former Minister of Information of Bangladesh. He leads a faction of the Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal and was involved in a Marxist insurgency in the 1970s. Early life and ...

led a group of armed men to attack the residence of then

home minister The Minister of Home Affairs (or simply, the Home Minister, short-form HM) is the head of the Ministry of Home Affairs of the Government of India. One of the senior-most officers in the Union Cabinet, the chief responsibility of the Home Minist ...

Mansur Ali Muhammad Mansur Ali (16 January 1917 – 3 November 1975) was a Bangladeshi politician who was a close confidant of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding leader of Bangladesh. A senior leader of the Awami League, Mansur also served as the Prime ...

, which resulted in a

massacre A massacre is the killing of a large number of people or animals, especially those who are not involved in any fighting or have no way of defending themselves. A massacre is generally considered to be morally unacceptable, especially when per ...

. The Gonobahini is also accused of killing numerous Bangladesh Chhatra League and Awami League members.

Disbandment

When

Ziaur Rahman Lt. General Ziaur Rahman (19 January 1936 – 30 May 1981), was a Bangladeshi military officer and politician who served as the President of Bangladesh from 1977 to 1981. He was assassinated on 30 May 1981 in Chittagong in an army coup d ...

was freed by members of the Gonobahini, Ziaur Rahman realized that the disorder set off by them in the mutiny had to be suppressed firmly if discipline was to be restored in the

Bangladesh Army The Bangladesh Army is the land warfare branch and the largest component of the Bangladesh Armed Forces. The primary mission of the Army is to provide necessary forces and capabilities to deliver the Bangladeshi government's security and defe ...

. Ziaur Rahman declared

martial law Martial law is the imposition of direct military control of normal civil functions or suspension of civil law by a government, especially in response to an emergency where civil forces are overwhelmed, or in an occupied territory. Use Marti ...

, cracked down on the

and Gonobahini,

Abu Taher Abu Taher ( bn, আবু তাহের) (14 November 1938 – 21 July 1976) was a Bengalis, Bengali military serviceman, who served in the Pakistan Army, and later in Bangladesh Forces, BDF. He crossed into India around early August and r ...

was sentenced to death and other party figures had various terms of imprisonment slapped on them.

Criticism

In 2016, Bangladesh Awami League general secretary Syed Ashraful Islam remarked that

and Gonobahini had created the political atmosphere that led to the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Opposition party leaders also hold its activities responsible for Sheikh Mujib's killing. Other opposition figures have called it "the Al Qaeda of its day."

References

1972 establishments in Bangladesh Communism in Bangladesh Military wings of socialist parties Far-left politics Communist terrorism Terrorism in Bangladesh {{Bangladesh-stub

History

Disbandment

Criticism

See also

References