1972–1975 Bangladesh insurgency refers to the period after the independence of Bangladesh when left-wing Communist

insurgents 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 ...

, particularly the Gonobahini fought against the government of the Prime Minister

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 ...

. The government responded by forming the

Jatiya Rakkhi Bahini The Jatiya Rakkhi Bahini ( bn, জাতীয় রক্ষী বাহিনী, lit=National Defense Force) was a Bangladeshi para-military force formed in 1972 by the Sheikh Mujibur Rahman government. Initially formed to curb the insur ...

, which began a crackdown on the general populace. The force became involved in the numerous charges of human rights abuse including political killings, shooting by death squads, and large number of rapes on womans.

Background

In 1972, Jatiyo Samajtantrik Dal was formed when it split from

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 ...

, under the leadership of Serajul Alam Khan, M. A. Jalil,

ASM Abdur Rab A. S. M. Abdur Rab (born 1945) is a Bangladeshi politician. He is the founder secretary general of the Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal. In 1985, Rab and his followers left the party and formed a new party Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal-JSD, known as JSD (Rab). ...

and Shahjahan Siraj. Its armed wing, Gonobahini, led by Colonel

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 ...

and

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 ...

, began an armed campaign against the government of

in order to establish

scientific socialism Scientific socialism is a term coined in 1840 by Pierre-Joseph Proudhon in his book '' What is Property?'' to mean a society ruled by a scientific government, i.e., one whose sovereignty rests upon reason, rather than sheer will: Thus, in a given ...

and a Marxist state.

Political killings

Anthony Mascarenhas states that by the end of 1973, the number of politically motivated murders in

Bangladesh 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 ...

after independence was over 2000. The victims included some members of

parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

and many of the murders were resulted of intra-party conflicts within the Awami League. The Gonobahini also killed numerous Bangladesh Chhatra League and Awami League members. On the other hand,

Maoists Maoism, officially called Mao Zedong Thought by the Chinese Communist Party, is a variety of Marxism–Leninism that Mao Zedong developed to realise a socialist revolution in the agricultural, pre-industrial society of the Republic of Chi ...

such as Siraj Sikder of the

Purba Banglar Sarbahara Party Purba Banglar Sarbahara Party ( bn, পূর্ব বাংলার সর্বহারা পার্টি, Proletarian Party of East Bengal) is a communist party in Bangladesh. The party played a role in the independence struggle of the c ...

and Abdul Haq began attacking the government and people whom they considered "

class enemies The term enemy of the people or enemy of the nation, is a designation for the political or class opponents of the subgroup in power within a larger group. The term implies that by opposing the ruling subgroup, the "enemies" in question are ac ...

". The government responded by forming the

. Anthony Mascarenhas claimed that within three years, deaths of mostly Jatiyo Samajtantrik Dal members reached 30,000, all of which were killed by the Jatiya Rakkhi Bahini.

End of insurgency

After being de facto ruler of the nation,

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 ...

realized that the disorder set off by the soldiers' mutiny had to be suppressed firmly if discipline was to be restored in the

army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

. 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 Jatiyo Samajtantrik Dal, Abu Taher was sentenced to death and other party figures had various terms of imprisonment slapped on them.

Legacy

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...

states that institutionalized violence committed by the Jatiya Rakkhi Bahini during the insurgency, established the culture of

impunity Impunity is avoidance of punishment, loss, or other negative consequences for an action. In the international law of human rights, impunity is failure to bring perpetrators of human rights violations to justice and, as such, itself constitutes a d ...

and widespread prevalence of abuses by security forces in independent Bangladesh.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1972-1975 Bangladesh insurgency 20th-century conflicts Communism in Bangladesh Rebellions in Asia Cold War rebellions 1970s in Bangladesh Conflicts in 1972 Conflicts in 1973 Conflicts in 1974 Conflicts in 1975 1972 in Bangladesh 1973 in Bangladesh 1974 in Bangladesh 1975 in Bangladesh Communism-based civil wars Communist rebellions