Famous Bangladeshi writer Muhammad Zafar Iqbal has written a book about the history of liberation war of 1971, which has been published in December 24, 2008. That book set a record of highest selling books in the February book fair of 2009. Today, on the independence day, the publishers put this book on internet so that any people can easily collect that book. And the download is totally free!
This book can be downloaded from the website of HISTORTY OF LIBERATION WAR.
The oath-taking ceremony of the Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh-in-exile at Mujibnagar on April 17, 1971.
Mujibnagar Government On 10 April 1971, the Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh was formed through a proclamation of independence issued from Mujibnagar. It confirmed the declaration of independence made earlier. Bangabandhu sheikh mujibur rahman, who was then interned in Pakistan, was elected President, syed nazrul islam Vice President and tajuddin ahmed Prime Minister. In the absence of the President, the Vice President was empowered to exercise the powers, duties and responsibilities of the President.The Bangladesh Government held a formal inauguration ceremony at the mango grove of village Baidyanathtala (renamed Mujibnagar) under the present Meherpur district on 17 April 1971. A few platoons of the then EPR and freedom fighters were deployed for presenting the Guard of Honour. The ceremony started at 11 am. When Syed Nazrul Islam hoisted the flag, a small group sang the national anthem Amar Sonar Bangla (My Golden Bangla) in a chorus. Syed Nazrul Islam announced the formation of a sovereign government of Bangladesh and introduced the ministers to the audience. The Acting President then delivered his speech. After that, Prime Minister Tajuddin Ahmed spoke at a press conference. Continue reading Exile Government of Bangladesh in 1971
Abul Fateh (born 1924) is the Bangladesh diplomat who became that country’s first Foreign Secretary when it gained its independence in 1971. He was an unusual diplomat of his time, as he was Bengali-born, but had managed to work his way up the ranks of the Pakistani power structure. Then when Bangladesh began seeking independence, it was a massive morale boost for the Bangladeshi people, for people of Fateh’s stature to resign from the Pakistani power structure, and support the fledgling country of Bangladesh. Fateh was the highest-ranked and most senior foreign service officer in the new country. His story was later documented in a National Geographic documentary, Running for Freedom.
After the Pakistani military crackdown in March 1971, Abul Fateh received a request from a former university dormitory mate, Syed Nazrul Islam, to join the liberation struggle. At about the same time, in July 1971, Fateh received a summons from the Pakistan Foreign Ministry to attend a conference in Tehran of regional Pakistani ambassadors. He chose to take his official car ostensibly to drive to Tehran but, as he and his driver approached the Iran-Iraq border, he feigned chest pains and ordered the driver to return him home, where he arrived that evening. Saying that he would take a plane the next day, he dismissed the driver. That night, he fled with his wife and sons across the border into Kuwait, from where they took a plane to London.
The announcement of Fateh’s defection to the Bangladesh cause marked the first time a full ambassador had joined the fledgling Bangladesh diplomatic service. The news was received with fury by the military regime in Islamabad, which meanwhile had discovered that on the afternoon just before his supposed departure for Tehran, he had cleared out the Pakistan Embassy bank account in Baghdad to the benefit of the Bangladesh government. The military regime’s requests to extradite him from London were rebuffed by the British Government. These events were chronicled in a 2003 National Geographic Channel television documentary, Running for Freedom.
Abul Fateh (second from left) with his family in London.
The Mujibnagar government made him ambassador-at-large, followed in August 1971 by the concurrent position of Advisor to the Acting President, a position he was to resign in January 1972 after the return to Bangladesh of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. He had a leading role, as the Bangladesh movement’s senior-most diplomat, in a delegation under Justice Abu Sayed Choudhury which went to the United Nations in New York to lobby for the Bangladesh cause. He was also in communication with other governments, such as the Nixon administration via the French consul. He was one of the first high officials to reach Dhaka after its liberation, and was quartered with other senior officials in Bangabhaban until January 1972. Already the effective head of the incipient foreign service, he became Foreign Secretary at the end of 1971.