Chapter 17 - Armed Conflict

Summary

In 1971 the Pakistan armed forces began a genocidal attack on the population of East Pakistan, igniting the Bangladesh Liberation War. The main thread is the violent struggle between the armed forces and local guerrilla fighters. But interwoven with this chronicle of national liberation are many other themes: the victimisation of specific groups (women, Hindus, ethnic minorities); local vendettas and the settling of personal scores; tensions between nationalists of different hues; regional variation in violence and destruction as well as in population displacement; and thousands of stories of personal courage and sacrifice. Equally important is the fact that the war was part of two larger geopolitical games: the rivalry between India and Pakistan and the struggle between Cold War superpowers.