December 16, 1971, marked an important day in the history of India. It was on this day that the Indian military and the Mukti-Bahini won the Liberation War which resulted in West Pakistan relinquishing control of East Pakistan - now known as Bangladesh.?
As with any war, this one too was won by the blood and sweat of hundreds of soldiers. In order to remember their sacrifice and honour their memory, men and women of the Border Security Force (BSF) of India, ran a 180-km-long relay race, along the border, in the middle of the night. The entire distance was completed in a matter just 11 hours.
Back in August of 2020, The New Indian Express had reported that Bangladesh was going to construct a monument to honour the fallen soldiers of the 1971 war. Minister for Liberation War Affairs, H.E. AKM Mozammel Haque, had said this to the then outgoing Indian High Commissioner Riva Ganguly.?
The Bangladesh Liberation War came into being after West Pakistan (now Pakistan) military launched Operation Searchlight on March 25, 1971, aimed at curtailing the Bengali nationalist movement in erstwhile East Pakistan.
The conflict between Indian and Pakistan was sparked by this war, and lasted 13 days - between December 3, 1971 and December 16, 1971; it ended after the Pakistan military signed the ¡®Instrument of Surrender¡¯.
Also Read: Live Bomb From The 1971 Indo-Pak War Weighing 250 Kilos Has Been Found Near Dhaka Airport
Allegedly, Pakistani military and supporting forces killed between 3,00,000 and 3,000,000 civilians in Bangladesh, and raped between 2,00,000 and 4,00,000 women and girls in what is considered a systemic campaign of genocidal rape.
As a result of the conflict, somewhere between eight to ten million people fled to India, seeking refuge from the ugly ground reality of their country.?