It is quite nostalgic to know that you were in the American Army at the time , dchamp .
Please allow me to break it down for you . During the British colonial era , Bangladesh and Pakistan were both parts of India . After 1947 , India won her Independence and Pakistan separated from India near 1948 . There were 2 parts of Pakistan : East Pakistan and West Pakistan . Despite being called Pakistan ... the people of East Pakistan and West Pakistan were very different in their ideologies . Examples include :
> People of East Pakistan considered Bengali to be their state language . People of West Pakistan considered Urdu to be their state language .
> Despite, both East Pakistan and West Pakistan consisting predominantly of Muslims .... their ideals were different .
East Pakistani people follow(ed) a far more liberal ( and in my opinion , sensible ) interpretation of Islam .
We liked our women to have open hair and not wearing those disgusting black burkha things . We liked music , Western clothes , cinema , art . We liked the freedom of men to be able to shave their beards off , if we wanted . West Pakistanis saw us , as " Heathens " .
We wanted secularism . The West Pakistanis wanted a constitution based largely on Shariah Law .That was a problem to our freedom .
> The government of West Pakistan were ( to put it shortly ) making policies that were crippling the economy of East Pakistan . Our primary source of economic revenue used to be textiles , jute and fish .
So , Sheikh Mujibur Rahman ( the gentle man who created Bangladesh ) began to lead a movement demanding that East Pakistan become independent from West Pakistan .
Of course , West Pakistan did not take too kindly to it . In January , 1971 .... they confiscated every single fire arm belonging to the East Pakistani civilians .
On 25th March .... West Pakistani General Tikka Khan ( " The Butcher Of Baluchistan " ) led " Operation Search Light " . This was one of the largest genocides on civilians to be conducted by a military in the 20th century in South East Asia .
They went from door to door gunning down anyone who could not speak Urdu . They specifically targeted colleges and universities , and their primary focus was on eradicating as many college professors and students that they could find .
They broke in to dormitories and hostels and butchered the males like hides of beef . Our women... Well , death would have been a kinder fate towards them .
Thousands ( yes , thousands ) of women were taken to the barracks and gang raped , before being killed. Pregnant women were impaled to death on bayonets .
The civilians who were smart enough not to hand over their fire arms , were actually the 1s who began to fire back at the West Pakistani soldiers at the earliest .
On the midnight of 26th March , Sheikh Mujibur Rahman declared war against West Pakistan . After 9 months of fighting ... West Pakistan agreed to withdraw it's forces from East Pakistan on the 16th of December . That day .... Bangladesh was born .
And yes , India did provide aid to Bangladesh. However , they had their own selfish motivations for doing so. Indira Gandhi predicted that Bangladesh would not survive long enough on it's own and would end up becoming a part of India in " less than a year . " .
What she did not expect ... Was that Mujib was determined to ensure that Bangladesh REMAINED independent .
America did side up with West Pakistan , during our Liberation War . However , none of us , freedom fighters hold anything against America . Mujib was great friends with Fidel Castro , Muamar Gaddafi and Joseph Stalin , despite not believing in communism himself . However , Americans ( understandably ) were worried that Mujib would turn Bangladesh in to a communist country if we had won the war . After all , the Vietnam War was just getting finished around that time and Americans did not want communism to spread at all ( nor should they ; it is a disease that ruins entire nations under the disguise of equality . )
I remember that we ( freedom fighters ) were extremely terrified of what might have happened if America deployed forces against us . West Pakistani army ... we could handle . American Army... not a chance in Hell ( and I feel no shame in honestly admitting this . )
I should add here that I was not born in Bangladesh / East Pakistan . I was born in Nagpur , India . In 1971 , I was conscripted in to the Indian Army Rangers and then got transferred to Bangladesh .By the time the war had ended .... I got shot in the face . By the time , I was fully clear to leave the hospital ... I realized that Indira Gandhi's government had banned hunting in India , as well as the ownership of imported fire arms and eating beef ( with meat eating in general , being treated as taboo by Indira Gandhi's vegan radical Hindu government . ) . Since all the freedom fighters from India who had served in the Bangladesh Liberation War , were offered free citizenship in Bangladesh by Sheikh Mujib... I decided to stay back in Bangladesh since 1972 . Hunting , fire arms ownership , meat eating .... These things are far too valuable to me to have continued living in India .
@Panther Shooter was a Marks Man during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War and we became close friends towards the end of the war ( I was his commanding officer ) .
He moved to Bangladesh in 1975 .
@Kawshik Rahman and I used to be friends even before the Liberation War had begun ( since 1963 ) , because Kawshik used to be another professional shikaree . My outfitters was named , " Allwyn Cooper Limited " and was based in Nagpur , India. Kawshik's outfitters was named , " Sundar Raj Shikar Limited " and was based in Darjeeling , West Bengal . After listening to me and his other close friends ( who had also moved to Bangladesh ) ... Kawshik and his family moved to Bangladesh in 1979 .
View attachment 340975 View attachment 340976
Since hunting is legal in Bangladesh ( provided that you take permission from your local police DC and adhere to a pre determined bag limit ) ... it goes without saying that people like us are much happier here .
It may be a 3rd world country less than 50 years in to it's independence .... But we are proud of it . We fought for it and gave our blood .
I hope that this shall aid you in understanding a little about the Bangladesh Liberation War , dchamp.