East West University

GEN 226 / Lecture 21

Contribution of Foreign Friends in the Liberation War of Bangladesh

Foreign friends contributed a lot and extended their helping hands of cooperation in different ways and
played a vital role in our great Liberation War in 1971. Actually their cooperation was the outcome of
the personal perceptions and urge from their heart. In some cases these supports were not in favour of
their government position and state policy. Despite that they helped the people of Bangladesh and
supported our Liberation War as a just war against the occupation Pakistani forces. They included the
heads of the states or the heads of the governments, politicians and members of the parliaments of
various countries, poets and novelists, intellectuals, educationists, painters, singers or cultural
personalities.

Mention may be made of the contributions of some of our foreign friends in different fields. The then
Prime Minister of India Mrs Indira Gandhi played an extra ordinary role to create public opinion
worldwide in favour of our Liberation War. She strongly supported Bangladesh despite the opposition of
two great powers USA and China. Besides this India gave shelter to at least one crore refugees with the
good wishes of Mrs. Gandhi.

The other statesmen who supported Bangladesh were Piere Trudo of Canada, ex-President of India
Pronob Mukherjee, former President of India Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, former Cuban President Fidel
Castro, Former President of Yogoslavia Joseph Broz Tito, former Indian prime minister I K Gujral, former
Prime Minister of Nepal Girija Prasad Koirala, former Soviet President Leonid Breznev, former British
Prime Ministers Sir Edwad Heath and Harold Wilson.

US Senator Edward Kenedy was a democrat Senator and a real friend of Bangladesh. He was a hard critic
of the pro Pakistan foreign policy of Nixon-Kissinger in 1971. Other than Kenedy, Senator Edmund
Musky also supported the War of Liberation of Bangladesh and talked on Bangladesh issue several times
in US Senate. Peter Shore was a member of the House of Commons of British Parliament and had a
strong voice in favour of Bangladesh.

British journalist Mark Tulley who was a correspondent in South Asia for BBC had a brave role in our war
of liberation. His reports and analysis from Dhaka and the liberated regions of Bangladesh gave immense
inspirations to the freedom fighters. Anthony Maskarenhas who was also a British journalist wrote a
series of reports in the Sunday Times about the genocide done in East Bengal by the Pakistani Military
forces. Among other journalists we can mention the name of the reporter of the Daily Telegraph Simon
Dring and US journalist Sydney Shaunberg who was the Delhi correspondent of The New York Times in
1971.

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French philosopher and intellectual Andre Malroe also raised his strong voice in favour of our Liberation
War. He also expressed his desire to participate in the freedom struggle for Bangladesh. American
popular poet Allen Ginsberg called attention to the sufferings of the victims during the Bangladesh
Liberation War in 1971. He wrote his legendary 152-line poem, September on Jessore Road, after visiting
the refugee camps and witnessing the plight of millions fleeing the violence.

These are some of the glimpses of the contributions made by the foreign friends who had a heroic role
in the War of Liberation in 1971.

[References: www.wikipedia.org; Mahbubur Rahman, Bangladesher Itihas, 1947-71; The Daily Star;
Prothom Alo]

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Role of the Soviet Union in the Liberation War of Bangladesh
Russia, the then Soviet Union was the first great power to deplore publicly the Pakistani military
crackdown on Bengalis. It was also the first major power to officially recognize the State of Bangladesh,
which it did within thirty-eight days of its de facto liberation from the Pakistani forces.

The Soviet authority had sent a number of notes to Pakistani President Yahya Khan and other leaders
showing their great concern on the incidents of East Pakistan from the beginning of March 1971. Though
the letter from Soviet President Nikolai Podgorny to President Yahya was written on 2 April 1971, the
Soviet Union formally disclosed their concern to Pakistan and advised the Pakistani leaders to solve the
problems of East Pakistan politically before that. The Soviet authority in Kremlin had keenly observe the
Mujib-Yahya talks from the beginning and the top Soviet authority summoned Jamsheed Marker, the
then Pakistani ambassador in Moscow and expressed their great anxiety at the deteriorated situation in
East Pakistan and gave pressure on the Pakistani leadership to achieve political solution.

It is true that from March 1971 to July 1971 the Soviet stand in Pakistan issue was to resolve the conflict
in the framework of united Pakistan. But the situation dramatically changed after the signing of twenty
years long Indo-Soviet Friendship Treaty titled “The Indo–Soviet Treaty of Peace, Friendship and
Cooperation” concluded by the Soviet foreign minister Andrei Gromyko and his Indian counterpart
Swaran Singh on 9 August 1971. The Indo–Soviet Treaty specified mutual strategic cooperation
between India and the Soviet Union. The treaty was a significant deviation from India's previous position
of non-alignment in the Cold War and in the prelude to the Bangladesh War, it was a key development
in a situation of increasing Sino-American ties. It gave assurances to India that if a confrontation with
the United States or China developed, the USSR would take countermeasures. Actually after signing this
treaty the polarisation of the superpowers in the subcontinent was finalised.

After the visit of Moscow by Indian Prime Minister Mrs. Indira Gandhi in September-October of 1971,
two countries had the same opinion in Bangladesh issue and the Soviet Union agreed to give India a
broader military assistance.

Other than that, the Soviet Union contributed a great role in United Nations, especially in the Security
Council. When the United States made a resolution for "immediate cease-fire and withdrawal of troops"
in the Security Council on 7 December 1971, the USSR vetoed the resolution twice. The Soviet Union
tried to present Justice Abu Sayeed Chowdhury as the representative of Bangladesh before the Security
Council though they failed. During the debate on Bangladesh in the United Nations, the Soviet Union for
the first time recognised the movement of Bangladesh as a National Liberation Movement and gave full
support to the self determination of the Bengalis. The speech delivered by Yakov Malik, the USSR
representative at UN was the most logical explanation of the Liberation struggle of the Bengalis at that
time.

When Pakistan's defeat seemed certain, US President Nixon sent the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise to
the Bay of Bengal as a nuclear threat to India. Enterprise arrived on station on 11 December 1971. On 6

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and 13 December, the Soviet Navy dispatched two groups of ships, armed with nuclear missiles,
from Vladivostok; they trailed US Task Force 74 in the Indian Ocean from 18 December until 7 January
1972.

Irrespective of the motives and gains of the Soviet Union in its involvement in the Bangladesh war of
liberation, its solid and unflinching support to the Bengali cause was invaluable to the Bengalis. During
the penultimate days of Indo-Pak war over Bangladesh, the Soviet veto in the UN Security Council
against US backed proposal for ceasefire paved the way for the Indo-Bangladesh allied forces to march
into Dhaka and secure the defeat and surrender of 90 thousand Pakistani troops on the 16 December
1971. Soviet Union's positive role thus contributed immensely to the historic triumph of Bangladesh.

[References: Wikipedia; Govt. of Bangladesh, Documents of the War of Independence (in Bangla),
Ministry of Information; Syed Anwar Husein, Bangladesher Shadinota Juddhe Porashoktir Bhumika,
Hasan Ferdous, Muktijuddhe Soviet Bondhura, Mizanur Rahman Shelly, “Super Powers in Liberation
War”, The Daily Star, 16 December 2012]

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