Editing East Pakistan (section)

===Final years===
[[File:1971 Instrument of Surrender.jpg|thumb|Surrender of Pakistan in December 1971]]
Muhammad Ayub Khan was replaced by general [[Yahya Khan]] who became the [[Chief Martial Law Administrator]]. Khan organised the [[1970 Pakistani general election]]. The [[1970 Bhola cyclone]] was one of the deadliest natural disasters of the 20th century. The cyclone claimed half a million lives. The disastrous effects of the cyclone caused huge resentment against the federal government. After a decade of military rule, East Pakistan was a hotbed of [[Bengali nationalism]]. There were open calls for [[self-determination]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=1971: Bangladesh's "Liberation War"  |url=https://www.workersliberty.org/story/2022-01-18/1971-bangladeshs-liberation-war |access-date=11 August 2022 |website=Workers' Liberty |date= 18 January 2022 |first1=Sacha |last1=Ismail |language=en |url-status=live |archive-url= https://archive.today/20240624235239/https://www.workersliberty.org/story/2022-01-18/1971-bangladeshs-liberation-war |archive-date= 24 June 2024 }}</ref>

When the federal general election was held, the Awami League emerged as the single largest party in the Pakistani parliament. The League won 167 out of 169 seats in East Pakistan, thereby crossing the half way mark of 150 in the 300-seat [[National Assembly of Pakistan]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Huda |first=Muhammad Nurul |date=23 June 2020 |title=71 years of Awami League |url=https://www.thedailystar.net/opinion/straight-line/news/71-years-awami-league-1918781 |access-date=5 June 2024 |work=The Daily Star |type=Opinion |language=en}}</ref> In theory, this gave the League the right to form a government under the [[Westminster]] tradition. But the League failed to win a single seat in West Pakistan, where the Pakistan Peoples Party emerged as the single largest party with 81 seats. The [[military junta]] stalled the transfer of power and conducted prolonged negotiations with the League. A [[civil disobedience]] movement erupted across East Pakistan demanding the convening of parliament.Mujib-ur- Rahman announced a struggle for independence from Pakistan during a speech on 7 March 1971 and called for a [[Non-cooperation movement (1971)|non-cooperation movement]] from the Bengali populace. Between 7–26 March, East Pakistan was virtually under the popular control of the Awami League. On Pakistan's Republic Day on 23 March 1971, the first [[flag of Bangladesh]] was hoisted in many East Pakistani households. Pakistan Army was ordered to immediately launch a crackdown on 26 March whose purpose was to curb the resistance, some of these operations include [[Operation Searchlight]]<ref>{{Cite Banglapedia|article=Operation Searchlight}}</ref> and the [[1971 Dhaka University massacre]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=1 February 2023 |title=The Past has yet to Leave the Present: Genocide in Bangladesh |url=https://hir.harvard.edu/the-past-has-yet-to-leave-the-present-genocide-in-bangladesh/ |access-date=5 June 2024 |website=[[Harvard International Review]] |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=25 March 2022 |title='Operation Searchlight' opened gates of hell: Pakistan Major |url=https://en.prothomalo.com/bangladesh/operation-searchlight-opened-gates-of-hell-pakistan-major |access-date=5 June 2024 |work=[[Prothom Alo]] |language=en |agency=[[Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha]]}}</ref> This led to the [[Bangladeshi Declaration of Independence]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Ahmad |first=Mohiuddin |date=26 March 2024 |title=Our Independence Day |url=https://en.prothomalo.com/opinion/op-ed/9gismb3shd |access-date=5 June 2024 |work=[[Prothom Alo]] |language=en}}</ref>

As the Bangladesh Liberation War and the [[1971 Bangladesh genocide]] continued for nine months, East Pakistani military units like the [[East Bengal Regiment]] and the [[Bangladesh Rifles|East Pakistan Rifles]] defected and formed the [[Bangladesh Forces]]. The [[Provisional Government of Bangladesh]] allied with neighbouring India which intervened in the final two weeks of the war and secured the [[surrender of Pakistan|surrender of Pakistan's eastern command]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=16 December 2023 |title=Vijay Diwas: How India won the 1971 War in under two weeks |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-history/vijay-diwas-1971-war-india-pakistan-bangladesh-9070725/ |access-date=5 June 2024 |work=[[The Indian Express]] |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |last1=Boissoneault |first1=Lorraine |title=The Genocide the U.S. Can't Remember, But Bangladesh Can't Forget |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/genocide-us-cant-remember-bangladesh-cant-forget-180961490/ |access-date=5 June 2024 |magazine=Smithsonian |language=en}}</ref>

====Role of the Pakistani military====
With Ayub Khan ousted from office in 1969, Commander of the Pakistani Army, [[General Yahya Khan]] became the country's second ruling chief martial law administrator. Both Bhutto and [[Shaikh Mujibur Rahman|Mujib]] strongly disliked General Khan, but patiently endured him and his government as he had promised to hold an election in 1970. During this time, strong nationalistic sentiments in East Pakistan were perceived by the Pakistani Armed Forces and the central military government. Therefore, Khan and his military government wanted to divert the nationalistic threats and violence against non-East Pakistanis. The [[Evolution of Pakistan Eastern Command plan|Eastern Command]] was under constant pressure from the Awami League and requested an active-duty officer to control the command under such extreme pressure. The high [[flag rank]] officers, junior officers, and many high command officers from Pakistan's Armed Forces were highly cautious about their appointment in East-Pakistan, and the assignment of governing East Pakistan and appointment of an officer was considered highly difficult for the Pakistan High Military Command.
[[File:Yahya and Nixon.jpg|left|thumb|Third president of Pakistan, [[Yahya Khan]], with [[Richard Nixon]] in 1970]]
[[File:Zulfikar Ali Bhutto 1971.jpg|thumb|[[Zulfikar Ali Bhutto]] in 1971]]
East Pakistan's Armed Forces, under the [[military administration]]s of Major-General [[Muzaffaruddin]] and Lieutenant-General [[Sahabzada Yaqub Khan]], used an excessive amount of show of military force to curb the [[1969 uprising in East Pakistan|uprising]] in the province. With such action, the situation became highly critical and civil control over the province slipped away from the government. On 24 March, dissatisfied with the performance of his generals, Yahya Khan removed General Muzaffaruddin and General Yaqub Khan from office on 1 September 1969.<!-- Which 24 March or 1 September? --> The appointment of a military administrator was considered quite difficult and challenging with the crisis continually deteriorating. Vice-Admiral [[Syed Mohammad Ahsan]], [[Chief of Naval Staff (Pakistan)|Commander-in-Chief]] of the [[Pakistan Navy]], had previously served as political and military adviser of East Pakistan to former President Ayub Khan. Having such a strong background in administration, and being an expert on East Pakistan affairs, General Yahya Khan appointed Vice-Admiral Syed Mohammad Ahsan as [[Martial law|Martial Law Administrator]], with absolute authority in his command. He was relieved as naval chief and received an extension from the government.{{Citation needed|date= February 2022}}

The tense relations between East and West Pakistan reached a climax in 1970 when the Awami League, the largest East Pakistani political party, led by [[Sheikh Mujibur Rahman]], (Mujib), won a landslide victory in the national elections in East Pakistan. The party won 160 of the 162 seats allotted to East Pakistan, and thus a majority of the 300 seats in the Parliament. This gave the Awami League the constitutional right to form a government without forming a coalition with any other party. Khan invited Mujib to [[Rawalpindi]] to take the charge of the office, and negotiations took place between the military government and the Awami Party. Bhutto was shocked with the results and threatened his fellow [[Pakistan Peoples Party|Peoples Party]] members if they attended the inaugural session at the [[National Assembly of Pakistan|National Assembly]], famously saying he would "break the legs" of any member of his party who dared enter and attend the session. However, fearing East Pakistani separatism, Bhutto demanded Mujib to form a coalition government. After a secret meeting held in [[Larkana]], Mujib agreed to give Bhutto the office of the presidency with Mujib as prime minister. General Yahya Khan and his military government were kept unaware of these developments and under pressure from his own military government, refused to allow Mujib-ur-Rahman to become the prime minister of Pakistan. This increased agitation for greater autonomy in East Pakistan. The military police arrested Mujib and Bhutto and placed them in [[Adiala Jail]] in Rawalpindi. The news spread like a fire in both East and West Pakistan, and the struggle for independence began in East Pakistan.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Dummett |first=Mark |date=16 December 2011 |title=Bangladesh war: The article that changed history |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-16207201 |access-date=12 June 2022 |work=BBC News |archive-date=8 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190508091712/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-16207201 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The senior high command officers in Pakistan Armed Forces, and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, began to pressure General Yahya Khan to take armed action against Mujib and his party. Bhutto later distanced himself from Yahya Khan after he was arrested by Military Police along with Mujib. Soon after the arrests, a high-level meeting was chaired by Yahya Khan. During the meeting, high commanders of the Pakistan Armed Forces unanimously recommended an armed and violent military action. East Pakistan's Martial Law Administrator [[Vice Admiral Syed Mohammad Ahsan|Admiral Ahsan]], Governor of East Pakistan, and Air Commodore [[Zafar Masud (air commodore)|Zafar Masud]], [[Air Officer Commanding]] of [[Dacca]]'s only airbase, were the only officers to object to the plans. When it became obvious that military action in East Pakistan was inevitable, Admiral Ahsan resigned from his position as martial law administrator in protest, and immediately flew back to [[Karachi]], West Pakistan. Disheartened and isolated, Admiral Ahsan took early retirement from the Navy and quietly settled in Karachi. Once [[Operation Searchlight]] and [[Operation Barisal]] commenced, Air Marshal Masud flew to West Pakistan, and unlike Admiral Ahsan, tried to stop the violence in East Pakistan. When he failed in his attempts to meet General Yahya Khan, Masud too resigned from his position as AOC of Dacca airbase and took retirement from Air Force.

Lieutenant-General Sahibzada Yaqub Khan was sent into East Pakistan in an emergency, following a major blow of the resignation of Vice Admiral Ahsan. General Yaqub temporarily assumed the control of the province, he was also made the corps-commander of [[Eastern Command (Pakistan)|Eastern Corps]]. General Yaqub mobilised the entire major forces in East Pakistan.

Sheikh Mujib-ur-Rahman made a declaration of independence at Dacca on 26 March 1971. All major Awami League leaders including elected leaders of the National Assembly and Provincial Assembly fled to neighbouring India and an [[Provisional Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh|exile government]] was formed headed by Sheikh Mujib-ur-Rahman. While he was in a Pakistan prison, [[Syed Nazrul Islam]] was the acting president with [[Tajuddin Ahmad|Tajuddin Ahmed]] as the prime minister. The exile government took oath on 17 April 1971 at Mujib Nagar, within East Pakistan territory of Kushtia district, and formally formed the government. Colonel MOG Osmani was appointed the Commander in Chief of [[Bangladesh Forces|Liberation Forces]] and whole East Pakistan was divided into eleven sectors headed by eleven sector commanders. All sector commanders were Bengali officers who had defected from the Pakistan Army. This started the nine-month long [[Bangladesh Liberation War]] in which the [[Mukti Bahini|freedom fighters]], joined in December 1971 by 400,000 [[Indian Armed Forces|Indian soldiers]], faced the [[Pakistani Armed Forces]] of 365,000 plus paramilitary and [[Razakars (Bangladesh)|collaborationist forces]]. An additional approximately 25,000 ill-equipped civilian volunteers and police forces also sided with the Pakistan Armed Forces. Bloody [[guerrilla warfare]] ensued in East Pakistan.

The Pakistan Armed Forces were unable to counter such threats. With no intel and low morale, they performed poorly and were inexperienced in guerrilla tactics, Pakistan Armed Forces and their assets were defeated by the Bangladesh Liberation Forces. In April 1971, Lieutenant-General Tikka Khan succeeded General Yaqub Khan as the Corps Commander. General Tikka Khan led the massive violent and [[massacre]] campaigns in the region. He is held responsible for killing hundreds of thousands of Bengali people in East Pakistan, mostly civilians and unarmed peoples. For his role, General Tikka Khan gained the title of "Butcher of Bengal". General Khan faced an international reaction against Pakistan, and therefore, General Tikka was removed as Commander of the Eastern front. He installed a civilian administration under Abdul Motaleb Malik on 31 August 1971, which proved to be ineffective. However, during the meeting, with no high officers willing to assume the command of East Pakistan, Lieutenant-General [[Amir Abdullah Khan Niazi]] volunteered for the command of East Pakistan. Inexperienced and the large magnitude of this assignment, the government sent Rear-Admiral [[Mohammad Shariff]] as Flag Officer Commanding of Eastern Naval Command (Pakistan). Admiral Shariff served as the deputy of General Niazi when doing joint military operations. However, General Niazi proved to be a failure and ineffective ruler. Therefore, [[A. A. K. Niazi|General Niazi]] and Air Commodore [[Inamul Haque Khan]], AOC, PAF Base Dacca, failed to launch any operation in East Pakistan against Indian or its allies. Except for Admiral Shariff who continued to keep pressure on the Indian Navy until the end of the conflict. Admiral Shariff's effective plans made it nearly impossible for the Indian Navy to land its naval forces on the shores of East Pakistan. The Indian Navy was unable to land forces in East Pakistan and the Pakistan Navy was still offering resistance. The [[Indian Army]], entered East Pakistan from all three directions of the province. The [[Indian Navy]] then decided to wait near the Bay of Bengal until the Army reached the shore.

The Indian Air Force dismantled the capability of the Pakistan Air Force in East Pakistan. Air Commodore [[Inamul Haque Khan]], Dacca airbase's AOC, failed to offer any serious resistance to the actions of the Indian Air Force. For the most part of the war, the IAF enjoyed complete dominance in the skies over East Pakistan.

On 16 December 1971, the Pakistan Armed Forces surrendered to the [[Mitro Bahini|joint liberation forces]] of [[Mukti Bahini]] and the Indian Army, headed by Lieutenant-General [[Jagjit Singh Arora]], the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief (GOC-in-C) of the Eastern Command of the Indian Army. Lieutenant General AAK Niazi, the last corps commander of [[Eastern Command (Pakistan)|Eastern Corps]], signed the [[Instrument of Surrender (1971)|Instrument of Surrender]] at about 4:31 pm. Over 93,000 personnel, including Lt. General Niazi and Admiral Shariff, were taken as [[prisoners of war]].

On 16 December 1971, the territory of East Pakistan was handed over to the Indian Army under the [[Pakistani Instrument of Surrender|surrender agreement]] from West Pakistan and in the [[Simla Agreement]] became the newly independent state of [[Bangladesh]]. The Eastern Command, civilian institutions, and paramilitary forces were disbanded in the following months.{{citation needed|date=April 2021}}