26march1971

On 26 March (in the late night of 25th March) 1971 the independence of Bangladesh was declared and the Liberation War began. The people of then-East Pakistan took part in this war to liberate Bangladesh from Pakistan. Independence for Bangladesh was gained through a nine-month civil war against the Pakistani Army, and their Bengali speaking collaborators (commonly known as রাজাকার) which resulted in the loss of about 3 million lives.[2] The Mukti Bahini (Bengali "freedom fighters"), with military support from India, defeated the Pakistani Army on 16 December in the same year, which is celebrated as Victory Day.