On the front line in Bangladesh

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 16 December 2021

⏱️ 10 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

When Bangladesh fought for independence from Pakistan, thousands of Pakistani troops were sent to fight in what was then called East Pakistan. In 1971, Shujaat Latif was sent to the town of Jassore where he fought, and then surrendered. He spent two and a half years as a prisoner-of-war. Hear his story.

Photo: Indian army soldiers fire on Pakistani positions, December 15th 1971. Credit: AFP/Getty Images.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Choosing what to watch night after night the flicking through the endless
0:06.8	searching is a nightmare we want to help you on our brand new podcast off the
0:11.8	telly we share what we've been watching
0:14.0	Cladie Aide.
0:16.0	Load to games, loads of fun, loads of screaming.
0:19.0	Lovely. Off the telly with me Joanna Paige.
0:21.0	And me, Natalie Cassidy, so your evenings can be a little less
0:24.9	searching and a lot more auction listen on BBC sounds. Hello and thank you for downloading the podcast of Witness History from the BBC World Service.
0:40.0	All this week we're looking back at the Bengali War of Independence, which ended 50 years ago.
0:46.0	It was a conflict that claimed hundreds of thousands of lives and redrew the political map of South Asia.
0:52.0	A few years ago, Shemaela Jaffri Spenthe. and redrew the political map of South Asia.
0:52.7	A few years ago, Shimila Jaffrey spoke to a Pakistani soldier called Lieutenant
0:57.8	Sujah Hatlathief.
0:59.4	In September 1971, he was posted to the town of Jessel in what is now Bangladesh.
1:07.0	Today we received the posting on most of all the young officers, they were feeling very
1:14.4	happy that we were going to take part in happen. The situation was not good. The Mukti manis, they had taken up the arms.
1:34.1	Mukti were the Bengali nationalists fighting a guerrilla war against Pakistan.
1:39.6	When British rule had ended in 1947, what is now known as Bangladesh had been part of a greater
1:46.2	Pakistani state.
1:48.0	But now that state was falling apart.
1:50.9	When Sujahat arrived in Jassore, his troops immediately found themselves in danger.
1:55.8	We were not safe from any direction, from any side.
	...

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