In 1971, Dhaka was not the capital of Bangladesh but of East Pakistan, a province of the politically dominant West Pakistan. This was resented by large elements of the Bengali population, who sought to establish their own nation and government. In describing the relations between East and West Pakistan, journalist Paul Dreyfus said, “Over the years, West Pakistan behaved like a poorly raised, egotistical guest, devouring the best dishes and leaving nothing but scraps and leftovers for East Pakistan.”
After years of contempt and discrimination toward the Bengali people, tensions came to a head in December 1970 following the election of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, leader of the Awami League party, which the West Pakistan establishment refused to acknowledge. From March until December of 1971, widespread military violence broke out between Bengalis, Pakistanis, and Indians. Historian Anam Zakaria wrote that the death toll was “between 300,000 and 3 million people.”
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Much of this death toll was the result of genocide rather than the military conflict. Archer Blood, the American Consul General to Dhaka, wrote that Pakistani soldiers were “systemically eliminating” Bengali independence supporters by “seeking them out in their homes and shooting them down.” Blood’s testimony was ignored by President Nixon, for whom West Pakistan was an important Cold War ally.
The killings were committed alongside mass rape, which was used not just to terrify and degrade the Bengali people, but to create a generation of “war babies” with West Pakistani blood, according to the Indian Express. The genocide ended on December 16, 1971, with Pakistan’s surrender to Indian forces.
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