March Turmoil

March Turmoil: When the postponement of the Assembly was announced on the radio, Commonwealth Eleven was playing against Pakistan at the Dhaka Stadium.Instantaneously the people erupted in protest; Dhaka Stadium became a battlefield. Schools, offices, stores - everything were shut down immediately. Thousands of the people took to the streets; Dhaka became a city of processions. The people begun to chant slogans for the independence: "Joy Bangla", "Bir Bangali Ostro Dhoro, Bangladesh Swadhin Koro" (Brave Bengalis, take up arms to liberate Bangladesh).

Bangabandhu called a five day hartal and an indefinite Non-Co-Operation movement in Dhaka and the whole country.Through this non-violent movement, Bangabandhu said that the Pakistani administrationwas not to be co-operatedin any way, and his words brought all of East Pakistan to a standstill. To control the situation, a curfew was imposed - the students and the public broke the curfew and took the streets. There were processions, slogans, rage everywhere, people dying under the army's gunfire - but nobody stopped.
On the 2nd of March at the Dhaka Universty's historical banyan tree, the flag with the Bagladesh's map was hoisted. On the 3rd of March at the Paltan Maidan, the Students League decided that Rabindranath Tagore's "Amar Shaonar Bangla" would be Bangladesh's national anthem.
After the five hartal on the 7th of March, Bangabandhu went to today's Shuhrawardy Uddyan to deliver a speech. By then all of East Pakistan was following this rule. Tens of thousandsof people came to hear his speech; Shurawardy Uddyan was literally a sea of of people. Bangabandhu announced this famous speech, "This time the fight is our fight for liberation. This time the fight is fight for independence." There have been few speeches of this type in the history of the world. The speech brought together all the people and gave them the courage they needed to sacrifice their lives for the independence of their motherland.
Right arround this time General Yahya Khan was preparing to start the genocide. Genearl tikka Khan, known as the butcher of Baluchistan, was sent to East Pakistan as governor, but none of the Justices in East Pakistanagreed to swear him in. Yahya went to Dhaka 15th of March and pretended to have discussions with Bangabandhu while troops were secretly being brought in. War-ships with arms and ammunition tried to dock at the Chittagong port, but the people wouldn't let them. Bhutto joined the conspiracy on the 21st of March and came to Dhaka to pretend to have discussions.
On the 19th of March the Bengalis rebelled at Jaydebpur. Countless people died in the fight that ensued when forcesforces were sent from Dhaka to stop these Bengalis. The 23rd of March was Pakistan Day, but besides the cantonment and the Government house, a single Pakistani flag could not be seen anywhere in Bangladesh. At Bangabandhu's House in Dhanmondi that day, the free Bangladesh flag was raised while " Amar Shonar Bangla " was Played.
The next day was the 24th of March. There was an ominous feel in the country - it was as the whole country's earth, sky, and air knew what was about to happen and was holding its breath wait.