Flag raising day: Bengalis veer towards independence

Following the announcement on March 1 by President Yahya Khan of the postponement of the Pakistan National Assembly session scheduled for March 3, spontaneous protests erupted all over Dhaka and all across East Pakistan.
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, at a hurriedly called news conference at Hotel Purbani, made it known that the presidential move would not go unchallenged. Bangabandhu announced a general strike for March 3 and also called for a day of mourning in memory of Bengalis who had died at the hands of the army and other security forces over the preceding few days. He said that he would announce his next move on March 7 at a public rally in Dhaka, according to ASM Abdur Rab.

Meanwhile, on March 2 in 1971, militant excitement gripped the Dhaka University. The day dawned in East Pakistan with the population in a mood of outright rebellion. And that despite the fact that on the preceding day, when Gen Yahya Khan announced the postponement of the session of the National Assembly, Vice Admiral SM Ahsan, governor of East Pakistan, had been replaced by the zonal martial law administrator, Lt. Gen Sahibzada Yaqub Khan. Rumours were rife that Ahsan had differed with the rest of the junta over the decision to defer the session of the National Assembly. Yaqub Khan became the governor and zonal martial law administrator of Pakistan.
"At Dhaka University, militancy began to take a markedly intense form, with students openly calling for Bangladesh to be declared an independent state. Leading student figures exerted pressure on Bangabandhu to declare independence for East Pakistan and thereby break all links with the rest of the country. He was under intense pressure and yet he was unwilling to forsake a constitutional approach to the gathering crisis.

It was in such a mood that on the day, the students of Dhaka University, led by ASM Abdur Rab, Shahjahan Siraj, Nur-e-Alam Siddiqui and Abdul Kuddus Makhan of the Chhatra Sangram Parishad, raised the flag of what they perceived to be a free Bangladesh. The event not only galvanized the student community but also Bengalis across the spectrum in their urge for self-expression but also brought to the fore the rapidity with which politics in East Pakistan was turning towards radicalism," Journalist Amir writes.

According to the Wikipedia, on the first day of the strike (March 2, 1971) the government clamped curfew in Dhaka, and warned the people not to roam the streets from 8:00pm to 7:00am. Further curfew was imposed in Sylhet, Rangpur, Chattogram, and Khulna. In retaliation, angry mob burned the Pakistani flag.
Defiant students of the Chhatra Sangram Parishad (Student Action Committee) led by vice president ASM Abdur Rab, general secretary Shajahan Siraj, Nur-e-Alam Siddiqui, and Abdul Quddus Makhan held a massive rally.

In Dhaka for the first time the Independent Bangla flag (same as the current one but with a golden map of Bangladesh inside the red circle) was unfurled and raised by Rab on the rooftop of the western porch of the Arts faculty building of the Dhaka University, popularly known as the Battala, in front of hundreds of students and the public to the tumultuous applause and cries of "Joi Bangla" (Long live Bangla). Saluting the flag, they all expressed solidarity with the liberation movement.
The meeting was followed by a huge procession chanting slogans of independence. In the afternoon, the Pakistani flag was pulled down at Dhaka University and on the secretariat premises and the new Bangla flag was hoisted. Later that night, curfew was imposed in Dhaka city.

As soon as the announcement of the curfew was made, students came out of their hostels and the public out of their houses and formed processions, chanting slogans denouncing the curfew. Their slogans "Sandhya-ain mani na" (We reject curfew), "Joy Bangla" (Long live Bangla), "Bir Bengali ostro dhoro Bangladesh swadhin koro" (Valiant Bengalis take up arms, free Bangladesh) echoed throughout the city. The curfew was broken and barricades were formed. Defiant Bengalis took to the streets - two men were killed when Pakistani troops fired upon several unarmed young men at Farm Gate in the capital.

On March 2 in 1971, ASM Abdur Rab, the then vice-president of Dhaka University Central Students' Union (DUCSU) had the honour of hoisting the flag for the first time at Battala on the Dhaka University campus. An unidentified Awami League supporter flew the flag at the historic rally at Ramna Race Course, now Suhrawardy Udyan, on March 7 in 1971 when Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman gave his famous speech, which was a de facto declaration of our independence: "This time, the struggle is for our freedom. This time, the struggle is for our independence." Sheikh Mujib himself waived the flag of independent Bangladesh before a crowd that had gathered at his Dhanmondi residence on March 23 in 1971.

The national flag of Bangladesh, a red circle centered on a field of green, was redesigned officially by famous artist Quamrul Hassan on January 13 in 1972. The original version of the flag, which had a golden map of Bangladesh in the middle of the red disc, was created by some student leaders and activists on June 6 in 1970, at Iqbal Hall, now Sergeant Zahurul Haq Hall, of Dhaka University. The flag was made from cloth donated by Apollo Tailors of Dhaka Khaddar Market. Shibnarayan Das, a student leader from Cumilla, is credited with painting the map in yellow inside the red circle, Wikipedia said.
The national flag, as we know it now, was officially adopted on January 17 in 1972. The present version is a bit different from the original one. It has a bottle green background, and is rectangular in size, with a length to width proportion of 10:6. The map of Bangladesh was removed from the centre to simplify the design, and the red disc, whose radius is one-fifth of the flag's length, was moved slightly towards the hoist so it appears centered when the flag is flying.

Bangabandhu in a brief address to them protested the postponement of the Parliament session and urged the people to unite against the conspiracy.
In protest against the military junta's conspiracy against Bangalees, Bangabandhu launched a non-cooperation movement and called for countrywide 6:00am- to 2:00pm hartal everyday from March 2 to March 6.