Bangladesh Police: First fight against Pak-Army in 1971

Bangladesh Police has been playing salient roles in maintaining law and order of the state adeptly and has a glorious past related to the Liberation War of Bangladesh back in 1971. When the Pakistan Army attacked the East Pakistan, the Bengali members of police who had posting in Rajarbag Police Lines took their 303 Rifles and started fighting against the atrocious Pakistan Army armed with heavy weapons and supported by the infantry and cavalry. The resistance which was imposed by the Bengali members of police located in Rajarbag is basically the very first chapter of armed resistance during the time of the Liberation War of 1971.

There were a great number of police personnel who embraced martyrdom on the black night of 25th March 1971. Those brave sons of soil didn't have the support of sophisticated weapons like the Pakistan Army but they had the extreme courage and brazen determination to sacrifice their own lives for the sake of Bangladesh as they were united by the proclamation of the desired independence given by the Father of the Nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

Rajarbag became a major target for the Pakistan Army when the Bengali police personnel started giving slogans 'Joy Bangla' during the first week of the March of 1971. Then when Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman delivered the historic speech on the 7th March, the bravest Bengali policemen started to get prepared for the ultimate battle to get their desired independence. They had to maintain some crucial cautions regarding their preparation for the Liberation War as there were so many non-Bengali police personnel serving in East Pakistan who used to live in Rajarbag police lines.
The courageous sons of our soil, those brave Bengali policemen didn't care about any sort of fear and oppression. They even brought down the flag of Pakistan which was placed before the armory of the Rajarbag police lines and replaced it with the flag of Bangladesh in a bold manner.
Throughout the entire March of 1971 before the bloody attack by the brutal Pakistan Army, the Bengali policemen deliberately supported the events led by the greatest leader, the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. The Pakistani dictators got the fact clearly that Bengali police personnel would be one of their prime enemies in the armed struggle and so they planned the operation searchlight to disarm the Bengali policemen and neutralize the risk.

There were basically no senior officers to command the rebellious Bengali policemen on the night of 25th March of 1971 and they broke the lock of the armory for collecting the rifles. Unfortunately they only had the 303 rifles to make some sharp obstruction against the classified attack of the Pakistan Army armed with heavy tanks and automated machine guns.

The Pakistan Army had the convoy which attacked the Rajarbag police lines and when Pakistan Army reached at the entrance of Rajarbag, the Bengali police personnel started firing on them. So many Pak soldiers were injured and died by the sudden attack of the bravest cops. The heavily armed Pak-Army retaliated with quick response and made their entry into the parade ground of Rajarbag police lines. Those brave cops were still fighting with their 303 rifles which even used to take a lot of time to get reloaded again. So many policemen laid down their lives and another huge number of Bengali police personnel were captured by the bloody Pak-Army who were later brutally tortured and killed.

During the entire period of Liberation War, a large number of police personnel from all ranks including a Deputy Inspector General (DIG Mamun Mahmud who was the DIG of Rajshahi division during the time of Liberation War ) some Superintendents and many others laid down their everything to get the desired victory and awaited independence. More than 1200 Bengali police officers are listed and known to be martyred in the Liberation War of Bangladesh. Innumerable martyred police personnel remained unknown who also sacrificed their lives.
Bangladesh Police have the scintillating and inspiring past which will surely motivate the upcoming generation to join in this glorious force which will forever remain as the first resistance force against the brutal Pak-Army during the Liberation War of our beloved motherland.
The writer is a student of the Department of International Relations, University of Dhaka