Soon after, Yahya Khan declared martial law, banned the Awami League and ordered the army to arrest Mujib and other Bengali leaders.
In a massive crackdown on March 26, 1971, the Pakistan Army attacked and disarmed East Pakistan Rifles and East Bengal Police and whisked away Mujib in a Pakistan Air Force flight to Pakistan after midnight. Mujib was imprisoned in Faisalabad, even as senior Awami League leaders fled to neighbouring India and sought exile.
Nearly one crore Bengali Hindus and Muslims fled from East Bengal, as the Pakistani soldiers indulged in loot, pillage and mass rapes. A large number of Bengali intellectuals and their family members were slaughtered by Pakistani soldiers.
The Bengali resistance fighters set up the Mukti Bahini led by General Osmani, and the eight-month guerilla war culminated in independence on December 16, 1971 during the India-Pakistan war.
Pakistan's Lt Gen A A K Niyazi surrendered to Indian Army's Lt Gen Jagjit Singh Aurora, alongwith nearly 90,000 soldiers, the largest in world history, and a new nation was born.
A defeated Pakistani army released Mujibur Rehman, who returned to a hero's welcome in his nation, and assumed the office of prime minister.
A constitution was framed by a provisional parliament, and in 1973 elections were held in which the Awami League led by Mujib retained power with an absolute majority. In 1974, after a severe famine in which several lakhs of people died, unrest grew against Mujib and his ministers.
On January 25, 1975, Mujib declared a state of emergency and all opposition political parties were banned. Mujib assumed presidency and acquired extraordinary powers.
On August 15, 1975, a group of disgruntled junior army officers forcibly entered the presidential mansion with tanks, and shot Mujibur Rehman dead. Mujib's family members and personal staff were also killed.
Only two daughters Sheikh Hasina Wajed and Sheikh Rehana, who were visiting West Germany, escaped the massacre. They were banned from returning to Bangladesh.
In a coup, Mujib's former associate Khondaker Mushtaque Ahmed took over as acting president. There were media reports that the CIA was behind this plot.
Mujib's assassination plunged the newborn nation into political turmoil.
The coup leaders were soon overthrown and after a series of counter-coups and political assassinations, army chief Gen Ziaur Rehman took over power in 1977 in an armed coup.
He signed an Indemnity Ordinance, giving immunity from persecution to those whole Mujib's assassination.
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