1968–1971 East Pakistan communist insurgency

The 1968–1971 East Pakistan communist insurgency was an armed conflict between several communist groups and the Pakistani government for the independence of East Pakistan, it was also later part of the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971.

1968–1971 East Pakistan communist insurgency
Part of the Cold War and Bangladesh Liberation War
Map of the eleven sectors of Bangladesh during the Bangladesh Liberation War
Date 1968–1971 Location East Pakistan, Pakistan Result East Pakistan gains independence from Pakistan and is renamed to Bangladesh Territorial changes Pakistan loses control over East Pakistan
Belligerents
PBSA (1968-1971) PBSP (1971)	Mujibnagar CPB (1971) NAP (M) (1971) BSU (1971)	Pakistan
Commanders and leaders
Siraj Sikder	Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Tajuddin Ahmad Ziaur Rahman K. M. Shafiullah Khaled Mosharraf Moni Singh Comrade Farhad Osman Ganj Muzaffar Ahmed Pankaj Bhattacharya Mujahidul Islam Selim Kazi Anwarul Azim Syed Abdus Sattar Mohammad Sultan Mohammad Elias	Yahya Khan Nurul Amin Abdul Motaleb Malik Tikka Khan Sahabzada Yaqub Khan Syed Mohammad Ahsan Muzaffaruddin Mirza Nurul Huda Abdul Monem Khan
Units involved
PBSDB	Mukti Bahini Mujib Bahini CPB-NAP-BSU	Pakistan Army East Pakistan Police
Strength
Unknown	175,000 fighters 5,000 guerrillas	91,000 regulars
Casualties and losses
Unknown	Unknown	Unknown

Events

Pre-Liberation War (1968-1971)

In mid-1968, Purba Banglar Sarbahara Party, then known as Purba Banglar Sramik Andolan (PBSA), initiated covert operations. Their first action involved capturing a cyclostyle printing machine, which they used to print the theoretical organ of the movement, 'Lal Jhanda' (Red Flag). On 8 January 1970, the group hoisted the flag of East Bengal (now the national flag of Bangladesh) at Dhaka, Munshiganj, and Mymensingh. On Karl Marx's birthday, 6 May 1970, the group launched a bomb attack on the Pakistan Council office in Dhaka. In October of the same year, the group carried out bomb attacks on several buildings throughout East Pakistan, including the American Information Centre.

Liberation War (1971)

At the onset of the Liberation War in 1971, PBSA was actively involved in establishing national resistance cells. On 30 April, they formed their own paramilitary force, known as the 'Purba Banglar Sashastra Deshapremik Bahini' (Armed Patriotic Force of East Bengal, PBSDB). This force initiated an armed struggle against the Pakistani army. This faction was one of the many pro-China groups that actively participated in the liberation war. This force would launch several simultaneous attacks on not only the Pakistani forces, but also the Mukti Bahini.

After the launching of Operation Searchlight by the West Pakistani government on March 25, 1971, popular militias started to emerge in different parts of Bangladesh. The Communist Party of Bangladesh, and its related organizations like the National Awami Party (Muzaffar), the East Pakistan Students Union, the Krishak Samiti and the Trade Union Centre supported the Bangladeshi government-in-exile and instructed its cadres to join the Mukti Bahini. Some 6,000 communists joined the Mukti Bahini. But when Sheikh Mujibur Rahman launched the Mujib Bahini as a special commando force of Mukti Bahini, the Communist Party revised its relations with Mukti Bahini and decided to build a guerrilla force of its own. The build-up of the new guerrilla force was kept secret, only Prime Minister Tajuddin Ahmad was informed of its existence.

Aftermath

On 30 January 1972, a month after the end of the war, a ceremony was held at Dhaka National Stadium in which the communist guerrilla forces, led by Mohammad Farhad and joined by Osman Gani of CPB, Pankaj Bhattacharya of NAP(M) and Mujahidul Islam Selim of the Students Union, handed over their arms to President Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.