124-534: Bangladesh Students' Union ( Bengali : বাংলাদেশ ছাত্র ইউনিয়ন , romanized : Bangladesh Chhatra Union , abbreviated as BSU ), is a leading student organization in Bangladesh . The organization was established on 26 April 1952. It is an organization of students that provides protection for student interests and ensures the enforcement of student rights. During the Liberation War of Bangladesh,
248-500: A bid to lessen this burden on young learners, efforts have been made by educational institutions in the two main Bengali-speaking regions (West Bengal and Bangladesh) to address the opaque nature of many consonant clusters, and as a result, modern Bengali textbooks are beginning to contain more and more "transparent" graphical forms of consonant clusters, in which the constituent consonants of a cluster are readily apparent from
372-612: A collective consciousness with an anti-communal, democratic, anti-imperialist, and progressive political awareness. As a result, on April 26, 1952, the East Pakistan Students' Union was established in Dhaka based on the principles of unity, education, peace, and progress. The founding leaders of this organization were Kazi Anwarul Azim and Syed Abdus Sattar. Later, in December 1952, at the first conference, Mohammad Sultan
496-596: A different word from a speaker of Standard Bengali in Bangladesh, even though both words are of native Bengali descent. For example, the word salt is লবণ lôbôṇ in the east which corresponds to নুন nun in the west. Bengali exhibits diglossia , though some scholars have proposed triglossia or even n-glossia or heteroglossia between the written and spoken forms of the language. Two styles of writing have emerged, involving somewhat different vocabularies and syntax : Linguist Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar categorises
620-480: A diphthong. The total number of diphthongs is not established, with bounds at 17 and 31. An incomplete chart is given by Sarkar (1985) of the following: In standard Bengali, stress is predominantly initial. Bengali words are virtually all trochaic ; the primary stress falls on the initial syllable of the word, while secondary stress often falls on all odd-numbered syllables thereafter, giving strings such as in সহযোগিতা shô -hô- jo -gi- ta "cooperation", where
744-759: A jungle airstrip near Dimapur in Nagaland, India. When taking over liberated territories, the Bangladesh Forces gained control of World War II airstrips in Lalmonirhat , Shalutikar, Sylhet and Comilla in November and December. The BAF launched " Kilo Flights " under the command of Squadron Leader Sultan Mahmud on 3 December 1971. Sorties by Otter DHC-3 aircraft destroyed Pakistani fuel supplies in Narayanganj and Chittagong where targets included
868-692: A large scale and were communally limited. Owing to Bengal's geographic location, Bengali areas bordering non-Bengali regions have been influenced by each other. Small numbers of people in Midnapore , which borders Odisha , have used the Odia script to write in Bengali. In the border areas between West Bengal and Bihar , some Bengali communities historically wrote Bengali in Devanagari , Kaithi and Tirhuta . In Sylhet and Bankura , modified versions of
992-682: A majority in Bangladesh speaks dialects notably different from SCB. Some dialects, particularly those of the Chittagong region, bear only a superficial resemblance to SCB. The dialect in the Chittagong region is least widely understood by the general body of Bengalis. The majority of Bengalis are able to communicate in more than one variety – often, speakers are fluent in Cholitobhasha (SCB) and one or more regional dialects. Even in SCB,
1116-691: A part in the adoption of the English alphabet to write Bengali, with certain social media influencers publishing entire novels in Roman Bengali. Mukti Bahini Systematic events § indicates events in the internal resistance movement linked to the Indo-Pakistani War. ‡ indicates events in the Indo-Pakistani War linked to the internal resistance movement in Bangladesh. The Mukti Bahini ( Bengali : মুক্তি বাহিনী , romanized : Mukti Bahinee ), also known as
1240-555: A prolonged struggle for the liberation of East Bengal . At the University of Dhaka 's central field, Students' Union initiated military drills and weapons training, including handling dummy rifles, starting each morning. Female activists of the organization also participated in this training. Separate brigades were formed in the names of the martyrs and revolutionaries, each taking political responsibilities alongside receiving military training, including guerrilla warfare. Furthermore,
1364-576: A rounded total of 280 million) worldwide. The Bengali language is native to the region of Bengal , which comprises the present-day nation of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal . Besides the native region it is also spoken by the Bengalis living in Tripura , southern Assam and the Bengali population in the Indian union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands . Bengali is also spoken in
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#17328013522251488-408: A special diacritic, called the hôsôntô (্) , may be added below the basic consonant grapheme (as in ম্ [m] ). This diacritic, however, is not common and is chiefly employed as a guide to pronunciation. The abugida nature of Bengali consonant graphemes is not consistent, however. Often, syllable-final consonant graphemes, though not marked by a hôsôntô , may carry no inherent vowel sound (as in
1612-523: A state language of the then Dominion of Pakistan . On 21 February 1952, five students and political activists were killed during protests near the campus of the University of Dhaka ; they were the first ever martyrs to die for their right to speak their mother tongue. In 1956, Bengali was made a state language of Pakistan. 21 February has since been observed as Language Movement Day in Bangladesh and has also been commemorated as International Mother Language Day by UNESCO every year since 2000. In 2010,
1736-669: A traitor during a national broadcast on the same day. The Pakistan Army moved infantry and armoured units to East Pakistan in preparation for the coming conflicts. On 25 March, martial law was declared, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was arrested and Operation Searchlight started in East Pakistan. Foreign journalists were expelled and the Awami League was banned. Members of the Awami league, the East Pakistan Rifles,
1860-463: A vowel in isolation from any preceding or following consonant, the independent form of the vowel is used. For example, in মই [moj] "ladder" and in ইলিশ [iliʃ] "Hilsa fish", the independent form of the vowel ই is used (cf. the dependent form ি) . A vowel at the beginning of a word is always realised using its independent form. In addition to the inherent-vowel-suppressing hôsôntô , three more diacritics are commonly used in Bengali. These are
1984-500: Is Bangladesh's national march, written by The National Poet Kazi Nazrul Islam in Bengali in 1928. It was adopted as the national marching song by the Bangladeshi government in 1972. Additionally, the first two verses of Vande Mataram , a patriotic song written in Bengali by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee , was adopted as the "national song" of India in both the colonial period and later in 1950 in independent India. Furthermore, it
2108-547: Is a classical Indo-Aryan language from the Indo-European language family native to the Bengal region of South Asia. With over 237 million native speakers and another 41 million as second language speakers as of 2024, Bengali is the fifth most spoken native language and the seventh most spoken language by the total number of speakers in the world. It is the fifth most spoken Indo-European language . Bengali
2232-468: Is a cursive script with eleven graphemes or signs denoting nine vowels and two diphthongs , and thirty-nine graphemes representing consonants and other modifiers. There are no distinct upper and lower case letter forms. The letters run from left to right and spaces are used to separate orthographic words . Bengali script has a distinctive horizontal line running along the tops of the graphemes that links them together called মাত্রা matra . Since
2356-400: Is an abugida , a script with letters for consonants, with diacritics for vowels, and in which an inherent vowel (অ ô ) is assumed for consonants if no vowel is marked. The Bengali alphabet is used throughout Bangladesh and eastern India (Assam, West Bengal, Tripura). The Bengali alphabet is believed to have evolved from a modified Brahmic script around 1000 CE (or 10th–11th century). It
2480-707: Is believed by many that the national anthem of Sri Lanka ( Sri Lanka Matha ) was inspired by a Bengali poem written by Rabindranath Tagore , while some even believe the anthem was originally written in Bengali and then translated into Sinhala . After the contribution made by the Bangladesh UN Peacekeeping Force in the Sierra Leone Civil War under the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone ,
2604-721: Is considered a separate language, although it shares similarities to Northern Bengali dialects. During the standardisation of Bengali in the 19th century and early 20th century, the cultural centre of Bengal was in Kolkata , a city founded by the British. What is accepted as the standard form today in both West Bengal and Bangladesh is based on the West-Central dialect of Nadia and Kushtia District . There are cases where speakers of Standard Bengali in West Bengal will use
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#17328013522252728-619: Is for our freedom. The struggle this time is for our independence". East Pakistan television broadcasters started broadcasting Rabindranath songs, a taboo in Pakistan, while reducing the air-time of shows from West Pakistan. Civilian interaction with the Pakistan Army were decreased and they were increasingly seen as an occupying force, while local contractors stopped providing supplies to the Pakistan Army. The Pakistan Army also tried to disarm and dismiss personnel of Bengali origin in
2852-404: Is known as Apabhraṃśa , by the end of the first millennium. The Bengali language evolved as a distinct language over the course of time. Though some archaeologists claim that some 10th-century texts were in Bengali, it is not certain whether they represent a differentiated language or whether they represent a stage when Eastern Indo-Aryan languages were differentiating. The local Apabhraṃśa of
2976-960: Is one of the two female wars heroes of the Bangladesh Liberation War. Captain Sitara Begum is noted for setting up field hospitals for injured Mukti Bahini fighters. Professor Nazma Shaheen, University of Dhaka, and her sister were female members in the Mukti Bahini. The Mukti Bahini was succeeded by the Bangladesh Armed Forces, the Bangladesh Rifles and the Bangladesh Police . Civilian fighters were provided with numerous privileges, including reservations in government jobs and universities. The Bangladesh Freedom Fighters Assembly
3100-490: Is set out below in the International Phonetic Alphabet (upper grapheme in each box) and romanisation (lower grapheme). Bengali is known for its wide variety of diphthongs , combinations of vowels occurring within the same syllable . Two of these, /oi̯/ and /ou̯/ , are the only ones with representation in script, as ঐ and ঔ respectively. /e̯ i̯ o̯ u̯/ may all form the glide part of
3224-555: Is the official , national , and most widely spoken language of Bangladesh , with 98% of Bangladeshis using Bengali as their first language. It is the second-most widely spoken language in India . It is the official language of the Indian states of West Bengal and Tripura and the Barak Valley region of the state of Assam . It is also the second official language of the Indian state of Jharkhand since September 2011. It
3348-508: Is the most widely spoken language in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal , and is spoken by significant populations in other states including Bihar , Arunachal Pradesh , Delhi , Chhattisgarh , Meghalaya , Mizoram , Nagaland , Odisha and Uttarakhand . Bengali is also spoken by the Bengali diasporas ( Bangladeshi diaspora and Indian Bengalis) across Europe, North America,
3472-503: The 1971 Bangladesh genocide with the massacre at Dhaka University . Civilians took control of arms depots in various cities and began resisting Pakistani forces with the acquired weapons supply. Chittagong experienced heavy fighting between rebel Bengali military units and Pakistani forces. The Bangladeshi Declaration of Independence was broadcast from Kalurghat Radio Station in Chittagong by Major Rahman on behalf of Sheikh Rahman. Bengali forces took control of numerous districts in
3596-509: The Aesop's Fables in Bengali was printed using Roman letters based on English phonology by the Scottish linguist John Gilchrist . Consecutive attempts to establish a Roman Bengali have continued across every century since these times, and have been supported by the likes of Suniti Kumar Chatterji , Muhammad Qudrat-i-Khuda , and Muhammad Enamul Haq . The Digital Revolution has also played
3720-675: The Arabic , Persian , and Turkic languages . The arrival of merchants and traders from the Middle East and Turkestan into the Buddhist -ruling Pala Empire , from as early as the 7th century, gave birth to Islamic influence in the region. In the 13th century, subsequent Arab Muslim and Turco-Persian expeditions to Bengal heavily influenced the local vernacular by settling among the native population. Bengali absorbed Arabic and Persian influences in its vocabulary and dialect, including
3844-734: The Bangladesh Forces , was the guerrilla resistance movement consisting of the Bangladeshi military, paramilitary and civilians during the Bangladesh Liberation War that transformed East Pakistan into Bangladesh in 1971. They were initially called the Mukti Fauj . On 7 March 1971, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman issued a call to the people of East Pakistan to prepare themselves for an all-out struggle. Later that evening resistance demonstrations began, and
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3968-399: The Barak Valley shared strong ethnic , linguistic and cultural links with East Pakistan. The war sparked an unprecedented level of unity in the Bengali-speaking world. There was strong support for Bengalis and Mukti Bahini from the Indian media and public. India feared that if the movement for Bangladesh came to be dominated by communists then it would adversely affect its own fight with
4092-474: The Constitution of Bangladesh states Bengali to be the sole official language of Bangladesh. The Bengali Language Implementation Act, 1987 , made it mandatory to use Bengali in all records and correspondences, laws, proceedings of court and other legal actions in all courts, government or semi-government offices, and autonomous institutions in Bangladesh. It is also the de facto national language of
4216-794: The East Bengal Regiment and others thought to be disloyal to Pakistan were attacked by the Pakistan army. The survivors of the attack would form the backbone of the Mukti Bahini. When the Pakistan Army started the military crackdown on the Bengali population, they did not expect prolonged resistance. Five battalions of the East Bengal Regiment mutinied and initiated the war for liberation of Bangladesh. On 27 March, on behalf of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Major Ziaur Rahman declared Bangladesh's independence from Pakistan and fought his way out of Chittagong City with his unit of Bengali soldiers. In Dhaka , West Pakistani forces began
4340-538: The East Pakistan Rifles , the police and the regular army. The Bengali officers mutinied against the Pakistan Army, and attacked officers from West Pakistan. The Pakistan Army's crackdown on the civilian population contributed to the revolt of East Pakistani soldiers, who escaped to India and formed the main body of the Mukti Bahini. Sheikh Mujib on 26 March 1971 declared the independence of Bangladesh, while Pakistan's president Yahya Khan declared Mujib
4464-579: The Kaithi script had some historical prominence, mainly among Muslim communities. The variant in Sylhet was identical to the Baitali Kaithi script of Hindustani with the exception of Sylhet Nagri possessing matra . Sylhet Nagri was standardised for printing in c. 1869 . Up until the 19th century, numerous variations of the Arabic script had been used across Bengal from Chittagong in
4588-524: The Nadia region . Bengali shows a high degree of diglossia , with the literary and standard form differing greatly from the colloquial speech of the regions that identify with the language. Modern Bengali vocabulary is based on words inherited from Magadhi Prakrit and Pali, along with tatsamas and reborrowings from Sanskrit and borrowings from Persian , Arabic , Austroasiatic languages and other languages with which it has historically been in contact. In
4712-798: The Port of Karachi was subjected to a naval blockade by the Indian Navy. Pakistani generals surrendered to the Mukti Bahini-Indian forces in Dhaka on 16 December 1971. Gafur Bahini was a militia that was formed in the beginning of the Bangladesh War of Independence . Abdul Gafur, Mohiuddin Manik and Benilal Das Gupta took an initiative to create a force, that would fight Pakistani troops in Barisal , It later on merged with
4836-553: The Port of Mongla but were mistakenly bombed by Indian Air Force troops that resulted in the loss of both vessels and some of the lives of the Mukti Bahini and Indian personnel on board. The developing Bangladesh Navy carried out attacks on ships and used sea mines to prevent supply ships from docking in East Pakistani ports. Frogmen were deployed to damage and sabotage ships. The launch of Operation Chengiz Khan by West Pakistan on North India finally drew India into
4960-613: The Tangail District . Hemayet was a former soldier in East Pakistan and his Bahini was raised almost entirely on local supplies. The Independent Bangladesh Radio Station was one of the cultural wings of the Mukti Bahini. The Mukti Bahini operated field hospitals , wireless stations, training camps and prisons. The Mukti Bahini benefited from the early control of Pakistani arms depots, which were overtaken by Bengali forces during March and April 1971. The Mukti Bahini purchased large quantities of military-grade equipment through
5084-607: The University of Karachi (established by East Pakistani politicians before Independence of Bangladesh ) also offers regular programs of studies at the Bachelors and at the Masters levels for Bengali Literature. The national anthems of both Bangladesh ( Amar Sonar Bangla ) and India ( Jana Gana Mana ) were written in Bengali by the Bengali Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore . Notuner Gaan known as " Chol Chol Chol"
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5208-668: The West Pakistani military began a full-scale retaliation with Operation Searchlight in the early hours of 26 March 1971, which continued through May 1971. A formal military leadership of the resistance was created in April 1971 under the Provisional Government of Bangladesh . The military council was headed by General M. A. G. Osmani and eleven sector commanders . The Bangladesh Armed Forces were established on 4 April 1971. The most prominent divisions of
5332-499: The boldface represents primary and secondary stress. Native Bengali words do not allow initial consonant clusters ; the maximum syllabic structure is CVC (i.e., one vowel flanked by a consonant on each side). Many speakers of Bengali restrict their phonology to this pattern, even when using Sanskrit or English borrowings, such as গেরাম geram (CV.CVC) for গ্রাম gram (CCVC) "village" or ইস্কুল iskul (VC.CVC) for স্কুল skul (CCVC) "school". The Bengali-Assamese script
5456-537: The government of Bangladesh enacted the National Liberation Struggle (Indemnity) Order to provide indemnity "to those persons in respect of acts done in connection with the national liberation struggle, the maintenance or restoration of order" which was to be enforced retrospectively from 26 March 1972. The Mukti Bahini has been accused of human rights violations by historians on West Pakistanis and Biharis . On 27 March 1971, members of
5580-557: The phonology of Eastern Bengali is seen through the lack of nasalised vowels and an alveolar articulation of what are categorised as the "cerebral" consonants (as opposed to the postalveolar articulation of western Bengal). Some varieties of Bengali, particularly Sylheti , Chittagonian and Chakma , have contrastive tone ; differences in the pitch of the speaker's voice can distinguish words. Kharia Thar and Mal Paharia are closely related to Western Bengali dialects, but are typically classified as separate languages. Similarly, Hajong
5704-623: The 16th century, Portuguese missionaries began a tradition of using the Roman alphabet to transcribe the Bengali language. Though the Portuguese standard did not receive much growth, a few Roman Bengali works relating to Christianity and Bengali grammar were printed as far as Lisbon in 1743. The Portuguese were followed by the English and French respectively, whose works were mostly related to Bengali grammar and transliteration. The first version of
5828-596: The 19th and 20th centuries, there were two standard forms of written Bengali: In 1948, the government of Pakistan tried to impose Urdu as the sole state language in Pakistan, giving rise to the Bengali language movement . This was a popular ethnolinguistic movement in the former East Bengal (today Bangladesh ), which arose as a result of the strong linguistic consciousness of the Bengalis and their desire to promote and protect spoken and written Bengali's recognition as
5952-593: The 6th century, which competed with the ancestor of Bengali for some time. The ancestor of Bengali was the language of the Pala Empire and the Sena dynasty . During the medieval period, Middle Bengali was characterised by the elision of the word-final অ ô and the spread of compound verbs, which originated from the Sanskrit Schwa . Slowly, the word-final ô disappeared from many words influenced by
6076-601: The Army, Navy and Air Forces; as well as special brigades including the Z Force . Paramilitary forces, including the East Pakistan Rifles and police, were designated as the Niyomito Bahini (Regular Forces). They were divided between forward battalions and sector troops. Another civilian force was raised and known as the Gonobahini (People's Forces) consisting of lightly trained civilian brigades under military command;
6200-701: The Awami League the majority party in the 313 seat parliament of Pakistan. After the 1970 elections, Yahya Khan hoped for a power sharing agreement between Mujib and Bhutto, though talks between them did not result in a solution. Mujib wanted full autonomy, Bhutto advised Yahya to break off talks. On 1 March 1971, General Yahya Khan suspended the National Assembly of Pakistan which was scheduled to be held on 3 March 1971. On 7 March 1971, Sheikh Mujib made his now famous speech in Ramna Race course ( Suhrawardy Udyan ) where he declared "The struggle this time
6324-418: The Bangladesh conflict and a joint command structure was established between the Bangladeshi and Indian forces. Three corps of the Indian Armed Forces were supported by three brigades of the Mukti Bahini and the Bengali guerrilla army. The Mukti Bahini and its supporters guided the Indian army and provided them with information about Pakistani troop movements. The Indian and Mukti Bahini greatly outnumbered
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#17328013522256448-401: The Bengali equivalent of a full stop – have been adopted from Western scripts and their usage is similar. Unlike in Western scripts (Latin, Cyrillic, etc.) where the letter forms stand on an invisible baseline, the Bengali letter-forms instead hang from a visible horizontal left-to-right headstroke called মাত্রা matra . The presence and absence of this matra can be important. For example,
6572-426: The Bengali script is an abugida, its consonant graphemes usually do not represent phonetic segments , but carry an "inherent" vowel and thus are syllabic in nature. The inherent vowel is usually a back vowel , either [ɔ] as in মত [m ɔ t] "opinion" or [o] , as in মন [m o n] "mind", with variants like the more open [ɒ] . To emphatically represent a consonant sound without any inherent vowel attached to it,
6696-420: The Burmah Oil Refinery, numerous ships and oil depots. The Bangladesh naval forces took shape in July. Operation Jackpot was launched by the Bangladesh Forces on 15 August 1971. Bangladesh Navy commandos sank vessels of the Pakistan Navy in Mongla , Chittagong, Chandpur and Narayanganj . The operation was a major propaganda success for Bangladeshi forces, as it exposed to the international community
6820-412: The Chittagong Hill Tracts. On 18 April, the Deputy High Commission of Pakistan in Kolkata defected and hoisted the flag of Bangladesh . On 17 April, the Mujibnagar Government was formed. During May, Foreign Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto asked General Yahya Khan to hand over power in West Pakistan to his party. Khan refused on the grounds that doing so would support the view of Mukti Bahini and
6944-523: The Force of Captain Shahjahan. Initially, this force was intended to resist Pakistani rule in southern Barisal. Later on, the militia became known as the Gafur Bahini . The group's weapons and ammunition support was given by Abul Hasnat Abdullah and help from commanders of the Kodaldoa Camp which was situated in Agailjhara , Barisal. Gafur Bahini conducted successful guerilla operations in Banaripara , Jhalakathi , Pirojpur , Swarupkathi and other various areas in Barisal. Gafur Bahini had coordination with
7068-474: The Gonobahini also consisted of battalions created by political activists from the pro-Western Awami League , the pro-Chinese and socialist National Awami Party , led by Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani , and the pro-Soviet Communist Party of East Pakistan . The guerrilla movement was composed of three wings: well-armed Action Groups which took part in frontal attacks; military intelligence units; and guerrilla bases. The first conference of sector commanders
7192-400: The Indian artillery and Indian Air force providing direct cover for the Mukti Bahini in some offensives. Attacks on infrastructure and the increase in the reach of the provisional government weakened the control of the Pakistan government. The Bangladesh Air Force (BAF) was established on 28 September 1971 under the command of Air Commodore A. K. Khandker . It initially operated from
7316-419: The Indian army created a number of bases inside East Pakistan for the Mukti Bahini. The railways in East Pakistan were almost completely shut down due to the Mukti Bahini's sabotage. The provincial capital, Dhaka, had become a ghost town with gun-fire and explosions heard throughout the day. After a visit to East Pakistan refugee camps in India in August 1971, US Senator Ted Kennedy believed that Pakistan
7440-470: The Liberation War, initiating widespread solidarity. In May, as part of the Students' Union's initiative, a special guerrilla force was formed in collaboration with the NAP - Communist party to manage and conduct the war. On May 28, near Salonibari, Assam , training commenced. After the training, under the leadership of the Operation Planning Committee, the induction of guerrillas within the country, along with guerrilla operations and military coordination,
7564-520: The Middle East and other regions. Bengali was accorded the status of a classical language by the government of India on 3 October 2024. It is the second most spoken and fourth fastest growing language in India , following Hindi in the first place, Kashmiri in the second place, and Meitei ( Manipuri ), along with Gujarati , in the third place, according to the 2011 census of India . Bengali has developed over more than 1,400 years. Bengali literature , with its millennium-old literary history,
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#17328013522257688-438: The Mujib Bahini and conducted several operations with the Mujib Bahini. According to The Daily Star , when Captain Shahjahan established his sub-sector in the southwestern area of Bangladesh, Gafur Bahini merged with his force. After the war, Abdul Gafur and Mohiuddin Manik were awarded Bir Protik for their contribution. The "Mukti Bahini" was divided into two groups; the "Niomito Bahini" – or "regular forces" – who came from
7812-413: The Mukti Bahini became part of the Bangladesh-India Allied Forces . It was instrumental in securing the Surrender of Pakistan and the liberation of Dhaka and other cities in December 1971. East Pakistan campaigned against the usage of Urdu as the sole official language of Pakistan . The Awami League had won the majority in the 1970 Pakistani general election . Sheikh Mujibur Rahman , as
7936-425: The Mukti Bahini secured control over large parts of the Bengali countryside. It conducted successful " ambush and sabotage " campaigns, and included the nascent Bangladesh Air Force and the Bangladesh Navy . The Mukti Bahini received training and weapons from India , where people in West Bengal shared a common Bengali ethnic and linguistic heritage with East Pakistan. During the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 ,
8060-423: The Mukti Bahini were alleged to have massacred 15000 Biharis in the town of Santahar in the district of Naogaon. They are also accused of raping Bihari women during the war. Mukti Bahini, the Bengali resistance force, backed by Indian government, from East Pakistan, killed non-Bengalis (primarily West Pakistanis and Biharis) in the aftermath of the Bangladesh Liberation War. The Mukti Bahini has been
8184-478: The Mukti Bahini were the Z Force led by Major Ziaur Rahman , the K Force led by Major Khaled Mosharraf and the S Force led by Major K M Shafiullah . Awami League student leaders formed militia units, including the Mujib Bahini , the Kader Bahini and Hemayet Bahini . The Communist Party of Bangladesh , led by Comrade Moni Singh , and activists from the National Awami Party also operated several guerrilla battalions. Using guerrilla warfare tactics,
8308-513: The Mukti Bahini-Indian joint forces. In Dhaka, the Pakistan Army and its supporting militias began the mass murder of Bengali intellectuals and professionals in a final attempt to eliminate the Bengali intelligentsia . Historian Yasmin Saikia writes that the Pakistani Army, and pro-Pakistani militias looted, raped, and killed civilians in East Pakistan. The Mukti Bahini liberated most of the Dhaka District by mid-December. In Western Pakistan, Indian forces advanced deep into Pakistani territory as
8432-416: The Pakistan army, established the Bangladesh Armed Forces on 4 April 1971. The Provisional Government of Bangladesh placed all Bangladeshi forces under the command of Osmani, who was appointed as the defence minister with the rank of Commander-in-Chief as a four star general . Osmani designated the composition of the Mukti Bahini into several divisions. It included the regular armed forces which covered
8556-416: The Provisional Government of Bangladesh that East Pakistan was a colony of West Pakistan. Tensions were raised when Bhutto told his followers that "by November [he] would either be in power or in jail". On 9 June, Mukti Bahini members hijacked a car and launched a grenade attack on Dhaka Intercontinental Hotel, the office of the Pro-Junta Morning Post and the house of Golam Azam . The Mukti Bahini divided
8680-409: The Section 2(11) of the Bangladesh Freedom Fighters Welfare Trust Act, 2018 (Act No. 51 of 2018) everyone participated in the liberation war is defined as Bir Muktijoddha ( Bengali : বীর মুক্তিযোদ্ধা). The government issued an order by gazette notification on 29 October 2020 saying that the word Bir (heroic) will have to be added to the term freedom fighter. To compulsorily comply with the law, in
8804-480: The Students' Union, from its side, conducted extensive political campaigns in districts and primary branches. They organized the Mukti Bahini in rural areas. In the villages, they instigated movements among farmers, and under the coordination of the Mukti Bahini , regular parade programs were conducted. On the night of March 25, 1971, leaders of the Dhaka University Unit of Students' Union, including Aajim and Shushil, along with several others, sacrificed their lives in
8928-738: The arms and equipment used by Mukti Bahini are given below: The genocide by Pakistani forces caused widespread international outrage against West Pakistan. In the United States, Democratic senator Ted Kennedy led a chorus of strong domestic criticism against the Nixon administration for ignoring the genocide of Bengalis in East Pakistan. The Mukti Bahini enjoyed significant international public support. The Bangladeshi provisional government considered setting up an "International Brigade" with European and North American students. French Minister of Cultural Affairs André Malraux vowed to fight on
9052-501: The arms market in Calcutta, including Italian howitzers , Alouette III helicopters, "Dakota" DC-3 aircraft and "Otter" DHC-3 fighter planes. The Mukti Bahini also received a limited supply of equipment from the Indian military, as New Delhi allowed the Bangladeshi forces to operate an independent weapons supply through Calcutta Port . The Mukti Bahini used Sten Guns , Lee–Enfield rifles and Indian-made hand grenades . Some of
9176-685: The atrocities and genocide by the Pakistani military were provided. On May 10, 1971, the International Union of Students (IUS) and the World Federation of Democratic Youth (WFDY), along with other international student and youth organizations from all countries, sent letters urging support and cooperation for Bangladesh's independence and the Liberation War. Subsequently, student and youth organizations worldwide swiftly started expressing support for Bangladesh's independence and
9300-536: The basis of modern standard colloquial Bengali. In the dialects prevalent in much of eastern and south-eastern Bangladesh ( Barisal , Chittagong , Dhaka and Sylhet Divisions of Bangladesh), many of the stops and affricates heard in West Bengal and western Bangladesh are pronounced as fricatives . Western alveolo-palatal affricates চ [ tɕɔ ] , ছ [ tɕʰɔ ] , জ [ dʑɔ ] correspond to eastern চ [tsɔ] , ছ [tsʰɔ~sɔ] , জ [dzɔ~zɔ] . The influence of Tibeto-Burman languages on
9424-465: The battlefield alongside the Bangladesh Forces. The Soviet Union threw its weight behind the Bangladesh Forces and India after being convinced of Pakistan's unwillingness for a political solution. Separately, US efforts to woo China through Pakistan led to India signing a friendship treaty with Moscow in August 1971. India increased support to Mukti Bahini after the signing of the treaty. For India,
9548-512: The bordering Betia of Cumilla. In this battle, 9 guerrilla fighters, including Students' Union leader Nizamuddin Azad, Sirajul Monir, and Shahidullah Saud, became martyrs. The actions of the guerrilla force showcase the heroic role played by the Students' Union warriors. Bengali language Bengali , also known by its endonym Bangla ( বাংলা , Bāṅlā , [ˈbaŋla] ),
9672-500: The cancellation of the parliamentary session, the Students' Union organized a protest rally near Baitul Mukarram National Mosque and a nationwide strike on March 2. From the beginning of March, student gatherings were organized daily at the Central Shaheed Minar , where the ongoing events and political circumstances were briefed. Following the historic speech on March 7 , Students' Union started their preparations for
9796-469: The consonant which comes first is put on top of or to the left of the one that immediately follows. In these ligatures, the shapes of the constituent consonant signs are often contracted and sometimes even distorted beyond recognition. In the Bengali writing system, there are nearly 285 such ligatures denoting consonant clusters. Although there exist a few visual formulas to construct some of these ligatures, many of them have to be learned by rote. Recently, in
9920-507: The country. In India, Bengali is one of the 23 official languages . It is the official language of the Indian states of West Bengal , Tripura and in Barak Valley of Assam . Bengali has been a second official language of the Indian state of Jharkhand since September 2011. In Pakistan , Bengali is a recognised secondary language in the city of Karachi mainly spoken by stranded Bengalis of Pakistan . The Department of Bengali in
10044-400: The death of at least 200,000 and possibly as many as 500,000 people while the infrastructure, transport and other services were severely damaged. The central government of Pakistan was blamed for a slow relief response, which created resentment in the population of East Pakistan. The resentment helped the Awami League to win 167 of the 169 parliamentary seats allocated to East Pakistan which made
10168-604: The development of Dobhashi . Bengali acquired prominence, over Persian, in the court of the Sultans of Bengal with the ascent of Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah . Subsequent Muslim rulers actively promoted the literary development of Bengali, allowing it to become the most spoken vernacular language in the Sultanate. Bengali adopted many words from Arabic and Persian , which was a manifestation of Islamic culture on
10292-643: The east to Meherpur in the west. The 14th-century court scholar of Bengal, Nur Qutb Alam , composed Bengali poetry using the Persian alphabet . After the Partition of India in the 20th century, the Pakistani government attempted to institute the Perso-Arabic script as the standard for Bengali in East Pakistan ; this was met with resistance and contributed to the Bengali language movement. In
10416-553: The eastern subcontinent, Purbi Apabhraṃśa or Abahatta (lit. 'meaningless sounds'), eventually evolved into regional dialects, which in turn formed three groups, the Bengali–Assamese languages , the Bihari languages , and the Odia language . The language was not static: different varieties coexisted and authors often wrote in multiple dialects in this period. For example, Ardhamagadhi is believed to have evolved into Abahatta around
10540-536: The effectiveness of the Mukti Bahini. Sabotage and ambush missions continued to be carried out, demoralising the Pakistan army. In October, conventional Bangladesh Forces mounted various successful offensives, capturing 90 of the 300 border outposts. The Mukti Bahini intensified guerrilla attacks inside Bangladesh while Pakistan increased reprisals on Bengali civilians, though the movement of Mukti Bahini into, out of, and inside East Pakistan became easier and more common. In November, Indian involvement increased, with
10664-466: The final ন in মন [m o n] or the medial ম in গামলা [ɡamla] ). A consonant sound followed by some vowel sound other than the inherent [ɔ] is orthographically realised by using a variety of vowel allographs above, below, before, after, or around the consonant sign, thus forming the ubiquitous consonant-vowel typographic ligatures . These allographs, called কার kar , are diacritical vowel forms and cannot stand on their own. For example,
10788-536: The formation of the Mujib Bahini by India which was composed of Sheikh Mujib -loyalists but was not under the command of Mukti Bahini or the provisional government of Bangladesh. On 6 December 1971, India officially recognised Bangladesh as an independent country only hours after Bhutan did the same. Women had served in the Mukti Bahini during the Bangladesh Liberation War . The Mukti Bahini trained several female battalions for guerrilla warfare. Taramon Bibi
10912-660: The fragile hold of the West Pakistani occupation. The Bangladesh Navy commandos targeted patrol craft and ships carrying ammunition and commodities. With Indian aid, the Mukti Bahini acquired two vessels, the Padma and Palash, which were retrofitted into gunboats with mine -laying capabilities. The boat crews extensively mined the Passur River in the Sundarbans, reducing the ability of Pakistani forces to operate from
11036-670: The government of Ahmad Tejan Kabbah declared Bengali as an honorary official language in December 2002. In 2009, elected representatives in both Bangladesh and West Bengal called for Bengali to be made an official language of the United Nations . Regional varieties in spoken Bengali constitute a dialect continuum . Linguist Suniti Kumar Chatterji grouped the dialects of Bengali language into four large clusters: Rarhi , Vangiya , Kamrupi and Varendri ; but many alternative grouping schemes have also been proposed. The south-western dialects ( Rarhi or Nadia dialect) form
11160-499: The graph মি [mi] represents the consonant [m] followed by the vowel [i] , where [i] is represented as the diacritical allograph ি (called ই-কার i-kar ) and is placed before the default consonant sign. Similarly, the graphs মা [ma] , মী [mi] , মু [mu] , মূ [mu] , মৃ [mri] , মে [me~mɛ] , মৈ [moj] , মো [mo] and মৌ [mow] represent the same consonant ম combined with seven other vowels and two diphthongs. In these consonant-vowel ligatures,
11284-412: The graphical form. However, since this change is not as widespread and is not being followed as uniformly in the rest of the Bengali printed literature, today's Bengali-learning children will possibly have to learn to recognise both the new "transparent" and the old "opaque" forms, which ultimately amounts to an increase in learning burden. Bengali punctuation marks, apart from the downstroke । daṛi –
11408-566: The gunfire of the Pakistani forces. In May 6, 1971, a press conference was held in Delhi by the Students' Union regarding the Bengali Liberation War. The conference highlighted the overall situation of the genocide and the resistance struggle, creating widespread awareness internationally. After the commencement of the Liberation War, this was the first kind of press conference in favor of Bangladesh, where detailed descriptions of
11532-492: The independence of Bangladesh, the organization adopted the name "Bangladesh Students' Union," abbreviated as "BSU." In April 1952, a regional conference was held in Dhaka to address the challenges and issues posed by the bengali language movement where the decision was made to form a united student organization focusing on unity among all students, irrespective of nationality, religion, and caste. The decision aimed at fostering
11656-457: The initial months of the war, including Brahmanbaria , Faridpur , Barisal , Mymensingh , Comilla and Kushtia among others. With the support of the local population, many towns remained under the control of Bengali forces until April and May 1971. Notable engagements during this period included the Battle of Kamalpur , the Battle of Daruin and the Battle of Rangamati-Mahalchari waterway in
11780-494: The language as: While most writing is in Standard Colloquial Bengali (SCB), spoken dialects exhibit a greater variety. People in southeastern West Bengal, including Kolkata, speak in SCB. Other dialects, with minor variations from Standard Colloquial, are used in other parts of West Bengal and western Bangladesh, such as the Midnapore dialect, characterised by some unique words and constructions. However,
11904-523: The language movement. Although Sanskrit has been spoken by Hindu Brahmins in Bengal since the 3rd century BC, the local Buddhist population spoke varieties of the Prakrit . These varieties are generally referred to as "eastern Magadhi Prakrit ", as coined by linguist Suniti Kumar Chatterji , as the Middle Indo-Aryan dialects were influential in the first millennium when Bengal
12028-547: The language. Major texts of Middle Bengali (1400–1800) include Yusuf-Zulekha by Shah Muhammad Sagir and Srikrishna Kirtana by the Chandidas poets. Court support for Bengali culture and language waned when the Mughal Empire conquered Bengal in the late 16th and early 17th century. The modern literary form of Bengali was developed during the 19th and early 20th centuries based on the west-central dialect spoken in
12152-512: The leader of the Awami League, was prevented from forming a government. Bengali was the only language in Pakistan not written in the Persian-Arabic script . The merger of the provinces of West Pakistan into one administrative "unit" caused great suspicion in East Pakistan. Pakistan's unwillingness to give autonomy to East Bengal and Bengali nationalism are both cited as reasons for the separation. The 1970 Bhola Cyclone had caused
12276-455: The left-wing Naxalites . It also did not want the millions of refugees to be permanently stranded in India. Indian Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi , authorised diplomatic, economic and military support to the Bangladesh Forces in April 1971. The Provisional Government of Bangladesh established its secretariat in exile in Calcutta . The Indian Armed Forces provided substantial training and
12400-428: The letter ত tô and the numeral ৩ "3" are distinguishable only by the presence or absence of the matra , as is the case between the consonant cluster ত্র trô and the independent vowel এ e , also the letter হ hô and Bengali Ôbogroho ঽ (~ô) and letter ও o and consonant cluster ত্ত ttô . The letter-forms also employ the concepts of letter-width and letter-height (the vertical space between
12524-420: The mobility of the Pakistan Army. However, the Mukti Bahini failed in its Monsoon Offensive after Pakistani reinforcements successfully countered Bengali engagements. Attacks on border outposts in Sylhet, Comilla and Mymensingh had limited success. The training period slowed the momentum of the Bangladesh Forces, which began to pick up after August. After the monsoon , the Mukti Bahini became more effective while
12648-605: The neighbouring states of Odisha , Bihar , and Jharkhand , and sizeable minorities of Bengali speakers reside in Indian cities outside Bengal, including Delhi , Mumbai , Thane , Varanasi , and Vrindavan . There are also significant Bengali-speaking communities in the Middle East , the United States , Singapore , Malaysia , Australia , Canada , the United Kingdom , and Italy . The 3rd article of
12772-404: The organization had its guerrilla force. The organization has been advocating for a non-discriminatory, science-based, non-communal, and progressive educational policy. The Students' Union believes that addressing the challenges in the educational journey and establishing the supremacy of students' rights require eliminating exploitation and inequality from society. At its birth, the organization
12896-649: The paramilitary, military and police forces of East Pakistan , and the Gonnobahini – or "people's forces" – who were civilians. These names were given and defined by the government of Bangladesh . The Indians referred to the Niomito Bahini as "Mukti Fauj", and the Gonnobahini were called "freedom fighters". M. A. G. Osmani , a Bengali veteran of the British Raj forces in World War II and
13020-517: The parliament of Bangladesh and the legislative assembly of West Bengal proposed that Bengali be made an official UN language. As of January 2023, no further action has been yet taken on this matter. However, in 2022, the UN did adopt Bangla as an unofficial language, after a resolution tabled by India. In 2024, the government of India conferred Bengali with the status of classical language . Approximate distribution of native Bengali speakers (assuming
13144-427: The so-called "inherent" vowel [ɔ] is first expunged from the consonant before adding the vowel, but this intermediate expulsion of the inherent vowel is not indicated in any visual manner on the basic consonant sign ম [mɔ] . The vowel graphemes in Bengali can take two forms: the independent form found in the basic inventory of the script and the dependent, abridged, allograph form (as discussed above). To represent
13268-539: The subject of numerous artwork , literature, films and television productions. Bir Sreshtho (The Most Valiant Hero) is the highest military honour in Bangladesh and was awarded to seven Mukti Bahini fighters. They were Ruhul Amin , Mohiuddin Jahangir , Mostafa Kamal , Hamidur Rahman , Munshi Abdur Rouf , Nur Mohammad Sheikh and Matiur Rahman . The other three gallantry awards in decreasing order of importance are Bir Uttom , Bir Bikrom and Bir Protik . In
13392-536: The superposed chôndrôbindu (ঁ) , denoting a suprasegmental for nasalisation of vowels (as in চাঁদ [tʃãd] "moon"), the postposed ônusbar (ং) indicating the velar nasal [ŋ] (as in বাংলা [baŋla] "Bengali") and the postposed bisôrgô (ঃ) indicating the voiceless glottal fricative [h] (as in উঃ! [uh] "ouch!") or the gemination of the following consonant (as in দুঃখ [dukʰːɔ] "sorrow"). The Bengali consonant clusters ( যুক্তব্যঞ্জন juktôbênjôn ) are usually realised as ligatures, where
13516-560: The tenth congress of the International Union of Students held in Europe, specifically in the then Czechoslovakia (present-day Slovakia , with its capital in Bratislava ), representatives of the Students' Union from Bangladesh presented the just demands and struggles of the people of Bangladesh. This significant event had the participation of student representatives from over a hundred countries globally. On March 1, 1971, in response to
13640-728: The three Pakistani army divisions of East Pakistan. The Battle of Sylhet , the Battle of Garibpur , the Battle of Boyra , the Battle of Hilli and the Battle of Kushtia were major joint engagements for the Bangladeshi and Indian forces, who swiftly captured surrounding land by selectively engaging or bypassing heavily defended strongholds. For example, the Meghna Heli Bridge airlifted Bangladeshi and Indian forces from Brahmanbaria to Narsingdi over Pakistani defences in Ashuganj . The cities of Jessore , Mymensingh , Sylhet , Kushtia , Noakhali and Moulvibazar quickly fell to
13764-462: The treaty was an important insurance policy against a possible Chinese intervention on the side of Pakistan. China had fought a brief war with India in 1962. Both the US and China, however, ultimately failed to mobilise adequate support for Pakistan. Ten million Bengali refugees fled into neighbouring India because of famine and ravages of the Pakistan army, where the regions of West Bengal , Tripura and
13888-470: The use of its bases for the Bangladesh Forces. The Bangladesh liberation guerrillas operated training camps in the Indian states of Bihar , Arunachal Pradesh, Assam , Nagaland, Mizoram , Meghalaya, Tripura and West Bengal. Mukti Bahini were allowed by India to cross the border at will. Some Mukti Bahini, especially those who served in the security services of Pakistan, were suspicious of Indian involvement and wished to minimise its role. They also resented
14012-484: The visible matra and an invisible baseline). There is yet to be a uniform standard collating sequence (sorting order of graphemes to be used in dictionaries, indices, computer sorting programs, etc.) of Bengali graphemes. Experts in both Bangladesh and India are currently working towards a common solution for this problem. Throughout history, there have been instances of the Bengali language being written in different scripts, though these employments were never popular on
14136-435: The vocabulary may differ according to the speaker's religion: Muslims are more likely to use words of Persian and Arabic origin, along with more words naturally derived from Sanskrit ( tadbhava ), whereas Hindus are more likely to use tatsama (words directly borrowed from Sanskrit). For example: The phonemic inventory of standard Bengali consists of 29 consonants and 7 vowels, as well as 7 nasalised vowels . The inventory
14260-556: The war zone into eleven sectors . The war strategy included a huge guerrilla force operating inside Bangladesh that targeted Pakistani installations through raids, ambushes and sabotaging West Pakistani-controlled shipping ports, power plants, industries, railways and warehouses. The wide dispersion of West Pakistani forces allowed Bengali guerrillas to target smaller groups of enemy soldiers. Groups ranging in size from five to ten guerrillas were assigned specific missions. Bridges, culverts , fuel depots and ships were destroyed to decrease
14384-568: Was a part of the Greater Magadhan realm. The local varieties had no official status during the Gupta Empire , and with Bengal increasingly becoming a hub of Sanskrit literature for Hindu priests, the vernacular of Bengal gained a lot of influence from Sanskrit. Magadhi Prakrit was also spoken in modern-day Bihar and Assam , and this vernacular eventually evolved into Ardha Magadhi . Ardha Magadhi began to give way to what
14508-544: Was committing a genocide. Golam Azam called for Pakistan to attack India and to annexe Assam in retaliation for India providing help to the Mukti Bahini. Azam accused India of shelling East Pakistani border areas on a daily basis. Oxfam predicted the deaths of over one hundred thousand children in refugee camps and that more could die from food shortages in East Pakistan because of the conflict. Regular Mukti Bahini battalions were formed in September 1971, increasing
14632-607: Was elected as the president, and Mohammad Elias as the general secretary. It was during this conference that the organization's declaration and constitution were announced. In February 1971, in an emergency council of the East Pakistan Students' Union, 14 demands were presented regarding democracy. It stated, "The original five language-speaking nations in Pakistan, to separate them from the Federation of Pakistan and establish an independent sovereign state with complete autonomy rights and self-determination." In February 1971, during
14756-616: Was extensively developed during the Bengali Renaissance and is one of the most prolific and diverse literary traditions in Asia. The Bengali language movement from 1948 to 1956 demanding that Bengali be an official language of Pakistan fostered Bengali nationalism in East Bengal leading to the emergence of Bangladesh in 1971. In 1999, UNESCO recognised 21 February as International Mother Language Day in recognition of
14880-499: Was formed to represent former guerrillas. Bangladesh Liberation War ministry is responsible for looking after the welfare of Mukti Bahini members. The widespread availability of arms created serious law and order concerns for the Bangladesh government after the war. A few militia units are alleged to have taken part in reprisal attacks against the Urdu-speaking population following the Pakistani surrender. On 28 February 1973
15004-614: Was held during July 1971, starting on 11 July and ending 17 July. Prominent sector commanders included defector officers and soldiers from the Pakistan Armed Forces, including Major Ziaur Rahman, Major Khaled Mosharraf , Major K M Shafiullah , Captain A. N. M. Nuruzzaman , Major Chitta Ranjan Dutta , Wing Commander M Khademul Bashar , Major Nazmul Huq , Major Quazi Nuruzzaman , Major Abu Osman Chowdhury , Major Abul Manzoor , Major M. A. Jalil , Major Abu Taher and Squadron Leader M. Hamidullah Khan . The Mujib Bahini
15128-464: Was initiated. By the end of September, this special force was engaged in small-scale operations. The number of operations increased in October and November. Successful campaigns were conducted one after another in areas such as Raipur, Monohardi, Shibpur, Comilla, Noakhali, Chittagong, and greater Barisal. On November 11, a fierce battle took place between the guerrilla force and the Pakistani forces in
15252-593: Was led by Awami League youth leaders Serajul Alam Khan , Sheikh Fazlul Huq Moni , Tofael Ahmed and Abdur Razzak . An Australian war veteran, William A. S. Ouderland , organised guerrilla warfare in Dacca and provided vital intelligence to the Bangladesh Forces. He was awarded the Bir Protik for his actions by the government of Bangladesh. Left-wing politicians Kader Siddique , Hemayet Uddin and Moni Singh created several guerrilla units. Kader Siddique operated in
15376-434: Was named "Pakistan Students' Union." However, during the first conference in December 1952, the decision was made to establish a separate organization based on East Pakistan as the two regions of undivided Pakistan had major distinction in economy, social awareness, culture, and heritage. Consequently, the organization was formed with a focus on East Pakistan , and its name was changed to "East Pakistan Students' Union." After
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