Video: 'Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Declares Independence of Bangladesh - U.S. Media Reports - March 26, 1971'

(Friday, March 26, 1971, 7:40 p.m. Bangladesh Standard Time) — East Pakistan declared its independence from the rest of Pakistan tonight in an announcement by Awami League leader Hannan Sarker, who spoke on behalf of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, from Kalurghat Radio Station in Chittagong and declared the new nation of Bangladesh.

The formal Proclamation of Independence was signed on Apr. 10, 1971, at Mujibnagar and ratified by the Constituent Assembly of Bangladesh on Apr. 17, 1971.

The declaration of independence resulted in the genocide in Bangladesh  that began today following the launch of Operation Searchlight, as West Pakistan (now Pakistan) began a military crackdown on the Eastern wing (now Bangladesh) of the nation to suppress Bengali calls for self-determination. 

During the nine-month-long Bangladesh War for Liberation, members of the Pakistani military and supporting Islamist militias from Jamaat-e-Islami killed between 300,000 and 3,000,000 people and raped between 200,000 and 400,000 Bengali women,  according to Bangladeshi and Indian sources, in a systematic campaign of genocidal rape.