Bangladesh is undergoing a turbulent phase of its political recalibration following the removal of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in August 2024. Various ideological factions, notably the Islamist Jamaat-e-Islami, which historically resisted the nation’s liberation from Pakistan’s hegemonic hold, are increasingly consolidating their influence. These actors are actively shaping the discourses concerning the ideological trajectory and post-Liberation identity of Bangladesh.

Concurrently, a discernible effort to obscure and diminish the historical memory of the Pakistan Army’s atrocities, especially during Operation Searchlight (launched on March 25, 1971), have gained momentum. This revisionist impulse is particularly pronounced amidst the new government’s overtures toward fostering closer diplomatic and economic ties with Pakistan, signalling a deliberate attempt to erase the memories of genocidal violence of the Pakistan Army. This calls for renewed attention to remind the nation about Pakistan Army’s ethno-religious violence against Bengalis as it approaches the 54th anniversary of Operation Searchlight.

Before delving into the military operations conducted by the Pakistan Army, it is imperative to contextualise the broader political landscape of Bangladesh — then East Pakistan — and its intricate relationship with West Pakistan, which ultimately culminated in the Liberation War of 1971. The establishment of Pakistan as a bifurcated state comprising two geographically non-contiguous regions, separated by approximately 1,600 kilometres of Indian territory, presented an inherently fragile political configuration. While the nascent state was ideologically unified under the banner of Islamic nationalism, this abstract sense of solidarity rapidly eroded as asymmetrical power dynamics emerged.

The initial aspirations of equitable governance and interregional parity disintegrated as West Pakistan’s polity, predominantly dominated by ethnic Punjabis alongside the influential Muhajir elite from India, asserted disproportionate control over the central apparatus of the state. This was perpetuated by the Pakistani military establishment, whose ranks were overwhelmingly composed of Punjabis. Consequently, the early years of Pakistan’s political evolution were marked by systemic marginalization and........

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