 The following year saw Sheikh Mujib hold a massive nationalist gathering on 7 March 1971 at the Race Course Ground that attracted an estimated one million people.Galvanising public anger against ethnic and regional discrimination and poor cyclone relief efforts from the central government, the gathering preceded near total consensus among East Pakistan population for independent movement.In response, on 25 March 1971 in the middle of the night, the Pakistan Army launched Operation Searchlight, which led to the arrests, torture and killing of hundreds of thousands of people – just in that night alone.