The Bengali population was angered when Prime Minister-elect Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was prevented from taking the office . Civil disobedience erupted across East Pakistan , with calls for independence . Mujib addressed a pro-independence rally of nearly 2 million people in Dacca on 7 March 1971 , where he said , " This time the struggle is for our freedom . This time the struggle is for our independence . " The flag of Bangladesh was raised for the first time on 23 March , Pakistan 's Republic Day . During the night of 25 March , the Pakistani military junta led by Yahya Khan launched Operation Searchlight ( a sustained military assault on East Pakistan ) . The Pakistan Army arrested Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and flew him away to Karachi . Mujib , however , before his arrest proclaimed the Independence of Bangladesh at midnight on 26 March which led the Bangladesh Liberation War to break out within hours . The Pakistan Army continued to massacre Bengali students , intellectuals , politicians , civil servants and military defectors in the 1971 Bangladesh genocide , while the Mukti Bahini and other Bengali guerrilla forces created strong resistance throughout the country . During the war , an estimated 300,000 to three million people were killed and several million people took shelter in neighbouring India . Global public opinion turned against Pakistan as news of the atrocities spread ; the Bangladesh movement was supported by prominent political and cultural figures in the West , including Ted Kennedy , George Harrison , Bob Dylan , Joan Baez , Victoria Ocampo and André Malraux . The Concert for Bangladesh was held at Madison Square Garden in New York City to raise funds for Bangladeshi refugees . The first major benefit concert in history , it was organised by Harrison and Indian Bengali sitarist Ravi Shankar
1971 Bangladesh genocide
1971 Bangladesh genocide
Bangladesh