The Post-liberation period & the struggle for national reconstruction
After the Liberation, Bangabandhu and the Awami League government faced a formidable challenge in the sphere of national reconstruction. The whole country was ravaged by the non-month long bloody War of Liberation. Communication system, the posts and industries were completely in ruins. Schools and colleges, factories and food silos, the village hats and bazar were burnt to ashes by the marauding Pakistani soldiers. All these things had to be rebuilt. Then there was the staggering problem of the rehabilitation of the families of the martyr, of those who were maimed by the War and of the women raped and tortured by the Pak army. Ten million refugees, who had fled to India, were to be brought back and rehabilitated. The economy was in a shambles, foreign currency reserve was nil; the food silos were empty. The possibility of a famine causing death of millions was being forecast. Things were compounded by the drought of 1972, the devastating cyclone of 1973, the adverse effect of the worldwide recession owing to the Arab-Israeli War and the floods of 1974 etc. A greater threat to the political stability of the newborn country was posed by the conspiracies of the defeated anti-liberation quarters. A few pro-Chinese leftists started a nefarious campaign by setting jute godowns on fire, uprooting railway tracks, attacking police outposts and committing clandestine political murders. The government of Bangabandhu had to confront these challenges of reconstruction on a War footing.
On his return from his confinement in Pakistan on January 10, 1972, Bangabandhu devoted himself to this stupendous task of reconstruction. We can enumerate the successes of the Bangabandhu government of 3 years briefly as follows:
(a) Restoration of communication system within the shortest possible time; the clearing of mines at Chittagong and Chalna Ports;
(b) Rehabilitation of 10 million refugees who had taken shelter in India;
(c) Granting of economic aid to the families of martyred freedom fighters;
(d) Rehabilitation of narly 3 lakh women who were dishonoured during the War;
(e) Sending of disabled freedom-fighters abroad for treatment;
(f) Ensuring the return of the Indian forces within 3 months of the Liberation;
(g) Framing of one of the world’s best constitutions within 10 months;
(h) Introduction of Parliamentary system;
(i) Holding of general elections in 1973 (AL won 293 out of 300 seats);
(j) Reorganization of the Defence Forces;
(k) Appointment of the Kudrat-e-Khuda Education Commission for framing a scientific and secular education policy;
(l) The promulgation of a democratic ordinance for the universities (1973);
(m) Nationalization of 40 thousand primary schools;
(n) Winning of recognition by 140 nations of the world;
(o) Siging the Ganges-Water Sharing Treaty with India ensuring 44,000 cusecs of water for Bangladesh; etc, etc.
In 1974, when the anti-liberation forces accelerated their disruptive activities Bangladesh felt the necessity of uniting all the pro-Liberation forces of the country under one banner. With this end in view, he formed the Bangladesh Krishak-Sramik Awami League (24 January, 1975). He also declared the programme called the ‘Second Revolution’ in order to rivitalize the economy and to cement the national unity. As a result of this, the law and order situation improved considerably; the prices of essential commodities came down and political stability returned to the country.
At this critical juncture, when Bangladesh was striding forward under the able leadership of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the cruelest assassination of history took place on August 15, 1975. The foundng architect of Bangladesh, Father of the Nation, the Glorious Leader of Liberation War, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was assassinated along with all the members of his family then in Dhaka and other leaders. Anti-Liberation and reactionary international forces with the help of their local henchmen staged this most brutal murder of all times.
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