From early March 1971, the Pakistan Army moved to quietly disarm Bengali soldiers of the 2nd East Bengal Regiment stationed at Joydebpur, near Dhaka. Orders came from Dhaka Brigade headquarters instructing the unit to surrender its weapons. The Bengali troops, committed to the independence cause, refused to comply. Their decision to defy command and retain their arms marked the first open sign of mutiny within the armed forces.
On March 19, Brigadier Jahanzeb Abrar of the Pakistan Army set out for Joydebpur to collect the weapons. Bengali soldiers, joined by local residents, took up defensive positions before he arrived. Faced with this combined resistance, Jahanzeb returned to Dhaka without securing the arms.
The Joydebpur episode sent a clear signal of mutiny by Bengali soldiers against Pakistan. Even before the mass killings of March 25, army commanders realised that the loyalty of Bengali personnel was no longer intact. When the massacre began in Dhaka that night, the simmering revolt turned into an armed resistance. Units of the East Bengal Regiment based outside the capital rose in revolt. In the south-west, Major K M Shafiullah led the 2nd East Bengal Regiment at Jashore Cantonment. In the Cumilla–Brahmanbaria sector, Major Khaled Mosharraf organised resistance with the 4th East Bengal Regiment. In Sylhet, Major C R Dutta led the fightback. These uprisings had no direct coordination, but they shared a single aim — armed resistance against the Pakistan Army. Major Ziaur Rahman linked these scattered revolts to the call for independence. After the killings of March 25, he rebelled against Pakistani forces in Chattogram and, on March 26, declared Bangladesh’s independence from Kalurghat radio station.
Ziaur Rahman was second-in-command of the 8th East Bengal Regiment. His commanding officer was Lieutenant Colonel Abdur Rashid Janjua, a West Pakistani. In the immediate aftermath of the March 25 killings, Ziaur Rahman concluded that remaining under Pakistani officers would mean being used against his own people. On the night of the revolt, Pakistani officers and some soldiers inside the battalion were detained. Accounts differ, but several state that Janjua was first confined to the quarter guard and later killed.
With this, the isolated resistance in Joydebpur, Jashore, Cumilla and Sylhet acquired clear direction as a war to secure independence. The continuing armed resistance by members of the forces went on to lay the foundations of a planned and organised Liberation War.
During the nine-month war, members of the armed forces did far more than fight on the battlefield. They provided leadership, organised combat, trained fighters and helped build the military structure of the new state. More than 1,500 members of the armed forces were killed in the Liberation War, according to official and research sources. Some died at the moment they rose in revolt against Pakistani forces, while others fell in frontline combat over the following months. Most recipients of gallantry awards after the war were members of the armed forces. Five of the seven Bir Shreshto, the highest award for bravery, came from the services. The Liberation War was not confined to political mobilisation or spontaneous civilian resistance. Under the leadership of Bengali members of the armed forces who broke away from Pakistan’s military structure, that resistance became a full-scale war for independence.
Maj. Gen. (retd.) Imamuzzaman, Bir Bikrom, told Bonik Barta that Pakistani forces, as soon as they prepared for mass killings, feared Bengali soldiers might rebel and proclaim independence. “That is why Bengali soldiers were also targeted,” he said. “As part of this plan, a massacre was carried out at the East Bengal Regimental Centre in Chattogram shortly after midnight on March 25. Major Ziaur Rahman was outside the cantonment at the time. When he learned of the killings, he led a revolt with Bengali soldiers.”
He added that Pakistani forces simultaneously attacked Rajarbagh Police Lines in Dhaka and the EPR headquarters at Pilkhana in an effort to wipe out Bengalis, while killings of Bengali soldiers began in Jashore, Cumilla, Rangpur and other areas. “Those who survived took up arms and began fighting the Pakistan Army. That is how armed resistance by the forces took shape from March 26,” Imamuzzaman said.
Resistance in the earliest days of the war unfolded with little coordination. There was no clear division of responsibilities and no area-based command structure. Against this backdrop, officers of the 2nd and 4th East Bengal Regiments moved to establish coordination. On April 4, several military officers who had joined the Liberation War met for the first time at Teliapara in Brahmanbaria. Those present included Colonel MAG Osmani, who had arrived from Agartala, Major Ziaur Rahman, Major Khaled Mosharraf, Lt. Col. Salahuddin Md Reza, Major Kazi Nuruzzaman, Major Nurul Islam, Major Moinul Hossain Chowdhury and Lt. Col. Abdur Rab.
Under Osmani’s leadership, the meeting agreed on a plan to form the Bangladesh Forces by bringing together the three services, the EPR, police, Ansar and people from different walks of life. At the same meeting, and based on available information and progress on the ground, the country was divided into four areas with assigned responsibilities. Major Ziaur Rahman was given charge of Chattogram, including the Chittagong Hill Tracts, and eastern Noakhali. Major Khaled Mosharraf took responsibility for greater Cumilla, Dhaka and western Noakhali. Major Shafiullah was assigned Sylhet, while Major Osman was given Jashore, Kushtia and Faridpur. When the provisional government was formed in Agartala on April 10, many of the decisions taken at Teliapara received formal recognition. Around the same time, Bangladesh Forces headquarters was established at 8 Theatre Road in Kolkata, with Colonel Osmani appointed commander-in-chief with full ministerial rank.
A key meeting on strategy and operational doctrine was held from July 11 to 15 at Kolkata’s 8 Theatre Road, attended by sector commanders. On July 12, with Prime Minister Tajuddin Ahmad presiding, the commanders took major decisions on tactics and operating procedures. This process led to the division of the country into 11 operational sectors, each with defined responsibilities.
Each sector operated within its assigned boundaries. Sector commanders exercised command over both sector troops and battalions. Col. Osmani believed that Bangladesh without foreign assistance would face a prolonged war and would need conventional forces to seize territory. In line with this assessment, ‘Z Force’ was formed on July 12, 1971. The brigade was named after the first letter of Ziaur Rahman’s name, by then promoted to lieutenant colonel. Two more brigades followed: ‘K Force’, named after Major Khaled, and ‘S Force’, named after Major Shafiullah. Artillery capabilities were also developed to support these formations. On November 21, 1971, the army, navy and air force launched a joint attack on Pakistani forces, led largely by Bengali members who had rebelled from the Pakistan military. The date has since been observed as Armed Forces Day.
During the war, many Bengali pilots, officers and aircrew serving in the Pakistan Air Force rebelled and joined the Liberation War. In September 1971, the Bangladesh Air Force was formed, drawing primarily on Bengali officers and personnel who had rebelled from the Pakistan Air Force. On October 8, 1971, three aircraft were flown to mark the formal start of the force.
After March 25, 1971, several Bengali sailors serving on the Pakistan Navy submarine PNS Mangro, then under construction in France, also rebelled and later joined the wartime naval force. Others followed. The formal journey of the Bangladesh Navy began in July 1971 at the Sector Commanders Conference. On August 15, 1971, the Bangladesh Navy and naval fighters of the Mukti Bahini carried out Operation Jackpot. The operation destroyed 26 vessels that were transporting arms and military equipment for Pakistani forces.
Reflecting on the role of the armed forces, researcher and academic Afsan Chowdhury said the Pakistan Army’s attack on the night of March 25 effectively marked the end of East Pakistan. He said, “From that point, it was no longer possible for them to retain control. A large portion of Bengali personnel stationed in Bangladesh moved swiftly towards rebellion. The unrest had already been building in cantonments before March 25 and Pakistani forces had intensified surveillance of Bengali members. Attacks on the EPR headquarters at Pilkhana and Rajarbagh Police Lines were intended to weaken potential centres of resistance. Yet resistance began almost immediately after March 25 and gradually took the shape of a coordinated resistance. The role of the armed forces was central to that process. By the time joint operations with Indian forces began in December, the Pakistan Army was already on the brink of collapse.”
One of the most significant contributions of the armed forces was the seizure of weapons, ammunition and military infrastructure. Units of the East Bengal Regiment not only mounted resistance but also took control of large parts of Pakistani arsenals, ammunition stocks and training facilities. Their intelligence and planning role was equally critical. Having served within the Pakistan Army, Bengali officers and soldiers possessed detailed knowledge of unit structures, deployments, supply lines and strategic weaknesses. This experience became the foundation of military planning for the Liberation War. Decisions on where to launch guerrilla attacks, where conventional assaults were required, and when to withdraw or regroup were taken in a planned manner. In the later stages, armed forces officers also coordinated with Indian forces, sharing intelligence and shaping joint operations.
Most of the thousands of civilian youths who joined the war had no prior military experience. In this context, building a training system became one of the armed forces’ most important tasks. Rebel Bengali officers and soldiers took on the role of instructors. Training camps set up in border areas and liberated zones effectively became factories for producing freedom fighters.
The rebellion by Bengali soldiers against the Pakistan Army that began in March 1971 evolved over time into a full-fledged state armed force. It started as an act of defiance through refusal to obey orders. By April, it had taken an organised military form. From May onwards, it was no longer merely a rebel force but had become Bangladesh’s effective state armed forces. The Bengali soldiers’ revolt thereby laid the foundation for achieving an independent Bangladesh through the Liberation War.