Back in the country, whose birth she documented, after half a century – Anne de Henning effortlessly recalls those tumultuous times. The veteran photographer met Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the other surviving family members of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at Dhaka’s Dhanmondi 32 Memorial Museum on December 19, 2022 – an event she described as “an emotional family reunion”. Henning photographed Bangabandhu giving a speech at the first Council Meeting of Awami League in independent Bangladesh, in 1972. After Bangabandhu and most of his family members were brutally assassinated in 1975, his images were routinely destroyed. Henning’s colour photos of the Father of the Nation are among the few known to still exist. During the Liberation War in 1971, when Pakistan army was not allowing foreign photographers to come here, what compelled her to undertake a perilous journey to Bangladesh? Read more: Anne de Henning’s rare photos of Bangladesh’s birth, Bangabandhu to have Dhaka exhibit Dec 15-24 “I was in Kathmandu at the time, and I saw a dispatch in the local English paper… that trouble had erupted in (then) East Pakistan and that Pakistani authorities had closed the country to the foreign press. And I thought, well, I’m going to go there. As journalists and photographers, when you are told you can’t go somewhere, you know something is going on. So that’s where you want to go,” Henning said.

The quest for a complete history In our research work exploring how 1971 events impacted on the marginalized people we have covered the experiences of three population groups. They are: a) the rural people in general b) the experiences of women and c) the history of the Hindu community who were targeted specifically by the Pakistan army. However, there are other groups as well and data collection began a few years back to find out how a few other marginal groups lived or died in 1971. In dealing/choosing such marginalized groups we find that two criteria apply. One is those who were socio-economically marginal and thus are marginalized in the historical narrative process. The other is the minority marginalized as they have not been found worthy of much attention. Often both criteria apply to the same group. Read more: 1971 loss a ‘military failure’, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Bilawal says after ex army chief called it ‘political failure’ The Left out majority Villagers are a prime example of marginalization. Not much work has been done on them but increasingly, analysis shows that villagers held the key to effective resistance, sheltering and participation which made a significant contribution in keeping the occupied state alive.  Perhaps this was the most significant contribution of them all. The reason is simple. The war was played out in several spaces, national and international but the core was occupied Bangladesh. This is where history was produced as the overwhelming majority of Bangladeshis lived there. They bore the brunt of impact through the critical resistance period from March to end April and faced most of the assault. The resistance would also have been impossible without their support. After the first stage when Pakistan re-captured Bangladesh, many people went to India to be trained to return as fighters. These people found shelter with the villagers which allowed the resistance to happen and ultimately eat through Pakistan’s torso in Bangladesh. Finally, when the joint India-Bangladesh  forces mounted the end game, the villagers' support became critical too. As Gen. Aurora, Chief of the Joint Command said, “It’s the villagers who let us in. Had they not wanted, no army could have entered Bangladesh. “ It shows the enormous historical significance which many historians have not addressed properly. In this case the majority has been left out by historians because they had no political significance to sustain the ruling class narrative.  The same applies to the history of women in 1971. The marginalized minority There are other members of the marginalized population who are minority by their population size. At the same time they could also be socio-economically that. A case in point is the situation of the sex workers. We know almost nothing about them as they are in general socially invisible and in history have become lost. But it is in many ways a terribly vulnerable time for them as clients dipped amidst the general insecurity. Did they face starvation? Changed their profession?   What was the nature of their suffering?  There is another group about whom we know very little though they cut across several population segments and were very vulnerable: the elderly.  The post 65+ population in Bangladesh today is around 20%. As an intersectional community, they represent every segment whether gender, economy, class, habitation or otherwise. However, we have no specific information on how they lived or died in 1971. Our current work is now focused on these left out groups who are not considered historically significant but who lived suffered and died that year. We are excerpting from two of our case studies. Read more: 'Recognising the Bangladesh Genocide of 1971': ICSF welcomes US Congress initiative Somen  Das (as told by his son Horen Das ) “Baba was hurt on the night of the 25th when the Pak army torched the Palpara slum.  He hurt his feet when we were all trying to run away. It was dark and we tried to cross the ditches and water and Baba slipped and fell. I pulled him up but he couldn’t walk but we couldn’t stay there. Two other people somehow dragged Baba to the other side of the khal and we reached Moghbazar area. “ “ We took shelter in the home of the family where I worked as a gardener and spent the first few days too scared even to go out of the room. Baba was very ill but we didn’t know where to find a doctor. The malik of the home finally got a doctor and he got some treatment but he needed an X-ray which we were too scared to go and get done.. We heard that DMC had been raided and the Pak army was looking for Hindus. He was given some ointment and pain killers, that is all. “ “My sisters and wife were young and sisters also unmarried, and they were my responsibility so I was very worried about them. My wife’s parent’s home was in the Munshiganj interior and we decided to move there with Ma too. Bab couldn’t walk properly and was always in pain. He refused to go and we were stuck. The malik was very kind and asked us to leave Baba with him and we all left. “. “ We came back after the war and found him alive. He was physically better but his spirit was gone. Palpara was not inhabitable either so we had to move. Ma’s family lived in the old city and Baba refused to go and live in his in-laws' home. He stayed back and did odd carpentry work there. A year later, he slipped and fell down and hurt his head. He was taken to the hospital but he never recovered. “ Rashid Ahmed, Shantinagar (told by Shahed ahmed, his son) “ The army raided our home because some locals had informed them that Muktis had entered our house. Not true but some people wanted to cause trouble for us.  Father was a dementia patient and didn’t know what was going on. He was sitting on a wheelchair and burst into tears like a child. We tried to tell the army that he was sick but they shouted at us and we became silent with fear.” “After the search was over, they lined us up and said we are lucky that they saw so many jaynamaz (prayer rugs) and Qurans. So they were sure we were not Hindus. But at this moment father screamed and started to howl. One person went and told father to shut up and shook him. He didn’t understand.    I said he was an old man and had gone mad. What else could I say ? They laughed and made faces and then left. We were saved and safe but father hadn’t been fed for hours and became very sick.” More studies of groups needed In Bangladesh, we are more concerned about “correct “history instead of complete history. Instead of looking for facts, we are looking for political affirmations. The result has been the loss of information about many groups whichever way we define.  Before all information is lost, people from such groups can try to document the social-economic history to complete the mosaic that creates the history of 1971. 

US congressman Steve Chabot, along with congressman of Indian origin Ro Khanna, introduced a resolution in US House of Representatives to declare Pakistan Army action against Bengalis and Hindus in 1971 during the Liberation War of Bangladesh as "genocide" and "crime against humanity". The Bangladesh Genocide of 1971 must not be forgotten, Chabot said. "With help from my Hindu constituents in Ohio’s First District, Rep Ro Khanna and I introduced legislation to recognize that the mass atrocities committed against Bengalis and Hindus, in particular, were indeed a genocide," he said. Read 1971 genocide by Pakistani military most heinous crimes in human history Chabot said they must not let the years erase the memory of the millions who were massacred. "Recognizing the genocide strengthens the historical record, educates our fellow Americans, and lets would-be perpetrators know such crimes will not be tolerated or forgotten," he tweeted. "Proud to join Rep Steve Chabot in introducing the first resolution commemorating the 1971 Bengali Genocide in which millions of ethnic Bengalis and Hindus were killed or displaced in one of the most forgotten genocides of our time," Khanna said. Read 1971 Genocide in Bangladesh: Govt efforts on to have UN recognition The 8-page resolution titled "Recognizing the Bangladesh Genocide of 1971" calls on the government of Pakistan, in the face of overwhelming evidence, to offer acknowledgment of its role in such genocide, offer formal apologies to the government and people of Bangladesh, and prosecute, in accordance with international law, any perpetrators who are still living. It condemns the atrocities committed by the Armed Forces of Pakistan against the people of Bangladesh from March 1971 to December 1971; recognizes that such atrocities against Bengalis and Hindus constitute crimes against humanity, war crimes, and genocide; recalls the death and suffering of the countless victims of such atrocities and expresses its deep sympathy for the suffering. The resolution recognizes that entire ethnic groups or religious communities are not responsible for the crimes committed by their members; calls on the President of the United States to recognize the atrocities committed against ethnic Bengalis and Hindus by the Armed Forces of Pakistan during 1971 as crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide. Read Mozammel batting for international recognition of genocide of 1971 The resolution to declare the Pakistan army's action in 1971 as 'Genocide' reaffirms the United States commitment to promoting peace, stability, and intercommunal harmony in the Indo-Pacific region, and the right of all people living in the region, regardless of national, racial, ethnic, or religious background, to enjoy the benefits of democratic institutions, the rule of law, the freedom of religion, and economic opportunity.

Militants in Afghanistan fired heavy weapons across the border into a Pakistani military outpost overnight, killing three personnel, the army said Saturday, in the latest violence to rattle the volatile region. A firefight ensued with the militants firing toward the army post in Pakistan's rugged North Waziristan region, and several were killed, the statement said. There was no immediate way to independently confirm details of the attack. It comes as Afghanistan is reeling from a series of explosions in recent days, including the bombing of a mosque in northern Kunduz province on Friday that killed 33 people, including several students of an adjacent religious school or madrassa. Also read: Pakistan warns neighbor Afghanistan not to shelter militants That includes an attack Thursday on the Abdul Rahim Shaheed school in Kabul that killed seven children. It re-opened on Saturday, with children remembering their fallen classmates with roses. The striking increase in attacks in Afghanistan — as well as in neighboring Pakistan — highlights the growing security challenge facing Afghanistan's Taliban rulers, who swept to power last August in the closing days of the chaotic withdrawal of American and NATO troops ending their 20-year war. Even as their harsh religiously motivated edicts, which seemed reminiscent of their late 1990s rule, drew harsh criticism, their seemingly heavy-handed approach to security brought early expectations of improved safety. However a vicious Islamic State affiliate known as the Islamic State in Khorasn Province, or IS-K — which claimed the recent spate of attacks in Afghanistan as well as a growing number in neighboring Pakistan — is proving an intractable challenge. IS-K took responsibility for a series of attacks across Afghanistan on Thursday, most of which targeted the country's minority Shiites who the radical Sunni Muslim group revile as heretics. Also read: Pakistan to work with Afghanistan, other neighbors to combat terrorism: army chief Still, the IS-K, which is an enemy of Afghanistan's Taliban rulers, is not the only militant organization in Afghanistan contributing to the security dilemma facing Kabul's religiously driven government. The violent Pakistani Taliban, known as the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan or (TTP) — which the United Nations says numbers around 10,000 in Afghanistan — has stepped up its assault on Pakistan's military outposts from its Afghan hideouts. Even the upstart IS-K has taken responsibility for some of the attacks targeting Pakistani military personnel, damaging relations between the two countries. Afghanistan's Taliban rulers have promised no militant group would use its soil as a base to attack another country, but Kabul has yet to arrest or hand over any TTP leaders in Afghanistan to Pakistan. Other militant groups also operating in Afghanistan include China's militant Uighurs of East Turkistan Movement, which seeks independence for northwest China, and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU). Some of the groups are loosely allied to the IS-K , while others act more independently, but on Saturday Pakistan's military statement warned Afghanistan's Taliban rulers to do more. “Pakistan strongly condemns the use of Afghan soil by terrorists for activities against Pakistan and expects that the Afghan Government will not allow conduct of such activities, in future,” said the Pakistan military statement. After seven of its troops were killed in an ambush earlier this month, Pakistan on April 16 retaliated with bombing raids inside Afghanistan that locals in Afghanistan's eastern Khost province said killed dozens of refugees. The United Nations Education Fund (UNICEF) confirmed 20 children were killed in the strikes in Afghanistan's border provinces of Khost and Kunar. At the Abdul Rahim Shaheed School, which was among the IS-K targets in the Thursday attacks, school principal Ghulam Haider Husseini handed roses to each student as they arrived. He also gave students a pen saying “it is our pen who will bring about a change in this situation.”

A Pakistani army helicopter crashed on Monday in bad weather in the Pakistan-administered section of disputed Kashmir, killing the two pilots on board, the military said. A statement from the military said the helicopter went down on the Siachen glacier, one of the world’s longest mountain glaciers, located in the Karakoram Range, and often referred to as the “highest battleground on earth” because of the wars that Pakistan and India have fought over the Himalayan region of Kashmir. Also read: Resistance leader’s death deepens Kashmir strife Rescue helicopters and troops have been dispatched to Siachen, the military said. No further details on the crash were immediately available. The two pilots were identified as Maj. Irfan Bercha and Maj. Raja Zeeshan Jahanzeb. Siachen is known for tragedies, a desolate place where more troops have died from avalanches or bitter cold than in combat. Since gaining independence from Britain in 1947, Pakistan and India have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir. Also read: Wave of killings triggers memories of dark past in Kashmir

Bangladesh High Commission in London in collaboration with Centre for Genocide Studies of the Dhaka University observed 50 years of Bangladesh Genocide calling for international recognition of the genocide and mass killings of Bangalees by the invading Pakistan army fifty years ago on March 25, 1971. Bangladesh High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and Ireland Saida Muna Tasneem chaired the commemorative event titled “1971 Bangladesh Genocide and International Recognition.” Dr Rounaq Jahan, professor of international affairs and senior research scholar at the Columbia University, also an eyewitness of 25 March 1971, presented a comparative narrative of contemporary genocides since the Second World War, international legal jurisprudence and legal opinions on the recognition of the Bangladesh genocide of 1971. Also read: Resolution marking 50th anniversary of Bangladesh’s independence introduced in US House International genocides and war crimes experts, including Professor Joann Digeorge-Lutz, Head of the Department of Liberal Studies of Texas A&M University, Yasmin Saikia, Professor of History and Hardt-Nickachos Chair in Peace Studies of Arizona State University and Dr Sachi Dastagir, professor of State University of New York College and Chair, Indian Subcontinent partition documentation project speaking as panelists recommended a number of strategies used by genocide victims such as Rwanda, Bosnia and Cambodia which could create greater awareness about their genocide atrocities. Dr Mizanur Rahman, Research Director of Bangladesh Institute of International Affairs and former chairman of the National Human Right Commission, Dr Imitaz Ahmed, professor of the International Relations and Director of Centre for Genocide Studies of the Dhaka University, Sultan Mahmud Sharif, a leading organiser of Bangladesh Liberation War in the UK, freedom fighter Dewan Gaus Sultan and Dr Nuzhat Chowdhury, daughter of 1971 martyr intellectual Dr Alim Chowdhury also spoke as panelists. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary celebration of Bangladesh’s glorious independence inspired by the theme ‘The Eternal Mujib’ Bangladesh High Commission London paid deep homage to the 3 million victims and 200,000 Biranganas of the 1971 genocide committed on the soil of Bangladesh during 1971 War of Liberation. Also read: 50th Years of Independence: Queen Elizabeth greets Bangladeshis Expressing her gratitude to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for declaring 25 March as the Bangladesh Genocide Day, High Commissioner Saida Muna Tasneem said, “The government headed by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina started the 1971 war crimes trials through the independent International Crimes Tribunal, Bangladesh. It is now the responsibility of our generation to create global awareness about international recognition of the 1971 Bangladesh genocide and prevent genocide never happens anywhere else.” The High Commissioner said the massacre of 1971 is in no way less significant than those in Cambodia, Bosnia, Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia; and pledged to create greater awareness on Bangladesh genocide amongst British political, humanitarian and think-tank circles and said today’s event is part of the effort. Dr Mizanur Rhaman spoke on international legal provisions for recognition of Bangladesh genocide of 1971 and said that the recognition of Bangladesh genocide is indispensable for sake of justice.   Dr Imitaz Ahmed said Bangladesh 1971 genocide should get international recognition as the mass killing on 25 March and the following months was intended to destroy the entire Bengalee nation. Dr Nuzhat Chowdhury described the brutal intellectual killings on 14 December 1971 and demanded an unconditional apology from the Pakistan army and their collaborators. Earlier, messages from the President and Prime Minister on the Day were read out and special prayers were offered, seeking eternal peace for Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, his martyred families, the martyrs of March 25 and the glorious liberation war. Also read: Pakistani war criminals should be brought under trial: Envoy A one-minute silence was observed in honour of the martyrs of 71 Genocide. A documentary on the genocide was also screened. Dedicating to the 1971 martyrs, Political Counsellor Dewan Mahmudul Haque recited a famous poem of eminent poet Shamsur Rahman. Members of the British-Bangladeshi diaspora joined the virtual event and paid their profound respects to the Father of the Nation and the martyrs killed on March 25 genocide and during the nine-month glorious liberation war. 

Bangladesh will observe ‘Genocide Day’, marking the commencement of the Pakistan army's brutal, cowardly and indeed genocidal Operation Searchlight in 1971, as a last resort to try and suppress the will of the people of what would become, in less than nine months, the newly independent state of Bangladesh.   Organisers have called for a  nationwide minute's silence on Thursday, to pay respect to those who paid the supreme penlty will be observed in the across the country on Thursday commemorating the brutalities and cowardly attacks carried out by the Pakistani occupation forces on the unarmed civilian population on the black night of March 25 in 1971. On the black night of March 25 in 1971, the Pakistani military junta resorted to mass killings in Dhaka to implement their blueprint to thwart the Awami League's assumption of office following the election mandate of 1970. In the attack dubbed 'Operation Searchlight', the Pakistani forces mercilessly killed the Bangalee members of the East Pakistan Rifles and police, students, teachers and common people. Also read: One-minute ‘blackout’ to mark Genocide Day on March 25: Minister They killed people indiscriminately, set fire to the houses and properties, and looted business establishments, leaving a trail of destruction. The day is being observed officially for the fifth time in the country as Parliament unanimously adopted a resolution on March 11, 2017 to observe March 25 as the Genocide Day. This year, however, there will be no outdoor programme in observing the day due to the emerging situation of the coronavrius outbreak's second wave. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and President Abdul Hamid issued separate massages marking the day. In her massage, the Prime Minister said “On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Day of Genocide, we pledge to uphold the freedom that we have earned in exchange for the three million martyrs and the respect of two hundred thousand tortured mothers and sisters, if necessary, in exchange for our supreme sacrifices.” Also read: Nation observes one-minute 'blackout' marking 'Genocide Day' “Resisting all immediate conspiracies and be inspired by the spirit of the Great Liberation War, we shall play a concerted role in the realization of the dream of the Father of the Nation for building a non-communal, hunger-free and prosperous Bangladesh, Insha Allah.she said. “I wish all-out success to the programs taken on the occasion of 'Genocide Day'.”, PM said. Besides, President Abdul Hamid said “On the eve of the birth centenary of the Father of the Nation and the Golden Jubilee of Independence, I call upon all, irrespective of party affiliation, to contribute from their respective positions in the implementation of these programs.” “We can pay our eternal respect to every soul who gave his life in 1971 genocide, by turning the country into the ‘Sonar Bangla’ as dreamt by Bangabandhu,” he said.

Rival neighbors Pakistan and India have pledged to stop firing weapons across the border in disputed Kashmir, promising to adhere to a 2003 accord that has been largely ignored, officials from both sides said on Thursday.

 An ongoing spell of torrential rain in Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi has left at least 23 people killed, dozens injured and scores of others homeless, local media and officials said on Friday.