Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's speech of 7 March

The 7th March Speech of Bangabandhu was a speech given by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, a Bengali nationalist leader and the founding father of Bangladesh (known as the Bangabandhu "Friend of Bengal"), on March 7, 1971. It was given at the Ramna Race Course in Dhaka to a gathering of over two million people during a period of escalating tensions between East Pakistan and the powerful political and military establishment of West Pakistan. The speech inspired the Bengali people to prepare for a war of independence amid widespread reports of armed mobilisation by West Pakistan.

In the speech, Sheikh Mujib proclaimed: "This time the struggle is for our freedom. This time the struggle is for our independence." (Bengali: "এবারের সংগ্রাম আমাদের মুক্তির সংগ্রাম, এবারের সংগ্রাম স্বাধীনতার সংগ্রাম"). He announced a civil disobedience movement in the province, calling for "every house to turn into a fortress". The Bangladesh Liberation War began 18 days later, when the Pakistan Army launched Operation Searchlight against Bengali civilians, intelligentsia, students, politicians, and armed personnel. Then they had a huge massacre with over 2,000 deaths

Pakistan was created in 1947, during the Partition of India, as a Muslim homeland in South Asia. Its territory comprised most of the Muslim-majority provinces of British India, including two geographically and culturally separate areas, one east of India and the other west. The western zone was popularly (and, for a period, officially) called West Pakistan; the eastern zone (modern-day Bangladesh) was called East Bengal and then East Pakistan. West Pakistan dominated the country politically, and its leaders exploited the East economically, leading to popular grievances.

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