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Time to declare a Republic Day in Bangladesh
Acting President Syed Nazrul Islam speaking at the oath-taking ceremony of Mujibnagar Government on April 17, 1971. Photo: Archives
Many countries of the world have their Republic Days . Some of these are unique in the sense that they are neither the Independence Day nor the Constitution Day. Some countries observe the day on their Independence Day while some on the day of the first functioning of the newly formed constitution of their state. The Republic Days observed in Italy (June 2, 1946), Iraq (July 14, 1958), the Islamic Republic of Iran (April 1, 1979), and Nepal (May 28, 2008) mark occasions when the concerned republic was first established as a sovereign state (Italy), left monarchism (Iraq), developed as an Islamic Republic (Iran) or reformed as a truly democratic state (Nepal). Countries like India and Pakistan observe their Republic Day on the day of the coming-into-effect of their first constitutions.
On April 17, 1971, the provisional government of Bangladesh was sworn in. I was lucky to have witnessed the historic event first-hand. India was monitoring the developments in Bangladesh, particularly Pakistan army s build-up, from March 1, 1971 onwards. India had apprehensions that Pakistanis might create some mischief on the International Border (IB) to draw away the attention of Bangladeshis. Therefore, from March 20, the Indian Army deployed some units (including my one) on the IB as a precautionary measure. The Indian Army s Wireless Experimental Units (monitoring enemy wireless transmissions) due to being located on the high mountains of Meghalaya picked up all the VHF wireless transmissions between Pak formations and units from zero hours on March 26. India, thus, knew about all the developments inside Bangladesh. All BSF BOPs along the Indo-Bangladesh border were alerted to be ready to receive political leaders, civil servants, and armed forces personnel from Bangladesh.