Awami League

An East Pakistani political party established to campaign for greater freedom from West Pakistan

Biharis

East Pakistani urdu speakers – most of whom wanted West and East Pakistan to stay unified.

General Yayha Khan

Leader of the West Pakistan military and organiser of Operation Searchlight.

Urdu

The official language enforced upon both East and West Pakistan upon its creation.

Mukti Bahini

East Pakistani ‘militias’ – translated as ‘Freedom Fighters’ – who fought for independence from West Pakistan

Partition

alongside local politicians, partitioned the continent into two countries – Pakistan and India

West Bengal

A region of India that was established upon Partition. It shares many similarities with East Bengal – which was ‘East Pakistan’ until 1971 when it became Bangladesh.

West Pakistan

Most of the power and wealth of Pakistan was concentrated here. Today it is just called Pakistan.

Bengali

The majority language within East Pakistan

East Pakistan

The name given to ‘East Bengal’, that was given to Pakistan upon Partition. Today it is called Bangladesh.

Genocide

the deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular nation or ethnic group

Jaganath Hall

A residential building for the university in Dhaka that was the site of an infamous attack at the beginning of Operation Searchlight

Operation Searchlight

West Pakistani operation in East Pakistan that killed hundreds of thousands

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman

The leader of the Awami League in 1971, he became the first President of Bangladesh upon Independence

Hindu Bengalis

A large minority of ‘East Pakistanis’ were Hindu – and faced particular discrimination from the West Pakistani ruling class. More than 60% of the Bengali refugees who fled to India were Hindus