The Mukti Bahini received training and weapons from India,[12] where people in West Bengal shared a common Bengali ethnic and linguistic heritage with East Pakistan.

On 7 March 1971, Sheikh Mujib made his now famous speech in Ramna Race course (Suhrawardy Udyan) where he declared "The struggle this time is for our freedom.

[24] The Pakistan Army's crackdown on the civilian population contributed to the revolt of East Pakistani soldiers, who escaped to India and formed the main body of the Mukti Bahini.

[28] On 25 March, martial law was declared, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was arrested and Operation Searchlight started in East Pakistan.

[29] Bengali forces took control of numerous districts in the initial months of the war, including Brahmanbaria, Faridpur, Barisal, Mymensingh, Comilla and Kushtia among others.

[34] During May, Foreign Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto asked General Yahya Khan to hand over power in West Pakistan to his party.

[35] On 9 June, Mukti Bahini members hijacked a car and launched a grenade attack on Dhaka Intercontinental Hotel, the office of the Pro-Junta Morning Post and the house of Golam Azam.

The war strategy included a huge guerrilla force operating inside Bangladesh that targeted Pakistani installations through raids, ambushes and sabotaging West Pakistani-controlled shipping ports, power plants, industries, railways and warehouses.

The wide dispersion of West Pakistani forces allowed Bengali guerrillas to target smaller groups of enemy soldiers.

Oxfam predicted the deaths of over one hundred thousand children in refugee camps and that more could die from food shortages in East Pakistan because of the conflict.

When taking over liberated territories, the Bangladesh Forces gained control of World War II airstrips in Lalmonirhat, Shalutikar, Sylhet and Comilla in November and December.

[49][50][51][52] The operation was a major propaganda success for Bangladeshi forces, as it exposed to the international community the fragile hold of the West Pakistani occupation.

The cities of Jessore, Mymensingh, Sylhet, Kushtia, Noakhali and Moulvibazar quickly fell to the Mukti Bahini-Indian joint forces.

[citation needed] Historian Yasmin Saikia writes that the Pakistani Army, and pro-Pakistani militias looted, raped, and killed civilians in East Pakistan.

The group's weapons and ammunition support was given by Abul Hasnat Abdullah and help from commanders of the Kodaldoa Camp which was situated in Agailjhara, Barisal.

[59][64] According to The Daily Star, when Captain Shahjahan established his sub-sector in the southwestern area of Bangladesh, Gafur Bahini merged with his force.

The Provisional Government of Bangladesh placed all Bangladeshi forces under the command of Osmani, who was appointed as the defence minister with the rank of Commander-in-Chief as a four star general.

Another civilian force was raised and known as the Gonobahini (People's Forces) consisting of lightly trained civilian brigades under military command; the Gonobahini also consisted of battalions created by political activists from the pro-Western Awami League, the pro-Chinese and socialist National Awami Party, led by Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani, and the pro-Soviet Communist Party of East Pakistan.

[66] The Mujib Bahini was led by Awami League youth leaders Serajul Alam Khan, Sheikh Fazlul Huq Moni, Tofael Ahmed and Abdur Razzak.

An Australian war veteran, William A. S. Ouderland, organised guerrilla warfare in Dacca and provided vital intelligence to the Bangladesh Forces.

[citation needed] The Mukti Bahini benefited from the early control of Pakistani arms depots, which were overtaken by Bengali forces during March and April 1971.

The Mukti Bahini purchased large quantities of military-grade equipment through the arms market in Calcutta, including Italian howitzers, Alouette III helicopters, Douglas DC-3 aircraft and Otter DHC-3 fighter planes.

[36] Some of the arms and equipment used by Mukti Bahini are given below: The genocide by Pakistani forces caused widespread international outrage against West Pakistan.

[73] In the United States, Democratic senator Ted Kennedy led a chorus of strong domestic criticism against the Nixon administration for ignoring the genocide of Bengalis in East Pakistan.

[76] The Soviet Union threw its weight behind the Bangladesh Forces and India after being convinced of Pakistan's unwillingness for a political solution.

[80] Indian Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, authorised diplomatic, economic and military support to the Bangladesh Forces in April 1971.

The Bangladesh liberation guerrillas operated training camps in the Indian states of Bihar, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Nagaland, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Tripura and West Bengal.

[90] Mukti Bahini, the Bengali resistance force, backed by Indian government, from East Pakistan, killed non-Bengalis (primarily West Pakistanis and Biharis) in the aftermath of the Bangladesh Liberation War.

[97] The government issued an order by gazette notification on 29 October 2020 saying that the word Bir (heroic) will have to be added to the term freedom fighter.

[98] To compulsorily comply with the law, in the 13th meeting of the Standing Committee, the Ministry of Liberation War Affairs of the 11th National Parliament issued another order by gazette notification on 18 December 2021 stating that the word Bir (heroic) must be used as an honorific prefix before the names of freedom fighters and the English synonym for Bir Muktijoddha will be Heroic Freedom Fighter.