[b] On 10 April, the Provisional Government of Bangladesh issued a proclamation on the basis of the previous declaration and established an interim constitution for the independence movement.

[11] Tensions mounted; by early March 1971, there was broad support in East Pakistan for independence, but the AL leadership thought ongoing negotiations with Yahya Khan might still reach a solution short of secession.

At at 12.20 am on 26 March from his house at Dhanmondi,[17][8] Sheikh Mujibur Rahman sent a message about attacks on EPR and police barracks in Dhaka, and declared the independence of Bangladesh through a telegram.

The telegram was sent to Chittagong, where AL leader M. A. Hannan and Major Ziaur Rahman of the East Bengal Regiment broadcast the message on radio on behalf of Mujib.

Your fight must go on until the last soldier of the Pakistan occupation army is expelled from the soil of Bangladesh and final victory is achieved.

On Thursday night [March 25, 1971], West Pakistan armed forces suddenly attacked the police barracks at Razarbagh and the EPR headquarters at Pilkhana in Dhaka.

[23]According to A K Khandker, who served as Deputy Chief of Staff of the Bangladesh Armed Forces during the Liberation War; Sheikh Mujib avoided a radio broadcast fearing that, it might be used as evidence of treason by the Pakistani military against him during his trial.

Whereas instead of fulfilling their promise and while still conferring with the representatives of the people of Bangladesh, Pakistan authorities declared an unjust and treacherous war,

Whereas the people of Bangladesh by their heroism, bravery and revolutionary fervour have established effective control over the territories of Bangladesh, We the elected representatives of the people of Bangladesh, as honour bound by the mandate given to us by the people of Bangladesh whose will is supreme duly constituted ourselves into a Constituent Assembly, and having held mutual consultations, and in order to ensure for the people of Bangladesh equality, human dignity and social justice, declare and constitute Bangladesh to be sovereign People's Republic and thereby confirm the declaration of independence already made by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and do hereby affirm and resolve that till such time as a Constitution is framed, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman shall be the President of the Republic and that Syed Nazrul Islam shall be the Vice President of the Republic, and that the President shall be the Supreme Commander of all the Armed Forces of the Republic, shall exercise all the Executive and Legislative powers of the Republic including the power to grant pardon, shall have the power to appoint a Prime Minister and such other Ministers as he considers necessary, shall have the power to levy taxes and expend monies, shall have the power to summon and adjourn the Constituent Assembly, and do all other things that may be necessary to give to the people of Bangladesh an orderly and just Government, We the elected representatives of the people of Bangladesh do further resolve that in the event of there being no President or the President being unable to enter upon his office or being unable to exercise his powers and duties, due to any reason whatsoever, the vice-president shall have and exercise all the powers, duties and responsibilities herein conferred on the President, We further resolve that we undertake to observe and give effect to all duties and obligations that devolve upon us as a member of the family of nations and under the Charter of United Nations, We further resolve that this proclamation of independence shall be deemed to have come into effect from 26th day of March 1971.

[32] In 2010, a ruling of the Supreme Court officially recognized Bangabandhu as the promulgator, and denounced the views of BNP, calling it distortion of history.

[29] Since its establishment, the Bengali-majority of Pakistan wanted full political and cultural autonomy, which resulted in a rise of nationalist and pro-democratic movements in the country.

In the 1970 Pakistani general election, the League won an absolute victory and emerged as the largest political party in the country, but the junta government of Yahya Khan refused to transfer power due to its pro-Bengali and secular stance.

On 1 March 1971, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, then president of Awami League, declared civil disobedience movement in East Pakistan.

According to A. K. Khandker Bir Uttom, a military officer during the liberation war and former planning minister of Bangladesh, on 26 March, a technician at Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra read out the proclamation of independence first over the radio.

[37] According to Abdullah Abu Sayeed, Ekushey Padak Medalist Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra artist Abul Kashem Sandwip also read the proclamation before Ziaur Rahman.

[38] In 2014, A. K. Khandker claimed in his book 1971: Bhetore Baire [bn] (lit: "1971: Inside Out") that Bangabandhu did not make any proclamation about independence from 7 March until his arrest, nor did he leave any written notes or recorded voice messages and did not follow any predetermined directions.

On 26 March 1971, just after the Operation Searchlight, US president Richard Nixon called an emergency meeting with then US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, the Special Action Group Washington, the National Security Committee, and the CIA representatives at the White House, where it was said to have declared the independence of East Pakistan.

There are also 5,000 East Pakistani regulars and 13,000 East Pakistani paramilitary troops, but their loyalty is doubtful...."[43] In 2010, the third volume of Bangladesh Independence War: Documents, published presenting Ziaur Rahman as the proclaimer, was declared null and void by the Supreme Court, and the volume was ordered to be confiscated and withdrawn from all places in the country and abroad.

The government can take punitive action against the verification committee who created the distorted history on charges of fraud and violation of the constitution."