General Elections of 1970:

General Elections were held in 1970 under the LFO introduced by General Yahya Khan. All the political parties participated in the elections; the prominent parties were Pakistan Peoples Party Islam, etc. Awami of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, Awami League of Sheikh Mujib ur Rehman, Jamat-e-Islami, Jamiat Ulma e League emerged as the single largest party by winning on all scats except two in the Eastern wing of Pakistan, while Peoples Party of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto turned to be the majority party in West Pakistan. Mujib ur Rehman had won the elections on the basis of his six points which according to the West Pakistani politicians went against the unity of two wings. Transfer of power proved to be a tough task due to the differences between the two leaders, Sheikh Mujib and Bhutto. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto wanted Sheikh Mujib to withdraw from his Six points, while after winning the elections Sheikh Mujib was not ready for any compromise. Negotiations were held between the two leaders each representing the majority of his own wing but they could not remove the differences.

The Session of the National Assembly was called at Dhaka as a first step to transfer the power to the majority party Awami League, but the People’s Party announced to boycott the session. Meetings were held between Bhutto and Sheikh Mujib but these meetings were not fruitful.

Unrest in East Pakistan:

Sheikh Mujib started a disobedience movement in March 1971. Awami League openly raised the slogans of revolt against Government. There was total quos and anarchy in the East Pakistan due to the movement started by Awami League. Sheikh Mujib was arrested and Awami League was declared an illegal party. As a result there were riots and the situation in East Pakistan was going out of control.

Hijacking of Ganga plane:

An Indian airline’s passenger plane named Ganga was hijacked and was brought to Lahore by hijackers. The plane was set on fire after releasing the passengers; hence India banned all the flights of Pakistan to fly over its territory. Due to this shortest Air link between West Pakistan and East Pakistan was cut off.

India-Pakistan war of 1971:

President of Pakistan Yahya Khan handed over East Pakistan to army and started a military operation to crush the rebellions. A large number of Awami League workers fled to India, India trained them and sent back to East Pakistan to fight against Pakistan army, they were named as Mukti Bahni. India wanted to take revenge from Pakistan of its humiliated defeat in 1965. India attacked Pakistan on 3rd December 1971. Pakistan was not prepared for such a large scale war. Awami League of Sheikh Mujib supported Indian army and disclosed all military secrets to the India. As a result Pakistan had to surrender on 16th December 1971, Pakistan was dismembered and East Pakistan wing of Pakistan was Cut off from the West Pakistan. On 16th December 1971, East Pakistan became an independent Country Bangladesh.