General Zia-ur-Rahman was the brave soldier of our land. He fought valiantly alongwith his Bengal Regiment troops in the Khemkaran sector of west Pakistan. Wiki says about him and his troops:
"During the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, Zia served in the Khemkaran sector in Punjab as the commander of a Pakistani company unit of 300–500 soldiers. The sector was the scene of the most intense battles between the rival armies."
"The Pakistani government awarded Zia's unit with the highest numbers of gallantry awards for heroic performances during the war. Ziaur Rahman himself won the distinguished and prestigious Hilal-e-Jurat medal, and his unit won 2 Sitara-e-Jurat medals and 9 Tamgha-e-Jurat medals from the Army for their brave roles in the 1965 War with India."
In 1971 our political leaders did not directly proclaim the independence of Bangladesh. They were not ready for a war, east Pakistan had very few people with arms. During the period that ZAB and Yahya Khan were negotiating with Sk. Mujib, Bangali troops in the Bengal, Punjab and Baluch Regiments were continuously transferred to the west and in exchange non-Bangali troops were being brought over to the east from west.
After a sudden attack by the PA in Dhaka, lives of all the remaining Bangali troops, police and Ansars in the east were in danger. PA troops were determined to disarm them suddenly and kill all of them point blank. The Bangali troops wanted to rebel and fight, but there was no direction from the political leadership.
In a precarious moment like that an unknown Major of Pakistan Army proclaimed independence. This single declaration saved the lives of many thousands Bangali troops, Police and Ansars. It created an opportunity so that they could move away from their garrisons so as not to be trapped, disarmed and killed by the PA troops.
The 1971 liberation war could not have been successfully initiated without these armed men. Simply speaking, a resistance force could not have been formed without the direct participation of these troops.
So, I think, Ziaur Rahman's proclamation of independence bears an important meaning. This declaration gave direction to the entire population, saved the lives of Bangali troops in the PA, who, in turn, helped to form Mukti Bahini. These troops were at the core of our resistance. Our young trainees took arms trainings at their hands, and then fought against the PA.
President Zia saved our country two times. One time on 27th March and another time on 7th November, 1975, when people and armed forces bestowed him with the responsibility to lead the country, which he did perfectly well until he was assassinated on 30th May, 1981 by some foreign bullets fired by the instigation of General Ershad.
