The Muhammad Yunus government played with fire, now Bangladesh burns again

“ALL OUT STRUGGLE.”

That was the headline Matiur Rahman printed on 25 March 1971. In those days, Mati, who now runs Bangladesh’s most successful daily newspaper, Prothom Alo, edited Ekota, the official organ of the Communist Party of East Pakistan. The Pakistani junta was gearing up for a brutal crackdown after negotiations had broken down with the Bengali leader Mujibur Rahman. By 25 March, it was clear things would end violently. Mati sent the paper to the printers and went home along streets in which people were “arming themselves with lathis [sticks] to fight the Pakistan army,” he recalled. In the end, the edition was never distributed. That night, the Pakistan army attacked Dhaka and Mati left town to join the Bengali rebels. It was the beginning of a nine-month war that resulted in the birth of Bangladesh.