What happened on Friday, March 5, 1971
During the 5th day of the strike, 4 workers were martyred and 25 others were injured at the hands of the armed forces in the Tongi industrial area. 222 people were killed in Chittagong and 1 in Jessore.
In the evening, it was officially announced that the army had been recalled to the barracks in Dhaka.
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman directed to keep the banks open after 2 pm.
Protest meetings and processions were organized all over the country including in Dhaka.
Pakistan People’s Party Chairman Zulfikar Ali Bhutto held talks with President Yahya Khan for more than five hours at the Presidential Palace in Rawalpindi.
Retired Air Marshal Asgar Khan arrives in Dhaka from Karachi in the afternoon. He met Sheikh Mujib at night at his residence in Dhanmondi.
At night, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman termed the news broadcast on foreign radio as ‘Sheikh Mujib is willing to share power with Mr Bhutto’ as ‘malicious’ and ‘lantern of imagination’.
At noon, people from all walks of life gathered in front of the Baitul Mokarram Mosque to begin a march with the slogan ‘For the Sovereignty of Bangladesh – Get your Bamboo Stakes ready’ (বাঁশের লাঠি তৈরী কর- বাংলাদেশ স্বাধীন কর).
In response to the call of Mujib’s freedom movement, poets, writers and teachers came out to the streets with a procession in the afternoon. The procession began from Baitul Mukarram on the initiative of the Students League and DUCSU, Dhaka University Central Student’s Union.
That night, Awami League general secretary Tajuddin Ahmed said in a statement that innocent unarmed people, workers, farmers and students had been murdered by the armed forces in Dhaka, Chittagong, Rajshahi, Khulna, Rangpur, Sylhet and other places in Bangladesh. Killing unarmed people indiscriminately was nothing but a crime against humanity, he stated.
After the meeting between People’s Party chief Z.A. Bhutto with President Yahya in Rawalpindi, party spokesman Abdul Hafeez Peerzada remarked that the Awami League’s response to the adjournment of the National Assembly session was unacceptable and completely unreasonable.
Translated by Masuma Begum
Editorial contribution by Arghya Raihan
Researched, compiled & Edited by Sagar Lohani
Gratitude to Christina Rozario
Bangalianaa/SL
Other days of Roaring March:
March 1, 1971
March 2, 1971
March 3, 1971
March 4, 1971
