In her first address after fleeing to India on August 5, former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina urged, “I appeal to you to mark the National Day of Mourning on 15 August. Place flowers at the Bangabandhu Bhawan on 15 August and hold prayer meets for the departed souls”.
This appeal coincided with the caretaker government’s decision to cancel the observance of August 15 as a national holiday. The day, in 1975, marked the assassination of the nation’s founder and Hasina’s father, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and was observed as the day of mourning in Bangladesh.
Hasina, having ruled the nation with an iron hand for 15 years, too saw her tenure come to a tragic end in the first week of August.
As discussion continued, there was chatter online, “August is a significant month for the region (subcontinent).”
Indeed, it is. However, it’s not the entire month that witnessed the ‘August Kranti‘ that stands out; rather, it’s itself the 15th day of August that holds profound significance for the Indian subcontinent.
Widely recognised as the day India gained Independence from British rule in 1947, August 15 also marks the assassination of Mujibur Rahman in 1975. To many within Pakistan’s establishment, this event was seen as a strategic victory in eliminating Mujib. Years later, across the Khyber Pass in Afghanistan, the same day in 2021, saw the Taliban’s march into Kabul, as the internationally-backed President Ashraf Ghani fled the country.
Here’s a look back at the key events that, by sheer coincidence, managed to align and shape the subcontinent. These events of August 15, though coincidental, have an impact that the subcontinent just can’t seem to shake off.
HOW INDIA SAW EARLY DAWN ON AUGUST 15, 1947
In contrast to the Bangladeshi mournful observance, Indians commemorate August 15 as the day in 1947 when India gained its freedom after nearly 200 years of British colonial rule.
While the momentous occasion of India’s Independence was celebrated with immense joy and relief as India awoke to ‘life and freedom,’ yet it was marred by communal violence between Hindus and Muslims thirsting for each other’s blood.
India was divided into two independent dominions: India and Pakistan. The Partition also led to one of the largest mass migrations in human history, accompanied by widespread communal violence and loss of lives.
However, the cherished day of liberation was earlier scheduled to be somewhere in June 1948. August 15 was chosen as India’s Independence Day due to Lord Mountbatten’s decision to expedite the transfer of power.
If he had waited until June 1948, in C Rajagopalachari’s words, “There would have been no power left to transfer”.
Further worsening of unrest and violence was feared by the struggling Empire.
Mountbatten chose August 15 specifically because it marked the second anniversary of Japan’s surrender in World War II, a significant event in his own military career.
“The date I chose came out of the blue. I chose it in reply to a question. I was determined to show I was master of the whole event. When they asked if we had set a date, I knew it had to be soon. I hadn’t worked it out exactly then — I thought it had to be about August or September, and I then went out to the 15th August. Why? Because it was the second anniversary of Japan’s surrender,” noted Mountbatten, according to ‘Freedom At Midnight’ by Dominique Lapierre and Larry Collins.
This date was deemed as a fitting symbol for the birth of a new democratic Asia, he said. Ironically, 28 years later, the date gained significance with the assassination of Mujibur Rahman.
On August 15, 1985, India also saw the signing of the Assam Accord that brought an end to years-long agitation, violence and killings. The Assam Movement (1979–1985) demanded the Government of India detect, disenfranchise and deport illegal immigrants.
To many in India, this event was seen as an attempt to undermine the spirit of the Liberation War, in which India had played a crucial role, and to retrieve the Pakistani ways.
BANGLADESH’S DAY OF MOURNING (NOT FOR ALL)
For Bangladesh, August 15, since 1975, has been a day of deep sorrow and reflexion, as least under Sheikh Hasina’s rule. On this day in 1975, her father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, was brutally assassinated along with most of his family members in a military coup. The Bangabandhu had led Bangladesh to independence from Pakistan in 1971, following a bloody liberation war.
Six mid-ranking army officers along with a few hundred soldiers launched a coup that resulted in the assassination of the nation’s founding leader.
They killed the man who led their freedom struggle in 1971, calling it a “historical necessity”.
“While there was no question of any rapprochement between Bangladesh and Pakistan, there are Muslim diehard elements in Bangladesh who draw their inspiration from Pakistan. These elements aim to strike at the very basic concept of Bangladesh,” wrote former IPS officer and Information Bureau chief TV Rajeswar in 2008.
Since 2009, under Hasina, 32 Dhanmondi — Mujib’s home and murder site — was a national heritage site, but its vandalisation in the recent anti-government protests showed the anti-Liberation forces at play.
After the dramatic collapse of Hasina’s regime, the house was set ablaze and reduced to ashes as the country descended into anarchy. The museum was looted, and the building was largely gutted. In this context, Hasina appealed to Bangladeshis to observe the National Day of Mourning on August 15.
“As subsequent happenings bear out, the conspirators and the killers had the overriding goal of turning the clock back — to nullify the spirit of the Liberation War and retrieving the Pakistani ethos,” wrote Dhaka-based academic Syed Anwar Husain in a 2022 piece in The Daily Star.
For the deep state in Islamabad and Rawalpindi, and their sympathisers in Bangladesh, the fall of Mujib and August 15, 1975, represented a strategic and ideological victory.
Mujib’s assassination and the consequences that followed as a sequel, according to many, including academic Syed Anwar Husain, “remain as the darkest hour in the history of Bangalis”.
Coincidentally, Khaleda Zia, Hasina’s rival and wife of Ziaur Rahman, Bangladesh’s military ruler in its ‘darkest hour’, was born on August 15.
But while the Pakistani elements rejoiced, another August 15 event from 2021 seems to have kept them preoccupied, with their western border with Afghanistan simmering.
TALIBAN TAKOVER OF KABUL ON AUGUST 15, 2021
Fast-forward to August 15, 2021, and the world witnessed another significant event, this time in Afghanistan.
On this day, the advancing Taliban took control of the capital city Kabul, marking the collapse of the Afghan government and the end of a 20-year-long war involving the United States and its western allies.
The rapid advance of the Taliban and the fall of Kabul led to chaotic scenes at the Kabul airport, as thousands of Afghans and foreign nationals scrambled to evacuate the country.
After the Taliban, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan praised the Taliban for “breaking the shackles of slavery” and liberating themselves.
Since then, Afghanistan has been under Taliban rule, which Pakistan once nurtured.
A SITUATION OF DISCOMFORT FOR PAKISTAN
What Imran Khan also said was that the US viewed Pakistan as merely a tool to clean up the “mess” left behind in Afghanistan.
The takeover by the Taliban in 2021 had profound implications for Pakistan. Historically, Pakistan, a long-time facilitator and ally of the Taliban, now finds itself at odds with the radical regime in Kabul.
The Taliban’s de facto control over parts of Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has led to radicalised tribal militants targeting the Pakistani state, making it difficult to distinguish between friends and foes.
Moreover, the Taliban’s failure to address Pakistan’s concerns about the presence of anti-Pakistan militant groups, such as the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), has been irking the latter.
Last month, Pakistani defence minister Khawaja Asif said Pakistan would continue to launch attacks against Afghanistan.
The anti-Pakistan group TTP, also known as the Pakistani Taliban, has killed thousands of Pakistanis and aims to establish a Taliban-style, Shariah-compliant state within Pakistan.
The Taliban’s sway has also contributed to the growth of Islamist groups and the spread of radical ideology within Pakistan. The TLP-flare-up is a befitting example.
To add to the chaos, after the Taliban takeover, around 600,000 Afghans fled to Pakistan, joining the 1.32 million registered refugees and 2.2 million unregistered Afghans already there. Islamabad is having a tough time managing affairs.
August 15, thus, is more than just a date for the Indian subcontinent; it’s a perennial reminder of the collective tumultuous past, which keeps impacting the present.
