AGARTALA, March 23 (TIWN): The Bangladesh Trusty Board in collaboration with Information and Cultural Affairs will organize two day long exhibition regarding the Indo-Pakistani 1971 War from March 23 at Rabindra Bhavan. The exhibition will continue till March 25. Minister of Information and Cultural Affairs Bhanulal Saha and Minister of Industries & Commerce (including IT) Tapan Chakraborty will be present in the exhibition.

Speaking to the reporters at Agartala Press Club president of Bangladesh Trusty Board Dr. Montashi Menon said that Tripura had six to seven camps in four sectors from where the 'muktijoddhas' (freedom fighters) fought the Pakistani forces in the nine-month-long war in 1971 that led to the creation of Bangladesh, which was earlier East Pakistan. "Over 1,600,000 Bangladeshis - a number larger than the state's then total population of 1,500,000 - had taken shelter in Tripura alone," he said.

During the Bangladesh Liberation War, 10 million men, women and children from then East Pakistan took shelter in the Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura, Assam and Meghalaya.

The Liberation War, as it is called in Bangladesh, later turned into a full-scale India-Pakistan war, leading to surrenders of thousands of Pakistani soldiers in December 1971. India was the first country to recognize Bangladesh.

The Bangladesh Liberation War was an armed conflict over duration of about 9 months, putting Bangladesh erstwhile East Pakistan and India against the State of Pakistan. The war started on 26 March 1971 between the State of Pakistan and East Pakistan, India intervened on 3 December 1971. Armed conflict ended on 16 December 1971 and resulted in the secession of East Pakistan, which became the independent nation of Bangladesh.  The war broke out when army units directed by the State of Pakistan (then controlled by West Pakistan) launched a military operation called Operation Searchlight in East Pakistan against Bengali civilians. On 16 December 1971, the allied forces of the Indian army and the Mukti Bahini defeated the West Pakistani forces deployed in the East.