1971 Dhaka University massacre

The 1971 Dhaka University massacre was the mass murder of students and teachers of the University of Dhaka in East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh) by the Pakistan Army. On the night of 25–26 March 1971, under the orders of Yahya Khan, the Pakistan Army's Eastern Wing Commander Tikka Khan initiated an attack on the university campus as the initial phase of Operation Searchlight, aiming for ethnic cleansing, which is known in history as the most brutal attack on any university. The Pakistani forces shelled and attacked residential halls, including Jagannath Hall and Rokeya Hall, claimed as assembly points for students and teachers accused of being sympathetic to Bengali nationalist ideology, resulting in the deaths of civilians, professors, and students, with simultaneous reports of executions and arson. The estimated number of casualties varies significantly; while contemporary eyewitness accounts and subsequent analyses indicate hundreds were killed, some Pakistani officials' accounts claim that a few dozen people were killed. This attack was part of a broader Pakistani strategy to decapitate the Bengali intellectual leadership. This mass murder sparked widespread outrage among Bengalis, accelerated the Bengali guerrilla forces, and drew international condemnation.