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Chapter 28 - Operation Searchlight – The Night the Rivers Ran Red

*Scene 1: The Kill Order – President House, Dhaka (March 25, 1971, 18:00)*

*[Setting: Tikka Khan's office. Monsoon winds rattle barred windows. Maps of Dhaka glow under lamplight.]*

**General Tikka Khan** *(slamming fist)*: "Enough negotiations! These *bangals* spit on Pakistan!"

**Major General Rao Farman Ali** *(pointing at targets)*: "Phase One: Dhaka University, Rajarbagh Police Lines, Hindu enclaves. Phase Two: Rural 'cleansing.'"

**Colonel Jahanzeb Arbab** *(hesitating)*: "Sir, the UN observers—"

**Tikka** *(smashing glass)*: "No witnesses! Cut international lines *now*! I want Dhaka silent by dawn!"

A telegram arrives: *Yahya's final order: "Kill three million. Rest will eat from our hands."*

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**Scene 2: The Scholar's Massacre – Dhaka University Dorms (23:30)**

*[Setting: Rain-soaked campus. Students chant *"Joy Bangla!"* in Iqbal Hall.]*

**Student Leader Anwar Pasha** *(barricading doors)*: "They're coming! Hide the women in Rokeya Hall!"

Jeep headlights pierce the dark. **Major Akram Shah**'s voice booms: "*Allah-o-Akbar!* Purge the infidels!"

**Professor Jyotirmoy Guhathakurta** *(blocking stairs)*: "This is a temple of learning! Leave!"

**Shah** *(cocking rifle)*: "You teach treason. Lesson one: bullet."

*Gunfire erupts. Students fall. Shah kicks open Rokeya Hall:*

"Find the pretty ones! *Mujahideen* need comfort!"

*In Jagannath Hall (Hindu dorm), flamethrowers ignite prayer halls. Screams echo.*

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*Scene 3: The Prophet's Betrayal – Mujib's Residence, Dhanmondi (00:15)*

*[Setting: Mujib writes declaration at desk. Daughter Hasina watches.]*

**Mujib** *(handing paper to aide)*: "Run to Chittagong Radio. Tell them: *'Our struggle is for freedom!'"*

Tanks crush rose gardens. **SSG Commandos** blast doors:

"Traitor! You birthed this rebellion!"

**Mujib** *(calmly)*: "You kill me tonight, but Bangladesh lives in every farmer, every fisherman."

As handcuffs click, he shouts to crowds outside:

*"Ebarer shongram—shadhinotar shongram!* (This fight is for freedom!)"

*His words ignite Molotov cocktails in the streets.*

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**Scene 4: Slaughter in the Slums – Old Dhaka (01:30)**

*[Setting: Narrow alleys. Rickshaw pullers sleep in carts.]*

**Naib Subedar Ghulam Ali** *(kicking doors)*: "Hindus first! Then Awami supporters!"

**Rickshawala Karim** *(pleading)*: "Sahib, I'm Muslim! See my circumcision—"

**Ali** *(shooting)*: "Bengali Muslim is *napunsak* (impotent)! No true faith!"

*In Nawabpur, soldiers toss grenades into basements where families hide. A mother shields her baby:*

**Mother**: "Cover your eyes, Javed!"

*Bullets rip through jute sacks. Blood soaks the Buriganga's banks.*

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**Scene 5: Bhutto's Balcony – Hotel Intercontinental (02:00)**

*[Setting: Zulfikar Ali Bhutto sips whisky, watches city burn.]*

**Bhutto** *(to aide)*: "Magnificent, no? Like Diwali fireworks!"

**Journalist Anthony Mascarenhas** *(disgusted)*: "That's *human flesh* burning, Minister!"

**Bhutto** *(smirking)*: "Necessary surgery. This cancer of secession—"

*A burst of machine-gun fire cuts his speech. Screams rise from Dhaka University.*

**Mascarenhas** *(writing covertly)*: "God, make the world see this hell..."

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**Scene 6: The Press Silenced – Daily Ittefaq Office (03:00)**

*[Setting: Presses roll with dawn edition: *"PAKISTAN BOMBS OWN PEOPLE!"*]*

**Editor Tofazzal Hossain** *(to staff)*: "Print extra copies! Expose these butchers!"

Armored cars ram gates. **Captain Rizwan** shouts:

"Burn it! All Bengali lies!"

**Reporter Anis Chowdhury** *(throwing papers from window)*:

"Take truth to the streets! One word = one bullet!"

Flames engulf the building. Reporters die chained to presses.

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**Scene 7: The Scholar's Last Lesson – University Quarters (04:00)**

*[Setting: Professor GC Dev's study. Sanskrit texts line shelves.]*

**Dev** *(burning manuscripts)*: "Manisha, take the children to the Sundarbans. Go!"

**Wife Manisha**: "Come with us!"

**Dev**: "My place is with my students' ghosts."

Boots crash in. **Major Bashir** aims:

"Teach me your *Gita*, professor. What says Krishna about death?"

**Dev** *(chanting)*: *"Yato dharma tato jaya...* (Where duty is, victory is)."

*Bullets shatter his skull. Bashir urinates on books.*

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**Scene 8: Birth of the Resistance – Kalurghat Radio, Chittagong (05:30)**

*[Setting: Crackling transmitter in a tin shed. Rebel Major Zia ur-Rahman speaks.]*

**Zia** *(into mic)*: "This is Major Zia calling free Bengalis! Mujib is arrested. I proclaim Bangladesh independent!"

**Operator**: "Signal fading, sir!"

**Zia** *(drawing pistol)*: "Broadcast till they kill us! *Joy Bangla!*"

*Static swallows his voice. Across the delta, fishermen hear the call. They sharpen machetes.*

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**Scene 9: Rivers of Blood – Chuknagar, Khulna (Noon, March 26)**

*[Setting: Thousands flee toward Indian border. Bhadra River glimmers.]*

**Farmer Ali Hossain** *(carrying toddler)*: "Almost there! India feeds refugees!"

Machine guns roar from treelines. **Pakistani Lt. Haroon** laughs:

"Swim to your Hindu masters!"

*Bullets rip through crowds. Children drown. The Bhadra turns crimson.*

**Hossain** *(dying, whispers)*: "Mujib... keep... promise..."

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**Scene 10: The Butcher's Trophy – Flagstaff House, Dhaka (Night)**

*[Setting: Tikka Khan toasts officers with stolen Scotch.]*

**Tikka** *(raising skull cup)*: "To Operation Searchlight! Dhaka is *clean*!"

**Brigadier Arbab** *(pale)*: "Sir, we killed 7,000 in one night. The UN will—"

**Tikka** *(slamming cup)*: "Say *natural causes*! Cyclone, cholera... who counts *bangals*?"

*Outside, a young boy sprays graffiti on burnt ruins: "TOMORROW IS BANGLADESH."*

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*Epilogue: The Unbreakable Whisper – Calcutta Border (Dawn)*

*[Setting: Refugee camp. A widow rocks her dead baby.]*

**Mukti Bahini Recruiter**: *"Naam?* (Name?)"

**Widow** *(handing corpse to nurse)*: "Call me *Agni*. I want a rifle."

*She joins a line of 10,000 silent women. Across the border, Tajuddin Ahmed radios Delhi:*

**Tajuddin**: "Operation Searchlight birthed a nation. Now, India... help us bury Pakistan."

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