NAP–Communist Party–Students' Union Special Guerrilla Forces

Formation

After the launching of Operation Searchlight by the West Pakistani government on 25 March 1971, popular militias started to emerge in different parts of Bangladesh. The Communist Party of Bangladesh, and its related organizations like the National Awami Party (Muzaffar), the East Pakistan Students Union (Chhatra Union), the Krishak Samiti and the Trade Union Centre supported the Bangladeshi government-in-exile and instructed its cadres to join the Mukti Bahini. Some 6,000 communists joined the Mukti Bahini. But when Sheikh Mujibur Rahman launched the Mujib Bahini as a special commando force of Mukti Bahini, the Communist Party revised its relations with Mukti Bahini and decided to build a guerrilla force of its own. The build-up of the new guerrilla force was kept secret, only Prime Minister Tajuddin Ahmad was informed of its existence. Along the Indian border, with support from the Communist Party of India, district youth camps were set up on Indian soil where some 20,000 people were trained for armed struggle. The main training camp of the NAP-Communist Party-Students Union Special Guerrilla Forces was located at Tezpur in Assam. There was also the Panighata camp in Siliguri. Whilst some 5,000 of the youth trained in the camps became active in the NAP-Communist Party-Students Union Special Guerrilla Forces, the training camps also supplied the Mukti Bahini with some 12,000 fighters. The Guerrilla Forces were active in Dhaka District, Comilla District, Noakhali District, Chittagong District and Rangpur District, as well as other parts of northern Bangladesh.