The Bangladesh Awami League, often simply called the Awami League or AL, is one of the major political parties in Bangladesh. The oldest existing political party in the country, Awami League successfully lead Bangladesh to the independence. One of the two most dominant parties in the country, along with its archrival Bangladesh Nationalist Party, it has been the ruling party since 2009, and has since been described as authoritarian.
Rose Garden Palace, birthplace of the Awami League in 1949
Moulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman marching barefoot to pay their tributes on Language Movement Day of 1953
Awami League members in the cabinet of A. K. Fazlul Huq in East Bengal, 1954
Rahman announcing the Six Points in Lahore, 1966
The Bangladesh Liberation War, also known as the Bangladesh War of Independence, or simply the Liberation War in Bangladesh, was a revolution and armed conflict sparked by the rise of the Bengali nationalist and self-determination movement in East Pakistan, which resulted in the independence of Bangladesh. The war began when the Pakistani military junta based in West Pakistan—under the orders of Yahya Khan—launched Operation Searchlight against the people of East Pakistan on the night of 25 March 1971, initiating the Bangladesh genocide.
Clockwise from top left: Martyred Intellectuals Memorial; Bangladesh Forces howitzer; Lt. Gen. Amir Niazi signs the Pakistani Instrument of Surrender to Indian forces in the presence of Lt. Gen. Jagjit Singh; and the PNS Ghazi
Language movement memorial
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the leader of East Pakistan, and later Bangladesh
Illustration showing military units and troop movements during the war