Agartala Conspiracy Case

The Agartala Conspiracy Case, officially titled State vs. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and others, was a treason and sedition case instituted by the Government of Pakistan in January 1968 under the regime of President Ayub Khan. The case took its popular name from the Indian town of Agartala, the capital of Tripura, where the accused were alleged to have met Indian army officers — notably a Lieutenant Colonel Misra — to plan an armed secession of East Pakistan. The prosecution named 35 accused, comprising civil servants, military and naval personnel, and politicians, with Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, then General Secretary of the Awami League, listed as the principal accused (Accused No. 1). The trial was conducted before a Special Tribunal constituted under an ordinance, sitting at the Dhaka Cantonment, and proceedings began on 19 June 1968.

The case is widely regarded by Bangladeshi historiography as a politically motivated fabrication designed to discredit Mujib and decapitate the Bengali autonomy movement that had crystallised around his Six-Point Programme of 1966. The Six Points — demanding a federal parliamentary structure, separate currencies or fiscal accounts, provincial control over taxation, foreign-exchange earnings, and a paramilitary force for East Pakistan — were treated by Islamabad as tantamount to secession. The prosecution's evidence relied heavily on confessional statements, and a turning point came when Sergeant Zahurul Haq, one of the accused, was shot dead in custody on 15 February 1969, igniting mass outrage. The killing transformed a courtroom proceeding into the catalyst for the 1969 mass upsurge (Gono Obhuthan), in which students, the Sarbadaliya Chhatra Sangram Parishad, and the public demanded withdrawal of the charges.

Faced with escalating agitation across East Pakistan, the Ayub Khan government withdrew the case and released all accused unconditionally on 22 February 1969. The next day, 23 February 1969, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was felicitated at a massive rally at the Race Course Maidan (later Suhrawardy Udyan), where he was conferred the title "Bangabandhu" (Friend of Bengal) by the student leadership. The collapse of the case marked the political ascendancy of Mujib, the discrediting of Ayub Khan (who soon handed power to General Yahya Khan in March 1969), and the consolidation of Bengali nationalism that culminated in the Awami League's landslide in the 1970 general election and ultimately the Liberation War of 1971.

For the BCS examination, the Agartala Conspiracy Case is a high-frequency topic in the Bangladesh Affairs paper, tested under the history of the Liberation Movement and the events of 1947–1971. Candidates should memorise precise dates (case filed January 1968, Zahurul Haq killed 15 February 1969, case withdrawn 22 February 1969, "Bangabandhu" title conferred 23 February 1969), the number of accused (35), the link to the Six-Point Programme, and the case's causal role in the 1969 mass upsurge and the fall of Ayub Khan. MCQs typically ask for the year of the case, the principal accused, the connection to the Six Points, or the significance of Sergeant Zahurul Haq.