Yahya secretly flees Dhaka, genocide begins

On March 25 evening Yahya and his generals secretly fled Dhaka by 6 pm. Three battalions took up position in Dhaka as per previous plans.
The news of Yahya leaving Bangladesh reached Bangabandhu almost immediately and he said in the presence of many Awami league leaders that they tried their best to reach a peaceful solution yet are unsuccessful as President Yahya only pressed for the adoption of a military regime.
Bangabandhu Sheikh
Mujibur Rahman called a general strike throughout Bangladesh for March 27 as a mark of protest against heavy firing upon the civilian population in Saidpur, Rangpur and Joydevpur.
One point movement starts, "Only way out is to accept Awami League's demands", read a statement issued by Sheikh Mujib.
In a press conference in Dhaka, ZA Bhutto said that the quantum of autonomy sought by the Awami League was something which could be termed as "more than autonomy".
"It was bordering on sovereignty," Bhutto said.
Around 11 PM the army pounced on sleeping citizens of Dhaka to execute "Operation Searchlight". The goal was to "crush" Bengali resistance in which Bengali members of military services were disarmed and killed, students and the intelligentsia systematically liquidated and able-bodied Bengali males just picked up and gunned down.
By midnight, Dhaka was literally burning. Death squads roamed the streets of Dhaka, killing some 7,000 people in a single night. It was only the beginning. Within a week, half the population of Dhaka had fled, and at least 30,000 people had been killed. Chittagong, too, had lost half its population.
Thus began the worst genocide in history.
At 1:00am in the night, troops from 22nd Beluch Regiment headed out as ordered and attack Pilkhana EPR. Even though there were 18 Bangladeshi guards they were powerless in the face of such atrocities.
As soon as Pilkhana had been attacked entire Dhaka, including Rajarbagh, Dhaka university and Shankhari Bajaar too faceed severe attacks and throughout the night this massacre continued where many women were raped, houses burned and looted and countless killed.
From the "Witness to Surrender" by Siddiq Salik at 1:00am in the night one group of Pakistani occupation forces comes across a barricade in Shukrabaad near the residence of Bangabandhu. Breaking the barriers, they reached his house and kept firing shots until eventually at 1:30am they captured him and took him to the Sher-e-Bangla Military office premises. Eventually he is handed over to the cantonment.
Daytime -newspaper headlines read that 150 people were killed in various parts of the country by the armed forces. Mujib feared that the talks were decoys. He condemned the attempt to divide Bengalis and Mohajirs.
The violence unleashed by the Pakistani forces on March 25, 1971, stemmed to the efforts to a negotiated settlement.