East Pakistan in the context of "Operation Jackpot"

The 1970 Bhola cyclone (also known as the Great Cyclone of 1970 or simply the Bhola Cyclone) was the deadliest tropical cyclone on record, as well as one of the deadliest humanitarian disasters ever recorded. It struck East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh) and India's West Bengal on 12 November 1970. At least 300,000 people died in the storm, possibly as many as 500,000, primarily as a result of the storm surge that flooded much of the low-lying islands of the Ganges Delta. The Bhola cyclone was the sixth and strongest cyclonic storm of the 1970 North Indian Ocean cyclone season.

The cyclone formed over the central Bay of Bengal on 8 November and traveled northward, intensifying as it did so. It reached its peak with winds of 185 km/h (115 mph) on 10 November, and made landfall on the coast of East Pakistan on the following afternoon. The storm surge devastated many of the offshore islands, wiping out villages and destroying crops throughout the region. In the most severely affected upazila Tazumuddin, over 45% of the population of 167,000 were killed by the storm.

Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world and among the most densely populated with a population of over 171 million within an area of 148,460 square kilometres (57,320 sq mi). Bangladesh shares land borders with India to the north, west, and east, and Myanmar to the southeast. It has a coastline along the Bay of Bengal to its south and is separated from Bhutan and Nepal by the Siliguri Corridor, and from China by the Indian state of Sikkim to its north. Dhaka, the capital and largest city, is the nation's political, financial, and cultural centre. Chittagong is the second-largest city and the busiest port of the country.

The territory of modern Bangladesh was a stronghold of many Hindu and Buddhist dynasties in ancient history. Following the Muslim conquest in 1204, the region saw Sultanate and Mughal rule. During the Mughal period, particularly under the Bengal Subah, the region emerged as one of the most prosperous and commercially active parts of the world, known for its thriving textile industry and agricultural productivity. The Battle of Plassey in 1757 marked the beginning of British colonial rule for the following two centuries. In the aftermath of the Partition of India in 1947, East Bengal became the eastern and most populous wing of the newly formed Dominion of Pakistan and was later renamed to East Pakistan.

The 1970s (pronounced "nineteen-seventies"; commonly shortened to the "Seventies" or the "'70s") was the decade that began on January 1, 1970, and ended on December 31, 1979.

In the 21st century, historians have increasingly portrayed the 1970s as a "pivot of change" in world history, focusing especially on the economic upheavals that followed the end of the postwar economic boom. On a global scale, it was characterized by frequent coups, domestic conflicts and civil wars, and various political upheavals and armed conflicts which arose from or were related to decolonization, and the global struggle between NATO, the Warsaw Pact, and the Non-Aligned Movement. Many regions had periods of high-intensity conflict, notably Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, and Africa.

The Indian Independence Act 1947 (10 & 11 Geo. 6. c. 30) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that partitioned British India into the two new independent dominions of India and Pakistan. The act received Royal Assent on 18 July 1947 and thus modern-day India and Pakistan, comprising west (modern day Pakistan) and east (modern day Bangladesh) regions, came into being on 15 August.

The legislature representatives of the Indian National Congress, the Muslim League, and the Sikh community came to an agreement with Lord Mountbatten, then Viceroy and Governor-General of India, on what has come to be known as the 3 June Plan or Mountbatten Plan.

The Bangladesh Liberation War (Bengali: মুক্তিযুদ্ধ, pronounced [mukt̪iɟud̪d̪ʱo]), also known as the Bangladesh War of Independence, was an 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 East Pakistanis on the night of 25 March 1971, initiating the Bangladesh genocide.

In response to the violence, members of the Mukti Bahini—a guerrilla resistance movement formed by Bengali military, paramilitary and civilians—launched a mass guerrilla war against the Pakistani military, liberating numerous towns and cities in the war's initial months. At first, the Pakistan Army regained momentum during the monsoon, but Bengali guerrillas counterattacked by carrying out widespread sabotage, including through Operation Jackpot against the Pakistan Navy, while the nascent Bangladesh Air Force flew sorties against Pakistani military bases. India joined the war on 3 December 1971 in support of the Mukti Bahini, after Pakistan launched preemptive air strikes on northern India. The subsequent Indo-Pakistani War involved fighting on two fronts; with air supremacy achieved in the eastern theater and the rapid advance of the Allied Forces of Mukti Bahini and the Indian military, Pakistan surrendered in Dhaka on 16 December 1971, in what remains to date the largest surrender of armed personnel since the Second World War.

Bengali Pakistanis, in the present day, refers to Pakistani citizens who are of ethnic Bengali background. They are predominantly the descendants of East Pakistani migrants in West Pakistan who stayed in Pakistan following Bangladeshi independence. They are predominantly bilingual speaking both Urdu and Bengali and are mainly settled in Karachi. Bengalis that arrived in Pakistan before 1971 have now assimilated with the Urdu-speaking people in Karachi.

Despite the historical fact that Bangladesh was formerly East Pakistan, the term 'Pakistani Bengali' is now no longer popularly used. However, a large population of nearly 3 million exists.

The Proclamation of Bangladeshi Independence (Bengali: বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতার ঘোষণাপত্র), refers to the declaration of independence of East Pakistan as Bangladesh on 26 March 1971, at the onset of the Bangladesh Liberation War by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. On that day, Bangladesh Awami League leader M. A. Hannan, and the following day Major Ziaur Rahman, broadcast the message on radio on behalf of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman from the Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra radio station in Kalurghat, Chattogram. On 10 April, the Provisional Government of Bangladesh issued a proclamation on the basis of the previous declaration and established an interim constitution for the independence movement.

Bangladeshis (Bengali: বাংলাদেশী [ˈbaŋladeʃi]) are the citizens and nationals of Bangladesh, a South Asian country centred on the transnational historical region of Bengal along the eponymous bay.

Bangladeshi citizenship was formed in 1971, when the permanent residents of the former East Pakistan were transformed into citizens of a new republic. Bangladesh is the world's eighth most populous nation. The vast majority of Bangladeshis are ethnolinguistically Bengalis, an Indo-Aryan people. The population of Bangladesh is concentrated in the fertile Bengal delta, which has been the centre of urban and agrarian civilizations for millennia. The country's highlands, including the Chittagong Hill Tracts and parts of the Sylhet Division, are home to various tribal minorities.