The birth of Bangladesh

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service.We hear how a French curator uncovered lost documents showing that the Nazis researched the Bayeux Tapestry during World War Two. Our guest, Professor Catherine Clarke, takes us th ...  Show more

Max Pearson presents a collection of science fiction themed Witness History stories from the BBC World Service.Our guest is Lisa Yaszek, Regents' Professor of Science Fiction Studies at Georgia Tech in the USA.Actor Peter Coyote looks back on the making of E.T. the Extra-Terrestr ...  Show more

In December 1970, Pakistan held its first democratic elections since the end of British colonial rule in 1947. The results would lead to war, the break-up of Pakistan and the creation of Bangladesh. Farhana Haider spoke to Rehman Sobhan, an economist and leading figure in the Ben ...  Show more

In December 1970 Pakistan held its first democratic elections since gaining independence from British colonial rule in 1947. The elections led to war, the break up of Pakistan and the creation of a new country, Bangladesh. Farhana Haider has been speaking to the economist and lea ...  Show more

During the war of independence in Bangladesh in 1971, Pakistani troops and their local collaborators used systematic rape as deliberate tactic. It's estimated that hundreds of thousands of Bengali women were victims of one of the worst instances in the 20th century of rape being ...  Show more

When Bangladesh fought for independence from Pakistan, thousands of Pakistani troops were sent to fight in what was then called East Pakistan. In 1971, Shujaat Latif was sent to the town of Jassore where he fought, and then surrendered. He spent two and a half years as a prisoner ...  Show more