Direction: In the following passage, there are blanks, each of which has been numbered. These numbers are printed below the passage and against each, five words are suggested, one of which fits the blank appropriately.
The Mukti Bahini played a (4) role in the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971. However, its role tends to be (5) by the much bigger contribution of the Indian armed forces in the final stages of the war that changed the geopolitics and geography of the subcontinent, thanks to the visionary leadership of the then prime minister, Indira Gandhi, and the outstanding military leadership of General (later Field Marshal) Sam Manekshaw and the other two service chiefs and commanders at various levels.
Beginning as the Mukti Fauj, the Mukti Bahini was born soon after the (6) by the Pakistan army on March 25, 1971. It gradually grew into a large organization of armed and trained men owing allegiance to the provisional government of Bangladesh. The terror let loose by the Pakistan army motivated many young people to join the Mukti Bahini.
The Mukti Bahini was (7) in two distinct groups — the Niyomito Bahini (regular army) and the Gano Bahini (the people’s army). The Niyomito Bahini had under it the Swadhin Bangla Regiment and the Mukti Fauj (sector troops). The Gano Bahini was subdivided into three parts — Suicide Squads, Scorpion Squads and Toofan Bahini (storm troops).
The Mukti Fauj was divided into 11 operational sectors, most of them along the (8) of the Indo-Bangladesh border. Each sector was allotted, on an average, 2,000-3,000 sector troops and 6,000-7,000 guerrillas of the Gano Bahini. The operational policies were formulated by India’s Eastern Command and the headquarters of Bangladesh Forces and their implementation was (9) to the sector commanders. Inputs from the Border Security Force and the intelligence sources, headed by R.N. Kao, made the task of the military commanders easier. But, it was this guerrilla force that kept the Pakistan army on tenterhooks.