DHAKA

Jatiyo Sangshad Bhaban houses the national parliament.

The 1970 Bhola cyclone devastated much of the region, killing an estimated 500,000 people. More than half the city was flooded and millions of people were marooned. With public anger growing against ethnic discrimination and poor cyclone relief efforts from the central government, Bengali politician BangabandhuSheikh Mujibur Rahman held a nationalist gathering on March 7, 1971 at Ramna Racecourse.In response, the Pakistan Army launched Operation Searchlight, which led to the arrests, torture and killing of thousands of people. After nine months of bloody battle with Indian Army and Mitra Bahini, the Pakistani Army surrendered to the Indian Army on December 16 marking the end of the independence war of Bangladesh. As the nation's capital, Dhaka saw a rapid and massive growth of the city population in the post-independence period, as migrant workers from rural areas across Bangladesh moved to the city.The growth of commerce and industry along with the city's population has created further challenges to services and infrastructure. A real estate boom has followed the expansion of city limits and the development of new settlements such as Uttara, Mohammadpur, Bashundhara, Mirpur and Motijheel. An estimated one million people attended the gathering, leading to the March 26 declaration of Bangladesh's independence.