When the Liberation War broke out in Bangladesh in 1971, Professor Dr. Muhammad Yunus, currently the chief adviser to the interim government, engaged himself in building public opinion in favor of the war while teaching at the Middle Tennessee State University in the United States (US).

There, he organized Bangalees to support Bangladesh independence and raised funds, as well as led various programmes to draw attention of the diplomats from various countries working at the United Nations, including the US administration.

He regularly kept in touch with the editors and journalists of local newspapers and television stations there to convey news of the freedom-loving people of Bangladesh through the US media.

Professor Yunus ran the Bangladesh Information Center with the Bangladeshi diaspora to gather support for the Liberation War. He used to publish the 'Bangladesh Newsletter' from his home in Nashville, USA.

The Nobel Peace Prize-winning economist has mentioned his eventful days during the Liberation War in his autobiography, 'Banker To The Poor'. 

He wrote, 'On March 25, 1971, the Liberation War broke out in Bangladesh and our plans to return there were abandoned. I devoted myself to the cause of the liberation. Like all Bengalis, I was keeping a close watch on the events in Dhaka. The fateful day, I came back to my apartment to have lunch and turned on the radio to get the latest news. There was a brief item stating that the Pakistani army had moved in to stop the political opposition against the government of Pakistan ..."

At that time, Dr Yunus wrote, while he was changing his clothes, he stopped, rushed to the phone and called one expatriate Bengali Dr Zillur at Nashville.

The Nobel Laureate asked Dr Zillur to turn on the radio. He told him that he was going to his house immediately and that he should contact all other Bengalis.

Referring to assembling of Bengalis at Zillur's house in Nashville, USA, on March 26, Dr Yunus wrote, 'Within an hour, I was at Zillur's house. At that time, there were six Bengalis from East Pakistan in greater Nashville (including myself). We all assembled in his house to decide what to do. We carried on collecting information from all sources. The message was clear; the Pakistani army wanted to crush Bengalis once and for all."

"We collected all the information we could. We were terribly frustrated. We tried to sum up the situation and come to some decision. There was no clear consensus on the situation. . . Finally I could not take it anymore and said, we have all the details we need. Bangladesh has declared independence," he said in his book.

"Now we have to decide whether we will consider ourselves citizens of this new country or not. Everybody has the right to choose. I declare my choice. My choice is Bangladesh. I declare my allegiance to Bangladesh. If there is anyone else who would like to join me in this, he is free to do so. Those who will not join, I would consider them as Pakistanis and enemies of Bangladesh," he wrote.

"There was silence. Everyone was surprised taken aback by the way I posed the question of allegiance. It was such a charged situation that soon everybody opted for Bangladesh. I suggested that we form a 'Bangladesh Citizens' Committee' and issue a press release immediately for the Nashville print and electronic media."

Three things were decided in that meeting:

1. We would try to meet all the news reporters of the local TV stations, and the editors of local daily newspapers to explain our decision and seek support for the Bangladesh cause.

2. We would immediately put $1000 each to create a fund to carry on the struggle.

3. We would put 10 percent of our salary in the fund every month until Bangladesh became independent. If needed, we would increase the percentage.

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