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==India's involvement in Bangladesh Liberation War==
==India's involvement in Bangladesh Liberation War==
The Pakistan army conducted a widespread genocide against the Bengali population of East Pakistan,<ref name="uspol">{{cite news|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,878970,00.html|title=The U.S.: A Policy in Shambles|work=Time Magazine, 20 December 1971|publisher=|accessdate=2009-10-20 | date=20 December 1971}}</ref> aimed in particular at the minority Hindu population,<ref name="usconsulate_cable_march31">U.S. Consulate (Dacca) Cable, Sitrep: [http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB79/BEBB6.pdf Army Terror Campaign Continues in Dacca; Evidence Military Faces Some Difficulties Elsewhere], 31 March 1971, Confidential, 3 pp.</ref><ref name="time.oct25-1971">{{cite news|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,877316,00.html|title=East Pakistan: Even the Skies Weep|work=Time Magazine, 25 October 1971|publisher=|accessdate=2009-10-20 | date=25 October 1971}}</ref> leading to approximately 10 million<ref name="usconsulate_cable_march31" /><ref name="tie">{{cite news|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,905593,00.html|title=India: Easy Victory, Uneasy Peace|work=Time Magazine, 27 December 1971|publisher=|accessdate=2009-10-20 | date=27 December 1971}}</ref> people fleeing East Pakistan and taking refuge in the neighboring Indian states.<ref name="uspol" /><ref name="MSN Encarta">{{cite encyclopedia| url=http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761588350_3/Indo-Pakistani_Wars.html#s29|title=Indo-Pakistani Wars |work=MSN Encarta|accessdate=2009-10-20|archiveurl=http://www.webcitation.org/5kwrHv6ph|archivedate=2009-10-31|deadurl=yes}}</ref> The East Pakistan-India border was opened to allow [[refugees]] safe shelter in India. The governments of [[West Bengal]], [[Bihar]], [[Assam]], [[Meghalaya]] and [[Tripura]] established [[refugee camp]]s along the border. The resulting flood of impoverished East Pakistani refugees placed an intolerable strain on India's already overburdened economy.<ref name="time.oct25-1971" />
The Pakistan army conducted a widespread crackdown against the Bengali seperatist of East Pakistan,<ref name="uspol">{{cite news|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,878970,00.html|title=The U.S.: A Policy in Shambles|work=Time Magazine, 20 December 1971|publisher=|accessdate=2009-10-20 | date=20 December 1971}}</ref> aimed in particular at the minority Hindu population,<ref name="usconsulate_cable_march31">U.S. Consulate (Dacca) Cable, Sitrep: [http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB79/BEBB6.pdf Army Terror Campaign Continues in Dacca; Evidence Military Faces Some Difficulties Elsewhere], 31 March 1971, Confidential, 3 pp.</ref><ref name="time.oct25-1971">{{cite news|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,877316,00.html|title=East Pakistan: Even the Skies Weep|work=Time Magazine, 25 October 1971|publisher=|accessdate=2009-10-20 | date=25 October 1971}}</ref> leading to approximately 10 million<ref name="usconsulate_cable_march31" /><ref name="tie">{{cite news|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,905593,00.html|title=India: Easy Victory, Uneasy Peace|work=Time Magazine, 27 December 1971|publisher=|accessdate=2009-10-20 | date=27 December 1971}}</ref> people fleeing East Pakistan and taking refuge in the neighboring Indian states.<ref name="uspol" /><ref name="MSN Encarta">{{cite encyclopedia| url=http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761588350_3/Indo-Pakistani_Wars.html#s29|title=Indo-Pakistani Wars |work=MSN Encarta|accessdate=2009-10-20|archiveurl=http://www.webcitation.org/5kwrHv6ph|archivedate=2009-10-31|deadurl=yes}}</ref> The East Pakistan-India border was opened to allow [[refugees]] safe shelter in India. The governments of [[West Bengal]], [[Bihar]], [[Assam]], [[Meghalaya]] and [[Tripura]] established [[refugee camp]]s along the border. The resulting flood of impoverished East Pakistani refugees placed an intolerable strain on India's already overburdened economy.<ref name="time.oct25-1971" />


General [[Tikka Khan]] earned the nickname 'Butcher of Bengal' due to the widespread atrocities he committed.<ref name=LATimes>{{cite news|url=http://articles.latimes.com/2002/mar/30/local/me-passings30.1|title= Gen. Tikka Khan, 87; 'Butcher of Bengal' Led Pakistani Army|publisher=[[Los Angeles Times]]|accessdate=11 April 2010 | date=30 March 2002}}</ref> General Niazi commenting on his actions noted 'On the night between 25/26 March 1971 General Tikka struck. Peaceful night was turned into a time of wailing, crying and burning. General Tikka let loose everything at his disposal as if raiding an enemy, not dealing with his own misguided and misled people. The military action was a display of stark cruelty more merciless than the massacres at Bukhara and Baghdad by [[Chengiz Khan]] and [[Hulagu Khan|Halaku Khan]]... General Tikka... resorted to the killing of civilians and a [[scorched earth]] policy. His orders to his troops were: 'I want the land not the people...' Major General [[Rao Farman Ali|Farman]] had written in his table diary, "Green land of East Pakistan will be painted red". It was painted red by Bengali [[blood]].'<ref>{{cite book|last=Haqqani|first=Hussain|title=Pakistan: between mosque and the military|year=2005|page=74|isbn=978-0-87003-214-1|url=http://books.google.com/?id=nYppZ_dEjdIC&lpg=PP1&dq=Google%20books%20The%20idea%20of%20Pakistan%20%2F%20Stephen%20Philip%20Cohen&pg=PA74#v=onepage&q|accessdate=2010-04-11|publisher=Carnegie Endowment}}</ref>
General [[Tikka Khan]] earned the nickname 'Butcher of Bengal' due to the widespread atrocities he committed.<ref name=LATimes>{{cite news|url=http://articles.latimes.com/2002/mar/30/local/me-passings30.1|title= Gen. Tikka Khan, 87; 'Butcher of Bengal' Led Pakistani Army|publisher=[[Los Angeles Times]]|accessdate=11 April 2010 | date=30 March 2002}}</ref> General Niazi commenting on his actions noted 'On the night between 25/26 March 1971 General Tikka struck. Peaceful night was turned into a time of wailing, crying and burning. General Tikka let loose everything at his disposal as if raiding an enemy, not dealing with his own misguided and misled people. The military action was a display of stark cruelty more merciless than the massacres at Bukhara and Baghdad by [[Chengiz Khan]] and [[Hulagu Khan|Halaku Khan]]... General Tikka... resorted to the killing of civilians and a [[scorched earth]] policy. His orders to his troops were: 'I want the land not the people...' Major General [[Rao Farman Ali|Farman]] had written in his table diary, "Green land of East Pakistan will be painted red". It was painted red by Bengali [[blood]].'<ref>{{cite book|last=Haqqani|first=Hussain|title=Pakistan: between mosque and the military|year=2005|page=74|isbn=978-0-87003-214-1|url=http://books.google.com/?id=nYppZ_dEjdIC&lpg=PP1&dq=Google%20books%20The%20idea%20of%20Pakistan%20%2F%20Stephen%20Philip%20Cohen&pg=PA74#v=onepage&q|accessdate=2010-04-11|publisher=Carnegie Endowment}}</ref>

Revision as of 17:15, 5 August 2011

Indo-Pakistani War of 1971
Part of Indo-Pakistani Wars and Bangladesh Liberation War
Date3–16 December 1971
Location
Eastern front:
East Pakistan (now Bangladesh)
Western front:
India-West Pakistan border
Result Indian victory.
Eastern front:
Pakistani forces surrender.
Western front:
Ceasefire negotiated.
Territorial
changes		 Secession of East Pakistan as the independent state of Bangladesh.
Belligerents
 India  Pakistan
Commanders and leaders
Gen Sam Manekshaw
Lt.Gen. J.S. Arora
Lt.Gen. G.G. Bewoor
Lt.Gen. K. P. Candeth
Adm S. M. Nanda
ACM Pratap Lal		 Gen. Abdul Hamid Khan
LGen Gul Hassan Khan
LGen Tikka Khan
LGen A. A. K. Niazi Surrendered
VAdm Muzaffar Hassan
AM Abdul Rahim Khan
Strength
500,000 troops 365,000 troops
Casualties and losses
3,843 killed [1]
9,851 wounded[1]
1 Frigate
1 Naval Plane		 9,000 killed[2]
4,350 wounded
97,368 captured[3]
2 Destroyers[4]
1 Minesweeper[4]
1 Submarine[5][6]
3 Patrol vessels
7 Gunboats

The Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 was a military conflict between India and Pakistan. Indian, Bangladeshi and international sources consider the beginning of the war to be Operation Chengiz Khan, Pakistan's December 3, 1971 pre-emptive strike on 11 Indian airbases.[7][8] Lasting just 13 days it is considered one of the shortest wars in history.[9][10]

During the course of the war, Indian and Pakistani forces clashed on the eastern and western fronts. The war effectively came to an end after the Eastern Command of the Pakistani Armed Forces signed the Instrument of Surrender, the first and perhaps the only public surrender to date,[11][12] on December 16, 1971 following which East Pakistan seceded as the independent state of Bangladesh. Around 97,368 West Pakistanis who were in East Pakistan at the time of its independence, including some 79,700 Pakistan Army soldiers and paramilitary personnel[13] and 12,500 civilians,[13] were taken as prisoners of war by India.

Background

Main articles: Bangladesh Liberation War and 1971 Bangladesh atrocities

The Indo-Pakistani conflict was sparked by the Bangladesh Liberation war, a conflict between the traditionally dominant West Pakistanis and the majority East Pakistanis.[4] The Bangladesh Liberation war ignited after the 1970 Pakistani election, in which the East Pakistani Awami League won 167 of 169 seats in East Pakistan and secured a simple majority in the 313-seat lower house of the Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament of Pakistan). Awami League leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman presented the Six Points to the President of Pakistan and claimed the right to form the government. After the leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, refused to yield the premiership of Pakistan to Mujibur, President Yahya Khan called the military, dominated by West Pakistanis, to suppress dissent.[14][15]

Mass arrests of dissidents began, and attempts were made to disarm East Pakistani soldiers and police. After several days of strikes and non-cooperation movements, the Pakistani military cracked down on Dhaka on the night of 25 March 1971. The Awami League was banished, and many members fled into exile in India. Mujib was arrested on the night of 25–26 March 1971 at about 1:30 a.m. (as per Radio Pakistan’s news on 29 March 1971) and taken to West Pakistan.

On 27 March 1971, Ziaur Rahman, a rebellious major in the Pakistani army, declared the independence of Bangladesh on behalf of Mujibur.[16] In April, exiled Awami League leaders formed a government-in-exile in Baidyanathtala of Meherpur. The East Pakistan Rifles, a paramilitary force, defected to the rebellion. Bangladesh Force namely Mukti Bahini consisting of Niyomito Bahini (Regular Force) and Gono Bahini (Guerilla Force)} was formed under the Commander-in-Chief (C-in-C) General Mohammad Ataul Ghani Osmany.[17]

India's involvement in Bangladesh Liberation War

The Pakistan army conducted a widespread crackdown against the Bengali seperatist of East Pakistan,[18] aimed in particular at the minority Hindu population,[19][20] leading to approximately 10 million[19][21] people fleeing East Pakistan and taking refuge in the neighboring Indian states.[18][22] The East Pakistan-India border was opened to allow refugees safe shelter in India. The governments of West Bengal, Bihar, Assam, Meghalaya and Tripura established refugee camps along the border. The resulting flood of impoverished East Pakistani refugees placed an intolerable strain on India's already overburdened economy.[20]

General Tikka Khan earned the nickname 'Butcher of Bengal' due to the widespread atrocities he committed.[7] General Niazi commenting on his actions noted 'On the night between 25/26 March 1971 General Tikka struck. Peaceful night was turned into a time of wailing, crying and burning. General Tikka let loose everything at his disposal as if raiding an enemy, not dealing with his own misguided and misled people. The military action was a display of stark cruelty more merciless than the massacres at Bukhara and Baghdad by Chengiz Khan and Halaku Khan... General Tikka... resorted to the killing of civilians and a scorched earth policy. His orders to his troops were: 'I want the land not the people...' Major General Farman had written in his table diary, "Green land of East Pakistan will be painted red". It was painted red by Bengali blood.'[23]

The Indian government repeatedly appealed to the international community, but failing to elicit any response,[24] Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on 27 March 1971 expressed full support of her government for the independence struggle of the people of East Pakistan. The Indian leadership under Prime Minister Gandhi quickly decided that it was more effective to end the genocide by taking armed action against Pakistan than to simply give refuge to those who made it across to refugee camps.[22] Exiled East Pakistan army officers and members of the Indian Intelligence immediately started using these camps for recruitment and training of Mukti Bahini guerrillas.[25]

India's official engagement with Pakistan

Objective

Illustration showing military units and troop movements during operations in the Eastern sector of the war.

By November, war seemed inevitable; a massive buildup of Indian forces on the border with East Pakistan had begun. The Indian military waited for winter, when the drier ground would make for easier operations and Himalayan passes would be closed by snow, preventing any Chinese intervention. On 23 November, Yahya Khan declared a state of emergency in all of Pakistan and told his people to prepare for war.[26]

On the evening of 3 December Sunday, at about 5:40 p.m.,[27] the Pakistani Air Force (PAF) launched a pre-emptive strike on eleven airfields in north-western India, including Agra which was 300 miles (480 km) from the border. During this attack the Taj Mahal was camouflaged with a forest of twigs and leaves and draped with burlap because its marble glowed like a white beacon in the moonlight.[28]

This preemptive strike known as Operation Chengiz Khan, was inspired by the success of Israeli Operation Focus in the Arab-Israeli Six Day War. But, unlike the Israeli attack on Arab airbases in 1967 which involved a large number of Israeli planes, Pakistan flew no more than 50 planes to India and failed to inflict the intended damage.[29] As a result, the Indian runways were cratered and rendered non-functional only for a few hours after the attack.[30]

In an address to the nation on radio that same evening, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi held that the air strikes were a declaration of war against India[31][32] and the Indian Air Force responded with initial air strikes that very night. These air strikes were expanded to massive retaliatory air strikes the next morning and thereafter.[33]

This marked the official start of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi ordered the immediate mobilization of troops and launched the full-scale invasion. This involved Indian forces in a massive coordinated air, sea, and land assault. Indian Air Force started flying sorties against Pakistan from midnight and quickly achieved air superiority.[4][28] The main Indian objective on the western front was to prevent Pakistan from entering Indian soil. There was no Indian intention of conducting any major offensive into West Pakistan.[27]

Main article: Indo-Pakistani Naval War of 1971
Pakistan's PNS Ghazi was the only submarine operated by either of the warring nations in the 1965 war. The Ghazi sank off the fairway buoy of Visakhapatnam near the eastern coast of India under unclear circumstances during the 1971 war, making it the first submarine casualty in the waters around the Indian subcontinent.

The naval reconnaissance submarine operations was first started by the Pakistan Navy on both eastern and western front. In the western theatre of the war, the Indian Navy, under the command of Vice Admiral Kohli, achieved success by attacking Karachi's port in the code-named Operation Trident[4] on the night of 4–5 December,[4] which resulted in the sinking of the Pakistani destroyer PNS Khyber and a minesweeper PNS Muhafiz; PNS Shajehan was badly damaged.[4] This resulted in tactical Indian success: 720 Pakistani sailors were killed or wounded, and Pakistan lost reserve fuel and many commercial ships, thus crippling the Pakistan Navy's further involvement in the conflict. Operation Python[4] followed Operation Trident which was on the night of 8–9 December,[4] in which Indian rocket-armed motor torpedo boats attacked the Karachi Roads that resulted in further destruction of reserve fuel tanks, and in the sinking of three Pakistani commercial ships in Karachi Harbour.[4]

In the eastern theatre of the war, the Indian Eastern Naval Command, under Vice Admiral Krishnan, completely isolated East Pakistan by establishing a naval blockade in the Bay of Bengal, trapping the Eastern Pakistani Navy and eight foreign merchant ships in their ports. From 4 December onwards, the aircraft carrier INS Vikrant was deployed in which its Sea Hawk fighter-bombers attacked many coastal towns in East Pakistan including Chittagong and Cox's Bazaar. Pakistan responded by sending the submarine PNS Ghazi to negate the threat.[5] Indian Eastern Naval Command laid a trap to sink the submarine and Indian Navy destroyer INS Rajput sank Pakistani submarine PNS Ghazi through depth charges off Vishakapatnam's coast[34][35] reducing Pakistan's control of Bangladeshi coastline.[6] But on 9 December, the Indian Navy suffered its biggest wartime loss when the Pakistani submarine PNS Hangor sank the frigate INS Khukri in the Arabian Sea resulting in a loss of 18 officers and 176 sailors.[36]

The damage inflicted on the Pakistani Navy stood at 7 gunboats, 1 minesweeper, 1 submarine, 2 destroyers, 3 patrol crafts belonging to the coast guard, 18 cargo, supply and communication vessels, and large scale damage inflicted on the naval base and docks in the coastal town of Karachi. Three merchant navy ships – Anwar Baksh, Pasni and Madhumathi – [37] and ten smaller vessels were captured.[38] Around 1900 personnel were lost, while 1413 servicemen were captured by Indian forces in Dhaka.[39] According to one Pakistan scholar, Tariq Ali, the Pakistan Navy lost a third of its force in the war.[40]

Air operations

Main article: East Pakistan Air Operations, 1971
File:PAF Strike force in 1971.jpg
A part of the Pakistani Air Force's strike aircraft in 1971, an F-104 Starfighter, a Shenyang F-6 and a Mirage-IIIEP.

After the initial preemptive strike, PAF adopted a defensive stance in response to the Indian retaliation. As the war progressed, the Indian Air Force continued to battle the PAF over conflict zones,[41] but the number of sorties flown by the PAF gradually decreased day-by-day.[42] The Indian Air Force flew 4,000 sorties while its counterpart, the PAF offered little in retaliation, partly because of the paucity of non-Bengali technical personnel.[4] This lack of retaliation has also been attributed to the deliberate decision of the PAF High Command to cut its losses as it had already incurred huge losses in the conflict.[43] The PAF also did not intervene during the Indian Navy's raid on Pakistani naval port city of Karachi.

In the east, the small air contingent of Pakistan Air Force No. 14 Sqn was destroyed, putting the Dhaka airfield out of commission and resulting in Indian air superiority in the east.[4]

Attacks on Pakistan

While India's grip on what had been East Pakistan tightened, the IAF continued to press home attacks against Pakistan itself. The campaign settled down to series of daylight anti-airfield, anti-radar and close-support attacks by fighters, with night attacks against airfields and strategic targets by B-57s and C-130 (Pakistan), and Canberras and An-12s (India). The PAF's F-6s were employed mainly on defensive combat air patrols over their own bases, but without air superiority the PAF was unable to conduct effective offensive operations, and its attacks were largely ineffective. During the IAF's airfield attacks one US and one UN aircraft were damaged in Dacca, while a Canadian Air Force Caribou was destroyed at Islamabad, along with US military liaison chief Brigadier General Chuck Yeager's USAF Beech U-8 light twin.

Sporadic raids by the the IAF continued against Pakistan's forward air bases in the West until the end of the war, and large scale interdiction and close-support operations, and were maintained. The PAF played a more limited part in the operations, and were reinforced by F-104s from Jordan, Mirages from an unidentified Middle Eastern ally (probably Libya) and by F-86s from Saudi Arabia. Their arrival helped camouflage the extent of Pakistan's losses. Libyan F-5s were reportedly deployed to Sargodha, perhaps as a potential training unit to prepare Pakistani pilots for an influx of more F-5s from Saudi Arabia.

Hostilities officially ended at 14:30 GMT on 17 December, after the fall of Dacca on 15 December. India claimed large gains of territory in West Pakistan (although pre-war boundaries were recognised after the war), though the independence of Pakistan's East wing as Bangladesh was confirmed. India flew 1,978 sorties in the East and about 4,000 in the West, while PAF flew about 30 and 2,840. More than 80 percent of the IAF's sorties were close-support and interdiction, and about 65 IAF aircraft were lost (54 losses were admitted), perhaps as many as 27 of them in air combat. Pakistan lost 72 aircraft (51 of them combat types, but admitting only 25 to enemy action). At least 16 of the Pakistani losses, and 24 fell in air combat (although only 10 air combat losses were admitted, not including any F-6s, Mirage IIIs, or the six Jordanian F-104s which failed to return to their donors). But the imbalance in air losses was explained by the IAF's considerably higher sortie rate, and its emphasis on ground-attack missions. On the ground Pakistan suffered most, with 8,000 killed and 25,000 wounded while India lost 3,000 dead and 12,000 wounded. The losses of armoured vehicles were similarly imbalanced. This represented a major defeat for Pakistan.[44]

Ground operations

Indian T-55 tanks on their way to Dhaka.

Pakistan attacked at several places along India's western border with Pakistan, but the Indian army successfully held their positions.[citation needed] The Indian Army quickly responded to the Pakistan Army's movements in the west and made some initial gains, including capturing around 5,500 square miles (14,000 km2) of Pakistan territory (land gained by India in Pakistani Kashmir, Pakistani Punjab and Sindh sectors was later ceded in the Simla Agreement of 1972, as a gesture of goodwill).

On the eastern front, the Indian Army joined forces with the Mukti Bahini to form the Mitro Bahini ("Allied Forces"); Unlike the 1965 war which had emphasized set-piece battles and slow advances, this time the strategy adopted was a swift, three-pronged assault of nine infantry divisions with attached armored units and close air support that rapidly converged on Dhaka, the capital of East Pakistan.

Lieutenant General Jagjit Singh Aurora, who commanded the eighth, twenty-third, and fifty-seventh divisions, led the Indian thrust into East Pakistan. As these forces attacked Pakistani formations, the Indian Air Force rapidly destroyed the small air contingent in East Pakistan and put the Dhaka airfield out of commission. In the meantime, the Indian Navy effectively blockaded East Pakistan.

The Indian campaign employed "blitzkrieg" techniques, exploiting weakness in the enemy's positions and bypassing opposition, and resulted in a swift victory.[45] Faced with insurmountable losses, the Pakistani military capitulated in less than a fortnight. On 16 December, the Pakistani forces stationed in East Pakistan surrendered.

Surrender of Pakistani forces in East Pakistan

File:Newspaper-ceasefire.jpg
An Indian newspaper cover (1971)
Main article: Instrument of Surrender (1971)
File:InstrumentOfSurrender.jpg
Indian Lt. Gen J.S. Aurora and Pakistani Lt. Gen A.A.K. Niazi's signatures on the Instrument of Surrender.

The Instrument of Surrender of Pakistani forces stationed in East Pakistan was signed at Ramna Race Course in Dhaka at 16.31 IST on 16 December 1971, by Lieutenant General Jagjit Singh Aurora, General Officer Commanding-in-chief of Eastern Command of the Indian Army and Lieutenant General A. A. K. Niazi, Commander of Pakistani forces in East Pakistan. As Aurora accepted the surrender, the surrounding crowds on the race course began shouting anti-Niazi and anti-Pakistan slogans.[46]

India took approximately 90,000 prisoners of war, including Pakistani soldiers and their East Pakistani civilian supporters. 79,676 prisoners were uniformed personnel, of which 55,692 were Army, 16,354 Paramilitary, 5,296 Police, 1000 Navy and 800 PAF.[47] The remaining prisoners were civilians – either family members of the military personnel or collaborators (razakars). The Hamoodur Rahman Commission report instituted by Pakistan lists the Pakistani POWs as follows:

Branch Number of captured Pakistani POWs
Army 54,154
Navy 1,381
Air Force 833
Paramilitary including police 22,000
Civilian personnel 12,000
Total: 90,368

American and Soviet involvement

The Blood Telegram

The Soviet Union sympathized with the Bangladeshis, and supported the Indian Army and Mukti Bahini during the war, recognizing that the independence of Bangladesh would weaken the position of its rivals—the United States and China. The USSR gave assurances to India that if a confrontation with the United States or China developed, it would take counter-measures. This assurance was enshrined in the Indo-Soviet friendship treaty signed in August 1971.

The United States supported Pakistan both politically and materially. President Richard Nixon and his Secretary of State Henry Kissinger feared Soviet expansion into South and Southeast Asia.[48] Pakistan was a close ally of the People's Republic of China, with whom Nixon had been negotiating a rapprochement and where he intended to visit in February 1972. Nixon feared that an Indian invasion of West Pakistan would mean total Soviet domination of the region, and that it would seriously undermine the global position of the United States and the regional position of America's new tacit ally, China. In order to demonstrate to China the bona fides of the United States as an ally, Nixon sent military supplies to Pakistan, routing them through Jordan and Iran,[49] while also encouraging China to increase its arms supplies to Pakistan. The Nixon administration also ignored reports it received of the "genocidal" activities of the Pakistani Army in East Pakistan, most notably the Blood telegram. This prompted widespread criticism and condemnation both by Congress and in the international press.[18][50][51]

The then US ambassador to the United Nations George H W Bush—later 41st president of the United States—introduced a resolution in the UN Security Council calling for a cease-fire and the withdrawal of armed forces by India and Pakistan. It was vetoed by the Soviet Union. The following days witnessed a great pressure on the Soviets from the Nixon-Kissinger duo to get India to withdraw, but to no avail.[52]

When Pakistan's defeat in the eastern sector seemed certain, Nixon ordered the USS Enterprise into the Bay of Bengal. The Enterprise arrived on station on 11 December 1971. It has been documented that Nixon even persuaded Iran and Jordan to send their F-86, F-104 and F-5 fighter jets in aid of Pakistan.[53] On 6 December and 13 December, the Soviet Navy dispatched two groups of ships and a submarine, armed with nuclear missiles, from Vladivostok; they trailed U.S. Task Force 74 into the Indian Ocean from 18 December 1971 until 7 January 1972. The Soviets also had a nuclear submarine to help ward off the threat posed by USS Enterprise task force in the Indian Ocean.[54] The USSR also sent a very strong message to China and backed it up with the deployment of 40 divisions along the Sino-Soviet border.[55]

Aftermath

India

The war stripped Pakistan of more than half of its population and with nearly one-third of its army in captivity, clearly established India's military dominance of the subcontinent.[21] In spite of the magnitude of the victory, India was surprisingly restrained in its reaction. Mostly, Indian leaders seemed pleased by the relative ease with which they had accomplished their goals—the establishment of Bangladesh and the prospect of an early return to their homeland of the 10 million Bengali refugees who were the cause of the war.[21] In announcing the Pakistani surrender, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declared in the Indian Parliament:

"Dacca is now the free capital of a free country. We hail the people of Bangladesh in their hour of triumph. All nations who value the human spirit will recognize it as a significant milestone in man's quest for liberty."[21]

Pakistan

File:PakistanPoW.jpg
A Pakistan stamp depicting the 90,000 POWs in Indian camps. This stamp was issued with the political aim of raising global awareness of the POW issue to help secure their release. The POWs were released by India after the signing and ratification of the Simla Agreement.

For Pakistan it was a complete and humiliating defeat,[21] a psychological setback that came from a defeat at the hands of intense rival India.[13] Pakistan lost half its population and a significant portion of its economy and suffered setbacks to its geo-political role in South Asia.[21][13] Pakistan feared that the two-nation theory was disproved and that the Islamic ideology had proved insufficient to keep Bengalis part of Pakistan.[13] Also, the Pakistani military suffered further humiliation by having their 90,000 prisoners of war (POWs) released by India only after the negotiation and signing of the Simla Agreement on July 2, 1972. In addition to repatriation of prisoners of war also, the agreement established an ongoing structure for the negotiated resolution of future conflicts between India and Pakistan (referring to the remaining western provinces that now composed the totality of Pakistan). In signing the agreement, Pakistan also, by implication, recognized the former East Pakistan as the now independent and sovereign state of Bangladesh.

The Pakistani people were not mentally prepared to accept defeat, as the state-controlled media in West Pakistan had been projecting imaginary victories.[13] When the surrender in East Pakistan was finally announced, people could not come terms with the magnitude of defeat, spontaneous demonstrations and mass protests erupted on the streets of major cities in West Pakistan. Also, referring to the remaining rump Western Pakistan as simply "Pakistan" added to the effect of the defeat as international acceptance of the secession of the eastern half of the country and its creation as the independent state of Bangladesh developed and was given more credence.[13] The cost of the war for Pakistan in monetary and human resources was very high. Demoralized and finding himself unable to control the situation, General Yahya Khan surrendered power to Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto who was sworn-in on 20 December 1971 as President and as the (first civilian) Chief Martial Law Administrator. A new and smaller western-based Pakistan emerged on 16 December 1971.[56]

The loss of East Pakistan shattered the prestige of the Pakistani military.[13] Pakistan lost half its navy, a quarter of its air force and a third of its army.[57] The war also exposed the shortcomings of Pakistan's declared strategic doctrine that the "defence of East Pakistan lay in West Pakistan".[58] Hussain Haqqani, in his book Pakistan: Between Mosque and Military notes,

"Moreover, the army had failed to fulfill its promises of fighting to the last man. The eastern command had laid down arms after losing only 1,300 men in battle. In West Pakistan 1,200 military deaths had accompanied lack luster military performance." [59]

In his book The 1971 Indo-Pak War: A Soldier’s Narrative Pakistani Major General Hakeem Arshad Qureshi a veteran of this conflict noted,

"We must accept the fact that, as a people, we had also contributed to the bifurcation of our own country. It was not a Niazi, or a Yahya, even a Mujib, or a Bhutto, or their key assistants, who alone were the cause of our break-up, but a corrupted system and a flawed social order that our own apathy had allowed to remain in place for years. At the most critical moment in our history we failed to check the limitless ambitions of individuals with dubious antecedents and to thwart their selfish and irresponsible behaviour. It was our collective ‘conduct’ that had provided the enemy an opportunity to dismember us."[60]

Bangladesh

Main article: 1971 Bangladesh atrocities

Bangladesh became an independent nation, the world's third most populous Muslim state. Mujibur Rahman was released from a West Pakistani prison, returned to Dhaka on 10 January 1972 and to become first President of Bangladesh and later its Prime Minister.

On the brink of defeat around 14 December, the Pakistani Army, and its local collaborators, systematically killed a large number of Bengali doctors, teachers and intellectuals,[61][62] part of a pogrom against the Hindu minorities who constituted the majority of urban educated intellectuals.[63][64] Young men, especially students, who were seen as possible rebels were also targeted. The extent of casualties in East Pakistan is not known. R.J. Rummel cites estimates ranging from one to three million people killed.[65] Other estimates place the death toll lower, at 300,000. Bangladesh government figures state that Pakistani forces aided by collaborators killed three million people, raped 200,000 women and displaced millions of others.[66] In 2010 Bangladesh government set up a tribunal to prosecute the people involved in alleged war crimes and those who collaborated with Pakistan.[67] According to the Government, the defendants would be charged with Crimes against humanity, genocide, murder, rape and arson.[68]

Hamoodur Rahman Commission

In aftermath of war Pakistan Government constituted the Hamoodur Rahman Commission headed by Justice Hamoodur Rahman in 1971 to investigate the political and military causes for defeat and the Bangladesh atrocities during the war. The commission's report was classified and its publication banned by Bhutto as it put the military in poor light, until some parts of the report surfaced in Indian media in 2000.

When it was declassified, it showed many failings from the strategic to the tactical levels. It confirmed the looting, rapes and the killings by the Pakistan Army and their local agents. It lay the blame squarely on Pakistani generals, accusing them of war crimes and neglect of duty. Though no actions were ever taken on commissions findings, the commission had recommended public trial of Pakistan Army generals.[69]

Simla Agreement

In 1972 the Simla Agreement was signed between India and Pakistan, the treaty ensured that Pakistan recognized the independence of Bangladesh in exchange for the return of the Pakistani POWs. India treated all the POWs in strict accordance with the Geneva Convention, rule 1925.[28] It released more than 90,000 Pakistani PoWs in five months.[70] Further, as a gesture of goodwill, nearly 200 soldiers who were sought for war crimes by Bengalis were also pardoned by India.

The accord also gave back more than 13,000 km² of land that Indian troops had seized in West Pakistan during the war, though India retained a few strategic areas.[71] But some in India felt that the treaty had been too lenient to Bhutto, who had pleaded for leniency, arguing that the fragile democracy in Pakistan would crumble if the accord was perceived as being overly harsh by Pakistanis and that he would be accused of losing Kashmir in addition to the loss of East Pakistan.[13]

Long term consequences

  • Steve Coll, in his book Ghost Wars, argues that the Pakistan military's experience with India, including Pervez Musharraf's experience in 1971, influenced the Pakistani government to support jihadist groups in Afghanistan even after the Soviets left, because the jihadists were a tool to use against India, including bogging down the Indian Army in Kashmir.[72][73]
  • After the war, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto came to power. Pakistan launched Project-706, a secret nuclear weapon development program, to defend itself from India. A vast majority of Pakistani nuclear scientists who were working at the International Atomic Energy Agency and European and American nuclear programs immediately came to Pakistan and joined Project-706.[citation needed]
  • Writing about the war in Foreign Affairs magazine Zulfikar Ali Bhutto stated 'There is no parallel in contemporary history to the cataclysm which engulfed Pakistan in 1971. A tragic civil war, which rent asunder the people of the two parts of Pakistan, was seized by India as an opportunity for armed intervention. The country was dismembered, its economy shattered and the nation's self-confidence totally undermined.'[74]

Important dates

  • 7 March 1971: Sheikh Mujibur Rahman declares that, "The current struggle is a struggle for independence", in a public meeting attended by almost a million people in Dhaka.
  • 25 March 1971: Pakistani forces start Operation Searchlight, a systematic plan to eliminate any resistance. Thousands of people are killed in student dormitories and police barracks in Dhaka.
  • 26 March 1971: Sheikh Mujibur Rahman signed an official declaration of independence and sent it through a radio message on the night of 25 March (the morning of 26 March). Later Major Ziaur Rahman and other Awami League leaders announced the declaration of independence on behalf of Sheikh Mujib from Kalurghat Radio Station, Chittagong. The message is relayed to the world by Indian radio stations.
  • 27 March 1971: Bangladesh Force namely Mukti Bahini {consisting Niyomito Bahini (Regular Force) and Gono Bahini (Guerilla Force)} was formed under the Commander-in-Chief (C-in-C) General Mohammad Ataul Ghani Osmany.
  • 17 April 1971: Exiled leaders of Awami League form a provisional government.
  • 3 December 1971: War between India and Pakistan officially begins when West Pakistan launches a series of preemptive air strikes on Indian airfields.
  • 6 December 1971: East Pakistan is recognized as Bangladesh by India.
  • 14 December 1971: Systematic elimination of Bengali intellectuals is started by Pakistani Army and local collaborators.[63]
  • 16 December 1971: Lieutenant-General A. A. K. Niazi, supreme commander of Pakistani Army in East Pakistan, surrenders to the Allied Forces (Mitro Bahini) represented by Lieutenant General Jagjit Singh Arora of Indian Army at the surrender. Bangladesh gains victory
  • 12 January 1972: Sheikh Mujibur Rahman comes to power

Military awards

For bravery, a number of soldiers and officers on both sides were awarded the highest military award of respective countries. Following is a list of the recipients of the Indian award Param Vir Chakra, Bangladeshi award Bir Sreshtho and the Pakistani award Nishan-E-Haider:

India

Recipients of the Param Vir Chakra:

Bangladesh

Recipients of the Bir Sreshtho

Pakistan

Recipients of the Nishan-E-Haider:

Dramatization

Films

See also

References

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  29. ^ "Trying to catch the Indian Air Force napping, Yahya Khan, launched a Pakistani version of Israel's 1967 air blitz in hopes that one rapid attack would cripple India's far superior air power. But India was alert, Pakistani pilots were inept, and Yahya's strategy of scattering his thin air force over a dozen air fields was a bust!", p.34, Newsweek, December 20, 1971
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  68. ^ Bangladesh to Hold Trials for 1971 War Crimes, Voice of America, 2010-03-26
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  73. ^ Kreisler interview with Coll "Conversations with history", 2005 Mar 25, UC Berkeley Institute of International Studies
  74. ^ Bhutto, Zulfiqar Ali (April 1973). "Pakistan Builds Anew". Foreign Affairs. Retrieved 8 July 2011.

Further reading

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