On 26 March,
Bangladesh celebrated its Independence Day. Fifty years ago, in 1971 the Pakistan
army launched an operation in East Pakistan and massacred its own people and
this led to the birth of Bangladesh. The 1971 Bangladesh Liberation war was an
utter humiliation for the Pakistan army. The Pakistan forces surrendered to the
Indian army and East Pakistan became an independent nation. And today
Bangladesh is ahead of Pakistan in many fields. Recently on 26 March Bangladesh
celebrated the 50th anniversary of its independence. Dignitaries
from all over the world and neighboring countries, except Pakistan were invited
to be present at the celebrations. The Indian PM was the guest of honor at the
function.
On 26 March Bangladesh celebrated 50 years of its
existence. The 1971, the 13-day India-Pakistan war led to the birth of a new
country. The conflict broke out due to the tensions between Pakistan (West
Pakistan) and the Bengali majority East Pakistan after failed political
negotiation between Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the elected leader from the
elections in East Pakistan and PPP (Pakistan People Party). In reality Mujibur
should have been the Prime Minister, but this was not acceptable to the then rulers
and people of West Pakistan. Pakistan was ruled by a dictator General Yayha
Khan and Bhutto was part of this set up.
Mujibur was arrested and there were protests in
East Pakistan. West Pakistan looked down upon the Bengalis. The protests soon
turned violent. Pakistan army launched action to suppress the Bengalis.
Pakistan army executed a massacre and human rights violations took place with
impunity. The world was mute witness to this dastardly act. On 25 March 1971
Lieutenant General Tikka Khan launched Operation Searchlight to end the revolt
in East Pakistan by attacking civilians, students, intellectuals and Bengali armed
forces.
Thousands of people were killed at random, women
raped, homes destroyed, with destruction all round the country. As the violence
escalated, a large number of refugees escaped to Indian territory and poured
into the bordering Indian states to escape the large scale massacre. Almost
about 10 million refugees took shelter in India. It was a burden on the Indian
states to provide relief, shelter, food, medicines to such a large number of
refugees. The West turned a blind eye though some international media reported
the violence and massacre going on here.
After months of continuous conflict between West
and East Pakistan, there was every chance it would spill over India and involve
India in the conflict. To preempt any Indian support to East Pakistan and keep
India occupied on the Western front, Pakistan launched air strikes on 11
Western India airbases. This was a grave mistake by Pakistan. The Indian Air
Force retaliated with effective strikes on the same night, crippling the
Pakistan forces. This Pakistan action instigated the then Indian Prime Minister
Indira Gandhi to declare a full scale invasion of Pakistan. Thus officially the
Indo-Pak war of 1971 commenced. And General Manekshaw was in charge of the
Indian army. Backed by a strong political decision by PM Indira Gandhi, General
Manekshaw and his other competent Generals with the able support of the Indian
Air Force and Indian Navy were able to launch an assault and defeat Pakistan
army on both the fronts.
The war came to an end when the Instrument of
Surrender was signed by Lt General AAK Niazi in the presence of Lt General JS
Aurora on December 16, 1971. As a result, around 93,000 Pakistani troops were
taken POWs (prisoners of war) by the Indian army. This was a humiliating defeat
which the Pakistan army will never forget. And later during Atal Behari
Vajpayee’s tenure as PM, General Pervez Musharaff tried to take revenge in
Kargil. And here too they were badly defeated, destroying the morale of the
Pakistan army where they had to disown their own men who had died fighting.
Knowing too well USA and Britain was an ally of
Pakistan and sensing international ramifications and pressure on India from the
West, the thenPrime Minister Indira Gandhi with a great foresight and political
acumen signed a defence treaty with USSR. The pact in brief meant any attack on
India would be treated as an attack on Russia and vice versa. This took care of
any Western intervention in the conflict. Americans sent their Seventh Fleet in
to the Indian Ocean and so did Britain send a warship. But realizing the strong
Russian fleet was already in the Bay of Bengal, both USA and UK ships backed
off avoiding escalating a localized conflict into an international dispute of
major powers with a international ramifications.
Pakistan had great hopes, as they were sure of
foreign intervention or an UN resolution would bring about a ceasefire and
could still hold on to East Pakistan. But the events unfolded very fast. East
Pakistan was declared a new nation, Bangladesh, with the Awami League leader,
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman becoming the Prime Minister in January 1972. This was a
big blow to the Pakistan rulers. Through the conflict, the Indian forces were
assisted by the Mukti Bahini, a Bengali guerrilla resistance movement, which was
fighting the Pakistan forces.
Surrender of the Pak army
The new nation faced challenges and turmoil in the
following years. Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina was sheltered in Delhi from
1975-1981 after her father Sheikh Mujibur Rehman was brutally assassinated.
India shares the largest land boundary, 4,096.7 km
with Bangladesh. Both nations share 54 common rivers. Rabindranath Tagore
composed the national anthem of both the countries – Jana Gana Mana, the Indian
national anthem and Amar Sonar Bangla, the Bangladesh anthem.
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