Saturday, October 3, 2009

Indo-Pakistani War of 1971


Indo-Pakistani War of 1971

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Indo-Pakistani War of 1971
Part of The Indo-Pakistani Wars and Bangladesh Liberation War
1971 surrender.jpg
Lt. Gen A. A. K. Niazi of Pakistan signs the instrument of surrender on December 16, surrendering his forces to Lt. GenJagjit Singh Aurora of Indian army.
DateDecember 3-December 16, 1971
LocationEastern front:
Current day Bangladesh (then East Pakistan)
Western front:
Border between India and Pakistan (then West Pakistan)
ResultEastern front:
Decisive Bangladeshi/Indian victory, formerEast Pakistan becomes the independent state of Bangladesh.
Western front:
Ceasefire agreed between then West Pakistan and India.
Territorial
changes		Eastern front: Bangladesh becomes an independent state.
Belligerents
Flag of India
India
Flag of Pakistan
Pakistan
Commanders
Flag of India Sam Manekshaw
Flag of India J.S. Arora
Flag of India G.G Bewoor
Flag of India K. P. Candeth		Flag of Pakistan Gul Hassan Khan
Flag of Pakistan Abdul Hamid Khan
Flag of Pakistan Tikka Khan
Flag of Pakistan A. A. K. Niazi #
Strength
500,000 troops365,000 troops [1]
Casualties and losses
3,843 killed [2]
9,851 wounded[2]
1 Frigate
1 Naval Plane		20,000 killed
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. The war is closely associated with the Bangladesh Liberation War (sometimes also referred to as the Pakistani Civil War). Although there is some disagreement about the exact dates of the war, hostilities between India and Pakistan commenced officially on the evening of December 3, 1971. The armed conflict on India's western front during the period between 3 December 1971 and 16 December 1971 is called the "Indo-Pakistani War" by both the Bangladeshi and Indian armies, while Pakistan considers it a larger part of the East Pakistan rebellion. After 14 days of armed hostilities on two fronts, the war ended with the surrender of the Eastern Command of the Pakistan Military and secession of then East Pakistan, resulting in creation of the independent state ofBangladesh. Around 90,000 West Pakistanis who were in East Pakistan at the time of its independence, including some 54,000 Pakistan Army personnel and 12,000 civilians, were taken as prisoners of war (POWs) by India.[7] [8]

Contents

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Background

Main article: Bangladesh Liberation War
Main article: 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.[9] 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 theSix 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[10][11].
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 March 25, 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[12]. 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. A guerrilla troop of civilians, theMukti Bahini, was formed to help the Bangladesh Army.

India's involvement in Bangladesh Liberation War

The Pakistan army conducted a widespread genocide against the population of East Pakistan in particular to the minority Hindu population,[13][14] leading to approximately 10 million people fleeing East Pakistan and taking refuge in the neighboring Indian state of West Bengal.[7]
On 27 March 1971, the Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, expressed full support of her government to the struggle for independence by the people of East Pakistan. 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 Indian leadership under Indira Gandhi quickly decided that it was more effective to end the genocide to take armed action against Pakistan than to simply give refuge to those who made it across to refugee camps.[7] Exiled East Pakistan army officers and members of the Indian Intelligence immediately started using these camps forrecruitment and training of Mukti Bahini guerrillas[15].

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 withEast 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.[16]
On the evening of 3 December Sunday, at about 5:40 PM,[17] the Pakistani air force launched sorties on eight 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[18]. This attack, called Operation Chengiz Khan, was inspired by the Arab-Israeli Six Day War and the success of the Israeli preemptive strike. 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. As a result, Indian runways were cratered and rendered non-functional for several hours after the attack.[19]
India reacted by declaring war on Pakistan.[citation needed] Indian forces responded with a massive coordinated air, sea, and land assault. Indian Air Force started flying sorties against Pakistan from midnight and quickly achieved air superiority.[4] 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.[17]

Naval hostilities

Pakistan's PNS Ghazi, was the only submarine operated by either of the warring nations in 1965. 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 theIndian subcontinent.
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 as well as the PNS Shajehan, and aminesweeper PNS Muhafiz[4]. This resulted in tactical Indian success with Pakistan losing 720 sailors killed and wounded apart from losing reserve fuel and many commercial ships, thus crippling the Pakistan Navy's further involvment 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, as well as 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 as well as 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] Though Indians claim to have laid a trap to sink the submarine[5], the Ghazi sank off Vishakapatnam's coast under unclear circumstances thus 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.[20]

Air operations

Main article: East Pakistan Air Operations, 1971
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. [1] 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]

Ground operations

An Indian newspaper cover (1971)
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 Sindhsectors 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.[21] Faced with insurmountable losses, the Pakistani military capitulated in less than a fortnight. On December 16, the Pakistani forces stationed in East Pakistan surrendered.

Surrender of Pakistani forces in East Pakistan

The instrument of surrender
Main article: Instrument of Surrender (1971)
The Instrument of Surrender of Pakistani forces stationed in East Pakistan was signed at Ramna Race Course in Dhaka at 16.31 IST on December 16, 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 Bangladesh. As Aurora accepted the surrender, the surrounding crowds on the race course began shouting anti-Niazi and anti-Pakistan slogans.[22]

American and Soviet involvement

The United States supported Pakistan both politically and materially. Nixon, backed by Henry Kissinger, feared Soviet expansion into South and Southeast Asia. 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, and in direct violation of the US Congress-imposed sanctions on Pakistan, Nixon sent military supplies to Pakistan, routing them through Jordan and Iran,[23] 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 theBlood telegram. When Pakistan's defeat in the eastern sector seemed certain, Nixon sent the USS Enterprise to the Bay of Bengal, a move which was a nuclear threat. The Enterprise arrived on station on December 11, 1971. On 6 December and 13 December, the Soviet Navydispatched two groups of ships, 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 sent a nuclear submarine to ward off the threat posed by USS Enterprise in the Indian Ocean.[24]
According to a book written by an Indian Colonel, when the USS Enterprise reached the Indian Ocean, Soviet nuclear submarines surfaced without any kind of verbal warning or threat. There was no formal or informal dialogue between the USSR and the United States. As the United States were not ready to risk open nuclear warfare with the Soviets the Enterprise simply turned around and sailed back to the US.
American policy towards the end of the war was dictated primarily by a need to restrict the escalation of war on the western sector to prevent the 'dismemberment' of West Pakistan.[25] Years after the war, many American writers criticized the White House policies during the war as being badly flawed and ill-serving the interests of the United States.[26]
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.

Aftermath

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 Simla Agreement.
The war ended with the surrender of the Pakistani military to the allied forces of India and Bangladesh, jointly known as the Mitro Bahini. Bangladesh became an independent nation, the world's third most populous Muslim state. The loss of East Pakistan demoralized the Pakistani military. President Yahya Khan resigned, to be replaced by Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. Mujibur Rahman was released from a West Pakistani prison, returning to Dhaka on January 10, 1972.
Main article: 1971 Bangladesh atrocities
The extent of casualties in East Pakistan is not known. R.J. Rummel cites estimates ranging from one to three million people killed.[27] Other estimates place the death toll lower, at 300,000. On the brink of defeat around December 14, the Pakistani Army, and its local collaborators, systematically killed a large number of Bengali doctors, teachers and intellectuals,[28][29] part of a pogrom against the Hindu minorities who constituted the majority of urban educated intellectuals.[30][31] Young men, especially students, who were seen as possible rebels were also targeted.
The cost of the war for Pakistan in monetary and human resources was high. In the book Can Pakistan Survive? Pakistan based author Tariq Ali writes, "Pakistan lost half its navy, a quarter of its airforce and a third of its army." 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.[32] 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:
BranchNumber of captured Pakistani POWs
Army54,154
Navy1,381
Air Force833
Paramilitary including police22,000
Civilian personnel12,000
Total:90,368
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[citation needed]. It released more than 90,000 Pakistani PoWs in five months[33]. 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[34]; most notably Kargil (which would in turn again be the focal point for a war between the two nations in 1999). This was done as a measure of promoting "lasting peace" and was acknowledged by many observers as a sign of maturity by India. 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.

Long term consequences

Steve Coll 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[35].
The war left deep scars in Pakistani society. After the war, Bhutto came to power, Pakistan launched Project-706 to defend itself from India.

Important dates

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:

References

  1. ^ http://blogs.ibibo.com/Baesekolkata/bangladesh-liberation-war
  2. ^ a b Official Government of India Statement giving numbers of KIA - Parliament of India Website
  3. ^ Quantification of Losses Suffered
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Indo-Pakistani War of 1971".
  5. ^ a b c The Sinking of the Ghazi, B. Harry (2001) " Bharat Rakshak Monitor, 4(2).
  6. ^ a b Operations in the Bay of Bengal: The Loss of PNS/M Ghazi.
  7. ^ a b c "Indo-Pakistani Wars".
  8. ^ http://1971.uttorshuri.net/images/InstrumentOfSurrender.jpg
  9. ^ http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/indo-pak_1971.htm
  10. ^ Sarmila Bose Anatomy of Violence: Analysis of Civil War in East Pakistan in 1971: Military Action: Operation Searchlight Economic and Political WeeklySpecial Articles, October 8, 2005
  11. ^ Salik, Siddiq, Witness To Surrender, p63, p228-9 id = ISBN 9-840-51373-7
  12. ^ Annex M (Oxford University Press, 2002 ISBN 0-19-579778-7)
  13. ^ U.S. Consulate (Dacca) Cable, Sitrep: Army Terror Campaign Continues in Dacca; Evidence Military Faces Some Difficulties Elsewhere, March 31, 1971, Confidential, 3 pp
  14. ^ East Pakistan: Even the Skies Weep, Time Magazine, October 25, 1971.
  15. ^ Rediff news: I had to find troops for Dhaka, December 14, 2006/
  16. ^ "Indo-Pakistani War of 1971".
  17. ^ a b "War is Delcared".
  18. ^ "Bangladesh: Out of War, a Nation Is Born".
  19. ^ "PAF Begins War in the West : 3 December". Institute of Defence Studies. Retrieved 2008-07-04.
  20. ^ "Trident, Grandslam and Python: Attacks on Karachi".
  21. ^ Makers of Modern Strategy: From Machiavelli to the Nuclear Age By Peter Paret, 1986, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0198200978 pp802
  22. ^ Of betrayal and bungling by Kuldip Nayar - Indian Express 3 February 1998
  23. ^ Shalom, Stephen R., The Men Behind Yahya in the Indo-Pak War of 1971
  24. ^ Cold war games
  25. ^ U.S. State Department
  26. ^ The Flawed Architect: Henry Kissenger and American Foreign Policy by Jussi M. Hanhimeaki Page 156, Published by Oxford University Press US
  27. ^ Rummel, Rudolph J., "Statistics of Democide: Genocide and Mass Murder Since 1900", ISBN 3-8258-4010-7, Chapter 8, table 8.1
  28. ^ "125 Slain in Dacca Area, Believed Elite of Bengal". New York Times (New York, NY, USA): p. 1. December 19, 1971. Retrieved 2008-01-04. "At least 125 persons, believed to be physicians, professors, writers and teachers, were found murdered today in a field outside Dacca. All the victims' hands were tied behind their backs and they had been bayoneted, garroted or shot. These victims were among an estimated 300 Bengali intellectuals who had been seized by West Pakistani soldiers and locally recruited supporters."
  29. ^ Murshid, Tazeen M. (December 2, 1997). "State, nation, identity: The quest for legitimacy in Bangladesh". South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies, (Routledge)20 (2): 1–34. doi:10.1080/00856409708723294. ISSN 14790270.
  30. ^ a b Khan, Muazzam Hussain (2003), "Killing of Intellectuals", Banglapedia, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh
  31. ^ Shaiduzzaman (December 14, 2005), "Martyred intellectuals: martyred history", The Daily New Age, Bangladesh
  32. ^ Huge bag of prisoners in our hands The Liberation Times
  33. ^ 54 Indian PoWs of 1971 war still in Pakistan - Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan
  34. ^ The Simla Agreement 1972 - Story of Pakistan
  35. ^ Coll, "Ghost Wars", pg 221, 475. Also see the Kreisler interview with Coll, "Conversations with history", 2005 Mar 25, UC Berkeley Institute of International Studies

Further reading

  • An Army Its Role and Rule (A History of the Pakistan Army from Independence to Kargil 1947-1999). Muhammad Ayub ISBN 0-8059-9594-3
  • D K Palit The Lightning Campaign: The Indo-Pakistan War 1971 Compton Press Ltd (1972), ISBN 0-900193-10-7
  • J R Saigal Pakistan Splits: The Birth of Bangladesh Manas Publications (2004), ISBN 81-7049-124-X
  • J Hanhimaki The Flawed Architect: Henry Kissinger and American Foreign Policy Oxford University Press (2004)

Dramatization

Films
  • 1971 - Prisoners of War, a 2007 Bollywood war film directed by Sagar Brothers. Set against the backdrop of a prisoners' camp in Pakistan, follows six Indian prisoners awaiting release after their capture in the 1971 India-Pakistan war.

External links

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