Re-calling 1971 War – A Proud Moment For Every Indian

‘India won a glorious victory against Pakistan in the 1971 war. It was the first decisive victory in a major war in centuries. And it was won single handedly, in the face of opposition and threats from a majority of the UN member-States, including a superpower. Every Indian patriot felt proud of this glittering chapter in the nation’s history.‘

India-Pakistan Wars, name given to the series of conflicts between India and Pakistan since 1947, when the Indian subcontinent was partitioned and the two countries became independent of Great Britain. The most violent outbreaks came in 1947–48, 1965, and 1971. The roots of the conflicts lie in the hostility between Hindus and Muslims and, initially, in the disposition of self-governing princely states. The Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 was the direct military confrontation between India and Pakistan during the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971.

 

1. Reason for Indo –Pak war 1971

During the Partition of India, Pakistan, as a country, gained independence on August 14, 1947 following the end of British rule over South Asian countries. The division was made based on religion. Pakistan was created out of Muslim majority territories in the West and East, and India was created out of the vast Hindu majority regions in the center. The Western zone was popularly (and for a period of time, also officially) called West Pakistan and the Eastern zone (modern-day Bangladesh) was called East Bengal and later, East Pakistan. During 1971 , People of East Pak were surpressed by the Islamic majority WEST Pakistan , this results in a outrage  against West Pak and results in the war of 1971 INDO – PAK WAR and formation of Bangladesh.

 

2. US &UK supported Pakistan in this war

On December 9, Nixon (then President of US) decided to send the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise into the Bay of Bengal to threaten India. The plan was to surround India from all four sides and force them to retreat and leave East Pakistan. UK’s aircraft carrier “Eagle” had also joined Enterprise. And France was being pressurised to join the US forces.The British and the Americans had planned a coordinated pincer to intimidate India: while the British ships in the Arabian Sea would target India’s western coast, the Americans would make a dash into the Bay of Bengal in the east where 100,000 Pakistani troops were caught between the advancing Indian troops and the sea.

 

3. US and China Connection, A Little Known Fact

(All Excerpts and Sources from 929 page long Volume XI of the Foreign Relations of the United States)
US sympathized with Pakistan, because of various reasons. Among them two reasons were that: firstly, Pakistan belonged to American led military Pact, CENTO and SEATO; secondly, US believed any victory of India will be considered as the expansion of Soviet influence in the parts gained by India with the victory, as it was believed to be a pro Soviet nation, even though they were non aligned.

 

4. Besides USA, China and UK, few more countries had also come forward to help Pakistan

The Pakistani military was being bolstered by aircraft from Jordan, Iran, Turkey and France. Moral and military support was amply provided by the US, China and the UK. It is now revealed that the UAE had sent in half a squadron of fighter aircraft and the Indonesians dispatched at least one naval vessel to fight alongside the Pakistani Navy.

 

5. Pakistani Air Force launched a pre-emptive air strike on eleven air-fields in India on 3rd December 1971 at around 5:40 pm.

“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!” – 34, Newsweek, 20 December 1971.

6. Russia’s entry thwarted a scenario that could have led to multiple pincer movements against India.

As India had decided to go on with the war, and Indira Gandhi had failed to gain American support and sympathy for the Bengalis who were being tortured in East Pakistan, she finally took a hard move and on August 9, signed a treaty of peace, friendship and cooperation with Soviet Union.
“Sir, we are too late. There are the Russian atomic submarines here, and a big collection of battleships.”
To counter this two-pronged British-American threat, Russia dispatched a nuclear-armed flotilla from Vladivostok on December 13 under the overall command of Admiral Vladimir Kruglyakov, the Commander of the 10th Operative Battle Group. The Chief Commander had ordered to lift the submarines and bring them to the surface so that it can be pictured by the American spy satellites or can be seen by the American Navy!’ It was done to demonstrate, that we had all the needed things in Indian Ocean, including the nuclear submarines. Americans returned and couldn’t do anything. Soviet Union had also threatened China that, if they ever opened a front against India on its border, they will receive a tough response from North.

 

7. “We in Pakistan cannot forget the logistical and political support Sri Lanka extended to us in 1971 when it opened its refueling facilities for us,”

Seema Ilahi Baloch, Pakistani high commissioner in Colombo said in her speech addressed to Lanka-Pakistan business council in Colombo in June, 2011.
Pakistani Aircraft destined to East Pakistan flew taking a round of India via Sri Lanka, since they could not fly over Indian sky. This forced Pakistan to get its aircrafts refueled on the way. Sri Lanka eager to help Pakistan, allowed Pakistani aircrafts for refueling at the Bandaranaike airport.

 

8. Taj Mahal was covered with twigs and leaves

During these attacks, Taj Mahal was covered with twigs and leaves and draped with burlap as its marble glowed very bright. This was how the Taj Mahal was protected from bombers in 1942 during World war II. Same was done in 1965 & 71 during India Pak wars. It was covered with a huge scaffold, to make it look like a stockpile of Bamboo and misguide any enemy bombers. The camouflaging process is still incomplete in this photo. It is said the whole of Taj Mahal was covered, but this picture shows only the main dome covered.

 

9. Pakistan declared that the Bengali ‘freedom fighters’ were Hindus and that their women could be taken as the ‘booty of war‘

During the 1971 Bangladesh war for independence, members of the Pakistani military and supporting Bihari and Bengali Razaker militias from Jamaat e Islami raped between two and four hundred thousand Bangladeshi women in a systematic campaign of genocidal rape. Imams and Muslim religious leaders publicly declared that the Bengali women were ‘gonimoter maal’ (war booty) and thus they openly supported the rape of Bengali women by the Pakistani Army.

 

10. Tikka Khan, the “butcher of Bengal”

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.’