Recent Bollywood movie with the 1971 Indo-Pak war in it’s backdrop made me realize that the current generation is totally oblivious about the war. “Those ignorant of history are condemned to repeat it.” Since these events happened in front of me I took it upon myself to educate this generation.
I was only 10 years old when the Indo-Pak War took place. It was the last full scale Indian and Pakistani confrontation if you don’t count the Kargil War, which was on a much smaller scale.
It began in my memory when Pakistani Sabre Jets invaded Indian airspace and attempted to bomb Agra Air Force base in December 1971. It is said that the Taj Mahal was covered by burlap and leaves to preventing the moon light reflecting on the marble and thus saved it from being sighted and bombed. The plans of the Pakistanis were thwarted by the Indian Air Force Gnats, who shot down the Sabre Jets making the pilots instant heroes and got their 15 minutes of fame.
The American made Sabre Jets were much quicker and were equipped with heat seeking missiles, which would sense the heat of the jet’s exhaust. But the British made Gnats like their name compensated by smaller size and dexterity. The pilots avoided the heat seeking missiles by turning off the engine intermittently or flying towards the sun confusing the missile.
On the 3rd of December 1971, I opened the local newspaper, to be greeted by the biggest headlines I have ever seen. Big both in content and size, it read “India declares war on Pakistan”. The headlines covered the entire top space of the newspaper in the largest fonts I have ever seen. I have never seen such a big headline again. It went on to say that Mrs. Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India, with the approval of the President, V. V. Giri had declared war on Pakistan. It also said a state of emergency was declared.
Let us look into the background of this. Not all will recall that what is now Bangladesh was the erstwhile East Pakistan then. It was a Bengali speaking majority controlled by an Urdu speaking minority based in West Pakistan. Bengali was the only language in Pakistan not written in the Persian-Arabic script. Separated from Pakistan by 1000 kms of the Indian state the local population felt exploited and discriminated. The Awami League lead by Sheikh Mujibur Rehman had won absolute majority in the election in March 1971 but were prevented from forming the government by the martial ruler of Pakistan, General Yahya Khan.
A cyclone Bhola had also devasted coastal areas of Bangladesh and the rulers in West Pakistan were accused of fumbling and misappropriation of relief funds by the local Bengalis. This lead to a sessionist movement and declaration of an Independent State called Bangladesh by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on 7th March 1971. He was arrested on treason charges and there was a crackdown on the separatist movement.
The Bengali soldiers in the Pakistani army and the police mutinied against there Urdu speaking overlords and formed a liberation force called the ‘Mukti Bahini’. The Mukti Bahini was a guerrilla force akin to the Vietcong in Vietnam received support and supplies from India. There was a strong wave of sympathy from the bordering states in India as the population was ethnically and linguistically similar.
The reaction of the Pakistani overlords was to let loose a genocide, pushing 10 million refugees into the bordering Indian states. I still remember when we used to buy Inland letters or envelopes from the post office an additional 5 paise stamp was attached for ‘refugee relief’. This practice continued long after the end of the war. When I asked why? “The refugees are still there!” was the reply.
There was the famous ‘Concert for Bangladesh’ in August 1971, organised by ex Beatle George Harrison and sitar maestro Ravi Shankar. Ravi Shankar has his ancestral roots in Bangladesh and was moved by the plight of the refugees and the inadequate relief by the Indian authorities. He appealed to George Harrison and together they organized two concerts and an album. They managed to raise $12 million which was given to the UNICEF for refugee relief. Ravi Shankar said “The concert overnight made people aware about a country called Bangladesh and it’s plight.
Once full scale war was declared we were asked to stick brown bamboo paper on windows of our homes and blacken the upper half of the headlights of our vehicles. This was to prevent light being visible from the air in case of an air strike. The brown paper had the additional advantage of preventing the glass splintering by keeping the broken piece together. At various crossings the Police would stop your car and a painter would blacken the upper part of the headlight.
Those were the pre ‘smart bomb’ days when bombing was done by sight. Today such preventive measures are redundant.
Patriotism was at a fever pitch and people put up patriotic stickers on their cars reading ‘India crush Pak’ or ‘Crush Yahya’.
General Agha Mohammed Yahya Khan was the military successor of General Ayub Khan. He from the Punjab Province of Pakistan and of Qizilbash origin or Azerbaijani. He had a fondness to wine, women and song which has led to the downfall of many good men. After the defeat of Pakistan and the liberation of Bangladesh he handed over power to the civilian government of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.
Every night we as a family would sit in darkness and listen first to the news on Akashwani/All India Radio, then my father would switch to BBC World Service and say “अब असली ख़बर पता चलेगा” (now we will know the actual news), which was true as the news on state owned media was heavily censored.
My mother used to read the Bible aloud to us after dinner and we would have a family prayer. We prayed for the victory of the Indian army and the soldiers who died in combat.
Well our prayers were answered because the Indian forces dominated the Pakistani forces on land, sea and air. The Chief of the Army Staff was General Sam Maneckshaw. A Parsi gentleman who had served in the British army prior to the partition. During the partition he had the choice of either joining the Indian army or the Pakistani army. His choice is now history but once in an interview he was asked, “What would have been the outcome of the 1971 war if you were leading the Pakistani Army?” Being bombastic and flamboyant he said in jest “Then Pakistan would have won!” This obviously did not go down well with the politicians in power.
The Indian army made rapid inroads into Pakistani territory even in Pak occupied Kashmir but these were later ceded in the famous Simla agreement post war between the Indian Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the President of Pakistan as a good will gesture. The agreement signed on the 2nd of July 1972 whose essence was that all future disputes between the countries would be settled by bilateral negotiations including Kashmir. The cease fire line of December 17th 1972 should be recognized as the line of control. This agreement is observed more in it’s breach, but it paved way for the Pakistanis recognizing Bangladesh as a separate nation.
The Navy successfully blockaded the ports in Bangladesh preventing military supplies from reaching, sank Pakistani warships and bombed Karachi. The Naval Chief was Admiral S. M. Nanda who was not as flamboyant as Maneckshaw.
Nanda’s son Suresh Nanda is a business man and arms dealer and was implicated in some shady deals in 1999. His grandson Sanjeev Nanda was convicted in the famous 2008 BMW hit and run case in Delhi.
The Air Force under Air Marshal P. C. Lall ran circles around the Pakistani aircrafts. The shortest route to East Pakistan was over the Indian subcontinent, this the Indian government did not allow. They had to go along the Indian peninsula up till Sri Lanka and then across the bay of Bengal to Bangladesh. According to reports Pakistan Air Force fared so badly in dog flights and lost so many aircrafts that they decided to avoided confrontation completely and kept their planes safely grounded while the Indian Air Force pounded targets in Pakistan.
The end of the war came 12 days after it began on 16th December 1971 when the Mukti Bahini supported by the Indian Army took over Dacca. The Pakistani Commander Lieutenant General A.A.A. Niazi surrendered to the Lieutenant General Jagjit Singh Aurora of the Indian army and in charge of the Eastern Command.
This is another moment I remember very clearly. I had gone to play in a friend’s house, his mother was listening to the radio came out excitedly, “Do you know that the Mukti Bahini has taken Dacca?” I don’t know but that was a very emotional moment for me and even today memories of that moment brings tears to my eyes and I almost sob. There are tears in my eyes even now. Tears of pride and relief that in one of the shortest war fought, we managed to decimate our enemy decisively and liberate a nation.
My mother who has memories of the World War 2 remembers the shortages and the rationing of those times. The famous ‘ration card’ is a remanent of the World War 2. If the war lingered we would have also faced deprivation due shortages.
There was the famous balance of power prevalent in those days where the super powers played sides. The Pakistanis had the USA backing them while we had the erstwhile USSR or for the uninitiated, the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republic. This prevented either of the big guys interfering. Though there was posturing, at the height of the war the USA stationed it’s 7th Fleet task force 74 in the Bay of Bengal in readiness. The Soviets dispatched their 10th Operative Battle Group of it’s Pacific fleet in retaliation. In addition there were the Chinese backing the Pakistani and posturing threateningly across the border.
After the liberation of Bangladesh, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman took over as it’s first President. As far as a nations go it was considered a basket case. Mujibur faced a nation with poverty, unemployment and corruption.
On 15th August 1975 he along with his entire family were assassinated by disgruntled military officers. Only two of his daughters Hasina and Rehana were visiting Germany and escaped getting assassinated. Sheikh Hasina is now the current Prime Minister of Bangladesh.
Raju Wilkinson's Blog 
Excellent. Reading your story evokes personal memories clearing away the old cobwebs. I was in class 6, the gomti river had flooded the school, canceling classes. Stay at home, hanging out and learning each day of the war, glorious narratives of bravery from friends was a staple. I also recall the jingoistic nationalism far more among my friends than i could comprehend. Whether we beat them in hockey or in war there was a pre adolescent triumphant surge. Felt good
Thanks Murli
I was a sophomore in college and I remember nothing of this war other than the relief concert. I was more interested in staying out of Vietnam
Yes Roger Vietnam was a bigger thing for you guys. Anyway the war lasted only for 12 days.
👍👍 brilliant boy Sent from my iPhone
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Thank you Sunita 🙏🏽
Raju, I too was about your age then but all I remember is the brown paper cover for the windows!! Perhaps the siren too. Being in Pune with it’s military base and ammunition factory, we were sure we’ll be leaving this Earth first. Your memory is just unbelievable!!!! Thanks.
Thanks Jaya 🙏🏽 I guess it’s a God given gift.