​It Was On This Day, When Pakistan Armed Forces Surrendered To India In The War Of 1971

The Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 lasted for just about 13 days, thereby becoming one of the shortest wars in history. However, the small duration of the war didn’t make it any less power-packed. And if the stats are to be considered, it was one of the finest wins by India ever in a war.

Sparks That Initiated The Indo-Pak War 1971

On 26 March 1971, West Pakistan began what they called Operation Searchlight in the eastern wing of the country. The motive was to suppress the calls of Bengali nationalists and self-determination. And in order to so, West Pakistan flagged off the 1971 Bangladesh genocide, which killed anywhere between 300,000 and 3,000,000 civilians.

Apart from the killings, they also carried out a systematic genocidal rape campaign which claimed ghastly numbers- 200,000 to 400,000 of women rape victims, on record.

And such mayhem in East Pakistan caused by the Pakistani military sparked the rise of Bangladesh Liberation War (also known as Bangladesh War of Independence).

The capital Dhaka witnessed the most number of massacres, and the carnage resulted in as many as 10 million fearful Bengali civilians fleeing to the neighbouring India for refuge.

The outrage became alarming enough to drive the then Prime Minister of India, Mrs Indira Gandhi to provide diplomatic, economic and military support to Bangladesh nationalists in substantial amounts.

 

India Joined The War On 3rd December 1971

Pakistan launched airstrikes under the code name Operation Chengiz Khan on the Indian Air Force’s airbases and radar installations. The attempted airstrikes by the Pakistan, however, had failed, thanks to Indian military’s apt prediction of such an action from the Pakistan, as a counter to the support they offered to Mukti Bahini (guerrilla resistance movement formed by Bangladeshi military).

This, however, marked the beginning of the hostilities that triggered the Indo-Pak War of 1971, which in a rapid movement of events, ended in just about 13 days.

Also, interestingly enough, neither of the governments gave an official declaration of the war.

 

The Extraordinary Strength Of India In The War

The two forces clashed on the eastern and western fronts. The fate of the war had been favourable for India since the very start, thanks to the perfect synergy of Army, Navy and Air forces.

The eastern skies were completely dominated by the Indian Air Force, they had blockaded Karachi completely, and even denied Pak Navy the access to the use of Bay of Bengal.

As many as 19 divisions of Indian army carried out the liberation of Bangladesh. India had never used so many troops before and hasn’t used so many after the 1971 war, in any operation. However, talking about the power, it has to be mentioned that just about 3,000 Indian soldiers took over and forced out the 20,000 heavily armed Pakistani soldiers out of the battle.

The Tangail Airdrop was the first biggest airdrop done with the motive of cutting off the approaches of 93 Brigade of Pakistani Army, which was retreating to defend Dhaka.

So basically, the rapid advance caused by the efforts of allied forces of India and Bangladesh led to the Pakistan’s surrender.

 

Pakistan Instrument of Surrender was signed, and that’s how the war ended, swift and sound.

The surrender took place in Ramna Race Course in Dhaka, on 16th December 1971. The written agreement of surrender was signed by Lieutenant-General A A K Niazi (Martial Law Administrator of West Pakistan) and Lieutenant General Jagjit Singh Aurora (Joint Commander of the Bangladesh-India Allied Forces), with Jagjit Singh Aurora being the one who accepted the Pakistan’s surrender.

 

Scenario post the agreement

While Aurora accepted Pakistan’s surrender without a word, the crowd gathered outside the race course celebrated in unison their glorious day of independence.

As for the Pakistan military, as many as 93,000 Pakistani troops and officials were taken as POWs (Prisoner of Wars) by Indian Army, a number which is largest since the mammoth-like figures of World War II. However, they were later returned in 1973 under Delhi agreement terms.

 

The Winners: India and the newly independent country of Bangladesh.

India celebrates Vijay Diwas every 16 December, to commemorate its victory over Pakistan in 1971 war.

Sources: India Today, Wikipedia 1, 2, 3

Cover Image Source