Indo-Pakistani War of 1971
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The India-Pakistan war of 1971, also called the third Indo-Pakistani war, was a war between India and Pakistan during the Bangladesh Liberation War. It lasted from December 3 to December 16, 1971, when Pakistan surrendered in Dhaka. The war started when Pakistan attacked eight Indian air bases. This made India declare war on Pakistan to help the local forces gain independence. India's involvement made the conflict bigger, with fighting on both the eastern and western sides.[30]
Thirteen days after the war began, India had a clear advantage. On 16 December 1971, in Dhaka, the Eastern Command of the Pakistan military signed the instrument of surrender.[31] This surrender led to East Pakistan becoming a new country called Bangladesh.
About 93,000 Pakistani servicemen were taken as prisoners by the Indian Army. This group included about 79,676 to 81,000 uniformed members of the Pakistan Armed Forces. It also included some Bengali soldiers who stayed loyal to Pakistan.[32][33] The other 10,324 to 12,500 prisoners were civilians. They were either family members of the military personnel or collaborators called Razakars.[34][35][32]
It is guessed that the Pakistani military and pro-Pakistani Islamist militias killed between 300,000 and 3,000,000 civilians in Bangladesh.[36][37][38][39] Because of the conflict, another eight to ten million people fled the country. They went to India for safety.[40]
During the war, the Pakistani military and pro-Pakistani Islamist militias called the Razakars raped between 200,000 and 400,000 Bangladeshi women and girls. This was done in an organized, planned way. It has been described as a campaign of genocidal rape.[41][42][43][44]
Timeline
[change | change source]Western Front
[change | change source]Eastern Front
[change | change source]Major Battles
[change | change source]Battle of Chumb
Battle of Hilli
Tank ambush at Kushtia
Battle of Ashuganj
Battle of Fazilka
Battle of Daruchain
Battle of Hussainiwala
Western and Soviet involvement
[change | change source]
The Soviet Union supported the people of East Pakistan and helped the Indian Army and Mukti Bahini fight against Pakistan during the war. They believed that East Pakistan becoming independent as Bangladesh would make their rivals, the United States and China, weaker. The Soviet Union promised India that it would help if there was a conflict with the United States or China. This promise was included in the Indo-Soviet friendship treaty and Cooperation signed in August 1971.[45]
The United States helped Pakistan politically and with supplies. President Richard Nixon and his Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger were worried about the Soviet Union spreading into South and Southeast Asia.[46] Pakistan was a close friend of China, and Nixon was trying to improve relations with China. Nixon planned to visit China in February 1972. He worried that if India attacked West Pakistan, the Soviets would gain control there. This would hurt the United States and its new friend, China. To show China that the U.S. was a good ally, Nixon sent military supplies to Pakistan through Jordan and Iran,[47] and he also urged China to send more weapons to Pakistan. The Nixon administration also ignored reports about the "genocidal" actions of the Pakistani Army in East Pakistan, especially the Blood telegram. This led to a lot of criticism from Congress and the international press.[48][49][50] The United States made a request in the UN Security Council for a stop to fighting and for India and Pakistan to pull back their troops. The Soviet Union blocked this request. In the days after, Nixon and Kissinger tried to get India to pull back, but they were not successful.[51]
President Nixon asked Iran and Jordan to send their F-86, F-104, and F-5 fighter jets to help Pakistan.[52]
When it looked like Pakistan would lose in the eastern sector, Nixon sent a group of ships led by the USS Enterprise to the Bay of Bengal. The Enterprise and its escort ships got there on December 11, 1971. A Russian documentary says that the UK also sent a group of ships led by the HMS Eagle to the Bay.[53]
On December 6 and 13, the Soviet Navy sent two groups of cruisers, destroyers, and a submarine with nuclear missiles from Vladivostok.[45] They followed U.S. Task Force 74 into the Indian Ocean from December 18, 1971, to January 7, 1972. The Soviets had a nuclear submarine also to protect against the USS Enterprise task force in the Indian Ocean.[54][55]
References
[change | change source]- ↑ Lyon, Peter (2008). Conflict between India and Pakistan: An Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. p. 166. ISBN 978-1-57607-712-2.
India's decisive victory over Pakistan in the 1971 war and emergence of independent Bangladesh dramatically transformed the power balance of South Asia
- ↑ Kemp, Geoffrey (2010). The East Moves West India, China, and Asia's Growing Presence in the Middle East. Brookings Institution Press. p. 52. ISBN 978-0-8157-0388-4.
However, India's decisive victory over Pakistan in 1971 led the Shah to pursue closer relations with India
- ↑ Byman, Daniel (2005). Deadly connections: States that Sponsor Terrorism. Cambridge University Press. p. 159. ISBN 978-0-521-83973-0.
India's decisive victory in 1971 led to the signing of the Simla Agreement in 1972
- ↑ Nawaz, Shuja (2008). Crossed Swords: Pakistan, Its Army, and the Wars Within. Oxford University Press. p. 329. ISBN 978-0-19-547697-2.
- ↑ Chitkara, M. G (1996). Benazir, a Profile – M. G. Chitkara. APH. ISBN 9788170247524. Retrieved 27 July 2012.
- ↑ Schofield, Victoria (18 January 2003). Kashmir in Conflict: India, Pakistan and the Unending War – Victoria Schofield. Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 9781860648984. Retrieved 27 July 2012.
- 1 2 Dixit, J.N. (2 September 2003). India-Pakistan in War and Peace. Routledge. ISBN 1134407572.
while the size of the Indian armed forces remained static at 500,00 and Pakistan's at around 750,000.
- ↑ Rashiduzzaman, M. (March 1972). "Leadership, Organization, Strategies and Tactics of the Bangla Desh Movement". Asian Survey. 12 (3): 191. doi:10.2307/2642872. JSTOR 2642872.
The Pakistan Government, however, claimed [in June 1971] that the combined fighting strength of the 'secessionists' amounted to about 180,000 armed personnel.
- 1 2 3 Gill, John H. (2003). An Atlas of the 1971 India - Pakistan War: The Creation of Bangladesh. National Defense University, Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies. p. 65.
- 1 2 "This Vijay Diwas, remember the sacrifices and do good by our disabled soldiers". Times of India. 16 December 2018. Archived from the original on 17 December 2018.
About 3,843 Indian soldiers died in this war that resulted in the unilateral surrender of the Pakistan Army and led to the creation of Bangladesh. Among the soldiers who returned home triumphant were also 9,851 injured; many of them disabled.
- ↑ Vulnerable India: A Geographical Study of Disaster By Anu Kapur
- 1 2 3 4 The Encyclopedia of 20th Century Air Warfare, edited by Chris Bishop (Amber publishing 1997, republished 2004 pages 384–387 ISBN 1-904687-26-1)
- 1 2 Tucker, Spencer (2008). The Encyclopedia of the Cold War: 5 Volumes [5 Volumes]. Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 978-1-85109-701-2.
- ↑ The World: India: Easy Victory, Uneasy Peace Archived 2013-01-10 at the Wayback Machine, Time (magazine), 1971-12-27
- ↑ "Chapter 10: Naval Operations In The Western Naval Command". Indian Navy. Archived from the original on 23 February 2012.
- ↑ "Damage Assessment– 1971 Indo Pak Naval War". Orbat.com. Archived from the original on 19 March 2012. Retrieved 27 July 2012.
- 1 2 3 Major General (Retd) Fazal Muqeem Khan (1973). Pakistan's Crisis In Leadership. p. 280.
- ↑ "Pakistan Air Force Combat Expirence". Global Security. 9 July 2011.
Pakistan retaliated by causing extensive damage through a single B-57 attack on Indian naval base Okha. The bombs scored direct hits on fuel dumps, ammunition dump and the missile boats jetty.
- ↑ Dr. He Hemant Kumar Pandey & Manish Raj Singh (1 August 2017). INDIA'S MAJOR MILITARY & RESCUE OPERATIONS. Horizon Books ( A Division of Ignited Minds Edutech P Ltd), 2017. p. 117.
- ↑ Col Y Udaya Chandar (Retd) (2 January 2018). Independent India's All the Seven Wars. Notion Press, 2018.
- ↑ Air Chief Marshal P C Lal (1986). My Days with the IAF. Lancer. p. 286. ISBN 978-81-7062-008-2.
- ↑ "The Battle of Longewala—The Truth". India Defence Update. Archived from the original on 8 June 2011.
- ↑ "Pakistan Air Force – Official website". Paf.gov.pk. Archived from the original on 15 December 2011. Retrieved 27 July 2012.
- 1 2 "IAF Combat Kills – 1971 Indo-Pak Air War" (PDF). orbat.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 January 2014. Retrieved 20 December 2011.
- 1 2 "The South Asia military hand book" (PDF). CIA. p. 18.
- ↑ "The Sinking of the Ghazi". Bharat Rakshak Monitor, 4(2). Archived from the original on 28 November 2011. Retrieved 20 October 2009.
- ↑ "How west was won...on the waterfront". The Tribune. Retrieved 24 December 2011.
- ↑ "India – Pakistan War, 1971; Western Front, Part I". acig.com. Archived from the original on 1 August 2012. Retrieved 22 December 2011.
- ↑ "Aircraft Losses in Pakistan - 1971 War". Archived from the original on 1 May 2009. Retrieved 24 April 2010.
- ↑ "India: Easy Victory, Uneasy Peace". Time. 27 December 1971. Archived from the original on 13 June 2017. Retrieved 24 April 2016.
- ↑ "1971 War: 'I will give you 30 minutes'". Sify. Archived from the original on 6 December 2010. Retrieved 14 April 2011.
- 1 2 Burke, S. M (1974). Mainsprings of Indian and Pakistani Foreign Policies – S. M. Burke. University of Minnesota Press. p. 216. ISBN 9780816607204. Retrieved 27 July 2012.
- ↑ Bose, Sarmila (November 2011). "The question of genocide and the quest for justice in the 1971 war" (PDF). Journal of Genocide Research. 13 (4): 398. doi:10.1080/14623528.2011.625750. S2CID 38668401. Archived (PDF) from the original on 10 October 2017. Retrieved 27 March 2016.
- ↑ "Jamaat claims denied by evidence". THE DAILY STAR. 28 February 2008. Archived from the original on 11 August 2017. Retrieved 10 March 2016.
- ↑ Haqqani, Hussain (2005). Pakistan: Between Mosque and Military. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. p. 87. ISBN 978-0-87003-214-1.
- ↑ Alston, Margaret (2015). Women and Climate Change in Bangladesh. Routledge. p. 40. ISBN 9781317684862. Archived from the original on 13 October 2020. Retrieved 2016-03-08.
- ↑ Debnath, Angela (2012) [First published 2009]. "The Bangladesh Genocide: The Plight of Women". In Totten, Samuel (ed.). Plight and Fate of Women During and Following Genocide. Transaction Publishers. p. 55. ISBN 978-1-4128-4759-9. Archived from the original on 15 October 2020. Retrieved 2016-03-08.
- ↑ Cite error: The named reference
usconsulate_cable_march31was used but no text was provided for refs named (see the help page). - ↑ Kennedy, Senator Edward, "Crisis in South Asia – A report to the Subcommittee investigating the Problem of Refugees and Their Settlement, Submitted to U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee", 1 November 1971, U.S. Govt. Press, page 66. Sen. Kennedy wrote, "Field reports to the U.S. Government, countless eye-witness journalistic accounts, reports of International agencies such as World Bank and additional information available to the subcommittee document the reign of terror which grips East Bengal (East Pakistan). Hardest hit have been members of the Hindu community who have been robbed of their lands and shops, systematically slaughtered, and in some places, painted with yellow patches marked 'H'. All of this has been officially sanctioned, ordered and implemented under martial law from Islamabad."
- ↑ Rummel, Rudolph J., "Statistics of Democide: Genocide and Mass Murder Since 1900" Archived 21 February 2016 at the Wayback Machine, ISBN 3-8258-4010-7, Chapter 8, Table 8.2 Pakistan Genocide in Bangladesh Estimates, Sources, and Calculations Archived 4 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine: lowest estimate 2 million claimed by Pakistan (reported by Aziz, Qutubuddin. Blood and tears Karachi: United Press of Pakistan, 1974. pp. 74, 226), some other sources used by Rummel suggest a figure of between 8 and 10 million with one (Johnson, B. L. C. Bangladesh. New York: Barnes & Noble, 1975. pp. 73, 75) that "could have been" 12 million.
- ↑ Sharlach, Lisa (2000). "Rape as Genocide: Bangladesh, the Former Yugoslavia, and Rwanda". New Political Science. 22 (1): 92–93. doi:10.1080/713687893. S2CID 144966485.
- ↑ Sharlach, Lisa (2002). "State Rape: Sexual Violence as Genocide". In Kent Worcester; Sally A. Bermanzohn; Mark Ungar (eds.). Violence and Politics: Globalization's Paradox. Routledge. p. 111. ISBN 978-0-415-93111-3.
- ↑ Sajjad, Tazreena (2012) [First published 2009]. "The Post-Genocidal Period and its Impact on Women". In Tottne, Samuel (ed.). Plight and Fate of Women During and Following Genocide. Transaction Publishers. p. 225. ISBN 978-1-4128-4759-9.
- ↑ Mookherjee, Nayanika (2012). "Mass rape and the inscription of gendered and racial domination during the Bangladesh War of 1971". In Raphaëlle Branche; Fabrice Virgili (eds.). Rape in Wartime. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 68. ISBN 978-0-230-36399-1.
- 1 2 "1971 India Pakistan War: Role of Russia, China, America and Britain". The World Reporter. 30 October 2011. Archived from the original on 2011-11-01. Retrieved 2011-10-30.
- ↑ "Foreign Relations, 1969–1976, Volume E-7, Documents on South Asia, 1969–1972". US State Department. Retrieved 2009-10-20.
- ↑ Stephen R Shalom. "The Men Behind Yahya in the Indo-Pak War of 1971". Retrieved 2009-10-20.
- ↑ "The U.S.: A Policy in Shambles". Time Magazine, 20 December 1971. 20 December 1971. Archived from the original on 24 August 2013. Retrieved 2009-10-20.
- ↑ Hanhimäki, Jussi (2004). The flawed architect: Henry Kissinger and American foreign policy. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-517221-8.
- ↑ "The Nixon Administration's South Asia policy... is beyond redemption.", wrote former USAID director John Lewis. John P. Lewis (9 Dec 1971). "Mr. Nixon and South Asia". New York Times.
- ↑ 1971 War: How the US tried to corner India. Rediff.com. Retrieved on 2011-04-14.
- ↑ Burne, Lester H. Chronological History of U.S. Foreign Relations: 1932–1988. Routledge, 2003. ISBN 041593916X.
- ↑ "British aircraft carrier 'HMS Eagle' tried to intervene in 1971 India - Pakistan war". Archived from the original on 2016-01-10. Retrieved 2011-11-18.
- ↑ "Cold war games". Bharat Rakshak. Archived from the original on 2006-09-15. Retrieved 2009-10-20.
- ↑ Birth of a nation. Indianexpress.com (2009-12-11). Retrieved on 2011-04-14.
