The Bangladesh liberation war ignited after the 1970 Pakistani election, in which the
east pakistani Awami League won 167 of 169 seats from east pakistan and thus secured
an absolute majority in the 313-seat lower house of the parliament of Pakistan ( majlis-e-shoora).
Awami league leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman 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 in east pakistan.
A widespread genocide against the population in east bengal forced india to accept around
10 million refugees in 1971.Tikka Khan, the military commander in east pakistan in 1971,
earned the nickname of the “butcher of bengal” due to the atrocities he committed.
With the mounting refugee crisis, the then prime minister of India, Indira Gandhi decided
to intervene in the Pakistan civil war and help liberate east pakistan.
Due to the intervention of India in their civil war, west pakistan grew hostile.
Pakistani air force launched a pre-emptive air strike on eleven air-fields in india on
3rd december 1971 at around 5:40 pm.
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.
The strategy was to try and catch the indian air force napping.
But India was alert and the tactic did not work.
A interesting point to note is that, during these attacks, Taj Mahal was covered with
twigs and leaves and draped with burlap as its marble glowed very bright.
The Indian Air Force, wiped out the pakistani air force within the first week of the war.
The Indian Navy was not behind.
It conducted operation Trident . Karachi port was attacked by India on the night of 4th
& 5th december in which pakistani destroyer PNS Khyber , minesweeper PNS Muhafiz were
destroyed and PNS Shah Jahan was badly damaged.
U.S supported Pakistan in this war.
On December 9, Nixon (then president of U.S) decided to send U.S seventh fleet lead by 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.
U.K also helped Pakistan.
British naval group led by the aircraft carrier HMS Eagle moved closer to india’s territorial waters.
The british and the americans had planned a coordinated movement 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.
Sri lanka helped pakistan in the 1971 war by allowing its aircraft to refuel at Bandaranaike
International Airport in Colombo.
In 1948, Sri lanka radically changed its constitution, de-recognizing Tamil as a co national language
and declaring Sinhalese as the sole national and official language of the country depriving
tamils of most of the government jobs.
Indian government repeatedly warned the Sri Lankan government, but they didn't pay any
heed to indian warnings.
India-Sri Lanka relations where sailing through stormy waters.
Due to this scenario, Sri Lanka helped Pakistan.
The Soviet Union sympathized with the Bangladeshis, and supported India.
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 Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation signed
in august 1971.The Soviet navy dispatched two groups of cruisers and destroyers and
a submarine armed with nuclear missiles to help india.
The russian maneuvers helped thwart the move of US UK combine.
A long standing ally of Pakistan, China was encouraged by us to mobilize its armed forces
along its border with India.
However, due to lack of dominant positions on the Sino-Indian border & fear of possible
back clash from USSR ,China did not intervene.
There was also a line of thought in that independence for east pakistan was a foregone conclusion.
China endorsed un proposal for a ceasefire & demanded mutual troop withdrawal ,but was
not prepared to intervene militarily.
U.S downplayed the deteriorating refugee situation.
U.S was close to Pakistan and had taken a very hostile stand towards India as India was a
ally of USSR.
This hostile aggressive stand taken by Nixon was sought to be justified under the false
premise that Indira Gandhi was right from the beginning determined to attack east bengal.
This, however, was a lie and Nixon, knew very well that she had tried her best to avoid
confrontation with Pakistan.
As a matter of fact, Indira Gandhi tried her best to persuade Nixon to intervene at an
early stage to help her do so.
In July 1971, Kissinger had a stop-over in india on his secret visit to China.
At that time mass fleeing from east pakistan and terror by the pakistan army were creating
havoc in West Bengal and the rest of the country.
She, therefore, invited Kissinger for a private breakfast to be able to discuss the matter urgently.
However, on the previous evening Mrs Indira Gandhi telephoned General Manekshaw, army
chief, and told him that she would like him to come and meet her at breakfast the next morning.
She did not disclose as to who her other guests were.
She further told the general that when he comes for breakfast, he should come in
army uniform.
So, General Manekshaw went for breakfast in full uniform and soon they were joined by
Kissinger.
At that meeting Mrs Indira Gandhi was persistent in asking Kissinger to plead with Nixon that
he should try to restrain Pakistan from what was being done in east pakistan . She explained
that because the conditions there were becoming intolerable, it was almost becoming impossible
for India to remain silent.
Kissinger, however, went on dodging and would not really give a straight answer.
Mrs Gandhi, however, still insisted, but to no avail.
Kissinger would not give any assurance that nixon would do something about it.
At that time she stood up and pointing towards the general (who was in full military uniform)
told Kissinger that “if the U.S government and U.S president cannot control the situation
then i am going to ask him (meaning the general) to do the same”.
There was stunning silence for a minute and the sharp message was conveyed to Kissinger
in a very stark manner.
As a matter of fact, the general was himself surprised and suddenly understood the purpose
as to why he had been asked to come in uniform rather than in civilian clothes at apparently
a harmless meeting at breakfast.
Pakistani troops, aided by their local islamist collaborators, killed an estimated three million
people, raped over 300,000 women, destroyed innumerable homes, and forced millions more
to leave their homes during the bloody nine-month war.
The bengali freedom fighters displayed unparalleled bravery in the war against pakistan's regular army.
Lasting just 13 days, it is one of the shortest wars in history.
Approximately 90,000 prisoners of war, including pakistani soldiers and their east pakistani
civilian supporters were taken by India.
Its the largest capitulation since general Paulu's surrender at Stalingrad in 1943 in
world war 2.
It was also the one of the most swift victory in history.
6 day war fought between june 5 and 10, 1967 by Israel against the neighboring states of
Egypt , Jordan, and Syria can be compared to this victory in swiftness.