What we must as a nation realise, the 1971 War with Pakistan was a unique event in the history of the planet. For all of us who fought, even from our macro-perspectives, everything came together in a manner that few countries could ever hope for.
For decades the narrative had been hijacked. Two years ago, I stared in disbelief at a document prepared by Pakistan’s Inter-Service Intelligence Wing in which they blatantly put on the cover a photograph of two Bengali cycle rickshaw pullers who had been shot and bayoneted by the Pakistan Army in 1971. The caption blithely blamed the killings on the Indian Army and was the “official history of the 1971 War in East Pakistan”. Be it Mirpur or Baramula in 1947, or the killings and rapes in 1965 or in later years, the reality has always been brushed under the carpet with even people on our side of the border labelling it propaganda. But then history is made up of hard facts, and for those who dig deep, the truth will always be out there.
On the telephone, Shiv Kunal Verma asked me if I would be the Chief Guest for the 5th Military History Seminar that was an annual event hosted by the Welham Boys’ School since 2017. Without waiting for me to say yes, Kunal said the theme this year would be the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War, and he wanted to open the event with a session moderated by him that would focus on the genocide unleashed by the Pakistan Army and the Razakars that had killed a staggering 3 million people 50 years ago. “We’ll do away with the conventional opening remarks. I’d like to go over the mass killings with you and the Chairman of Welham Boys’, Mr Darshan Singh. Everyone knows about the Jews and the Nazis, but somehow what happened in the subcontinent, few ever talk about what happened in East Pakistan.”
The Genocide! The very word had frozen time for me. Kunal had been my co-author in 2013 when Aleph had published my autobiography, Courage & Conviction, and we had covered some of the more brutal aspects of the war in the book. Barely 21 years old then, I had been commissioned into 2 RAJPUT (Kali Chindi) in June 1970 and had been assigned the role of the battalion’s Intelligence Officer (IO) cum the ad hoc Commando Platoon commander by my commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Dev Raj Dutt, in April 1971. When war was declared after Pakistan’s pre-emptive airstrikes against eleven Indian airfields in the Western Sector, the battalion was poised to cross the International Border in the Belonia Bulge.
2 Rajput came under attack almost immediately from the lone but spirited PAF F-86 Squadron that was based at Tezgaon and the battalion lost one of our mess boys who unfortunately poked his head out of a foxhole to see what was happening. During the next 14 days, as Indian Army units surged forward from three different directions (with the Navy kicking in from the fourth), the Pakistan Army’s tryst with instant karma seemed a foregone conclusion. From our point of view, if ever there was a “just war”, this was it…the signs of the carnage, the looting, the plunder, the rapes, the murders…were all around us. After a few decisive battles, the Pakistanis seemed to implode like a house of cards.
War is a dirty business and sometimes things on the ground do not quite reflect the entire picture. General Yahya Khan and his politically savvy chum, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, held a major trump card up their sleeve—they had in their custody Bangabandhu, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who they were quite capable of assassinating out of sheer pique. For the newly created Bangladesh, the survival of this remarkable man was vital, for the last thing the country needed was post liberation anarchy. With most of the leadership and intellectuals butchered, without Bangabandhu, Bangladesh would have been in a terrible situation. The Americans knew it. So did the Chinese. And most importantly, Bhutto knew it. Neither of the three parties liked having egg on their face.
Fifty years on and frankly, apart from the limited focus on the 14-day period, no one in India had paused long enough to understand what had really happened in East Pakistan in the intervening period between Operation Searchlight and December 1971. Now Kunal and the Welham team were wanting to go into this zone, and talk to school children about it. “If we do not tell them what happened, who will? Unless the horror of what happened is talked about, how will people ever understand what happened. We are not getting into graphic details, but giving a perspective of what happened.” Quoting Brigadier (later Lieutenant General) Adi Sethna, who was then the BGS Eastern Army Command, Kunal reminded me of the one dominating phrase that encapsulated the mindset of the ruling West Pakistan elite. ‘Sadda Punjabi… Saala Bangali!’
The rear view mirror of time…one can hear the sounds, smell the fear and the stench of death, remember the look in the unseeing eyes… 2 Rajput had just liberated Chittagong and my CO said to me, “VK, there are some reports of a Race Improvement Camp at the Chittagong Medical College… go see what it is.” After commandeering a jeep, with two of my Intelligence staff, I set off with no clue what to expect. I had already been exposed to the brash bravado of the Pakistani prisoners—especially their young officers—who showed no remorse over what had happened. They were full of bravado, even though they would turn to jelly if we so much as threatened to hand them over to the Mukti Bahini. “How many Bangalis can you kill with one bullet,” one of them had said to me. He then went on to answer the question himself: “Twelve… I have lined them up, and shot them with a rifle… number 13 and 14 were also injured, but a dozen of them were killed instantly.”
We got to the College and found the camp without too much difficulty. There were maybe 200 women herded inside, all stark naked, at various stages of pregnancy. Seeing my motely team arrive, we were surrounded immediately and they wanted to grab our weapons—not to turn on the guards but to shoot themselves for they had been reduced to a state of extreme shame, like herded animals sexually abused in a methodical manner by the Pakistani Army. There is an Associated Press film clip I believe where one of these camps was filmed, with graphic sketches in the form of graffiti encouraging the soldiers to do what they did.
What exactly happened after that, I do not know. I reported back to Dev Raj Dutt and told him what we had found. Then we got on with our jobs, documenting and guarding the Pakistani prisoners and their families before they were moved to the huge pool of 90,000 plus combatants that were being concentrated at Dacca before being moved to various POW camps in India. But try as I might, those visuals would never leave me. And even now, half a century later, they refuse to die a natural death.
Ours was the first session on the Bangladesh War and after we talked of the Genocide, the remaining sessions over the two days focused on the actual fighting. Lt Colonel Sajjad Zahir, who had defected in the Sialkot Sector to the Indian side as a Lieutenant, has on his part done yeoman service in keeping the memories of the fallen alive, especially on the Bangladesh side. He has quite appropriately been honoured by the Indian government with a Padmashree this year. Talking of the Genocide in the second session, Sajjad too emphasized the need to not only educate the people of Bangladesh and India, but of Pakistan as well. Unless the horror of what has happened is known and understood, these things have a way of repeating themselves and each and every time humanity is the victim.
As one watched the other five sessions also unfold, one could not help but marvel at the work put in by Sangeeta Kain, Sana Durrani and the rest of Team Welham in putting this incredible seminar together. From the opening musical clips performed by Welhamites under the tutelage of Shabani Arora, the various officers selected to carry the narrative forward did a commendable job. Between Kunal and Maj Gen Jagatbir Singh, both of whom are classmates from the Doon School, the moderation was seamless. Sessions covered the fighting in the Eastern Sector, the Western Sector, the Final Surrender, the Naval Operations and finally, the closing session looked at the Air War with Air Marshals Jimmy Bhatia covering the operations in West Pakistan and Harish Masand (he shot down the first Sabre flying a Hawker hunter) wrapping up the east. I would honestly urge all those who have a say in educational institutions, to find the time to make all students watch these sessions.
What we must as a nation realise, the 1971 War with Pakistan was a unique event in the history of the planet. There have been conflicts and there have been conflicts, but few Wars have ever been so justified where regardless of which faith or religion you were from, God was without any reservations on India’s side. For all of us who fought, even from our macro-perspectives, everything came together in a manner that few countries could ever hope for. In the post-Independence history of the Indian sub-continent, this was undoubtedly our golden hour. To bring this out at the grassroots level, I doff my hat to Mr Darshan Singh, for Welham Boys’ has not only ventured into unchartered territory five years ago, they have continued to sustain the Military History Seminars that in my view deserve national recognition. The greatest tribute to our fighting men is when every child knows their story—and when they in turn walk nine feet tall, everything else falls into place.
General (Dr) Vijay Kumar Singh was the Chief of the Indian Army between 2010 and 2012. Commissioned into 2 Rajput in 1970, he fought in the War of Liberation, moving from the Belonia Bulge to Chittagong with his battalion which nine years ago had borne the brunt of the Chinese attack on the Nam Ka Chu. The general has held various ministerial portfolios in the Government of India since he was first elected to Parliament in 2014.
The six sessions can be accessed through https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLo8JkhJyS-PRUBMX7ZtTQTAFboM6_zMKg