Lt Gen (retd) JFR Jacob, who negotiated the surrender of Pakistani troops in Dhaka after the 1971 Liberation War, has died.
The Indian army general breathed his last at the age of 92 at the R&R Military Hospital in Delhi yesterday morning after suffering from prolonged illness, reports PTI.
His family were Baghdadi Jews originally from Iraq who settled in Kolkata in the middle of the 18th century.
Jacob, motivated by reports of the Holocaust of European Jews during World War II, enlisted in the British Indian Army in 1942.
In 2012, Bangladesh honoured him for his contributions to the 1971 Liberation War.
Jacob, then a major general, served as the Chief of Staff of the Indian Army’s Eastern Command during the war.
Born in the Bengal Presidency under British India in 1923, Jacob joined the Indian army at the age of 19 and retired in 1978.
Post retirement, he also served as the Governor of the Indian states of Goa and Punjab.
