Indian veteran: Calling ‘71 Indo-Pak war is not fully correct

An Indian veteran of the 1971 Liberation War has said that calling the battles ‘Indo-Pak War’ would not be fully correct. “It was a war between Pakistan and the allied forces,” Lt Gen (retd.) Jay Bhagwan Singh Yadava told reporters at the Radisson Hotel in Dhaka on Monday during an interaction. Lt Gen Yadava led the 27-member delegation of Indian 1971 war veterans that visited Bangladesh at the invitation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to take part in Victory Day celebrations.  The team will depart for India today. “We aligned our forces with the freedom fighters and came up against a common enemy,” the veteran officer said when asked about differences of opinion on this historical event. He offered one argument on why the term Indo-Pak War might have emerged. He said that during the war, Pakistan had attacked India on the western frontier and India had attacked Pakistan as well. Pakistani forces had come 9km past the border, he said. The Indian army had reached close to Sialkot in Pakistan as well, he added. “Anyway, the battles at the Pakistan border may be called Indo-Pak war but the war in Bangladesh is Pakistan against allied forces,” he said. Bangladesh is in a state of safety and security in the hands of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, he said. “The country is an island of peace, development and harmony,” the veteran added. Yadava said the veterans were impressed with the development of Bangladesh. He recounted his memories of the war. On December 3, 1971, Yadava’s forces entered Bangladesh through Hili border, passed Rangpur and came to Bogra. “There was only one road from Rangpur to Bogra. Gaibandha was only villages,” he said. He said the veterans were impressed with the prowess of the Bangladesh army and were taking home very positive memories. Bangladesh has always played a positive role in maintaining peace and cohesion in South Asia, the Indian officer said. Bangladesh and India have the same philosophy against terrorism, Yadava added. Speaking fondly of the allies, Yadava said the tie between the Indian army and the freedom fighters was one of blood and sweat and it was an unbreakable bond.

‘Brutal Pakistani commander prayed for his life’

On December 16 after Pakistan army declared defeat from Dhaka, allied forces were expecting the Pakistani occupying forces in Bogra to surrender, Yadava said. However, Brig Tajammul Hussein Malik, the Pakistani commander there, who was infamous for his brutality during the Liberation War, reportedly told his soldiers that anyone who will try to surrender will be shot dead. “But he himself changed into civilian clothes to escape through Malda in India and northward to Nepal, and from there to Pakistan,” he said. Civilians spotted him and informed local freedom fighters, who caught him and began to beat him up. “Tajammul begged for his life and asked them to hand him over to the Indian army, because he knew what the freedom fighters would do to him for his brutality,” he said. “He was lucky that an Indian patrol team was passing the spot. When he saw the patrol team, he raised his hands and shouted, I am Brigadier Tajammul, save me,” he said. The Indian army saved him in a pitiful state.