[1]Forty winters ago, the Indian government liberated East Pakistan from Pakistan, leading to the formation of Bangladesh. While 90,000 Pakistani troops surrendered to India, the Lt. Generals from India and Pakistan signed on the instrument of surrender on December 16, 1971.
“It was a military event of unparalleled significance. A bunch of army men signed a peace treaty on paper and left,” said retired Brigadier Mohan K. Barathan, adding that it was for the first time, after the Second World War, that one country’s armed forces surrendered to another country’s armed forces.
As part of the battalion that was stationed at Basantar, north of Jammu region, to tie down the reserves of the enemy from moving to the east, Brigadier Barathan was all praise for the ‘expanding torrent,’ a strategy used by then chief of Army staff Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw to thwart enemy movement.
“The mission was to capture Dhaka and our forces encircled the point of decision that was Dhaka by travelling through various water resources, which was made possible by the hard work of the engineering division of the Indian Army. It helped us win the war despite the gallant efforts of the Pakistani army,” said Brigadier Barathan, explaining the strategy of the entire operations that led to the liberation.
“It was a total capitulation of Pakistan. We were at sea during the whole war period and none of the Pakistani ships dared move in or out of Karachi harbour,” said retired commodore S. Shekhar, who was inside submarine INS Karanj that was in the war station on the western coast to prevent any plans of the enemy to mobilise forces on the seafront.
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[1] http://archive.asianage.com/16vijay-diwas-1jpgcropdisplayjpg-784