ARMY CHIEF General V.K. Singh’s recent visit to Bangladesh was impactful and with special significance in the light of resuming and replenishing the historical military relationship and cooperation between the two countries’ armed forces.
The visit also added fillip to India-Bangladesh relations by recalling the challenging period of struggle of the Bangla people under the leadership of the late Sheikh Mujibur Rehman, popularly nicknamed Banga Bandhu, when India provided moral and military support. His political party, the Awami League, headed by his daughter, Sheikh Hasina, came back to power with a massive electoral mandate after a long innings of its rival Bangladesh Nationalist Party, which did much damage to India-Bangladesh relations.
For General Singh, the visit was special because it came 40 years after he participated in the 1971 India-Pakistan war to liberate Bangladesh. It was on May 15, 1971 that the Indian Army took over the task of aiding the Mukti Bahini. The Eastern Command, headed by Lt. Gen. J.S. Aurora, provided the logistical and training needs and, to some extent, lent operational support and planning advice. Codenamed “Operation Jackpot”, it began under the command of Maj. Gen. Onkar Singh Kalkat and after two months it was handed over to Maj. Gen. B.N. “Jimmy” Sarkar. The border areas around the erstwhile East Pakistan were divided into six logistical sectors, each commanded by a brigadier from the Indian Army. The Indian logistical sectors for this operation were:
(a) Alpha HQ: Murti Camp, West Bengal, commanded by Brig. B.C. Joshi — supporting Mukti Bahini sector No. 6.
(b) Bravo HQ: Rajgaunj, West Bengal, commanded by Brig. Prem Singh — handling logistics for Mukti Bahini sector No. 7.
(c) Charlie HQ: Chakulia, Bihar, commanded by Brig. N.A. Salik, giving logistical support to sectors No. 8 and 9.
(d) Delta HQ: Devta Mura, Tripura, commanded by Brig. Shabeg Singh, supporting sectors No. 1,2 and 3.
(e) Echo HQ: Masimpur, Assam, commanded by Brig. M.B. Wadh, coordinating logistics for Mukti Bahini sectors 4 and 5.
(f) Foxtrot/later Foxtrot Juliet, HQ: Tura, Meghalaya, commanded by Brig. Sant Singh, supporting sector 11.
General Singh was a young lieutenant when his battalion, 2nd Rajput, was deployed at Tura for training the Mukti Bahini during the pre-war period.
Despite limitations and challenges rising from training camps being located inside India, the remoteness of the guerrilla bases, unavailability and inadequacy of proper supplies and the decision of the Bangladesh high command to put the maximum number of guerrillas into battle in the minimum time possible (often after four to six weeks of training, sometimes resulting in only 50 per cent of the personnel receiving firearms initially), the operation was effective enough to support the 30,000 regular soldiers (eight infantry battalions and sector troops), and 100,000 guerrillas that Bangladesh eventually fielded in 1971, and help run a Mukti Bahini campaign that destroyed or damaged at least 231 bridges, 122 railway lines and 90 power stations, while killing 237 officers, 136 JCOs/NCOs and 3,559 soldiers of the Pakistan Army and an unspecified number of police and paramilitary and an estimated 5,000 Razakar personnel during the period of April-November 1971. The Mukti Bahini efforts also demoralised the Pakistani Army to the extent that, by November, they left their bases only if the need arose. The contribution of the Mukti Bahini to the eventual defeat of Pakistan would not have been as effective as it was without the aid of Operation Jackpot.
After the phase of training Mukti Bahini, General Singh’s battalion moved to Tripura. When the war began, 2nd Rajput fought its way through from Belonia Bulge to Feni, to Laksham and to Chandpur, from where it turned around to come to Chittagong for the historic surrender of 93,000 Pakistan armed forces personnel all over newly liberated Bangladesh.
During the short period of just about two weeks that this war lasted Gen. Singh was promoted to the rank of captain and participated in accepting the surrender of over 2,000 rank and file of the Pakistan Army at Chittagong.
The surrender is historic not only for liberating Bangladesh from Pakistan’s horrible suppression and genocide of its people, but also for the Indian Army painstakingly observing all Geneva Conventions on humane treatment of the 93,000 prisoners of war till the day of their repatriation — much to their surprise, as expressed by many of them.
While General Singh had made special efforts to boost military-to-military ties with Bangladesh as India’s Eastern Army Commander based in Kolkata prior to taking over as the Army Chief, his visit there at the invitation of his Bangladeshi counterpart, General Mohammed Abdul Mubeen, from June 19 to 23, while nostalgic for him, became more significant as he went through his itinerary.
He called on and interacted with President Zillur Rahman, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the three service chiefs and various high-level political and military dignitaries of Bangladesh.
Interacting with this newspaper, General Singh spoke about some memorable moments during his meeting with Prime Minister Hasina, when he presented some old photographs of 1971 and a captured Pakistan Army car flag autographed by her late father, Sheikh Mujib.
Also presented to the Bangladesh Army were three 3.7-inch howitzers, a modern lab of 50 computers for training of troops and a rock-climbing wall to train mountaineers. Bangladesh’s first artillery battery, called the Mujib Battery, was formed with 3.7-inch howitzers, which India too used decades ago. These were gifted as a gesture for enhancing the legacy value of the Mujib Battery, its memory and accomplishments.
Another high point of the visit was the Indian Army Chief being invited to Bangladesh Military Academy (BMA) at Chittagong for reviewing the passing out parade on June 22. This marked the first time that an Indian dignitary reviewed a passing out parade in Bangladesh. As the chief guest at the passing out parade of the 64th Long Course and the 35th Special Course of the BMA on June 22, he reviewed the parade, took salute of the impressive march past and during his address and interaction he was able to strike a good chord by inspiring young Bangladeshi officer cadets with the spirit of the 1971 Liberation War.
General Singh also distributed trophies and awards to the outstanding cadets. Earlier, Area Commander, Chittagong Area, and General Officer Commanding, 24 Infantry Division Major General Mohammad Ashab Uddin received the Indian Army Chief on his arrival at the BMA Parade Ground.
In 1998, the former Bangladesh Army Chief, the late General Mustafizur Rahman, was invited to review the passing-out parade of the Indian Military Academy, Dehra Dun. The present chief, General Mohammed Abdul Mubeen, has been invited to be the chief guest at the next passing-out parade of the Officers Training Academy, Chennai.
Speaking to this daily, Mr Shafiqul Karim, New Delhi-based bureau chief of Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha, conveyed that while the Indian Army Chief’s visit was very well received in Bangladesh, with the warmth and reciprocity it would provide a boost to other areas of India-Bangladesh bilateral relations.
It is unfortunate that as this writer wrote this article, a statement, attributed as off the record to the Prime Minister, was quoted in the media: “But we must reckon that at least 25 per cent of the population of Bangladesh swear by the Jamaat-e-Islami and they are very anti-Indian, and they are in the clutches, many times, of the ISI.” The ministry of external affairs tried firefighting by stating: “The Prime Minister and his government and the people of India have the greatest affection for the people of Bangladesh and hold our relations with Bangladesh to be of the highest importance. It is clarified in this regard that these attributed remarks were by no means intended to be judgmental”.
In the light of all the positive security-related steps that Sheikh Hasina’s government has taken towards India, that too against great pressure and protest by her Opposition, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, and its allies/supporters, India must give all possible support to Bangladesh’s secular democratic forces and strengthen its security.
Anil Bhat, a retired Army officer, is a defence and security analyst based in New Delhi