Military history of Pakistan 1969–1971

1969–1971

During the rule of General Yahya Khan, the people of East Pakistan protested against various political and economic disparities that had been imposed on them by West Pakistan and massive civil unrest broke out in East Pakistan. The Indian-backed Mukti Bahini rebels began targeted killing of West Pakistanis, Biharis and Bengalis who sympathised with them. Their pro-Pakistan Bengali and non-Bengali victims were tortured before being executed. During operations against these rebels, called Operation Searchlight, a faction of the Pakistan Army under General Yahya Khan was responsible for the 1971 Bangladesh atrocities. Atrocities by the Bengali rebels have been concealed while those by the PA have been made up or exaggerated for propaganda purposes by the Bangladeshis.
The original plan envisioned taking control of the major cities on 26 March 1971, and then eliminating all opposition, political or military, within one month. The prolonged Bengali resistance was not anticipated by Pakistani planners. The main phase of Operation Searchlight ended with the fall of the last major town in Bengali hands in mid May.
India supported Bangladeshi rebels with arms and training. By the end of 1971, the allied forces of the Indian army and the Mukti Bahini defeated the West Pakistani forces deployed in the East.The strength of the allied force was 425,000 (175,000 Bangladesh Forces along with 250,000 Indian soldiers) while the total strength of Pakistani forces was 615,000 (Pakistan Combatant Forces:365,000 and Para Military: 250,000. The Pakistani military in East Pakistan was very heavily out-numbered following a policy that "East Pakistan's defence lay in West Pakistan". After some fighting, the PA commander in East Pakistan, General Niazi, signed the Instrument of Surrender and surrendered to the Indian Army on 16 December 1971. Around 93,000 West Pakistanis taken as prisoners of war by the Indian Army. They included around 55,000 military personnel and around 35,000 government and civil employees. East Pakistan was thus made independent from West Pakistan and became the People's Republic of Bangladesh.
According to Maj. (Retd.) Agha Humayun Amin, Pakistan Army high command commanders had not seriously considered an Indian invasion of East Pakistan until December 1971 because it was presumed that the Indian military would not risk Chinese or U.S. intervention. Maj Mazhar states that the PA's senior command failed to realise that the Chinese would be unable to intervene during the winter months of November to December 1971 period due to snowbound Himalayan passes and the U.S. had not made any real effort to persuade India against attacking East Pakistan.
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