December 19, 2020
Lance Naik Mangal Singh, a 26-year-old Indian Army soldier who was taken as a war prisoner during the 1971 war, is still languishing in jail in Pakistan. Almost 50 years later, his family has come to know about his whereabouts, a development that may ignite hopes in scores of others who have suffered similar ordeals.
India won the war against Pakistan because of the sheer valor and sacrifices of its armed forces and helped liberate Bangladesh, then called East Pakistan.
However, following the war, both sides captured thousands of war prisoners. The governments from India and Pakistan repatriated soldiers following the 1972 Simla Agreement. India sent back about 93,000 Pakistani soldiers and Pakistan repatriated about 600 Indian soldiers.