‘India’s Secret War: BSF and Nine Months to The Birth of Bangladesh’, authored by Ushinor Majumdar and published by Penguin is a detailed, public telling of how India, through the BSF, trained, equipped and fought side-by-side with the regular and irregular forces of Bangladesh.
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1 The MVC recipients: Brig (later Maj Gen) HS Kler and (right) Brig (later Lt Gen) Anand Sarup.
Lt Col Dilbag Singh Dabas (Retd)
Chakra awards are associated with the bravery displayed in the face of the enemy. During war, the senior-level commanders’ primary role is planning of operations based on overall strategy and for that they need not be personally facing the enemy. They perform the most challenging tasks by formulating operational plans sufficiently simple and flexible for the junior commanders and leaders to execute.
A military operation seldom proceeds as planned because the enemy’s reaction can never be factored in since his representative wouldn’t be on board while planning. During execution, the senior commanders follow minute-to-minute progress of the battle and should the execution get stalled or even boomerangs, take on-the-spot decisions to ensure success. They are not just responsible but also accountable for the successes as well as failures. By
June 10, 1971 PAKISTAN DECLARES AMNESTY The Pakistani Government offered today a general amnesty extending to military deserters and politicians and asked refugees to return home. The offer, issued in Dhaka by Lieutenant General Tikka Khan, military governor of East Pakistan, omitted an earlier government statement that returning refugees would be carefully screened for
Members of the Mukti Bahini preparing for their next guerilla attack.
On May 1, 1971, General SHFJ Manekshaw issued the Indian Army Operational Instruction No. 52. A structured policy to provide training facilities and logistical and operational support for the liberation of Bangladesh was prepared by Lieutenant General Jagjit Singh Aurora, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief (GOC-in-C) Eastern Command. The Indian Army was responsible for training, equipping, and providing logistical support to Mukti Bahini. Selection of personnel, discipline, motivation, planning and execution of operations were an exclusive prerogative of the Commander-in-Chief (C-in-C) Bangladesh. An elaborate procedure was adopted for the selection of recruits for Mukti Bahini. Youth from all over Bangladesh were recruited to cover the entire territory. They were trained in the Indian Army s Operation Jackpot sectors training camps located close to their native places. The Indian Government s Ministry of Rehabi