War of 1971

|By Brigadier Mehboob Qadir (R)| It was mid 1972. We had just arrived in Ranchi from Agra, badly shaken and bruised, after a fateful train journey, during which we lost a fellow officer, killed by an armed escort needlessly, and another missing. We were prepared for the expected hardships; not that it would have been unusual, but in the business of ...

There is a Prisoner Of War (POW) story of my course mate Joe I would like to tell. He passed away in 2011 in Pune of brain haemorrhage. My story below is what I recollect of it from what he told me about it in 1973-74. Afterwards he never talked about it despite my repeated urging him to write an auto ...

|By Col NN Bhatia (Retd)| Capturing prisoners of war (POW) is as old as man kind and warfare.  In the earliest history, men captured used to be either slaughtered or made slaves. The captured women and children were more likely to be spared but many times the purpose to capture women as concubines for sex, sexual abuse and pleasure. The ...

|By Col Nadir Ali (Retd) , Pakistan Army|   Former Pakistani Col Nadir Ali’s talks of his experiences from 1971 in Bangladesh at the BRAC University in Dhaka. Historicizing a personal narrative is difficult in the best of times. Recalling 1971 is a very sensitive issue and it touches most of us very deeply. First, a litte of the personal: ...

|By Col. NN Bhatia (Retd)| The Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 is synonymous with liberation of Bangladesh that commenced with Pakistan launching of Operation Chengiz Khan on 3 December 1971 through pre-emptive strikes on 11 Indian airbases. The war effectively came to an end after the Eastern Command of the Pakistani Armed Forces deployed to protect Eastern Wing of the country signed Instrument ...

|By Col NN Bhatia (Retd)| The Battle of Gadra City fought on the night of 4/5 December 1971 was one of the important battles in the Western Theatre. 15 KUMAON (Indore) won a famous victory on the back of sound leadership, detailed planning and extensive rehearsals, great comradeship and flawless execution involving surprise and personal bravery. Before the description of the ...