Indias Wars Since Independence The Liberation Of Bangladesh

Written in three parts, the first part deals with the full-length study of the campaign that led to the creation of Bangladesh in 1971, the second cuts a broad swatch including the hostilities on the western border with Pakistan in the 1971 war. It assesses military strategy in relation to the previous wars with Pakistan and China.

Study by an Indian Army officer on the basis of his personal experiences.

Triggered by the US-backed Pakistani junta's brutal measures against the Bengalis Sheikh Mujibur Rahman proclaimed the independence of East Pakistan on 26 March 1971. They needed the world's support and was their first ally. The Border Security Force (BSF) an elite Indian force was only five years old at the time and became central to India's sustained military response in East Pakistan for nine months until the alliance of Indian and Bangladeshi forces won Dacca. The BSF's founding chief K.F. Rustamji and his men went beyond their charter of policing borders to respond to one of the world's worst humanitarian crises that was unfolding right next door to India. For nine months till the 1971 India-Pakistan war they covertly gave support to the forces of resistance through clandestine missions and black ops deep in East Pakistan while diplomats and politicians primed the world for the war. They welcomed democratically elected politicians and helped establish them as the government-in-exile installed a clandestine radio station triggered the defections of East Pakistani diplomats and foiled the Pakistan Army's tactical trump card to damage the Indian Air Force bases. With access to classified records and through exhaustive interviews with surviving veterans award-winning investigative reporter Ushinor Majumdar has crafted this first comprehensive historical account of the BSF's role in the Bangladesh liberation war which changed the course of South Asian history.

Offering a strategic analysis of the evolution of the Indian Army, Maj Gen Sukhwant Singh offers a first hand report of the various wars fought by the Indian Defence Forces since the independence of the country. He lists the causes and effects of the Indo-China War of 1962; he also talks exclusively about the formation of Bangladesh and the contribution made by the Indian Army in that regard; This book is divided into three parts. The first part deals with the full-length study of the campaign that led to the creation of Bangladesh in 1971. Written authoritatively with the inside knowledge of the developments, both in the field and at the Army Headquarters, it makes a professional appraisal of leadership, strategy and tactics. The second part of the study of independent India at war cuts a broad swatch including the hostilities on the western border with Pakistan in the 1971 war. It assesses military strategy in relation to the previous wars with Pakistan and China, describes the evolution of the three wings of the defence services from the time of their inception, evaluates their various roles in 1971, and pinpoints the weaknesses inherent in the present set-up in relation to the functions the services are called upon to fulfill to ensure the protection of national interest. In the third and final part on India's wars since independence, a frank appraisal of the lessons that they teach and the questions that they raise in relation to the problem of building a credible and meaningful defense system for the country are dealt with. "A thousand years of Indian history in replete with stories of humiliating defeats and subjugations by foreign invaders, who either rolled down the five passes in the Hindu Kush mountains in the north of from the sea in the south," says Major General Sukhwant Singh.

Study by an Indian Army officer on the basis of his personal experiences.

An enquiry into the causes of the Bangladesh War

Whereas India and West Pakistan won their freedom from the British in 1947, East Pakistan got new colonial masters. So the story has to begin, as has been done in this book for the first time, from the personalities who created Pakistan, the military coups and assassinations that led to political instability, the ruling cliques that jostled for power and pelf, and the misdeeds which created fault-lines between the two wings of Pakistan. This was the backdrop to the genocide carried out by Pakistan's army, which initially led to the resistance of East Pakistani troops and eventually necessitated India's training and equipping of Mukti Bahini and joint operations with India's armed forces. At the same time, dramatic events were also taking place on the world stage, in New York at the UN, in Washington, Dhaka and Islamabad which make for riveting reading.

Chiefly documents.