Indo-Pakistan War of 1971 - Why it Happened?

follow in November of 1971 tensions between India and Pakistan were high and a war seemed inevitable on the 3rd of December 1971 Pakistan launched operation changis Khan a preemptive airstrike on 11 of India's airfields in an attempt to gain aerial superiority prime minister of India Indira Gandhi rushed to Delhi to address the nation in a measured voice she announced a war has been forced upon us this marks the start of the third indo-pakistani war after just 13 days Indian forces had closed in and around Dhaka and received the surrender of Pakistani forces it was a devastating event for Pakistan losing the entire Eastern region of their nation and approximately 90 000 Pakistani soldiers became prisoners of war the largest military surrender since World War II it was the most significant event in the subcontinent since the partition of India in 1947 and resulted in the birth of a new and populist Nation Bangladesh the breakup of Pakistan eliminated the threat of a two-front war for India tilting the balance of power firmly in their favor there had been conflicts between India and Pakistan from the moment that the subcontinent of India was partitioned in August of 1947 ending 300 years of British colonial rule after the second world war Britain no longer had the resources to control India one of its greatest Imperial assets and in 1946 Britain announced it would Grant India Independence the population of India was around 25 Muslim with the rest mostly Hindu but also Sikh Buddhist and other religions many Muslims became worried about living in a nation ruled by a Hindu majority and started to support political leaders who campaigned for a separate Muslim Homeland such as the all-india Muslim League however Independence Movement leaders wanted a United India that embraced all faiths Britain wanted to exit as quickly as possible and decided partition was a simple solution they used religion as a way of dividing people into categories which led to the creation of two independent nation-states Hindu majority India and Muslim majority Pakistan Pakistan was split into East and West Pakistan separated by more than one thousand miles of Indian Territory the partition was Hasty and ill-informed by the use of outdated maps and large states that had common culture and traditions such as Punjab and Bengal were broken apart partition led to one of the largest migrations in human history as people moved to areas where they thought they would be part of the religious majority but many never made it due to violence starvation and disease communities that had previously coexisted attacked each other and in some areas such as Punjab violence was particularly intense as migrants fled they were massacred with terrible atrocities committed against women it is estimated that around 15 million people moved and anywhere from two hundred thousand to two million died as a result of the migration a long-running cause of tension between India and Pakistan is the dispute over the area of Kashmir which caused two indo-pakistani Wars in 1947 and 1965. when the partition was being drawn up some princely states were left to choose whether to join India or Pakistan Jammu and Kashmir was one of the largest of the princely states it had a muslim-majority population but was ruled by a Hindu Maharaja fearing that the Maharaja would choose to join India tribal Islamic forces with the support from the Pakistan Army attacked the princely state leading the Maharaja to join India to receive military aid when a formal ceasefire was declared on the 1st of January 1949 India had gained control of about two-thirds of the state Pakistan gained the remaining third and a ceasefire line was established called the line of control the dispute continued to simmer but the ceasefire held for 16 years until Pakistani leader Ayub Khan ordered operation Gibraltar Pakistan forces infiltrated the ceasefire line in Kashmir and attempted to grow indigenous resistance against India India retaliated and fighting lasted for 17 days causing thousands of casualties diplomatic intervention led to a ceasefire and following the tascant Declaration both sides agreed to observe the original ceasefire line as it existed before 1965. the ceasefire did not last long within six years the two countries were at War again but this time it was not fought over Kashmir but over East Pakistan although East Pakistan had a larger population West Pakistan had dominated the divided nation since partition most of the ruling Elite immigrated to the west and it was the nation's political Center fewer people in East Pakistan were in positions of power and economic disparity in East Pakistan grew as the majority of funding and development was diverted to West Pakistan between 1947 and 1970 East Pakistan produced 59 of the country's exports but received only 25 percent of industrial Investments another cause of conflict was language in 1948 Urdu was declared as the only Federal language of Pakistan but in East Pakistan the native language was majority Bengali spoken by 56 of the population Urdu was considered a language used by the elite and educated and it appeared that the culture of East Pakistan was being suppressed this led to what became known as the language movement on the 21st of February 1952 police fired on protesting students killing five people in 1956 Bengali became a state language which strengthened the Bengali sense of culture and individuality in 1968 a sustained anti-raging mass movement began and Street riots erupted forcing president Ayub Khan to resign he transferred power to his Protege and commander-in-chief of the army Yaya Khan who declared martial law and became the new president Khan knew that military rule could not last and declared that he would work towards the establishment of a new Constitution and the transition to an elected civilian government at this time Sheikh majibur Rahman emerged as a charismatic leader of a political party called The awami League representing the interests of East Pakistan and campaigning on Bengali Grievances and demands for greater Regional autonomy with a fair share of power and economic benefits in November 1970 a devastating Cyclone hit East Pakistan killing approximately 300 000 people and the sluggish response from West Pakistan furthered sharpening grievances in East Pakistan in December 1970 the first free and fair elections were held the awami league won nearly all of the seats available in East Pakistan but not a single seat in West Pakistan but due to the larger population in East Pakistan more seats were on offer than in the West this meant that the awami league had won a majority in the Pakistani election as a whole meanwhile the Pakistan's People's Party led by zulifkar alibuto won most seats in the less populous West Pakistan but did not win a single seat in the east the results showed a stark division based on Regional differences but an electoral victory for the east pakistan-based awami league the West Pakistan elite were shocked and unwilling to hand over power to the awami league despite their Victory fearing that their leadership would lead to the complete independence of East Pakistan despite negotiations a political deadlock ensued on the 1st of March 1971 military leader Khan dissolved his civilian cabinet and declared an indefinite postponement of the National Assembly in East Pakistan the reaction was immediate and anger erupted with strikes and Civil Disobedience on the 7th of March Sheikh majibu of Raman spoke to a crowd of 50 000 people and called for a strike and program of non-cooperation he encouraged his supporters to make every house into a fortress and fight the enemy with whatever they had a slogan of the time was Brave Bengali take up arms make Bangladesh independent West Pakistan effectively lost control of the East but to his supporters disappointment Raman did not declare independence on the 7th of March because he was still negotiating to be prime minister of all of Pakistan violence began between bengalis the Pakistan Army and the biharis the Urdu speaking communities that had moved to East Pakistan after partition and were seen as pro-west Pakistan in early March of 1971 300's biharis were killed in rioting by Bengali mobs towards the end of March talks broke down and on the night of the 25th of March 1971 Sheikh majiba Roman was arrested Yaya Khan launched a military Crackdown called operation Searchlight using anti-bihari violence as justification Pakistani soldiers were ordered to capture the main cities of East Pakistan and to disarm the Bengali military forces but they were also ordered to Massacre Bengali civilians unleashing A Reign of Terror and genocide they targeted awami League leaders students and intellectuals and Hindus the following day Rebel major ziar Rahman proclaimed the independence of Bangladesh on behalf of Sheikh majiba Rahman and a government in Exile was formed this marked the start of the Bangladesh Liberation War controversy exists over the estimations of numbers killed various reports have offered estimates between thirty thousand and three million people killed in the genocide with most historians agreeing that the number lies in the low to mid hundreds of thousands the military action surprised everyone including the U.S government in the Years leading to this moment the U.S had been an ally of Pakistan and had been arming the Pakistan military to stand up against communist encroachment in the region and these weapons were now being used in the genocide but despite learning of the atrocities the U.S decided on a policy of non-involvement seeking not to harm secret Cold War diplomatic talks with China via Pakistan the U.S consul General in Dhaka Archer blood was outraced at the lack of U.S condemnation and issued a collective statement of dissent from the U.S policy towards East Pakistan saying our government has failed to denounce the suppression of democracy our government has failed to denounce atrocities our government has evidenced what many will consider moral bankruptcy as violence escalated millions of people fled across the border to take refuge in India and a Bengali resistance force was formed called the mukti bahini meaning Liberation force in Bengali on the 31st of March Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi expressed support for the independent struggle for the people of Bengal and appealed to the International Community to ask for assistance but to no avail the influx of refugees was a problem for India's already burdened economy and in the absence of a political solution she decided it was more economical to go to war against Pakistan she ordered her Army to prepare and provided equipment training and refuge to the mukti bahini Guerrilla operations and Border shelling escalated along the border between India and East Pakistan and the mood in West Pakistan turned against India in response India built up their army on the Western border and on the 23rd of November Yaya Khan declared a state of emergency on the 3rd of December Pakistan launched the preemptive aerial strike on Indian airfields called operation changis Khan three days later Indira Gandhi recognized Bangladesh as an independent state and India and Pakistan were at War Pakistani forces in East Pakistan would surrender in Dhaka on the 16th of December 1971 bringing a quick end to the conflict on the 2nd of July 1972 Indila Gandhi and Bhutto signed a peace treaty the schimler agreement Gandhi secured the release of Sheikh majiba rahan and in return agreed to release the huge number of Pakistani prisoners of War on the 8th of January 1972 Sheikh majiba rahan was released from prison and served as the first President of Bangladesh he was assassinated along with his family just three years later during a military coup the majority of member states in the United Nations recognized Bangladesh as a Sovereign Nation in 1972 formal relations between Pakistan and Bangladesh were not established until 1976. foreign

Channel: The Intel Report

Views: 966,929

Keywords: documentary, history, india, pakistan, indian navy, indian army, pakistan army, pakistan navy, indo-pakistani war, indo-pakistani war of 1971, bangladesh liberation war, operation trident, operation python

Id: 2CMVbASedPk

Length: 13min 41sec (821 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 16 2023