East Pakistan: The Mukti Bahini takes shape
Issue: Book Excerpt: Indias Wars Since Independence | Date: 14 December, 2011
A bout the end of the first week of April 1971, most of the revolting Bengali troops had been flushed out into India by the sheer brute force of the Pakistani Army. Some of them were badly mauled, others had lost their weapons, all of them were torn away from their families and homes. Despite the elation of early victories in the wake of the declaration of Bangladesh’s freedom,[1] the later privations of a hazardous trek, heavy casualities, and the sight of brutal atrocities, wanton destruction of property and ruthless genocide had left them bewildered.
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Their spirits were low, and the flame of freedom, which had glowed brightly in their hearts for a few days, seemed to be flickering to extinction. For all purposes, the insurgency started on 26 March had virtually died. It was time to protect its spark and nourish it back to life again. After some reorganisation and rest, these forces began to conduct small operations against Pakistani outposts with BSF support. Unfortunately, these efforts were not very effective.
And the rebels had adopted wrong methods, for with a tremendous military balance in favour of the Pakistanis they should have gone in for guerilla warfare.
Why did the insurgency fail? According to Fazal Muqeem Khan, writing in Pakistan’s Crisis in Leadership, the Awami League had earlier formed a military committee headed by a retired Bengali officer, Col M.A.G. Osmani. This committee, says Muqeem Khan, had made a comprehensive plan in December 1970 to seize power if political negotiations failed. Whatever the truth, the revolt did not achieve any results. It is unlikely that it was properly planned. There could be no other explanation for the lack of coordination in the rebels’ operations.
Maybe their failure was due to the suddenness of Operation Blitz and its sledge-hammer blows had been more than Osmani had bargained for. And the rebels had adopted wrong methods, for with a tremendous military balance in favour of the Pakistanis they should have gone in for guerilla warfare. Instead, they chose to fight pitched battles and in consequence suffered heavy loses as at Bhairab Bazaar. Another reason for failure was that the operations were conducted by junior officers who in the flush of initial success forget the systematic achievement of nearer aims and objectives.
It can now be said that despite the Awami League’s hold on the Bengali troops in the name of patriotism, Mujib’s charisma and the professional contacts in the armed forces of Col Osmani, the organisers of the insurgency had not been able to draw up and implement an integrated plan lying down aims and objectives in proper priorities. Nor was an effort made to establish a countrywide and regional system of command and control by nominating leaders and defining areas of operational responsibility. The regular troops and their adjunct, the paramilitary forces, had no contact with the clandestine militant organisations raised by various political parties in the period of political uncertainly. As a result, the revolt had no strong popular base. It had jubilant spectators and many sympathisers, but no organised infrastructure of insurgency to sustain a prolonged effort.
Sealing the borders to stop the inflow was considered but rejected as this would have meant further massacres of Bengalis.
After the rebel forces had crossed into India, a rough and ready command structure evolved and operations in the various sectors were taken over by certain Bangladeshi officers. Maj Khalid Musharraf, Maj Ziaur Rahman and Maj Safiullah become sector commanders in the Sylhet-Comilla, Chittagong-Noakhali and Mymensingh-Tangail areas respectively.[2] The Kushtia-Jessore and Faridpur-Barisal-Khulna-Patuakhali areas became the responsibility of Maj Usmanand Maj Jalil respectively. They were all well-trained officers of the Pakistani Army, and the first two had been through special training and service with commando companies.
The failure of the revolt and the poor results obtained by the rebel forces in their operations after crossing into India led to a detailed appraisal of the situation by the Indian Government in the last week of April. Initially, it had been strictly neutral, treating the affair as an internal matter of Pakistan. But with refugees pouring into India at the rate of 60,000 a day, it could no longer remain a silent spectator. Huge refugee camps had sprung up all along the 2250-kilometre border, and they presented a bewildering picture of a mass of homeless humanity. They had brought with them what little they could carry, but most of them were in rags—and they were hungry.
Providing food, shelter and clothes for them became the responsibility of the Indian Government, but, saddled with its own financial problems, it was not possible for it to carry this burden for long.[3] Sealing the borders to stop the inflow was considered but rejected as this would have meant further massacres of Bengalis. Confining the refugees to camps was essential as their penetration of the country’s interior areas would have created economic and social complications. The majority of refugees were Bengali Hindus. Their prolonged presence on Indian soil could cause serious communal trouble in India.
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The biggest worry of the Indian Government in regard to the revolt was the threat it posed to India’s own security. Extremist elements had already been active in West Bengal and had created a law and order problem in the previous two years. The Army had been called into assist the civil authorities in quelling them. In the other eastern states too subversive elements had been active for some years. If the leadership of the movement in East Pakistan fell into the hand of extremists, a very dangerous situation could have arisen for India. Hence the need to support the moderate element among the Bangladeshis, represented by the vast majority that had voted for Mujib in the December 1970 polls. The Indian aim was to get the refugees to go back, and this could be achieved only with the installation of an elected government in Dacca.
Two types of support were thought of at this stage. Firstly, a limited supply of arms was to be made available together with facilities for training in guerilla warfare. BSF had been giving such support, but it had proved ineffective. The Army was therefore asked to take on this responsibility. The other form of support was diplomatic. Though the Indian Government had not recognised the provisional Bangladesh Government as yet, this government had started functioning from Mujib Nagar in Calcutta with Tajuddin Ahmed as Prime Minister.[4]
The world’ press had given wide publicity to the atrocities committed in East Pakistan.[5] Indian diplomatic missions abroad had also projected New Delhi’s problem with regard to the refugees and the need for an elected government in Dacca so that this uprooted humanity could return to its homeland.[6]
Most foreign governments expressed sympathy for the refugees and for India’s predicament, but those who were in a position to apply pressure on Pakistan to bring democratic rule to Bangladesh did nothing. To apprise the heads of governments of important countries of the situation in the subcontinent personally, Mrs Gandhi went on two foreign tours which took her among other countries to the US and the Soviet Union.
For the time being, the Indian Government did not wish to involve the country’s armed forces in the conflict. But while India had been urging the Pakistan Government to bring about a peaceful solution of the Bangladesh problem by handing over the province to its elected leaders, Yahya Khan was becoming bellicose. It was therefore appreciated that a stage might come when war would be forced on India. Machinery was accordingly set in motion to plan for such an eventuality.
Notes:
- On 26 March 1971, civil war broke out with Sheikh Mujibur Rahman declaring a sovereign, independent People’s Republic of Bangladesh, See Asian Recorder, Vol. XVII, No 20, p. 10147,
- Op cit., “Reorganisation of Liberation Forces,” pp. 10153-54,
- Op. cit., Vol XVII, No 25, “Refugee Influx from Bangladesh, Appeal to UN,” p. 10209.
- Op cit., Vol XVII, No 20, “Democratic Republic of Bangladesh proclaimed,” p. 10154.
- Op. cit., Vol XVII, No 26, “World Press Criticism of Genocide,” p. 10228.
- OP cit., Vol XVII, No 20, “India’s Request to U Thant,”, p. 10158.
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