Why india fought 1971 war

One hundred and seventy-two people were killed and others were wounded during that week, according to official figures. On March 25, with Awami League cadre also in the streets, Yahya met military officers at Dhaka and gave the go-ahead for the final assault.

At Some 10 million refugees fled to India. India also launched a global diplomatic offensive to help create Bangladesh. By late November, India was ready for a military offensive. When the Pakistan Air Force launched pre-emptive strikes on airfields in Western India on December 3, , India responded by formally declaring war in the wee hours of December 4. Nifty 18, Tata Motors DVR Market Watch.

ET NOW. Brand Solutions. Video series featuring innovators. ET Financial Inclusion Summit. Malaria Mukt Bharat. Wealth Wise Series How they can help in wealth creation. Honouring Exemplary Boards.

Deep Dive Into Cryptocurrency. The refusal to accept Bengali as a state language of Pakistan in the early years after Partition, economic disparity between the two parts, the hegemony of the West Pakistani ruling elite over Pakistan, martial laws, and a demeaning attitude towards Bengali culture and the Bengali population soured relations between the two parts.

Tensions between Bengalis and Biharis — the Urdu-speaking communities that had moved to East Pakistan from different parts of India after Partition and who were seen as pro-West Pakistan — rose, which led to attacks on some Bihari communities. In March , using the violence as an excuse, the Pakistan Army intervened to stem the growth of nationalist sentiments in the east.

It recruited local pro-Pakistan Bengalis and non-Bengalis, including members of the Islamic organisation Jamaat-e-Islami for its operations against Bengali factions. As the violence escalated throughout the summer, a large number of refugees streamed into Indian territory, which New Delhi used as an excuse to intervene militarily in early December The nine-month conflict ended with the surrender of the Pakistani army on December 16; the death toll is estimated to have been between , and 3 million people , with hundreds of thousands of women raped.

This has hurt the process of transitional justice and frustrated many victims and their families for decades. Having played an important role during the war, Mujib took power after independence. He made efforts to showcase the role various military actors played in the conflict and pushed to the background the role of the civilians.

He also released the suspected war criminals and lifted the ban on Jamaat-e-Islami. In the following years, his party, the BNP, put some of its members accused of war crimes in influential positions, leaving victims increasingly troubled.

In the early s, a group of civil society actors created the Committee for Eradicating the Killers and Collaborators of , which held mock trials against suspected war criminals. Even though it had no legal legitimacy, the committee put pressure on the BNP government, which filed sedition charges against the organisers.

She sought to recast what happened in as a struggle led solely by the Awami League. During her election campaign, Sheikh Hasina also sought to appropriate the transitional justice process, promising to bring war criminals to justice by setting up a tribunal.

The army joined forces with Mukti Bahini and secured vast lands in the countryside and swiftly moved towards Dacca where Pakistan Lieutenant-General A. Niazi was stationed. On December 16, the Indian Army surrounded Dhaka and issued an ultimatum to Pakistan Lieutenant-General to surrender, who did so without offering any resistance. At the end of the war, around 93, Pakistani soldiers were captured by the allied forces.

Pakistan had suffered the most number of casualties with approximately dead and 25, wounded.