I think we should have held on to the west pakistan territory as well and driven a bargain with Pakistan so that the problem of Kashmir was once for and for all sorted out. We lost a golden opportunity
capturing of 93000 Pakistani troops were a mistake instead India should have exchanged the capture territory with POK(redefining the entire boundary of J&K) & the Bangladesh-West Bengal Enclaves....Indian politician & Military leaders slip to Utopianism at the last leg of practical bargaining.
Nowhere it has been mentioned who passed the intelligence abt the high level meeting at Dhaka governor house,on which it was bombed by IAF.Infact it was an IAF intelligence which intercepted an encrypted teleconversation between officers of east & west pakistan,decrypted it locally,understood the importance of the telecon,and passed it to the higher command (SI Dte).A decision was taken,based on this int report,to bomb the governor house. When IAF was given the task,they did not have a strtegic map of Dhaka.They used a tourist map to locate the target. I know the first part of this comment because I was myself involved during this intercept operation. I feel this must be highlighted and credit must be given to the IAF int unit & its personnel who were involved in the operation. THIS SHOULD ALSO FORM A PART OF THR 1971 WAR HISTORY. Wg Cdr (Retd) Dr ML BALA
Pakistani websites say that Niazi had orders from the Pak Army Chief/President to surrender as W.Pakistan was in danger.Jacob says he gave Niazi 30 minutes and he decided to surrender in those 30 minutes.Jacob please enlighten us on that.But please truth only , no political statement.
General Jacob speaks as if all the credit goes to him for winning the war. And at times he tries to convey that Sam and Aurora were silly and incompetent. Perhaps its a case of frustration at not being recognized by the masses for that victory. Not that he wasnt instrumental in that, but his description of his seniors in the army reflects badly on his own values. Am amzed how he could defy orders and still brag about it.
RE:Pakitan Surrender
by Sourav Roy on Jan 12, 2007 08:47 AM Permalink
Ironical for a nincompoop like Gaurav to say that General Jacob was not recognized for his priceless contribution to the 1971 war. Why on earth did Rediff do a special story on his account then? Rediff's managing editor Ramananda Sengupta is surely wiser than a hundred-thousand Gauravs put together. The entire country would rather believe the wisdom of a well-informed, well-researched senior journalist like Sengupta, rather than a peanut-brained nitwit like Gaurav. Gaurav's comments sound as if he's the official history writer of the 1971 war and was present in person or should I say in spirit to save the butts of Sam Manekshaw and Aurora.
RE:Pakitan Surrender
by Nandish on May 03, 2007 10:34 AM Permalink
What a crap u r writing Gaurav. To walk into a war zone unarmed and that too holding a surrender doc and almost knowing that Indian Army wud've eventually lost the war had the surrender been turned down (foot in the mouth situation for Indian Army) by Naizi, it takes really guts from Gen.Jacob. No doubt Gen.Sam and Gen.Aurora have shown leadership skills but ultimately most of the credit shud go to Gen.Jacob.
With all due respect to the great Indian army jawans who fought with heart; I would like to say that though we manage to help Bangladesh get independence but still Bangladesh is more a friend of Pak than India. All i am saying is that was it worth looking at long term perspective. May be it would have been if our government wanted to give bangladesh more strategic importance and favoured nations status. Whatever the reason was; I think the strategic location of bangladesh (between China & India)was not predicted at that time.
Anyways, i respect Indira Gandhi for her decsions and true courage to show complete confidence in The Indain Army.
Congratulations to the editorial team at Rediff and the author of this brilliant piece, Mr Ramananda Sengupta. As a student of military warfare and Asian military history, we have all been students of General Jacob's military strategies taught in the University of Monash in Australia. Infact, my first introduction to General J F R Jacob was through the acclaimed British Diplomat, John Colvin's famous account of some of the most powerful and respected Jewish military generals in the word, "The Lions of Judah by Interlink books." Colvin mentions General Jacob as the True Lion of Judah from Asia and remarkably discusses his military prowess in his book, The Lions of Judah. Infact, John Colvin,a former British diplomat with positions in Oslo, Vienna, Kuala Lumpur, Hanoi, Ulaan BatOr and Washington D.C, did most western learners like me, a favour, when he wrote aboutan accurate account of General Jacob's war-winning strategies, in his book. Reading this article by Ramananda Sengupta, after already having read John Colvin's account, delights every student of Asian Military warfare and Generals. I consider this piece as a great service done to all western learners of the 1971 war.
all said and done but fact remains that those who fought and laid their lives for Motherland,must be cursing themselves,up in heaven,on seeing these politicians looting this country.They must be asking themselves if it was worth dying to keep these **** in power,who kill someone's daughter or rape a woman,at the drop of a hat.No,if you were to ask me,no,I won't like anyone to die for these people,who ultimately own the country
