Bangladesh honours 12 Indian Armed Forces personnel on the eve of Vijay Diwas

On the eve of Vijay Diwas, the Bangladesh government posthumously honored 12 Indian Armed Forces personnel for sacrificing their lives during the 1971 Indo-Pak war. Vijay Diwas is celebrated on 16 December to remember the victory of Indian Defense forces over Pakistan in 1971 during the war of independence of Bangladesh.

Lt Gen M M Naravane, GOC-in-Chief Eastern Command of the Army, described the honoring of the families of martyrs as a great initiative by the Bangladesh Government and said, it will continue in the years to come and will also strengthen the diplomatic relations between the two nations. “We were forced into this conflict because of a humanitarian crisis of gigantic proportion, resulting in the annihilation of Pakistan Army and the birth of Bangladesh. Very rarely it has happened that when two countries fight, a third country is born,” said Naravane at the event.

Bangladesh Minister of Liberation War Affairs, AKM Mozammel Haque handed over the ‘Sammana’ plaques to the families of martyrs. The felicitation ceremony took place at Fort William, the headquarters of the Indian Army’s Eastern Command. The 12 Armed Forces personnel include seven from Indian Army, two from Indian Airforce, two from BSF and one from Indian Navy.

The Bangladesh delegation included 30 ‘Muktijoddas’ and six serving officers of Bangladesh’s Armed Forces. The members of Mukti Bahini force were called Muktijoddas, which was formed by Bengali personal of Pakistani security forces and civilians to fight for the Independence of Bangladesh. Mozammel Haque described 16 December as the most glorious day in the life of every Bengali and said, the fruits of freedom were achieved after a long-suffering of genocide by Pakistani forces. It was estimated that around 30 Lakh people were killed and more than two Lakh women were raped by Pakistani forces.

On 16^th December, 47 years back, Pakistan lost half of its country, the part of land known as East Pakistan, and had to publically surrender to the Indian Army. The history remembers this event as a largest military surrender after World War II.

The whole world was silent about the cruelty by the Pakistani army in Bangladesh (East Pakistan then). Archer Kent Blood, an American diplomat and Consul General to Dhaka at that time, sent the strongly worded “Blood Telegram” protesting against the atrocities committed in the Bangladesh Liberation War.

In spite of this, the American government took no action. Due to diplomatic reasons and historic turnouts with Pakistan, India Government was resisting itself from looking into the matter. But India was forced into war when Pakistan launched an air strike on 11 Indian airbases. India quickly responded and captured around 15,000 KM of land in West (Today’s Pakistan).

The war finally ended in December 1971, after Pakistani General Amir Abdullah Khan Niazi, along with 93,000 troops, surrendered to the joint forces of Indian Army and Bangladesh’s Mukti Bahini. Afterward, General Niazi signed the Instrument of Surrender on 16 December to Lieutenant General Jagjit Singh Arora, which led to the formation of Bangladesh.

The then PM of India, Indira Gandhi took a strong decision for helping Bangladesh and Indian Defense forces completed the task with full efficiency as they always do. Vijay Diwas will always be remembered as a red-letter day in the history of our nation.