Al Hasan Milad writes about the month of victory
Before and after the surrender on 16 December, the main concern of the Pakistani aggressors was their own security. They feared that the nine-month-old genocide, the rape of women, the arson and looting by the angry freedom fighters and the masses could take revenge on them.
The security of the Pakistani forces was a major topic of discussion at the time of the negotiations on the surrender agreement between Major General Jacob of the Allied Forces and Niazi of the Pakistan Army at the Pakistan Eastern Command headquarters in Dhaka Cantonment on 16 December. At that time, 94,000 members of the Pakistani army and various paramilitary forces were detained in Dhaka. Of the Indian Army. Lieutenant General AK Niazi was pushing for surrender at his headquarters in the cantonment instead of surrendering at the racecourse groundIt's not just to avoid public humiliation. The idea of saving one's own back also worked behind this.
Not that this fear was too unfounded. As Lieutenant General Jagjit Singh Aurora and Niazi's car pulled up to the racecourse, it was stopped more than once. The angry mob tried to snatch Niazi. They were saying, 'Give Niazi to us. He is a murderer. He has killed millions of us, we will judge him. '
It was agreed in the talks on surrender that even if the surrender document was signed on December 16, Niazi and his forces would not surrender their arms immediately. General Jacob allowed them to keep their weapons until December 16. As a result, even though the Pakistani forces were prisoners of war, their position in the Dhaka cantonment was armed. This is a strange situation.
Habibul Alam (Bir Pratik), a guerrilla from Sector 2 and a member of the K Force, was in Dhaka at the time. ‘This fear of Pakistani soldiers was not very unrealistic. They knew that Bengalis would never forgive their deeds. The freedom fighters would not have kept the Pakistani forces face to face. '
Three days later, on 19 December, 30,000 Pakistani soldiers surrendered their weapons at the golf course in Dhaka Cantonment. They were led by Major General Rao Farman Ali. Major General Sagat Singh of the Indian Army took up arms on behalf of the Allies.
West Bengal journalist Perth Sengupta was present at the handover ceremony. On December 19, he said, "Officers, beware! The texture of the tool! At 10:45 a.m. today, with the command of Major General Jamshed of the Pakistani ground forces, 48 Pakistani officers laid out their weapons on the green grass at the Dhaka Cantonment golf course. Then he stepped back and became the attention. Some Indian Army officers went and picked up the weapons. Various types of weapons, pistols, revolvers, LMGs, stenguns.
‘The longest lieutenant of the Pak army looked at the cantonment with a dreamy face, facing the December sun. General Farman Ali. At that very moment, 30,000 defeated soldiers of his army were surrendering their weapons in different units of the cantonment. From today, about one lakh Pak soldiers are prisoners of war in India. '
Although Rao Farman Ali was saddened by the surrender, his troops were happy. Because the surrender of arms means they are now covered by the Geneva Conventions. The fear of extinction on the roads and deserts of Bangladesh has been removed.
General Niazi was not present at the handover ceremony. The day before, he had been airlifted to Comilla Cantonment by helicopter. On the evening of 16 December, a tense situation arose in the cantonment. Tensions erupted when armed Pakistani soldiers tried to assassinate an East Bengal Regiment colonel from their barracks. A platoon of the freedom fighters wants to fight the West Pakistanis at the entrance of the cantonment. They were stopped by the Indian military authorities. On 19 December, Pakistani forces surrendered their weaponsEven after the surrender, Tastani saw soldiers roaming the cantonment area with weapons.
Although there were about one thousand officers in Dhaka garrison, more than four hundred officers surrendered their arms in a short ceremony. General Sagat Singh, who presided over the ceremony, said in his speech that it was "difficult" to ask them to surrender their weapons. But every game has some rules, there are also battles. Sagat Singh declares what facilities and rights prisoners of war will enjoy under the Geneva Conventions.
Author: Al Hasan Milad
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