A victory, and little else

Forty years ago on December 17, India witnessed its finest military hour (and consequently Pakistan’s darkest hour), with the liberation of Bangladesh and the surrender of 93,000 Pakistani soldiers in East Pakistan. The fall of Dacca, as the city was known then, surprised many because of two reasons: first, a nuclear-armed US 7th fleet was ready, waiting to intervene and second, Pakistan’s eastern army had enough men to delay the Indian offensive, until a United Nations (UN) ceasefire would send Indian troops back to the original borders. While the common perception is that the war started on December 4, 1971, even the Central Intelligence Agency was unable to “determine to any certainty as to which side had initiated hostilities on 3rd December”.

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