India-Pakistan standoff: Revisiting the 1971 war and the legacy of the Simla Agreement

As tensions between India and Pakistan escalate following the recent Pahalgam terror attack, both nations have taken drastic measures. India suspended the Indus Waters Treaty, prompting Pakistan to nullify the 1972 Shimla Agreement, signed after the 1971 war. With Pakistan breaching the Line of Control (LOC) ceasefire on Thursday, revisiting the 1971 war underlines India’s military prowess and its historical significance.

Spanning just 13 days, it culminated in the creation of a new nation, Bangladesh. 

The seeds of the war were sown in, East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), where a brutal crackdown by the Pakistani military on the Bengali population led to widespread atrocities. Operation Searchlight, launched on March 25, 1971, resulted in the death of hundreds of thousands and spurring the nationalist sentiment in the region. 

As the crisis led to a burgeoning refugee problem in West Bengal and Assam on the Indian side, the Indira Gandhi government decided to support the resistance movement.

Indian intelligence and military agencies trained and armed Mukti Bahini, allowing them to launch guerrilla attacks that softened Pakistani positions in the east. This proxy phase of the war destabilised Pakistani control and set the stage for India’s formal military intervention.

India launched a full-scale military offensive officially on December 3, 1971, in response to pre-emptive Pakistani airstrikes on Indian airbases. What followed was a meticulously coordinated three-pronged attack on East Pakistan from the north, west, and east, led by Indian Army generals like Lt. Gen. Jagjit Singh Aurora. In less than two weeks, Indian forces had surrounded Dhaka, Pakistan's eastern capital. The Indian Navy simultaneously blockaded Pakistani ports and the Indian Air Force established air superiority. 

Also Read: India-Pakistan standoff: A detailed comparison of defence forces across the army, navy and air force

On December 16, 1971, Lt. Gen. A.A.K. Niazi, the commander of Pakistan’s Eastern Command, surrendered to Lt. Gen. Jagjit Singh Aurora of the Indian Army in Dhaka. In one of the most iconic moments in military history, 93,000 Pakistani soldiers laid down their arms, making it the largest surrender since World War II. The formal signing of the Instrument of surrender marked the birth of Bangladesh and a humiliating defeat for Pakistan, both militarily and politically.

The Indian Navy, led by INS Vikrant, blockaded East Pakistan, launching over 300 airstrikes on Chittagong and Khulna, crippling supply lines. INS Rajput sank PNS Ghazi off Visakhapatnam, protecting Vikrant by acting as a decoy. The Indian Air Force grounded Pakistan’s number 14 squadron, while operations like the Karachi harbour bombing ensured India’s control.

After the war, India and Pakistan signed the Simla Agreement on July 2, 1972, in the hill town of Shimla. A year later, on July 2, 1972, Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and Pakistani President Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto signed the Simla Agreement. An official copy of the agreement published by the Ministry of External Affairs said that it sought to reverse the consequences of the 1971 war. The pact was aimed at restoring peace and normalising relations.