Arunachal Governor BD Mishra salutes soldiers of Indo-Pak 1971 war

OUR CORRESPONDENT

ITANAGAR: Arunachal Pradesh Governor Brig (retd) Dr B.D. Mishra on Tuesday saluted the bravery, courage and valour of the Indian soldiers who, died in the 1971 Indo-Pak war.

On the eve of the historic occasion of Vijay Diwas, which commemorates the victory of Indian Armed Forces over Pakistan Army in 1971 in erstwhile East Pakistan now Bangladesh, the Governor said that the 1971 Indo-Pak war was thrust on India, when Pakistan bombarded 11 of Indian Air Fields on December 3, 1971. "Pakistan's attack on India was preceded by unprecedented tyranny and genocide on the local population of the erstwhile East Pakistan," said Dr Mishra, who participated in the war.

"The war had resulted in mass exodus of the suffering Bengali population to India, which posed a great social-economic strain and threat to Indian security and unity. These challenges compelled India to defend herself against the Pakistani onslaught and save the nation from extremely unfavourable fall outs. It was under these circumstances that India was forced to fight this war, which lasted for 13 days," he said. The Governor proudly recalled that on December 16, 1971, under the leadership of Field Marshal Manekshaw, Indian Armed Forces fought and defeated the Pakistani Armed Forces in East Pakistan.

"The entire Pakistan Army surrendered en bloc. General A.A. Khan Niazi — the Commander of the Pakistani forces — laid down the arms along with his 93,000 troops before the Indian Army. This was an unprecedented forced surrender of such a large number of troops, on a single day, in any war, fought in the annals of the world Military history," he said.

The Governor expressed hope that the victory of the Indian Army will continue to inspire youth of India and promote national pride amongst our country men. "On this glorious day, I join the people of Arunachal Pradesh and the Nation in paying our rich tribute to Indian soldiers, who sacrificed their lives during the 1971 Indo-Pak war in fulfilling the mission of the Nation and defeating the enemy in his land," said the Governor in his message.

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