THE PSALM OF VALIANCE

With prime minister Indira Gandhi’s backing, General Sam Manekshaw crafted a ‘perfect war’ against Pakistan in 1971; even in triumph, he stayed modest and moderate

- R. PRASANNAN

On March 25, 1971, General Sam Hormusji Framji Jamshedji Manekshaw received a call in Pune, while visiting the Southern Command headquarters. His military assistant Depinder Singh was on the line from Delhi. Pakistan army had begun a crackdown in East Pakistan; prime minister Indira Gandhi, who had been sworn in a week ago after her resounding victory in the general elections, shall see him in the operations room in Delhi at 10:30pm.

Reaching just in time, Sam received the prime minister and defence minister Jagjivan Ram at the South Block steps. Maps had been rolled out; the ops room officers were ready. But Sam was not.

As the general spoke of the precarious military position, the smile on Indira’s face vanished. She had hoped to see a democratic government in Pakistan, where, too, an election had been held in December. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s Awami League, which was popular in the east, had won most seats in the National Assembly; but military ruler Yahya Khan, on the advice of his predecessor Ayub Khan’s foreign minister and Pakistan People’s Party leader Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was refusing to hand overpower. This had led to Rahman seeking autonomy for the east which, though richer in resources and education, had been getting less government funds and fewer jobs than the west. The east had also been demanding Bengali as the national language in addition to Urdu, which had been imposed by the rulers from the west.

The prime minister informed her Army chief that Rahman had been arrested the previous night and taken to the west, and there were street protests in the east. The Pakistan army was shooting people, looting homes, burning shops and raping women. Refugees could soon be flowing into India. Could Sam do something?