Prisoners Of War During The Indo-Pakistani War Of 1971

The Pakistani prisoners of war during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 were the servicemen deployed in the Eastern Command of the

Pakistan armed forces The Pakistan Armed Forces (; ) are the military forces of Pakistan. It is the world's sixth-largest military measured by active military personnel and consist of three formally uniformed services—the Army, Navy, and the Air Force, which are ...

who were held in by the

Indian Army The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is a four- ...

. Pakistan's Yahya administration conveyed their intentions to retreat from their eastern wing to the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

on 10 December 1971, and a formal surrender was submitted and accepted when the

Commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countries this naval rank is termed frigate captain. ...

of Eastern Command and Governor of East Pakistan, Lieutenant-General

A.A.K. Niazi Lieutenant General Amir Abdullah Khan Niazi (1915 – 1 February 2004) was a Pakistan Army general. During the Bangladesh Liberation War and the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, he commanded the Pakistani Eastern Command in East Pakistan (now Bang ...

, signed an instrument of surrender with his counterpart, Lieutenant General

Jagjit Singh Aurora Lieutenant General Jagjit Singh Arora (also Jagjit Singh Aurora)Both spellings are used in official documents; though "Aurora" predominates in the listings in the pre-Independence ''Indian Army List'', as do those in the ''Gazette of India''. ...

, GOC-in-C of Eastern Command, on 16 December 1971. The surrender ultimately culminated in the conclusion of liberation efforts in East as

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

accepts the unilateral ceasefire to end its war efforts in the western theatre on 17 December 1971. The surrender was the largest surrender that the

World In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

had witnessed since the

end of World War II End of World War II can refer to: * End of World War II in Europe * End of World War II in Asia World War II officially ended in Asia on September 2, 1945, with the surrender of Japan on the . Before that, the United States dropped two atomic ...

, with Indian Army taking approximately 93,000–95,000 Pakistani service personnel as

war prisoners A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of w ...

in East. Due to the concern of their safety and wellbeing, the war prisoners were transported via

train In rail transport, a train (from Old French , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles that run along a railway track and Passenger train, transport people or Rail freight transport, freight. Trains are typically pul ...

and air, where they were held in the war camps by the

in different parts of India. The issue of transfer and transportation of war prisoners to India was very controversial between the India and Bangladesh since the

Provisional Government of Bangladesh The Provisional Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh, popularly known as the Mujibnagar Government, was established following the Bangladeshi Declaration of Independence, declaration of independence of East Pakistan as Banglades ...

had shown strong resistance and opposition of such act to India as they wanted to bring charges on the war prisoners on the

crimes against humanity Crimes against humanity are widespread or systemic acts committed by or on behalf of a ''de facto'' authority, usually a state, that grossly violate human rights. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity do not have to take place within the ...

in their special courts established in

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), formerly known as Dacca, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest Bengali-speaking city. It is the eighth largest and sixth most densely populated city ...

. The overwhelming majority of war prisoners were officers, most of them were in the

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

and

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...

, while relatively small number of

Air Force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an a ...

and

Marines Marines, or naval infantry, are typically a military force trained to operate in littoral zones in support of naval operations. Historically, tasks undertaken by marines have included helping maintain discipline and order aboard the ship (refle ...

; others in larger number had served in paramilitary forces. India treated the war prisoners in accordance to the

Geneva Convention upright=1.15, Original document in single pages, 1864 The Geneva Conventions are four treaties, and three additional protocols, that establish international legal standards for humanitarian treatment in war. The singular term ''Geneva Conven ...

, ruled 1925, but used this issue as a tool to coerce Pakistan into recognizing the sovereignty of

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

after three countries reached compromised in 1974. The issue of war prisoners contributed in quick recognition of Bangladesh but it also had effects on India securing its eastern front from Pakistan-controlled hostile state, East-Pakistan, to India supported

. According to Pakistani observers and commentators, India, by taking and managing the ~97,000 war prisoners in

-ran camps, had gained itself a

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