The Delhi Agreement was a trilateral agreement signed between

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 ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

and

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 ...

on 28 August 1973; and ratified only by India and Pakistan. It allowed the repatriation of prisoners of war and

interned Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simpl ...

officials held in the three countries after the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War. The agreement has been criticised for Pakistan's failure to repatriate Urdu-speakers in Bangladesh, not holding to account 195 senior military officials accused of breach of conduct during war and not making provision for a war crimes tribunal. The treaty was signed by the foreign ministers of

and

in New Delhi after the

Simla Agreement The Simla Agreement, also spelled Shimla Agreement, was a peace treaty signed between India and Pakistan on 2 July 1972 in Shimla, the capital city of the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. It followed the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, which ...

Background

During the 1971

Bangladesh War The Bangladesh Liberation War ( bn, মুক্তিযুদ্ধ, , also known as the Bangladesh War of Independence, or simply the Liberation War in Bangladesh) was a revolution and War, armed conflict sparked by the rise of the Benga ...

, thousands of Bengali bureaucrats and military personnel were

West Pakistan West Pakistan ( ur, , translit=Mag̱ẖribī Pākistān, ; bn, পশ্চিম পাকিস্তান, translit=Pôścim Pakistan) was one of the two Provincial exclaves created during the One Unit Scheme in 1955 in Pakistan. It was ...

along with their families by the

Pakistani Government The Government of Pakistan ( ur, , translit=hakúmat-e pákistán) abbreviated as GoP, is a federal government established by the Constitution of Pakistan as a constituted governing authority of the four provinces, two autonomous territories, ...

. In Bangladesh, many in the Urdu-speaking community wished to relocate to Pakistan.

held several thousand Pakistani prisoners of war after the Surrender of Pakistan on 16 December 1971, including 195 military officers held for breach of conduct.

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Zulfikar (or Zulfiqar) Ali Bhutto ( ur, , sd, ذوالفقار علي ڀٽو; 5 January 1928 – 4 April 1979), also known as Quaid-e-Awam ("the People's Leader"), was a Pakistani barrister, politician and statesman who served as the fourt ...

(at the time Chief Martial Law Administrator) threatened to put interned Bengali officials on trial if Bangladesh proceeded with plans to indict alleged Pakistani war criminals.

Implementation

The treaty came into effect on 28 August 1973 and ended on 1 July 1974. Under the terms of the agreement,

UNHCR The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, local integrat ...

supervised the repatriation of Bangladeshi and Pakistani citizens. According to the UN, 121,695 Bengalis were moved from Pakistan to Bangladesh. They included high-level Bengali civil servants and military officers. 108,744 non-Bengali civilians and civil servants were moved from Bangladesh to Pakistan. India released 6,500 Pakistani PoWs, who were mostly transported by train to Pakistan. In 1974, General Niazi was the last Pakistan officer symbolically repatriated through the Wagah - Attari Border. Although the agreement called for the repatriation of

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' Stranded Pakistani community in Bangladesh.

War crimes suspects

Among the PoWs, 195 Pakistani military officers held in India were identified as prime war crimes suspects. Pakistan pressed for their release as one of its key demands. It pressured several Muslim countries to withhold recognition of Bangladesh until the release of the 195 officers. India favoured their repatriation to Pakistan. In the text of the agreement, the Foreign Minister of Bangladesh,

Kamal Hossain Kamal Hossain (born 20 April 1937) is a founding leader, lawyer and politician of Bangladesh. He is known as the "father of the Bangladeshi constitution" and regarded as an icon of secular democracy in the Indian subcontinent. Hossain currently ...

, stated that:

the excesses and manifold crimes committed by those prisoners of war constituted, according to the relevant provisions of the UN General Assembly resolutions and international law, war crimes, crimes against humanity and
genocide Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people—usually defined as an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group—in whole or in part. Raphael Lemkin coined the term in 1944, combining the Greek word (, "race, people") with the Lat ...
, and that there was universal consensus that persons charged with such crimes as 195 Pakistani prisoners of war should be held to account and subjected to the due process of law.

Pakistan evaded Bangladesh's request to hold the trial of war crimes suspects. However, Aziz Ahmed, the Pakistani delegate at the Delhi meeting, stated that his government "deeply regretted any crimes that may have been committed".

Legacy

The repatriation was an important milestone in the establishment of

diplomatic relations Diplomacy comprises spoken or written communication by representatives of states (such as leaders and diplomats) intended to influence events in the international system.Ronald Peter Barston, ''Modern diplomacy'', Pearson Education, 2006, p. 1 ...

in 1974. In Bangladesh, many repatriated officials rose to prominence. A notable example was Justice Abdus Sattar, the 9th

President of Bangladesh The president of Bangladesh ( bn, বাংলাদেশের রাষ্ট্রপতি — ) officially the President of the People's Republic of Bangladesh ( bn, গণপ্রজাতন্ত্রী বাংলাদেশে ...

. Many repatriated military personnel served in the leadership of the Bangladesh Armed Forces, including Rear Admiral Mahbub Ali Khan and Lt General

Muhammad Mahbubur Rahman Mahbubur Rahman is a retired lieutenant general of the Bangladesh Army who served as the Chief of Army Staff of the Bangladesh Army from May 1996 to December 1997. He was graduated from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology in Civi ...

. Pakistan's inability to repatriate stateless Urdu-speakers in Bangladesh as well as its refusal to try those accused of war crimes remains a major sore point in Bangladesh-Pakistan relations.

References

Readings

Text of the tri-patriate agreement of Bangladesh-Pakistan-India
{{Bangladesh Liberation War Diplomatic conferences in India Bangladesh–India relations Bangladesh–Pakistan relations India–Pakistan relations Treaties of Pakistan Indira Gandhi administration Government of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto 1973 in politics 1973 in India 1973 in Bangladesh 1973 in Pakistan Treaties concluded in 1974 Treaties of India Treaties of Bangladesh Treaties entered into force in 1973 Forced migration Deportation 1970s in Delhi India–Pakistan treaties 1973 in international relations