December 16 is a national holiday in Bangladesh and celebrated to commemorate the defeat of the Pakistan armed forces in the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971 and the emergence of an independent Bangladesh. It commemorates the Instrument of Surrender wherein the Commander of the Pakistani forces surrendered to the Commander of the joint forces of Mukti Bahini and the Indian army, thereby ending the nine-month Bangladesh Liberation War.
This whole process, to a great extent, was taken forward through a statement made by Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in the Indian Parliament on December 6, 1971 acknowledging Bangladesh as a free and sovereign State. She said, "I am glad to inform the House that in the light of the existing situation and in response to the repeated requests of the Government of Bangladesh, the Government of India has, after most careful consideration, decided to grant recognition to the Gonoprojatontri Bangladesh." Following this declaration Pakistan untied all ties with India and the Pakistan Election Commission suspended the by-polls in "East Pakistan" due to the start of the Indo-Pakistan war. The election had been scheduled to be held on December 7, 1971. On the same day Bhutan also gave recognition to Bangladesh.
It also marked the official secession of East Pakistan to become the new State of Bangladesh. This day and event are also commemorated across India as the "Vijay Diwas."
The surrender took place at the Ramna Race Course in Dhaka. Lieutenant General Jagjit Singh Aurora, General Officer Commanding in Chief of India and Bangladesh Forces in the Eastern Theatre, also signed the instrument amid thousands of cheering crowds at the racecourse. Air Commodore A.K. Khandker Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Bangladesh Armed Forces and Lieutenant General J.F.R. Jacob of the Indian Eastern Command, acted as witnesses to the surrender. Also present were Vice Admiral Mohammad Shariff, Commander of the Pakistani Naval Eastern Command and Air Vice Marshal Patrick D. Callaghan of the Pakistan Air Forces Eastern Air Force Command.
It would be worthwhile for the readers to go through the text of the Instrument of Surrender: "The Pakistan Eastern Command agree to surrender all Pakistan Armed Forces in Bangla Desh to Lieutenant-General Jagjit Singh Aurora, General Officer Commanding-in- Chief of the India and BanglaDesh joint forces in the Eastern Theatre. This surrender includes all Pakistan land, air and naval forces as also all para-military forces and civil armed forces. These forces will lay down their arms and surrender at the places where they are currently located to the nearest regular troops under the command of Lieutenant-General Jagjit Singh Aurora.
The Pakistan Eastern Command shall come under the orders of Lieutenant-General Jagjit Singh Aurora as soon as this instrument has been signed. Disobedience of orders will be regarded as a breach of the surrender terms and will be dealt with in accordance with the accepted laws and usages of war. The decision of Lieutenant-General Jagjit Singh Aurora will be final- should any doubt arise as to the meaning or interpretation of the surrender terms.
Lieutenant-General Jagjit Singh Aurora gives a solemn assurance that personnel who surrender shall be treated with dignity and respect that soldiers are entitled to in accordance with the provisions of the Geneva Convention and guarantees the safety and well-being of all Pakistan military and para-military forces who surrender. Protection will be provided to foreign nationals, ethnic minorities and personnel of West Pakistan origin by the forces under the command of Lieutenant-General Jagjit Singh Aurora.
The Pakistani Instrument of Surrender was a legal document signed between India (alongside the Provisional Government of Bangladesh) and Pakistan to end the Bangladesh Liberation War and the Indo-Pakistan War of 1971. Consistent with the Trilateral Agreement, the Pakistani government surrendered the Armed Forces to Eastern Command, thereby enabling the establishment of the People's Republic of Bangladesh over the territory of East Pakistan. The document also corroborated the surrender of 93,000 Pakistani soldiers - the world's largest surrender in terms of number of personnel since World War II.
No reference to Bijoy Dibosh can be concluded without reference to the onslaught carried out by the Pakistan armed forces and their collaborators on the intelligentsia of Bangladesh during the Liberation War in 1971. Educationists, scientists, intellectuals, litterateurs, journalists, artists, lawyers, doctors, political leaders-- none could escape the cruel clutch of the Pakistani forces and their local collaborators. The list of those who were killed include: Professors- A.N.M. Munier Choudhury, Dr. G.C. Dev, Jyotirmoy Guha Thakurata, Ghiasuddin Ahmed; Journalists- Sirajuddin Hossain, Shahidulla Kaiser, A.N.M. Ghulam Mustafa, Abul Bashar, Selina Akhter; Physicians- Md. Fazle Rabbi, Abdul Alim Chowdhury, Mrs. Ayesha Bedoura Chowdhury, R.C. Das, Lt. Ziaur Rahman, Major Rezaur Rahman, Lt. Col. Jahangir, Asadul Haq and also Cultural persons like-Zahir Raihan, Ferdous Dowla, Altaf Mahmud and Dhirendra Nath Dutta,
Few nations have ever made so great a sacrifice in so short a time in terms of blood and loss of human lives. In this context one must also remember the colossal destruction wrought and the heavy damages caused to property. There are few parallels of this in history. Such instance of perpetrating inhuman torture on innocent and unarmed people, especially women, have rarely taken place in history.
However, the historic December 16 on which the country was delivered from tyrannical army rule, was forgotten for a time by the oppressed and downtrodden people through the success of the great victory. The Bangladeshis, on that day, saw their success as a step towards the creation of a Golden Bengal as dreamt by Bangabandhu.
In this regard, one also needs to recall how the Pakistan government tried to exterminate Bengali language and script. This design reached its culmination towards the early part of 1952. The intellectuals and students voiced their protest against each of the unjust moves that had been undertaken and expressed their resentment through strikes and demonstrations. The end result was that the soil of Bangladesh, was stained with blood on 21st February on the question of establishing their cultural rights.
With the liberation of Bangladesh on December 16, 1971, the country stepped into the next phase of her national life-- the struggle for survival, which can only be described as dramatic and challenging. In the few months that was to follow, Bangladesh had to coordinate herself into one compact unit to overcome the staggering problems that arose in the aftermath of 1971. Her first test came on the question of rehabilitation of the more than ten million refugees who had sought shelter in India during the period of turmoil. They had to be provided with ration and basic transportations to go back to where they belonged in the different areas of Bangladesh. Depleted granaries had to be replenished with overnight imports, and the disrupted communications network restored for flow of people and materials. Tools of production whether in the fields, factories or homestead had to be repaired and raw materials had to be contracted for, and rushed in to feed the productive efforts. Food and clothing had to be procured in bulk to meet the daily exigencies-- each one as serious as the other. Efforts were also undertaken to restore port facilities immediately, develop water transport, repair railway network and also civil aviation.
It is creditable that the newly constituted government in the newly independent country, took on the entire question of reconstruction and rehabilitation with complete sincerity. Despite overwhelming odds, we created a recovery programme that saved the entire population.
Muhammad Zamir, a former Ambassador, is an analyst specialised in foreign affairs, right to information and good governance.
muhammadzamir0@gmail.com