Operation Searchlight From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Operation Searchlight was a planned military operation carried out by the Pakistan Army to curb the Bengali nationalist movement in the erstwhile East Pakistan in March 1971. Ordered by the central government in West Pakistan, this was seen as the sequel to Operation Blitz which had been launched in November 1970. The original plan envisioned taking control of the major cities on March 26, and then eliminating all opposition, political or military, within one month. President Yahya Khan at the February conference said Kill three million of them (Bangladeshis) and the rest will eat out of our hands.Prolonged Bengali resistance was not anticipated by the Pakistani military leaders. The main phase of Operation Searchlight ended with the fall of the last major town in Bengali hands in mid-May. The operation also precipitated the 1971 Bangladesh genocide and caused roughly 10 million refugees to flee to India as well as the death of 58,000 to 3 million civilians. Bengali intelligentsia, academics and Hindus were targeted for the harshest treatment, with significant indiscriminate killing taking place. These systematic killings enraged the Bengalis, who declared independence from Pakistan, to achieve the new state of Bangladesh. The violence resulting from Operation Searchlight led to the war of liberation by the Mukti Bahini against Pakistani occupation forces in Bangladesh. Following the ill fated Operation Chengiz Khan, Indian intervention resulted in the Pakistani Armys unconditional surrender to the joint command of the Indian Army and Mukti Bahini on December 16, 1971 For details please visit the link en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Searchlight
Posted on: Fri, 15 Nov 2013 10:25:38 +0000
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