16th December 1971: India defeated Pakistan in Bangladesh War The dramatic scenes described by the Time correspondent culminated in Pakistan’s defeat in the war, on December 16, 1971. The war began on December 3, 1971, after Pakistan’s air force bombed several targets in India, following months of steadily increasing tension along India’s eastern border. Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi was in Calcutta, addressing a rally of around 5 lakh people, when the Pakistani raid started. Katherine Frank writes in her biography of Indira: “Just as she [Indira] was saying, ‘India stands for peace. But if a war is thrust on us we are prepared to fight, for the issues involved are our ideals as much as our security,’ an aide rushed to the podium and handed her a slip of paper on which was scrawled the news of the Pakistani attack. She made no announcement, but hurriedly wound up her talk.”
Posted on: Tue, 16 Dec 2014 06:09:41 +0000