 | Dhaka, March 26 (bdnews24.com) – A senior Indian army officer who had designed the capture of Dhaka, a 'heartland' in his 1971 war plan, attended Independence Day programmes in the capital Wednesday.
JFR Jacob had played a decisive role in the War of Liberation by leading his forces across the border deeper into Bangladesh.
Jacob, 85, is part of the Indian delegation invited to attend the 37th anniversary of independence of Bangladesh by the army chief, General Moeen U Ahmed.
One of the less talked-about aspects of the 1971 war was the varied character of the key men who planned and executed the operations. Best known was the flamboyant Indian army chief, General Sam Manekshaw, who had won the Military Cross in WW II.
To the Indians, Manekshaw with his twirled moustache, Gorkha cap and baton, was a symbolic hero. Below him was an equally varied and extraordinary set of men, who planned and executed their own battles.
The Eastern Command of Army, headquartered in Kolkata, was commanded by Lt Gen Jagjit Singh Aurora. Jacob, then a major general, was Aurora's brilliant chief of staff.
One of the Liberation War sector commanders, KM Shafiullah, told bdnews24.com Wednesday: "The drafting of the instrument of surrender of Lt General AAK Niazi was done with the help of JFR Jacob."
"Jacob was an efficient army officer. When the Pakistani forces collapsed, he mediated their surrender. He prepared and finalised where, when and how the Pakistani forces would surrender," he said.
The former army chief said: "I remember the Pakistani forces were scheduled to surrender to the joint forces of Bangladesh and India at 9am on Dec 16. The time was extended by six hours and the decision to accept the proposal was also taken after discussion with General Jacob."
"JFR Jacob was a senior and the most important Indian army officer in Eastern Command. This visit may increase the existing friendly ties between the two countries," retired major general Syed Muhammad Ibrahim, a freedom fighter and now in politics, told bdnews24.com.
In 1971, Jacob did not entirely agree with the Indian army top brass. "The army headquarters issued an operations instruction according to which our main objectives were to take Chittagong and Khulna ports, which were termed the entry ports. But we at the Eastern Command felt differently," Jacob had recalled in an earlier interview with SAPRA India Foundation, a security research organisation.
"We felt that Dhaka was the geopolitical centre of Bangladesh and therefore any campaign to be successful had to capture Dhaka," Jacob had said.
The Eastern Command went ahead with its own plans, although the Indian Army Headquarters felt it was too ambitious and difficult to achieve.
Later, Aurora provided full support to Jacob and allowed him to pull down troops kept in reserve for a possible attack by the Chinese. Some of these troops had to be brought into battle so hurriedly that the only way was to paradrop them.
"We realised that any campaign to be successful had to be swift. The United Nations was putting great pressure on us and the Russians too had indicated that they did not want to exercise their veto any more," Jacob had explained in the interview.
"We realised that Niazi (Pakistani army commander in the then 'East Pakistan') was going to fortify the towns and defend them in strength. We therefore decided not to attack any towns but bypass them using subsidiary tracks to get to our objective: Dhaka."
Also, in an interview with CNBC, Jacob had said: "We assessed that to win a war we had to take Dhaka. Dhaka was the geostrategic heart of East Pakistan. No campaign would have been complete without it."
The immense practical problem of moving thousands of troops and tonnes of equipment across rivers and marshes had been accomplished largely due to the efforts of the Indian Army Corps of Engineers, and with a lot of local help.
In most places, the swiftly moving contingents had quickly overcome enemy resistance and moved forward. For the most part, the Pakistanis had completely been taken by surprise.
Within six days of the Indian participation in the war, Indian troops were deep inside Bangladesh territory.
Bangalee freedom fighters played a crucial role in guiding the Indian army through the treacherous riverine areas and providing critical intelligence.
Defence analysts say it is doubtful whether the Indian army could have moved so fast and decisively without the help of the Bangladeshis.
Retired Lt Gen Mir Shawkat Ali, another sector commander of the Liberation War, described Jacob as an efficient and courageous army officer.
In India, Jacob succeeded as a young Jew, the scion of a family that migrated some 150 years ago from Iraq and settled in Kolkata, to be appointed to one of the most senior command positions in the army.
Jacob-Farj-Rafael Jacob, his full name, was born in 1923. At age nine, his father, a successful businessman, sent him to a boarding school in the city of Darjeeling. From then on, he only went home on school holidays. In 1941, at age 18, he enlisted in the Indian army, which was under British command.
His father was against his enlistment but after he found out about the atrocities of the Nazis and their treatment of the Jews, he decided to be a military man.
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