General Aurora and the looting by Indian Soldiers
Lt. General Jagjit Singh Aurora, the commander of the Indo-Bangla Joint Forces in 1971 has recently passed away. In this article I am going to share some comments with the readers regarding the late General's financial impropriety following the Bangladesh war of independence that I learnt in the Indian Capital.
In 1990 I went to Delhi to attend the wedding of a Sikh friend. This friend is a relative of Aurora. The wedding reception took place at the famous Gymkhana Club and was attended by many dignitaries. If I am not mistaken, the Lt. Governor of Delhi and the then Union Home Minister Mufti Mohammed Saeed (it was the time of V P Singh) also attended briefly.
General Aurora, however, missed the reception, as he was taken ill. His daughter attended and my friend introduced me to her. She invited me to meet her famous father and said that 'daddy' would be home the next morning to receive and talk to me. Unfortunately, I could not take this invitation as the next day was my last full day in India and I was faced with two options, either to stay in Delhi and meet the General for breakfast and talk about 1971, or to go to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. I opted for the latter.
At the wedding reception, my friend also introduced me to General Jacob. Gen. Jacob was Aurora's second-in-command in the Eastern Command in 1971 and as many people say, was probably the chief architect of the 1971 Indian invasion and war plan in the eastern theatre. Although the General knew a few more people at the reception than I did, he to some extent like me felt stranger in that gathering. For some unknown reasons, the General liked me a lot and spent the next couple of hours in my company. He also introduced me to few people that he knew at the party. Drinks were served. While I opted for a coke, the general settled for a small beer.
We kept on talking. It was mainly about 1971. The General was very passionate about the whole thing. He spoke about his role and experience during the entire conflict. He did not like General Osmani that much. He found it difficult to work with him. On the other hand, the General was full of praises for Zia and Khondhker (the deputy commander in chief of Bangladesh forces during the 1971 campaign and the first Air Force Chief). The General said that these two were professionals and brilliant officers and that he had really enjoyed working with them.
I asked General Jacob, did he not want to visit Bangladesh, the country that he helped to liberate? The General sounded very disappointed and hurt. In an emotionally choked voice, the General said. "How I can I go to Bangladesh when no one has ever invited me?
I was never invited to Bangladesh." The General continued, "I have never taken anything from Bangladesh. There are many who took a lot. Someone brought me some bananas. I even paid for them. I have never taken a thing, even General Aurora …" The General stopped and did not complete his sentence. As it was a sensitive topic, I did not want to press the General what did he mean by 'even General Aurora." However, one does not need to be a genius to appreciate the meaning of General Jacob's comments.
Later, the day I was leaving India I was talking to my friend's father, a relative of General Aurora. He wanted to know why did the Indo-Bangla relationship turn sour? I apprised him of what I thought the main reasons, including Tin Bigha Corridor, Farakkha, Chakhma problems and even the lootings by the Indian forces following the occupation of Bangladesh by them.
My friend's father said that even in India there were talks about lootings and appropriation of Bangladeshi properties and assets by the Indian forces and that the Indian government had also commissioned an investigation. He then said that there was wide perception that even General Aurora had received a lot from Bangladesh.
Although these comments by two close associates do not establish conclusively that General Aurora had actually received any shares of the booty personally, but it may lead at least one to question the propriety and integrity of the General. Sadly, the General is now dead and will not be able to answer these allegations and clear his name.
General Aurora might not have ordered his troops to go for high scale looting, and one may argue that this might have happened because of lack of discipline and supervision among individual members of Indian armed forces.
However, there is no evidence as to what the General did to stop his soldiers from looting. History will probably remember General Aurora not only as the military commander who successfully negotiated the surrender of the Pakistani forces in Bangladesh without much bloodshed and thus paved the way for an independent Bangladesh, but also as a failed commander who miserably failed to impose discipline and supervision in the conduct of his troops when they resorted to stealing the assets of the country they allegedly came to liberate. The failure to prevent this full scale looting actually planted the first seed of discontent in the hearts of the Bangladeshis.
http://www.bangladesh-web.com/view.php?hidDate=2005-05-24&hidType=OPT&hidRecord=45804
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