Vijay Diwas 2018: When Indira Gandhi and Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto struck a deal to release 93,000 soldiers in exchange of Father of the Nation

India and Pakistan have fought four wars after their Independence but the most gruesome of all was the 1971 Bangladesh liberation war in East Pakistan from December 3, 1971 to December 16, 1971, lasting just 13 days and was one of the shortest wars in history. Around 9,000 Pakistani men were killed and almost 3,000 Indian soldiers were martyred.

The war ended with 93,000 Pakistani soldiers being captured by India as POW (Prisoners of War), later released. But do you know what motivated Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India to release the POWs? The war ended with India facing big challenges like national security, foreign policy, financial issues, but Indira Gandhi’s main concern was to get captured Bangladeshi leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman back to his country alive.

Mujibur Rahman was captured alive by Pakistani army and was tried by a Pakistani military court and a verdict of death by hanging on charges of treason was handed down to the Bangladesh’s Father of the Nation. It would have been a bad news for India if Pakistani military carried out the death sentence and left Bangladesh a country without a leader.

Pakistan’s president at that time Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was in New York at the time of war and was informed by Pakistani General Yahya Khan that he resigned from his post and Bhutto is the new chief of the Army of Pakistan. India also had Muzaffar Hussain – the former chief secretary of the East Pakistan and the highest ranked civil servant posted in Dhaka at the time of war in 1971. He was kept in the official residence of DP Dhar, head of policy planning in the ministry of External Affairs. Hussain was in touch with his wife Laila via telephone. Laila was with Bhutto in U.S and was concerned about her husband’s safety in India.

Indira Gandhi was already aware of Bhutto and Laila being together, thus she asked Dhar to pass a message to Bhutto through Laila. Laila asked Bhutto for help in getting her husband released from Indian custody. Bhutto soon realised that Laila was just a mediator who is carrying Indira’s message.

According to news website The Wire, Bhutto pulled her aside and whispered to Laila a secret message for the Indian Prime Minister, “Laila, I know what you want. I can imagine you are [carrying a request] from Mrs. Indira Gandhi. Do please pass a message to her, that after I take charge of office back home, I will shortly thereafter release Mujibur Rahman, allowing him to return home. What I want in return, I will let Mrs. Indira Gandhi know through another channel. You may now go.”

Mrs Gandhi was pleased by Bhutto’s positive message and he was left with no option but to release Mujibur Rahman first, the POWs would come later. Pakistan released Bangladesh’s Father of the Nation, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as per the deal, eight months later India released all 93,000 Pakistani POWs. The world never saw such decency in international diplomacy ever after.