India has fought 4 wars with Pakistan, this we all know. And all of them have been about Kashmir — except one.
In 1971, India fought Pak for the independence of another nation: Bangladesh.
But why? What led to this decision & this war?
This story actually begins with the partition of India. In 1947, Pakistan was formed. It included a chunk of land to India’s northwest called West Pakistan, and one near the Bay of Bengal, called East Pakistan.
There were thousands of kilometres of India between the two!
That’s when the problems began. The two parts had different languages & cultures. Urdu was their national language, but only Bengali was spoken in East Pak.
Most of Pak’s budget was allocated to West Pak, so East Pak’s economy suffered. Then, something terrible happened.
The world’s deadliest cyclone ever recorded hit East Pak in 1970. Pak failed to warn them in them & sent almost no relief! More than 5 lakh people die
East Pak couldn’t take it anymore. In early 1971, they elected one of their men as their leaders and started protesting.
The Pak Army was sent to East Pak, where they committed many atrocities. Everyday, India got thousands of refugees. Mrs. Gandhi decided that at this point, it’s better to go to war against Pak.
We supported the liberation of East Pak & in late 1971, went to war for it.
India won the war & Bangladesh, a new nation, was created. At the end of years of suffering, Asia’s first explicit secular country was born!
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