1971 India-Pakistan War
- Date:
- 1971
What was the 1971 India-Pakistan War?
What was the outcome of the 1971 India-Pakistan War?
When did the 1971 India-Pakistan War take place?
Where was the 1971 India-Pakistan War fought?
What was the significance of the Bangladesh liberation movement in the 1971 India-Pakistan War?
1971 India-Pakistan War, conflict between India and Pakistan in the first half of December 1971 that led to the creation of Bangladesh. The war was rooted in the Bangladesh liberation movement, which opposed Pakistani rule in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) with the goal of creating an independent country. Following the Pakistani military’s crackdown on Bangladeshi nationalists earlier that year, the local population launched an armed resistance that sparked what became known as the Bangladesh Liberation War. India initially supported the liberation war by covertly providing training and later intervened militarily in East Pakistan, where most of the battles occurred. Fighting also broke out on the India–West Pakistan border, particularly in the western Indian states of Punjab, Rajasthan, and Jammu and Kashmir. The two countries deployed their armies, air forces, and navies. The war ended after Pakistani forces in the east surrendered. Lasting from December 3 to December 16, it was a brief but devastating war, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people across all three sides.
Historical background
One of the main roots of the conflict can be traced back to the partition of British India into the newly independent countries of India and Pakistan on August 15, 1947. Pakistan was split into West Pakistan and East Pakistan (carved out of Bengal, a region previously partitioned by the British from 1905 to 1911). The partition of India uprooted millions of people, sparked violent communal clashes, and claimed hundreds of thousands of lives.
- October 27, 1947–January 1949: The first India-Pakistan war began after tribal militias backed by Pakistan attempted to capture Kashmir. A ceasefire agreement, brokered by the United Nations, was adopted in January 1949 and signed in July.
- August–September 1965: The second India-Pakistan war was fought over the Kashmir region.
- December 3–16, 1971: The third India-Pakistan war was rooted in the Bangladesh liberation movement, which opposed Pakistani rule in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) and was supported by India.
- May–July 1999: India and Pakistan fought the Kargil War in India-administered Kashmir.
Soon after the partition, the princely state of Kashmir emerged as the center of a bitter territorial dispute between India and Pakistan. After Pakistan-backed tribal militias attacked Kashmir in 1947, Hari Singh, the Hindu ruler of the Muslim-majority region, acceded to India in return for military assistance. This triggered the first war between the two countries, which ended in a ceasefire in early 1949. India and Pakistan next fought a brutal war over Kashmir in 1965, with a largely inconclusive outcome. In 1971 they fought another war. However, this time Kashmir was not the center of the conflict, and the fighting was concentrated in a different theater—East Pakistan.
Regional perspectives
A liberation movement: Bangladesh’s perspective
The Bangladesh liberation movement was a nationalist campaign that sought the independence of East Pakistan from West Pakistan. There were cultural, geographical, political, and linguistic divisions between the two regions when Pakistan became independent. Pakistan was geographically fragmented, with the west separated from the east by about 1,000 miles (1,600 km) of Indian territory, making governance difficult. Moreover, tensions arose when the West Pakistan government attempted to impose a singular identity. Urdu was declared the official language of Pakistan, despite Bengali being the predominant language of East Pakistan. This sparked widespread protests throughout East Pakistan and culminated in the historic Language Movement of Bangladesh (1947–71). The movement reached a climax in 1952, when several student demonstrators were killed by the police. Other sources of tension were related to clothing. Bengali women traditionally wore saris; however, officials in Pakistan viewed the sari as Hindu clothing and discouraged its use. This further alienated the population of East Pakistan.
In the December 1970 Pakistani general election, East Pakistan’s Awami League party, led by nationalist leader Mujibur Rahman, won a majority. Pakistani Pres. Yahya Khan refused to allow Rahman to form the new government and become Pakistan’s next prime minister, triggering mass protests throughout the region. In March 1971, Khan ordered the military to quash the protests, leading to the loss of numerous lives. Widespread atrocities were committed by Pakistani soldiers, including sexual violence and the rape of hundreds of thousands of women, during the nine-month-long crackdown known as Operation Searchlight. According to estimates, the death toll was between 300,000 and 3,000,000.
In addition to the brutalities by the Pakistani forces, instances of violence by East Pakistani rebels were also reported. Bihari muhajirs—Muslims who migrated to East Pakistan from Bihar, India, during the 1947 partition—were reportedly persecuted by the rebels, who believed that many Bihari muhajirs had collaborated with the Pakistan Army. During this period a loosely organized resistance movement emerged in East Pakistan. Eventually, the resistance evolved into a guerrilla force called the Mukti Bahini (Bengali: “Liberation Force”), which attacked Pakistani troops with support from the Indian military.
Strategic intervention: India’s perspective
Under Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, India backed an independent Bangladesh and provided military assistance to the East Pakistani rebels. India’s intervention in East Pakistan was driven by strategic considerations, though Gandhi claimed that the primary motivation was humanitarian concern. She told British writer Dom Moraes in his book Mrs. Gandhi (1980) that India participated in the war “for purely humanitarian reasons” and “couldn’t stand by and see a whole population liquidated.” Indian scholar Onkar Marwah noted in his article “India’s Military Intervention in East Pakistan, 1971–1972,” published in Modern Asian Studies, volume 13, issue 4 (1979):
India’s military intervention in East Pakistan was an instance of the clear use of force for the achievement of limited political and security objectives.
Millions of refugees from East Pakistan crossed the border into India, which many Indian leaders viewed as a growing security threat. Through intervention India aimed to stem this influx of people. The political crisis in the region also presented an opportunity for India to assert its regional dominance. According to a declassified American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) briefing dated December 13, 1971, Gandhi was confident of a victory that would establish India as “the dominant power in South Asia.” She also believed the war would lead to the fall of Pakistan’s military regime and pave the way for a democratic government throughout the country. The report suggested that her motivations were shaped by regional power calculations and Cold War dynamics.
Indian aggression: Pakistan’s perspective
Pakistan justified its military crackdown as an effort to prevent secessionist forces from destabilizing East Pakistan. Pakistani authorities also believed that Indian forces supported the rebels with military training and weapons. In his book The Blood Telegram: India’s Secret War in East Pakistan (2013), Princeton University professor Gary J. Bass noted:
India devoted enormous resources to covertly sponsoring the Bengali insurgency inside East Pakistan, providing the guerrillas with arms, training, camps, and safe passage back and forth across a porous border.
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who after the war served as president (1971–73) and prime minister (1973–77) of Pakistan, claimed in a 1973 article in the journal Foreign Affairs that the civil war in East Pakistan was exploited by India as an “opportunity” to intervene. He insisted that Pakistan had been the victim of “unabashed aggression” by India.
Course of the war
Although India had already been supporting the Bangladesh liberation movement for months, including providing training, arms, and assistance to Mukti Bahini guerrillas, war between the two countries officially broke out on December 3, 1971—when Pakistan launched Operation Chengiz Khan, a series of air strikes targeting air bases in northwestern India. Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital, maintained that the air strikes were a response to India’s aggressive support for the Mukti Bahini guerrillas. New Delhi claimed these strikes were preemptive and unprovoked. Indira Gandhi’s government interpreted the air strikes as an act of war and, in turn, declared war against Pakistan.
The Indian armed forces mounted a three-pronged offensive across land, air, and sea. Intense fighting occurred on India’s western frontier, including in the states of Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan, and Punjab. The Indian Air Force countered Pakistani strikes by launching multiple air raids on Lahore and Karachi. The Indian Army advanced with a major ground incursion in East Pakistan, supported by the air force. Within a short span of time, the Indian Army captured major cities in East Pakistan. According to the CIA, India “achieved complete air superiority” in East Pakistan. The Pakistan Army stationed in East Pakistan was weakened by intense guerrilla warfare and an Indian military onslaught. At sea the Indian Navy worked to cut off military supplies to East and West Pakistan and launched attacks against Pakistani ships in the Arabian Sea.
With swift victories on the ground, the Indian military quickly encircled the Pakistani troops in the east. The final blow came with the capture of Dhaka, East Pakistan’s capital. On December 16 Pakistani forces in East Pakistan surrendered. The following day Pakistani Pres. Yahya Khan agreed to a ceasefire in West Pakistan.
International reactions
The 1971 war unfolded against the backdrop of Cold War rivalries, with both India and Pakistan seeking international support. The 13-day war drew in major global powers such as the United States, the Soviet Union, and China. The United Nations Security Council and General Assembly became arenas for intense diplomatic maneuvering.
- United States: Declassified U.S. government documents released by the U.S. National Security Archive show that the United States, under Pres. Richard Nixon and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, adopted a pro-Pakistan stance during the conflict, driven by Cold War considerations. This was not a publicly declared stance. Despite publicly suspending aid to Pakistan, the United States secretly supplied the country with military assistance. It also dispatched the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise to the Bay of Bengal, a show of force meant to deter India and support Pakistan. India harshly criticized America’s stance during the conflict.
- Soviet Union: The Soviet Union backed India (a member of the Non-Aligned Movement) during the war. It was India’s principal supplier of military equipment and supported India diplomatically, including by vetoing resolutions critical of India in the United Nations.
- China: China vocally supported Pakistan and criticized India’s actions as “a large-scale war of aggression” that “gravely disrupted peace on the South Asian subcontinent.”
- United Nations: The UN became the center of frantic diplomatic activity involving major global powers. However, the world body was unable to take decisive action to bring the war to an end.
Impact
The most defining outcome of the war was the creation of Bangladesh from East Pakistan. The war was short but devastating. According to CIA estimates, more than 3,500 Indian soldiers and about 5,000 Pakistani soldiers lost their lives. Tens of thousands of military personnel were wounded. Nearly 93,000 Pakistani prisoners of war were held in Indian prisons for about three years. The civilian death toll was huge. According to estimates, a total of 300,000 to 3,000,000 people died in the conflict.
In Pakistan, the war left deep scars. Following Pres. Yahya Khan’s resignation, Bhutto assumed the presidency on December 20. Bhutto later wrote in Foreign Affairs, “The country was dismembered, its economy shattered and the nation’s self-confidence totally undermined.” India emerged as a dominant power in the region, and the successful military campaign in East Pakistan boosted Prime Minister Gandhi’s popularity at home.
In 1972 Gandhi and Bhutto signed the Simla Agreement to scale back tensions and pursue peace. However, the terms of the treaty did not materialize. Tensions between India and Pakistan continued. Kashmir witnessed armed insurgency during the 1980s and ’90s. The two countries tested nuclear weapons in 1998 and fought a brutal war the following year in the Kargil region.
Since independence Bangladesh has made rapid economic progress and emerged as one of South Asia’s most promising economies. However, the country has also seen periods of unrest. In 2024 mass protests led to the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed and the launch of an interim government.
