In the midst of increased India-Pakistan tensions due to the latest Pahalgam terror strike that left 26 dead, the majority being tourists, both countries have launched stern retaliatory measures. India has suspended visa services for Pakistanis, blocked the Attari border, and suspended the Indus Waters Treaty. Pakistan retaliated by rescinding the Simla Agreement—treaty signed after the Indian victory in the 1971 war confirming the Line of Control (LoC).
In that seminal war, India’s victory caused Pakistan to be split into two countries and gave birth to Bangladesh. One of the strong images of those days depicts Pakistan Army Chief General AAK Niazi surrendering to India’s Lieutenant General Jagjit Singh Aurora on December 16, 1971. The picture is famous, but little is said about what happened to Niazi thereafter.
Following the surrender of 93,000 Pakistani soldiers, General Niazi was taken to India as a prisoner of war. On the surrender day, he allegedly had breakfast and mingled with other military personnel before being arrested by the Indian Army in Dhaka. He was escorted out of the Governor’s House following a meeting with Indian officers and journalists.
While the new Bangladesh government wished to prosecute Niazi and other persons for war crimes and potentially execute them, India refused to extradite them—lest Indian soldiers taken prisoner in West Pakistan were attacked in revenge. Niazi, therefore, and thousands of Pakistani troops were taken to India and detained in several undisclosed locations.
Niazi’s Sojourn in Jabalpur
Originally at Fort William, Kolkata, General Niazi was subsequently shifted to the Jabalpur unit of the Indian Army. His whereabouts were a closely kept secret, even locals in their areas, as well as authorities, were in the dark for years. According to a report in the Times of India, a typed account of accommodations arranged by the Indian authorities for Niazi and six other high-ranking officers in jail is now on exhibition at an Army Ordnance Corps museum.
India and Pakistan signed the Simla Agreement in July 1972. Exchanges of prisoners were agreed upon in this treaty. Niazi is said to have ensured the safe return of Pakistani troops before being released in April 1975.
Fallout of Niazi in Pakistan
Upon his return to Pakistan, Niazi faced swift repercussions. He was dismissed from his position, stripped of military honours, denied communication with the media, and placed in solitary confinement. His military rank was downgraded from Lieutenant General to Major General, and his pension was stopped. It was only after Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto took office in 1975 that Niazi’s pension was reinstated.
Niazi was later expelled from the army. He dabbled briefly in politics by participating in the Pakistan National Alliance but quickly receded after Bhutto was overthrown by General Zia-ul-Haq, during whose administration Niazi was again imprisoned for being a writer as a historian.
Branded a Traitor
In 1982, a Pakistani investigation committee into the 1971 loss indicted Niazi for corruption, neglect of duty, and smuggling, including ‘the seizure of betel leaves from eastern Pakistan to western Pakistan’. They advised his court-martial—an act never pursued by any Pakistani administration. Public opinion turned against him; he was ridiculed as ‘the donkey of Bengal’.
Niazi, though, never took responsibility. He blamed the former president of Pakistan Yahya Khan for the defeat and justified his actions in his book Betrayal of East Pakistan, although most historians reject his account.
General AAK Niazi passed away on February 1, 2004, in Lahore, Pakistan.
