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Bangladesh Liberation War
Date 26 March 1971 – 16 December 1971
Location Bangladesh
Result • Decisive Indian and Bangladeshi victory
• Independence of Bangladesh
Territorial
changes East Pakistan becomes Bangladesh
Belligerents
Flag of Bangladesh Mukti Bahini
Flag of India India Flag of Pakistan Pakistan
Commanders
Flag of Bangladesh General. M A G Osmani
Flag of India General Jagjit Singh Aurora
Flag of India Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw Flag of Pakistan General A. A. K. Niazi
Flag of Pakistan General Tikka Khan
Strength
India: 250,000 [1]
Mukti Bahini: 100,000[1][2] Pakistan Army: ~ 100,000[citation needed]
Para Military: ~25,000[3]
Casualties and losses
India: 1,426 KIA
3,611 Wounded (Official)
1,525 KIA
4,061 Wounded [4]
Mukti Bahini: ??? died.
Pakistan ~8,000 KIA[citation needed]
~10,000 Wounded[citation needed]
91,000 POWs
(56,694 Armed Forces
12,192 Paramilitary
rest civilians)[4]
[5]
Civilian death toll: Estimates exist between 26,000[6] and 3,000,000[7]
The Bangladesh Liberation War(i) (Bengali: মুক্তিযুদ্ধ Muktijuddho) was an armed conflict between West Pakistan (later Pakistan) and East Pakistan (later Bangladesh) and India, that resulted in the establishment of the nation of Bangladesh. The war broke out on 26 March 1971 as the West Pakistani army launched a military operation on the Bengali civilians, students, intelligentsia, and armed personnel in East Pakistan to crush their uprising for independence from Pakistan. Members of East Bengal Regiment, East Pakistan Rifles, East Pakistan Police, other Bengali military and para-military forces, and armed civilians revolted to form guerilla groups and forces (generally termed as the Mukti Bahini) to fight the (West) Pakistan army. Indian support for the rebellion and Pakistan's pre-emptive attack on the western border of India resulted in a full scale war between India and Pakistan (the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971). Finally, on December 16, 1971, the allied forces of the Indian army and the Mukti Bahini (Bangladesh Liberation Army) decisively defeated the (West) Pakistani forces deployed in the East resulting in the largest surrender, in terms of the number of POWs, since World War II.
