Comilla-Chittagong Axis (1971 War)

PART 3

Columnist Maj (Retd) SHAMSHAD ALI KHAN looks at a particular battle area of 1971.

15 DECEMBER

Early in the morning I went up the road to check on the platoon which I had deployed about a mile ahead to check the advance of the enemy at night. It was not there and had withdrawn without orders. The enemy had also not advanced during the night. Late in the morning, Major Bangash was ordered to advance with a company on the road and stop the advancing  enemy. He moved on the road and contacted the enemy about three to four miles away from our main defences. He engaged the enemy and in the process suffered few casualties.

At about mid-day Col. Raja came up to inform his command that he was going back to Chittagong and had been replaced by Col. Ashiq of 24 FF. A company of 24 FF also came up from the rear to take position on the left in first layer which was vacated by Major Bungash in the morning. Before leaving, Col. Raja had instructed me to collect all EPCAF troops and form a company to be deployed on hilltops further right of main defences which touched the foot of the hills. 

Col. Raja also attached Lieutenant Farooq of 21 AK with me and placed my company under command of Col. Ashiq. While my force was moving towards the first layer on the right, where from we were to climb the heights, it was engaged by enemy artillery. Although we were about 500 yards away, my troops started running backwards. With great efforts they were made to lie down. As the fire finished I ordered them to get up and move towards the destination. They were hesitant and did not get up. I threatened them of dire consequences if they did not get up. Eventually, we started moving. But not towards the first layer, instead we turned right and started climbing the hill to avoid the artillery fire. The behaviour of my men did not disturb me because it was expected of them as they were old plus raw recruits and had confronted the fire for the first time in their life.

After climbing the hill we walked on hilltop and reached in line with first layer. Having deployed the company on hilltop I reported at battalion command post to tie up administrative details. Col. Raja had gone and Ashiq was in command. When I asked for administrative support, I was told that we had to make our own arrangements. EPCAF sector headquarters was in Chittagong and ration, petrol and ammunition was to be collected from there. I therefore, left for Chittagong with the permission of Col. Ashiq.

16 DECEMBER

I left for Chittagong late at night and stayed with my senior JCO there at night. I reached hilltop locality early in the morning with a truckload of ration, petrol and ammunition. I was pleasantly surprised  to find my old comrade Capt. Mansoor on the hilltop. Ammunition and grenades were immediately distributed among  the troops in trenches. Ration and POL was shifted to the cookhouse which was established at the foot of the hill.

I received a message on hilltop that I was required at battalion command post. On reaching there I found that Col. Ashiq was unhappy on my staying at Chittagong at night. He had an impression that I was hiding there. This was his first meeting with me and he could form any opinion about me commensurating with the general atmosphere prevailing at that time, but when I told him what all I had done during the night in way of administrative arrangements, he appeared to be at ease.

He then told me that left forward company was heavily attacked at night and the attack was repulsed with heavy casualties on both sides. He also wished to visit my position at hilltop and inspect the defences there. But before we moved out for hilltop, I snatched some time to visit the left forward company to see what all had happened at night. I met the  FF Major in command there who was sturdy.

I also met the crew of the two mortars, which had been with me in the beginning. As usual they were busy firing in the air without sight and fire controller. The company had not suffered any casualties nor did I see enemy dead bodies. The Col. did not find it safe to approach my position through right forward company of Capt. Tariq because that locality could come under artillery fire any time.

We mounted the hill well in the rear and started walking towards hilltop position. Since there was no track or marked route it was a difficult journey. At this time the enemy decided to drop artillery fire on our forward locality forcing the Col. to drop the idea of inspection and go back to his bunker. It was easy, turn about and walk back to the bunker. I continued and reached at the destination with great difficulty to find Capt. Mansoor and Lieutenant Farooq hail and hearty.

Indians were shouting through loudspeakers and wanted us to surrender. They announced that Dacca had fallen. We did not believe them and considered the announcement a propaganda to demoralize us. We stuck to our guns. Dacca had fallen officially on the morning of

16th December but practically Dacca garrison had ceased fighting on 15th December. Indians made more use of loudspeakers than guns on this day. They did not waste their ammunition and Indian lives because they could foresee our surrender after fall of Dacca. In both the wars I observed that Indian high command was sensitive to the casualties of their men while in our case it was not an issue to be considered.

Since it was all quiet, I descended from hilltop and visited the battalion command post at night. I was with Col. Ashiq in his bunker when a phone call was received from Brigade HQ instructing to ceasefire and contact the Indian commander in front. Col. Ashiq passed the same message to Capt. Tariq of right forward company who contacted his counterpart. He after a short while called back and asked the Col. to reach his location.

On reaching the front line he found the Indian Brigade Commander who refused to talk to him and asked for the presence of our Brigade Commander. Brig Taskeenudin was in port area and was contacted on phone who reached to meet his Indian counterpart on front line. This was his only visit of battlefront throughout the war. How unfortunate it was that he had to surrender to Brig Sindhu who, it was believed, was his student in Indian Military Academy where Capt. Taskeenudin was instructor. At 2300 hours Col. Ashiq ordered the adjutant on telephone to instruct all troops to vacate the trenches and concentrate at Fojdarhat Cadet College by first light 17th December.

Since all the forward positions were connected through line, the adjutant faced no difficulty in passing the order. Once the order was passed to Capt. Mansoor, I did not wait for the Col. and left the battalion command post for Major Hafeez’s post who was parked in a cozy hut on the seaside. For a short while we discussed the possibility of escape but dropped the idea as it was impossible to escape the eyes of Bengalis who would come out with the sun like ants all over the place. The night was quiet like death, and nothing was expected to happen during the night. I had a sound sleep.

17 DECEMBER

On first light I reached the cadet college and as I entered the gate I saw Col. Ashiq moving up and down in front of the main office building. He immediately called me on sight. Probably he was looking for someone to perform a dirty job. He told me that between the two Brigadiers, it had been decided that we would provide one Major and three Captains to the Indians as guides/liaison officers on the morning of 17 December. I was told to get hold of two Captains and the third would come from Chittagong. It was agreed between the two Brigadiers that we must facilitate the occupation of the city by the Indians to avoid the massacre of Biharis by Mukti Bihanies. Most of the officers refused to go with me except Capt. Sarfaraz of EPSAF.

Both of us moved out to meet the Indians in a jeep with white flag flying on top. We reached the bridge which had been demolished by our engineers. A platoon commanded by a Sikh major had crossed over the nallah. I met the Indian officer who told me to go back and bring troops carrying vehicles, as their vehicles could not cross the nallah.

I reached back to cadet college and reported the matter to Maj. Fakhar the Brigade Major. He told me to take away all the buses and trucks available in the college. On a second thought he told me not to go as he planned to send some other junior officers. But when he found that no one was willing to go out of cadet college to face enraged and armed crowd which had gathered in front of cadet college by then, he had to finally detail me for the dirty job. The crowd was raising anti-Pakistan slogans and firing in the air. Obviously, I could not refuse to obey the lawful command. However, I asked a .30 browning to be mounted on the jeep which was done. We could not find drivers to drive troop-carrying vehicles.

I was extremely hazardous to contact the Indians again. By then sun was up and hostile population had come out on the roads. Small arms were being fired all around cadet college. Mukties who were hiding in the countryside had come out on the roads. As I came out of Major Fakhar’s room I saw Capt. Mansoor in the area. He had returned from Chittagong a short while ago. I asked him to accompany me and he willingly agreed. Now we were three, myself, Capt. Mansoor and Capt. Sarfaraz all from EPCAF.

As we opened the college gate, the crowd stopped raising slogans resulting in pin drop silence. We negotiated the gate in two jeeps, machine gun was mounted on the leading one which I was manning. I was gripped with fear and anxiety because the possibility of the crowd attacking us could not be ruled out.

Many mukties could be identified as they were carrying Sten guns. But luckily nothing happened and the crowd remained motionless. As we drove along, people moved side ways leaving the road for us. In a minute we had left the crowd behind and moved on the road with speed.

By the time we reached the Indians, company strength had crossed the nallah and taken position astride the road. While we were talking to each other, a youngster attired in lungi came around. The Indian major called him in a humiliating manner and asked me if I recognized him. My reply was in the negative. He then told me that he was a Capt. of Pakistan army and joined the Indians after desertion. He then asked him in humiliating language to push off. I ignored the issue and did not talk to  the officers and men who had deserted us. The major retained the two Captains and I was told to accompany a Havaldar who would escort me to the Brigade Commander.

We descended into the deep nallah and observed the Indians were busy in making temporary bridge. As I passed them they saluted  me although I was in Pakistani uniform which was different in colour from  Indian uniform. Their behaviour produced positive effect on me. I also noticed that they were working systematically and in an organized manner as expected of a good soldier. After reaching the other side of the nallah I observed that infantry was ready, mounted in trucks, to go across.

I was put in a jeep to be carried to the Brigade Commander. We had moved a mile or so when the Brigade Commander was spotted approaching from opposite direction. As we met, I saluted the Brigadier who came out of the jeep and shook my hand. He then told me to sit in the rear of the jeep where his DQ and wireless operator were already sitting. The BM was driving the jeep. On reaching the home bank of the nallah the jeep was abandoned and we walked across the nallah to find few civilians with two cars one of them was a Mercedes.

One of the civilians, who had come to welcome the Indian forces, introduced himself as relative of a well-known political leader of Awami League and offered the Mercedes to the Brigadier. He scornfully rejected the offer and said that he would prefer to ride in a Pakistan army jeep. However, he went into a meeting with them, which I felt was an arranged one. After the meeting he turned towards me and asked for my suggestions, although he had a complete plan for the take over of the city.

My only suggestion was that all the Bihari localities should be provided protection immediately, as there was danger of Bengalis attacking them. By this time the engineers had managed to bring across the Brigadier’s jeep.  Message was passed on the wireless to the effect that Bihar Regiment should be sent across the nallah and transported immediately to Chittagong for the protection of Bihari population. Two Captains that I had brought with me were available as guides.

Thereafter, the Brigadier asked me to guide him to the Commissioner’s office which was familiar to me as that was the place where the summary court, which I presided, was located. The building was built on a high ground dominating a large part of the city. On reaching there, Brigadier Sindhu entered the Commissioner’s office alone leaving us in the verandah. What I saw from the high ground was a unique and historic spectacle. The citizens of Chittagong were celebrating the Indian victory and their freedom which they had attained at a heavy cost. Young girls and boys, carrying Indian and Bangladesh flags were most excited and jubilant. Attired in colourful dresses and mounted on all types of vehicles fitted with loudspeakers were speeding up on the roads. They were shouting anti-Pakistan, pro-Indian slogans and of course “Joy Bangla”.

I am the only unfortunate officer of Chittagong garrison who witnessed that painful sight. The tormenting thoughts and feelings, that crossed my heart and soul, cannot be expressed through words. Having observed stress and tension on my face the two Indian officers remained serious and silent. Possibly they were also surprised to see the behaviour of the population contrary to their expectations. In about twenty to thirty minutes the number of people and vehicles on the road greatly increased.

Eventually, the crowd reached the Commissioner’s office. People had brought garlands and bouquets for the Indian army, their liberators. Most of the people came up to put garlands around the necks of two Indian officers but one girl smilingly approached me and said “I know you are Pakistani but never mind you can also share our happiness” and thereafter she placed a garland around my neck. The girl had shown some magnanimity. Suddenly the Indian officer caught me by the arm and pulled me behind himself. At the same time called out “catch him”. I noticed that a boy was running away out of the crowd with a Sten  gun in his hand, no one tried to

follow him. He was trying to shoot at me but was observed by the Indian officer before he could press the trigger. Few familiar faces crossed my sight who used to be around when I presided over a summary military court in the Commissioner’s office. They avoided talking to me.

Most probably the Brigadier had called the government functionaries on telephone to reach the office and start functioning. After issuing instructions to key functionaries of the administration, the Brigadier decided to go around the city. The priority was given to Bihari localities. As we entered the colony not a soul was seen around. Our jeeps stopped at the main crossroad of the colony which was surrounded by a company of Bihar Regiment. All the houses had white flags on top and not a single Bangladesh flag. Doors and windows were closed. It was a pitiful and painful sight for me.  We had been standing for few minutes when we noticed that people were peeping through windows. There was dead silence and an atmosphere of fear prevailed in the locality. The Brigadier asked me to call the residents out of their houses as he wanted to address them.  Initially no one came out but when I declared that I was a Pakistani and had brought the Indian who would provide protection to them, the elderly people started coming out of the houses.

The Brigadier talked to the small gathering and told them not to worry because a Bihar Regiment was deployed for their protection. After listening to the Brigadier the sign of fear on their faces was replaced by feeling of relief. A sense of guilt gripped me at that moment because I knew that they were the people who had wholeheartedly supported us with all the resources at their disposal, initially against Mukti Bahini and later against Indians. And there they were, being abandoned in a desperate and terrible situation. But God Almighty is a marvellous judge. Two main actors of that historic tragedy met with ignominious death and the third died as a non-entity. Very few people have good words for him, he has no envious place in history. Similar situation prevailed in Railway Colony and Adamjee Nagar where majority of the residents were non-Bengalis. We then went around the entire city and noticed no untoward incident. By and large Chittagong remained peaceful.

There was no break for meals nor we had haversack lunch with us. By evening we had reached Agrabad hotel which was a high class restaurant where the Brigadier decided to have a cup of tea. This was the place which I had visited quite often with other officers. The waiters immediately recognized me and met with mixed looks and feelings. After the heavy tea break I was relieved of the unpleasant duty. Nevertheless I had the satisfaction of being instrumental in providing protection and relief to non-Bengali population at a time when they needed it most. While moving around in the city the Brigadier was continuously passing instructions to Brigade units.

The city was declared out of bound for all ranks except those on duty at key points. The movement of vehicles was controlled by imposing duty slip system. This was done after the units had settled down in their allotted areas by evening. I doubt if we would have taken such measures in similar circumstances. While the Indian officers were going to drop me in officer mess of Chittagong Cantonment, they asked me whereabouts of a particular Mandir which I did not know. During further conversation it was revealed that they had to offer thanksgiving prayers at that Mandir because God Almighty had bestowed victory on them.

In Chittagong no formal arm laying or surrender ceremony was conducted. On 18th all the officers were to fall in, inspection was carried out by the  Indian Brigadier and a nominal roll was prepared of all the officers detained in the Officers Mess. We were allowed to retain all the items/articles possessed by the officers but rumours went around that these would be withdrawn once we shifted to India. Some of the Indian ORs were, discreetly and politely  collecting, items like watches, transistors, unstitched foreign cloth and any other item of foreign origin. I handed over a small transistor to a sepoy  who had asked for it.

I had a small attaché case which contained few uniforms, some civilian clothes including a light blue suit which I had got stitched in the last term before passing out from the PMA. It was so well-stitched by Ismail tailors that I cannot forget it. Neverthe- less I had to part with it as I decided to make space for books, including a set of 12 books written by Mr Churchill on Second World War. I collected these books from the mess library and put them in my attaché case to be read in POW camp in India. I was never fond of reading. It is surprising how did I take that step. We did not stay at Chittagong for long and were transported to  Calcutta  by sea and finally to Gawaliar in Central India by train. What was experienced thereafter will appear in subsequent issues of DJ.