Page 111 - The English Carnival 7

Daulet Singh, exonerated Manekshaw. Before
a formal ‘no case’ could be announced, war

with China broke out. Manekshaw was then
promoted to lieutenant general and moved
to Tezpur to take over IV Corps as its GOC.

A year later, Manekshaw was promoted as
army commander and took over the Western
Command. In 1964, He moved from Shimla
to Calcutta as the GOC-in-C of the Eastern

Army. As GOC-in-C, Eastern Command, he
successfully responded to an insurgency in
Nagaland for which he was later awarded
the Padma Bhushan in 1968.

On 7 June 1969, Manekshaw became the
8th chief of army staff when he succeeded

General P P Kumaramangalam. As chief of
the army staff, he rendered yeoman service
to the nation by forging the Indian Army
into an efficient instrument of war. His years of military experience were soon put to
the test as India decided to help the Mukti Bahini rebels against West Pakistani forces.

Towards the end of April 1971, Indira Gandhi, who was Prime Minister of India at that
time, asked Manekshaw if he was ready to go to war with Pakistan. Manekshaw refused,

saying that his single armoured division and two infantry divisions were deployed
elsewhere, that only 13 of his 189 tanks were fit to fight, and that they would be competing
for rail carriage with the grain harvest at that point of time. He also pointed out that
the Himalayan passes would soon open up, with the forthcoming monsoon in East
Pakistan, which would result in heavy flooding.When Indira Gandhi asked the cabinet
to leave the room and the chief to stay, he offered to resign. She declined to accept it,

but sought his advice. He then said he could guarantee victory if she would allow him
to prepare for the conflict on his terms, and set a date for it. These were acceded to by
the Prime Minister.

When the Indian Army finally went to war in December that year, under Manekshaw’s
leadership, it proved victorious against the Pakistan Army. The war, lasting under a
fortnight, saw more than 90,000 Pakistani soldiers personnel taken as prisoners of war,

and it ended with the unconditional surrender of Pakistan‘s eastern half, resulting in the
birth of Bangladesh as a new nation.

When the Prime minister asked him to go to Dhaka and accept the surrender of Pakistani

109
The Englsih Carnival-8