What Happened on 16th December That Changed the Lives of Three Nations?

Today is a very auspicious day for Indian army and also for citizens of India and Bangladesh.

Don’t know why?

Well, today i.e. 16th of December is marked as Vijay Diwas. It is a date which pays ode to India’s victory over Pakistan in the deadly war that led to the formation of Bangladesh.

2020 marks the 49th anniversary of this victorious war for India and our honorable Prime Minister Narendra Modi will light up Swarnim Vijay Mashaal from the eternal flame of the National War Memorial.

Also, four victory mashaals (flaming torches) will be lit from the eternal flame and they will be carried to various parts of India.

The places include to the villages of Param Vir Chakra and Maha Vir Chakra awardees of the 1971 war, the defence ministry said in a statement.

After a gap of 55 years, India and Bangladesh have decided to resume trans-border railway connectivity between Haldibari in West Bengal and Chilahati located across the border in Nilphamari district.

This Vijay Diwas of 2020, India is also looking at fast-tracking the Bangladesh-Bhutan-India Nepal (BBIN) initiative.

By doing this, it will give a to the boost connectivity among the South Asian neighbors through rail and road.

Here are some facts that you should know about Indo-Pak War of 1971:

• West Pakistan misbehaved with the people and undermined the election results in East Pakistan, so Liberation War of Bangladesh gave rise to the conflict.

• India’s then PM Indira Gandhi gave full support in the independence struggle after East Pakistan raised the call for secession officially on 26th of March, 1971.

• There were widespread genocide carried out against Bengalis, mainly Hindus, at the hands of the Pakistani military. These acts forced around 10 million people to migrate to India, which also opened its borders to refugees from Bengal.

• A surprise attack on Karachi was successfully executed by the Indian Navy’s Western Naval Command on the night of December 4-5.

• On the Western Front, Pakistan had deployed its troops but the Indian army took swift action and took over several thousand kilometers of Pakistani territory.

• Surprisingly, the Mukti Bahini guerrillas in East Pakistan joined hands with the Indian forces to fight against Pakistani troops in the east, and the Indian army provided them with training and weapons to carry out the war.

• Pakistani General Amir Abdullah Khan Niazi and his troop of 93,000 surrendered during the end of the war. They went back as a part of The Shimla Agreement of 1972.

• Indian army captured nearly one-third of the Pakistani forces.

We hope you gained some valuable information from our blog regarding Vijay Diwas. It is days like these that fill us with great pride and gratitude for our armed forces.

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