Four days after the surrender on December 16, 1971, General Amir Abdullah Niazi and his senior aides Major General Rao Farman Ali, Admiral Sharif, Air Commodore Inamul Haq and Brigadier Baqir Siddiqui were flown to Kolkata by Koribo aircraft.
General Niazi did not want to leave his PRO Siddique Salik in Dhaka, so he too was made a fake ADC of Farman Ali and taken to Kolkata. General Sigat Singh came to drop these people off at the Dhaka airport. He was kept in the living quarters of Fort William.
General Jacob retyped the surrender document because the original document listed the time of surrender incorrectly. General Niazi and General Arora signed again. In the early days, General Jacob thoroughly interrogated General Niazi and his colleagues.
General Amir Abdullah Khan Niazi in his autobiography ‘The Betrayal of East Pakistan’ writes: ‘We were kept in a newly constructed three storied building. It was a clean place. We converted one room into a dining room. Our meals were prepared by Indian cooks but our orderlies set the table. We used to spend our time listening to radio, reading books and exercising.
One day I asked Colonel Khara, the Indian officer posted on my watch, where is Major General Jamshed? He replied that he was still helping us with administrative work in Dhaka, later I came to know that he was in solitary confinement in a jail in Calcutta instead of Dhaka.
VIP prisoners were shifted from Calcutta to Jabalpur
From Calcutta, General Niazi and his colleagues were taken to Camp No. 100 in Jabalpur, in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.
Indian officers wanted to interrogate Major General Rao Farman Ali in Calcutta, but General Niazi strongly opposed this.
In fact, Indian soldiers found a paper in Farman Ali’s office, written by his hand, which read ‘Greenland will be painted red’ (green land will be painted red).
General AAK Niazi writes in his autobiography: ‘We were kept in the bachelors’ officers’ quarters. Each officer was given a bedroom and an adjoining bathroom. There was a common living room with a veranda in front. There were too many rooms, so we converted one room into a prayer room and another into a mess room.
We had the same food every day. Boiled rice, chapatis, vegetables and lentils. Sometimes we were given meat. Our camp was surrounded by barbed wire. We were monitored 24 hours a day by an orange and Alsatian dog. A battalion of Indian soldiers was stationed on the outskirts of the camp to guard us. Overall, the camp staff treated us well.
General Shah Baig Singh appointed to take care of prisoners of war
General Ansari used to lead prayers in the camp. Pakistani officials were paid a salary of Rs 140 per month under the Geneva Convention rules, with which they bought books, writing papers and daily necessities.
An Indian constable was assigned the duty of buying the necessary items from the market and handing them over.
A few days later, Indian soldiers started building a wall around the camp. When General AAK Niazi objected to this, he was told that this was being done so that outsiders could not see him.
General Niazi writes: “We were told that the Government of Pakistan had sent two men to kill us. General Pada told me that he was called to Army Headquarters in Delhi and told that Indian intelligence had arrested a man named Jamshed in Calcutta who had told him and another man that he and another man had planned to kill General AAK Niazi. Sent for.
A few days later, Major General Shah Baig Singh was posted there in place of General Pada. He was very friendly towards me. He used to say that Sikhs are not treated well in India. He gave me a map of Khalistan which included the whole of East Punjab. Later in 1984, when Indian soldiers entered the Golden Temple, he was killed fighting with Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale.
Plan to dig a tunnel and get out
On the other hand, Colonel Hakeem Arshad Qureshi (who later became Major General) and his colleagues were brought to India by buses on 21 December. After a day and a night of travel by road and rail, he was taken to POW Camp No. 95 in Ranchi. As soon as they left, these people started planning to escape from the camp.
An Indian commandant visited the camp during those days. He was very angry to see that the camp was not being maintained properly.
Major General Hakeem Arshad Qureshi wrote in his book ‘1971 Indo-Pak War A Soldier’s Narrative’ that ‘When the Commandant left, we asked the Indian JCOs to provide us with shovels and scrapers so that we could plant flowers in front of each barrack. Create a Kiariyan. So that the next time the commandant comes, he will be happy to see him. We were given both these things.
“We used to garden during the day and dig tunnels with their help at night. At first we hid the excavated soil in the false ceiling of the barracks, but one day when that roof collapsed due to the load of soil, we buried the soil in the barracks. Started splashing in the kiaris.
‘When the tunnel reached its final stage, we started collecting Indian currency from inside and outside the camp. With the help of Indian soldiers we collected a good amount of money by selling our gold rings, watches and other valuables.’
Indian soldiers found out about the tunnel
But on the day these Pakistani soldiers were to escape from this tunnel, all the prisoners of war were asked to gather in the center of the camp. The number of armed guards around them and on the watch towers was increased. Colonel Hodge, the camp commander, went to a prisoner of war’s room and asked him to remove the logs from under the bed.
After that, when he lifted the floor covering, he saw a deep hole. He then gathered all the Pakistani prisoners of war and gave a speech that it was the duty of the Pakistani prisoners of war to try to escape from the camp. But it is likewise the duty of Indian soldiers not to allow this to happen. Now, like a good soldier, those who attempted this should come forward and confess their guilt, so that other prisoners of war should not suffer needlessly.
Punishment for digging a tunnel
Major General Qureshi writes: ’29 of us decided to take responsibility for this act ourselves, in fact one of our comrades betrayed us, he not only informed the Indians about the location of the tunnel but He also told them how far the tunnel had been dug. In the evening we were punished for that. Our beds and personal belongings were taken away.
The facility of eating together in the hall was abolished, walking after the meal and ordering from outside was also banned. Our attendance began to be taken many times a day.’
An inquiry into the incident was ordered under the leadership of a lieutenant colonel. A few days later, these convicted prisoners of war were transferred from Camp No. 95 to Camp No. 93. But here they were kept for a very short time.
Some prisoners of war were taken to Agra
Explaining the details, Major General Arshad Qureshi has written in his book that on June 20, 1972, we were handcuffed and loaded onto a truck and taken to the railway station. The rest of the prisoners of war in the camp were watching our fate.
‘They were trying to convey a message that they should not dare to do such a thing. We were seated in a compartment of the train which could be locked from the outside. Although there was a commode in the toilet, the door was removed for security. We were also handcuffed and shackled.
Our hands were not opened even while eating. Handcuffed eating was a form of punishment as it spilled more food onto our clothes. We had to use the toilet in front of people. No toilet paper or water to wash hands. Suddenly I felt that I was looking at the Taj Mahal, the eighth wonder of the world. We had reached Agra. It was dated June 21, 1972. It was the longest and hottest day in India.’
Pakistani captain escapes from prison disguised as a doctor
Agra Jail was the most secure jail in India at that time. Around 200 Pakistani prisoners of war were kept here. General Qureshi’s experience in the Indian jail was not good as he was being punished for trying to escape.
But another Pakistani officer managed to escape despite such tight security. Captain Riaz-ul-Haq admitted himself to the Prisoner of War Hospital on the pretext of being ill. One day he managed to escape from the hospital wearing a doctor’s white coat with a stethoscope around his neck.
Similarly, Captain Shujaat Ali also managed to escape by jumping from the moving train. But to take revenge, Indian soldiers shot another prisoner of war, Major Naseebullah.
The film Pakeezah was shown to the prisoners of war
If these incidents are kept aside, India’s good treatment of Pakistani prisoners of war was discussed in the international press.
In his book ‘Changing India Straight from the Heart’, Lieutenant General SK Sinha, India’s Deputy Chief of Staff, writes: ‘Senior Indian civilian and military Muslim officers were called to talk to these prisoners of war. Mushairas and film shows were organized for him, we showed him films like ‘Pakeeza’ and ‘Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam’ which he liked very much.
‘In Roorkee, we also organized a cricket match between Pakistani and Indian officials. After visiting these camps, a Washington Post correspondent wrote that ‘nowhere in the world were prisoners of war treated so well.’ It was a great compliment to the Indian soldiers.
Barracks for Pakistani soldiers, tents for Indian soldiers
General Dipinder Singh, the biographer of General Sam Maneksha, writes: ‘Pakistani prisoners of war were treated very well in India. They were given the same rations and clothes as the Indian soldiers. While Pakistani prisoners of war were housed in barracks, Indian soldiers lived outside in tents.
“It was very difficult for us to explain to our soldiers why they were being kept in such difficult conditions in tents, while the Pakistani POW barracks were getting water and coolers and fans were also available.”
Sam Maneksha sent a congratulatory message to every Pakistani prisoner of war on every Muslim festival. General Niazi also admits that there could be other reasons for India releasing Pakistan’s prisoners of war, but one reason was that they were not only feeding them, but also giving them a meager wage. Which was a difficult task for a poor country like India.
Release of General Niazi after 28 months
The day also came when General Niazi was seated in a special train bound for Pakistan at Jabalpur railway station.
The train reached the Wagah border on the morning of 30 April 1974. They were served tea before entering Pakistan. He spent 28 months in jail in India. Awnings were erected across the Pakistani border to welcome them.
General Niazi writes that ‘When I crossed the border, a Brigadier Anjum saluted me and said that you don’t need to make a statement to the press, then he took out a four-inch rectangular cardboard with the number 1 on it. was written Told me to put it on my chest so I could take a picture of it.
When I asked him if other war generals were photographed in the same way, he denied, saying that it was being done on the orders of General Tikka. I was very angry, I told Anjum that before I lose my temper, you leave here.’