Opinion - Letters to the Editor

POW of 1971

Sir, — I read the letter `Congress to blame' by R.C. Chockalingam (June 10). I was amazed that he has mentioned about the capture of "100,000 Pakistani jawans" in the 1971 war. I was in East Pakistan in 1971 as a Captain, and was taken a prisoner of war. We only had three Pakistani Divisions in East Pakistan or a total of 35,000 regular soldiers; the rest of the POWs were civilians or families including women and children under protective custody. That is why we had only four Major-Generals and one Lt. General, namely Niazi. In his book, "Betrayal of East Pakistan," Gen. Niazi has stated, "I had 31000 strong, battle hardy and experienced troops". Why do the Indians keep harping on "100,000 soldiers"?

Arif A Khan,

Lahore, Pakistan

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