The alternate history of the heroics of General Niazi…
He was born in 1915 in a small village. Through his sheer hard work and intelligence he gained commission as an officer in the British Indian army. Marvelous feat at that time. He fought so gallantly in Burma in 42 that British gave him the nick name of tiger and he was promoted and given bravery medals. He again proved his mettle in 1965 war for bravery and his great strategy. He amassed dozens of medals. In 1971 after Tikka Khans search light operation no Pakistani general wanted to take over East Pakistan. Niazi volunteered when multiple generals refused. The country was already lost when he was deployed. Millions of armed trained Mukhti Bhani roamed the rural areas and even attacked Dhaka. He tried his best to work with civilian Gov and bring things to normalcy. Rawalpindi stopped communicating with him and refused him all help in man power and ammunition. Yahyha won’t even respond to him. He was taken off guard when on 3rd Dec 1971 Pakistan Air Force suddenly attacked Indian air bases starting the war. No one even bothered to let General Niazi know before hand.
Even then he made one of the best and oldest strategies of converting every major city into a fortress ensuring India will have to fight for everyone of them. During the war he would visit all the forward bases himself in a helicopter. He would meet with the soldiers and give them a moral boost. He would take injured soldiers in his own helicopter and look after them. In the last days he was promised aid via USA and China. None came. Pak Army was vastly outnumbered. Niazi only had around 50,000 able bodied soldiers scattered all along the country with low ammunition whereas Mukhti Bhani were in millions , Indian army was 5 times in size and the local population was out to kill them. He still fought gallantly for 2 weeks. Many of his commanders in Jessore sector surrendered meekly. He still carried on. Then on 16 Dec he received a telegram from Gen Yahyha asking to do whatever is necessary to stop the war indirectly asking for surrender. Indians were now threatening to hand over all Pakistani soldiers and their families wives and kids to Mukhti Bhani if he didn’t surrender. Only to save his men and their families while Indians were knocking at Dhaka did he surrender. He became a POW and was the last one to came back in 1975 as a General would. As soon as he came back he was stripped of his rank and thrown into solitary confinement. He served the country for 28 years yet his pension and medical benefits were stopped too. He asked again an again for a court martial so the nation will know who was responsible but it was not granted. He wrote a book called betrayal of East Pakistan in 1998. He died in 2004. In any other country he would be worshipped for his gallantry efforts but we have a habit of forgetting our heroes…
