Tenth December, 1971

On the 10th of December 1971, at Jamalpur, near Dhaka, East Pakistan an Indian brigadier, Hardit Singh Kler, surrounded a Pakistani unit led by Lt. Colonel Ahmed Sultan. The two officers exchanged letters on the fateful day. The first, written by the Indian brigadier, was taken across the front line by an elderly man who delivered it by hand.

To,
The Commander Jamalpur Garrison
1 am directed to inform you that your garrison has been cut off from all sides and you have no escape route available to you. One brigade with full compliment of artillery has already been built up and another will be striking by morning. In addition you have been given a foretaste of a small element of our air force with a lot more to come. The situation as far as you are concerned is hopeless. Your higher commanders have already ditched you. I expect your reply before 6.30 p.m. today failing which I will be constrained to deliver the final blow for which purpose 40 sorties of MIGs have been allotted to me. In this morning's action the prisoners captured by us have given your strength and dispositions, and are well looked after.
The treatment I expect to be given to the civil messenger should be according to a gentlemanly code of honour and no harm should come to him.

An immediate reply is solicited.

Brigadier HS Kler. Comd.

The reply was sent a few hours later:

Dear Brig,
Hope this finds you in high spirits. Your letter asking us to surrender had been received. I want to tell you that the fighting you have seen so far is very little, in fact the fighting has not even started.
So let us stop negotiating and start the fight. 40 sorties, I may point out, are inadequate. Ask for many more.
Your point about treating your messenger well was superfluous. It shows how you under-estimate my boys. I hope he liked his tea. Give my love to the Muktis. Let me see you with a sten in your hands next time instead of the pen you seem to have such mastery over.

Now get on and fight.

Yours sincerely
Commander Jamalpur Fortress.
(Lt. Colonel Ahmed Sultan)

The next morning the fight did indeed begin when Lt. Colonel Sultan tried to break out of his garrison. Over 230 of his men were killed.
They died in vain. When the Indian brigadier had written 'your higher commanders have already ditched you', he was absolutely right. The military and political leadership in Dhaka already knew that the war was lost.


Excerpts from Pakistan, eye of the storm by Owen Bennet Jones.