Page 189 - Leadership in the Indian Army

Indian troops. The same day, Major General Rao Farman Ali, the Military
Adviser to the Governor of East Pakistan, sent a message to the United
Nations asking for a ceasefire. The Security Council was about to begin

discussing the message when another message was received from President
Yayha Khan countermanding Farman Ali’s message, which it described as
‘unauthorised’.
As early as 9 December, the Governor of East Pakistan, Dr A.M. Malik,
had sent a message to Yahya Khan advocating a ceasefire. Yahya Khan had
replied that he was leaving the decision to Malik and had instructed General
Niazi, the Army Commander, accordingly. Malik could not make up his

mind and continued to wait for instructions from Rawalpindi. On 13
December, Niazi spoke to the Army Chief, General Hamid, requesting him
to arrange a ceasefire. On 14 December Yahya Khan sent instructions to
Niazi to take action as he deemed fit to stop the fighting and preserve the
lives of his men. Before this message reached Niazi, another development
had taken place. Malik convened a meeting at midday, on 14 December at

Government House in Dacca, to discuss the issue. The wireless message
giving the time and venue of the meeting was intercepted by an Indian
Signals interception unit. The Indian Air Force bombed the Government
House, causing a lot of damage. Malik was badly shaken and his concern
for the safety of his Austrian wife and daughter, who were with him, finally
pushed him towards a decision. He immediately wrote out his resignation
and, accompanied by his cabinet and other civil servants, moved to the

Hotel Intercontinental, which had been occupied by the International Red
Cross and was treated as a neutral zone.
The decision to surrender was actually taken by Niazi, who addressed a
message to Sam Manekshaw on 15 December and requested the United
States Consul General in Dacca, Herbert Spivack, to convey it to him.
Instead of sending the message to India, Spivack had it sent to Washington,

from where it was relayed to India. Sam had already made two broadcasts
asking the Pakistani forces in East Pakistan to surrender. Leaflets containing
his call to surrender had been translated into Urdu, Pushtu and Bengali and
dropped over the area held by Pakistani troops. When he received Niazi’s
message, Sam broadcast a reply, indicating that a ceasefire would be
acceptable only if the Pakistani troops surrendered to the Indian Army by 9
a.m. on 16 December 1971. He gave the radio frequencies on which Niazi

could contact Aurora’s headquarters. As a token of good faith, Sam also