Bajwa had said, the number of soldiers who surrendered in the war of 971 was not 92,000 and only 34,000 were combatants, while others were from various government departments.
Image Credit source: ANI
Pakistan foreign minister of Bilawal Bhutto Zardari Has said that the humiliating defeat suffered by the Indian Army in the war over East Pakistan in 1971 was a ‘big failure’ of the Pakistan Army. He made this comment while targeting former Pakistan Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, who termed the defeat from India as a political failure of Pakistan. Bilawal made these remarks at a rally organized at Nishtar Park to mark the 55th foundation day of his Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).
The PPP chairman discussed the history of his party on the occasion and recalled the achievements of its founder and his maternal grandfather, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. “When Zulfikar Ali Bhutto took over, people’s hopes were shattered and they were disappointed in every way,” Dawn newspaper quoted him as saying. “But he (Zulfikar) rebuilt the nation and eventually our 90,000 Brought back soldiers who had been made prisoners of war (by India) due to ‘military failure’. Those 90,000 soldiers were reunited with their families and all this was possible because of the politics of hope, of unity and of inclusion.
Bajwa, before his retirement on November 29, had said that Islamabad’s defeat in the war with India over East Pakistan was a “political failure” and that the sacrifices of Pakistani soldiers were never properly recognised. He had said that the number of soldiers who surrendered in the 1971 war was not 92,000 and only 34,000 were combatants, while others were from various government departments.
Bajwa had said that 34,000 soldiers had fought the war
Last week, at an event organized at the army headquarters in Rawalpindi, Bajwa had said, “I want to set the record straight.” First, the collapse of East Pakistan was not a military failure, but a political failure. The number of fighting soldiers was not 92,000, but only 34,000, the rest being from various government departments. General Bajwa (61) retired on 29 November. He was given a three-year extension in 2019 by former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan. At present, Khan is the biggest critic of the Pakistani army. India had captured more than 90,000 of its soldiers by defeating Pakistan badly in the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971 and after this battle a new country came into existence as Bangladesh on the world map.
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