Bangladesh

The Collection / Conflicts

Bangladesh

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EAST PAKISTAN. Near Burinda. December 1971. Pakistani army at war with India over Bangladesh. Pakistani soldiers drag the corpse of an Indian soldier, killed in a battle. | License

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PAKISTAN. Eastern Province. Pakistani army at war with India over Bangladesh. December 1971. Troops in the battle area of Boda (North of Saidpur), what was East-Pakistan. | License

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EAST PAKISTAN. Near Thakergaon. 1971. A Pakistani officer orders artillery fire from his command bunker. | License

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EAST PAKISTAN. Boda (North of Saidpur). December 1971. A frightened Pakistani soldier takes cover from Indian artillery in a bunker. | License

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9

EAST PAKISTAN. Khalispur. 1971. Pakistani General Amir Abdullah Khan NIAZI, Governor of East Pakistan (seated) confers with an officer 20kms from the frontline with India. | License

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EAST PAKISTAN. Near Thakergaon. Pakistani troops evacuate their frontline position, accompanied by civilian refugees fleeing the war. | License

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9

EAST PAKISTAN. Dacca. 16 December 1971. Unaware that a ceasefire had been declared and India has won the war, Pakistani troops fire on an Indian patrol led by Colonel K.S. PANNU, commander of the 2nd Para. The Colonel raises his arms, requesting the Pakistani Major behind the wall to order a ceasefire. The photographer, holding his camera, also raises his arms. | License

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EAST PAKISTAN. Dacca. December 16, 1971. Unaware that a ceasefire had been declared and India has won the war, Pakistani troops fire on an Indian patrol led by Colonel K.S. PANNU, commander of the 2nd Para. The Colonel first raises his arms, requesting the Pakistani Major behind the wall to order a ceasefire. To encourage him to do so, the Indian Colonel shakes hands with the Major. | License

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EAST PAKISTAN. Dacca. December 1971. Skeleton of a Bengali executed by the Bihari militia who supported the Pakistani forces at war with India. | License

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        After several days of fighting in the Saidpur region, I ask the army to escort me back to Dacca so that I can send my films to my agency Sipa in Paris. I have a scoop. I am the only foreign photographer in the field, while my colleagues are all stuck in the capital. The army takes me by night to a makeshift landing zone.

        Just like in a film, the moonlight picks on the silhouette of a general and his escort scanning the sky, anxiously awaiting the helicopter which would ferry us over the surrounding Indian lines. Again, just like in a film, the helicopter does not appear.

        The general then decides to cross the enemy lines by road—he has to be at his HQ by the morning—and invites me to go with him. Are my films worth such a risk?

        I speculate that a general does not take as many risks as a lieutenant and accept his invitation. What I did not know—and one look at his face in the morning revealed this—is that I am dealing with one of those firebrand generals. A “Mad General”. The sort who leads his troops into assaults himself. Since then I have never accepted an invitation from anyone whose face I cannot see in the dark.

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