Nov 26, 2023, 04:35 PM IST
Lieutenant General J.S. Aurora was among the ones who were at the forefront of India’s warcraft against Pakistan at the time of Bangladesh’s creation in 1971. Led by Army chief General Sam Manekshaw, Aurora avoided a protracted war with Pakistan on the Eastern Front.
Jagjit Singh Aurora was born in 1916 in Kalle Gujjran, Jhelum district, now in Pakistan into a middle-class Sikh family. In 1939, he was commissioned into the 1st battalion of the 2nd Punjab Regiment and commanded it for eight years in Jammu and Kashmir. As Lieutenant General, he led Indian Army's Eastern Command during Bangladesh Liberation War.
Together with Lt. Gen. JFR Jacob, Eastern Command's Chief of Staff, General Aurora pursued the strategy of 'leaving the highways for the byways' to cut off supply lines of Pakistani side. Infantry battalions pushed the element of surprise. Dhaka fell in 12 days.
In the iconic moment portrayed in history books, General J.S. Aurora is seen looking towards his defeated Pakistani foe Lt. Gen. A.A.K. Niazi, but there is no victorious sigh on his face. General Aurora’s face shows just the matter-of-fact look of a soldier who has accomplished his mission: Pakistan’s surrender.
Even once during the 12-day war against tyrannical Pakistani Army, General Aurora did not forsake his 18-round of Golf inside Fort Williams headquarters in Calcutta, before flying to Dhaka to accept the instrument of surrender. General Aurora was an avid reader of military history.
General Aurora retired with glorious accolade as ‘Liberator of Bangladesh’ in 1973. He worked for rehabilitation of the victims of 1984 anti-Sikh pogrom after Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s assassination. He served as Rajya Sabha MP between 1986 and 1992. He breathed his last on May 5, 2005.