Lt Gen Niazi, Commander of the Pakistani Forces in East Pakistan (Now Bangladesh) signing the surrender document for Lt Gen Jagjit Singh Aurora.

Modesty was 'Bangladesh Hero' Aurora's forte

Lt Gen Jagjit Singh Aurora who secured the surrender of 93,000 Pakistani soldiers after the 1971 Bangladesh war, died on Tuesday.

Aurora sought neither fame nor victory for the first decisive victory of the Indian Army, after the country's independence.

That telling moment was captured for posterity in a now famous black-and-white photograph of the surrender ceremony on December 16, 1971 at Dacca, as the capital of the then East Pakistan was called.

Aurora, flanked by Indian Army, Navy and Air Force officers, is looking at Lt Gen AAK Niazi of the Pakistani Army, as he signs the surrender document with a borrowed pen.

There is no smile or smirk on the victorious Aurora's face - just the straight lines of a professional soldier. That is what made him defer to the then Army Chief, Gen SHFJ 'Sam' Manekshaw, who hogged the glory for the 1971 war and later became India's first field marshal.

Aurora himself quietly served out his tenure as the Chief of the Indian Army's eastern command and then faded away, seemingly into oblivion.

He emerged again on October 31, 1984 when anti-Sikh riots broke out in the capital - and the rest of the country - in the wake of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's assassination by her Sikh bodyguards.

Aurora and a group of friends, who included IK Gujral, ran from pillar to post as they tried to wake up government machinery that had gone into hibernation as the riots raged.

Once the riots abated, Aurora fought relentlessly for the rehabilitation of the victims and to ensure that they get justice. He filed an affidavit before the Nanavati Commission that probed the riots.

"From our meetings with the functionaries responsible for maintaining law and order it appeared they were not at all concerned about the killings of Sikhs... From (their) attitude it was apparent the government was not interested at all in protecting the lives and property of the innocent Sikhs," Aurora said.

It was a measure of the man that he did not hesitate to speak his mind out. It was this mindset that perhaps enabled Aurora to opt for the unconventional when planning the Bangladesh operation.

The Indian Army's normal methods, be it by training or tradition, had been the set piece battle. Aurora realised that he had a maximum of a fortnight to get to Dacca, and he decided to dump the conventional.

Out went established tactical concepts and in came mobile, flexible thrusts that would be carried out with determination and dash.

Indian forces, said Aurora, would have to throw the enemy into such confusion that before they recovered, the Indian divisions would begin converging on Dacca.

That's exactly how it happened.

"I'm surprised Niazi didn't even think of defending Dacca," Aurora modestly told Col PN Khera of Asian Defence News International in an interview in December 1999.

Even during the interview, he attempted to turn the spotlight away from himself, as was evident from this comment, "Nowhere in history did an army go in and come out without taking advantage (of the land and its people)."

Recalled Khera on Tuesday, "It was so difficult to get him to agree to the interview. He was so modest and self-effacing. He ultimately agreed when I told him that he owed it to history to speak about his role in the liberation of Bangladesh."

Aurora also served a Rajya Sabha term as an Akali Dal nominee but maintained a low profile during the 1986-92 tenure.

Born on February 13, 1916 in village Kalle Gujran of Punjab's Jhelum district, which is now in Pakistan, Aurora studied at Rawalpindi's Mission School and the Dehradun's Indian Military Academy.

He was commissioned into the Punjab Regiment on January 1, 1939 and commanded the same battalion in the 1948 Kashmir operations. He served as Director General Military Training at Army Headquarters and commanded a corps in the northeast before heading the eastern command.

A recipient of the Param Vishist Seva Medal, he was also awarded the Padma Bhushan for his role in the 1971 operations.