IndiaPost.com - Bangladesh War hero Manekshaw given state funeral

NEW DELHI: Field Marshal Sam Hormusji Framji Jamshedji Manekshaw, whose military victory in the 1971 Indo-Pak war led to the creation of Bangladesh, died in Military Hospital in Wellington, Tamil Nadu. He was 94.

He was honored with a state funeral by the Central government. Manekshaw was one of the 40 cadets of the first batch that passed out from the Indian Military Academy in Dehradun and earned the sobriquet "Sam Bahadur" from soldiers of the 8th Gorkha Rifles of which he was Colonel of the Regiment.

Affectionately called "Sam Bahadur" for his close association with Gorkha Rifles, Manekshaw was the architect of many a military triumph but his finest hour came when Pakistani forces were vanquished in 14 days flat. Handsome, witty and sporting his trademark handlebar moustache, the Soldier's General had the rare distinction of being honoured for his bravery - Military Cross - right on the battle front itself during the Second World War.

Manekshaw, who got a second life after the young Captain survived near fatal wounds during the Second World War in Burma, is the first of only two Indian military officers to hold the highest rank of Field Marshal of the Indian Army (The other being Field Marshal K M Cariappa). Manekshaw, a role model for the Uniform fraternity, is perhaps the tallest amongst the military geniuses in the contemporary world. His distinguished military career spanned four decades from the British era and through five wars, including the Second World War.

Flamboyant by nature, Manekshaw always had his way with people, including his seniors and even the country's Head of Government. Just before the Bangladesh operations in December 1971, the then prime minister Indira Gandhi asked Manekshaw, who was the Army Chief then, "General are you ready" (for the war).

Pat came the reply from the dapper officer, "I am always ready sweetie." Gandhi was not unpleased, nor offended. On another occasion, Gandhi asked him whether he was planning to take over the country. Pointing to his long nose, the General replied: "I don't use it to poke into other's affairs."

When Gandhi asked him to go to Dhaka and accept the surrender of Pakistani forces, Manekshaw declined, magnanimously saying that honor should go to his army commander in the East (Lt Gen Jagjit Singh Aurora).

Manekshaw said he would only go if it were to accept the surrender of the entire Pakistani army. A shrewd tactician, Manekshaw meticulously planned the Indian attack on Pakistan on both fronts -- East and West. While the Indian forces captured the then East Pakistan in the eastern sector, the army made heavy inroads in the western sector going up to Lahore.

Adopting a mature war strategy, he masterminded the rout of the Pakistan Army in one of the quickest victories in the recent military history to liberate Bangladesh. Born on April 3, 1914 in Amritsar to Parsi parents who migrated to Punjab from the small town of Valsad on the Gujarat coast, Manekshaw rose to be the Eighth Chief of Staff of the Indian Army in 1969.