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General in the labyrinth

The Betrayal Of East Pakistan
by Lt Gen. A.A.K. Niazi

reviewed by Ashok K. Mehta

For old warriors, the 1971 war is not yet over.

Before 1971, India was seen by its neighbours as a weak and vacillating state for several reasons: its failure to prevent Beijing´s takeover of Tibet in 1949; the military humiliation by the Chinese in 1962; and its inability to convert the military initiative in 1965 into a decisive victory against Pakistan. It took another six years to change that image. The third India-Pakistan war in 1971 may have been the most decisive clash of arms in the Subcontinent this century.