Dhaka: The death of Lt Gen JFR Jacob (retd), who negotiated the surrender of Pakistani troops in Dhaka following the 1971 war, will be greatly mourned across both sides of the border between India and Bangladesh.

Jacob breathed his last on Wednesday morning after prolonged illness, Indian army sources said.

Jacob is best known for his role in India’s victory in what India calls the India-Pakistan war of 1971, Bangladesh’s War of Liberation. Jacob, then a Major General, served as the Chief of Staff of the Indian Army’s Eastern Command during the war.

He played a key role in setting the strategy for the Indian forces to fight in conjunction with the Bangladeshi Freedom Fighters, whose role he always highlighted in later interviews, as well as his books that surveyed his personal life as well as crucial aspects of his time in the Indian Army. After his 36-year career, he also served as governor of some Indian states.

Born in the Bengal Presidency under British India, Jacob joined the army at the age of 19 and also fought in World War II and the Indo-Pakistan War of 1965 before he retired in 1978.

Jacob was honoured by the Bangladesh government in 2012 for his heroic deeds in the Liberation War, with The Commendation of Merit, signed by President Zillur Rahman and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and awarded by the ‘Friends of Liberation War Honours’.

The commendation states the “respect and gratitude of the Bengali nation for his unique contribution to the war of liberation of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh”.

In memory of the late General’s contribution to the dream of Bangladesh becoming a reality, the following excerpt from his autobiography is reduced in which he succinctly summarises the strategy he devised for the Indian Army to inflict the most decisive result of all the wars fought from time to time between India and

Pakistan, and changed the dynamic between the two countries, as well as in the region, forever with the breakaway of Bangladesh.

By the end of May 1971 I had prepared a draft outline plan based on the following strategic parameters:

(a)   The final objective was to be Dacca [Dhaka], the centre of gravity and the geopolitical and geostrategic heart of East Pakistan.

(b)  Pakistani fortified positions and towns were to be bypassed, and thrust lines selected accordingly.

(c)   Subsidiary objectives were to be selected in order to secure communication centres as also to destroy command and control centres.

Enemy forces bypassed were to be dealt with later.

(d)  In order to achieve the above it was essential to draw the Pakistani forces into the towns and border areas leaving Dacca and key areas lightly defended. In planning any operation for the liberation of Bangladesh, we in eastern command had also to cater for defence against any possible Chinese intervention, contain insurgency in the NE, and in addition ensure the defence of Bhutan.

(Excerpt from An Odyssey in War and Peace: An Autobiography, authored by Lt. Gen. JFR Jacob)