Operation Searchlight
Pakistani military operation in the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War
Operation Searchlight was a planned military operation by the Pakistani Army to stop the Bengali nationalist movement in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) in March 1971.[1] It was ordered by the government in West Pakistan and was seen as the sequel to Operation Blitz, which had been launched in November 1970.
The Pakistani Army was endorsed and supported by the US under Nixon Administration and the Bengalis by India and the USSR. The US objective was to curb Soviet influence in South Asia and win Pakistan as an ally.
Pakistan lost the war, resulting in the Independence of Bangladesh. All US objectives were failed.
Further reading
change- Gerlach, Christian. "Crowd Violence in East Pakistan/Bangladesh 1971/72." (2019): 15-39.
References
change- ↑ Sarmila Bose (8 October 2005). "Military Action: Operation Searchlight". Anatomy of Violence: Analysis of Civil War in East Pakistan in 1971. Economic and Political Weekly, Special Articles. Archived from the original on 1 March 2007.
