In one of the darkest chapters of the subcontinent's history, Pakistan Army unleashed Operation Searchlight - a planned pogrom of terror and violence unleashed on a section of its own population. The people of East Pakistan took refuge in India in millions, and the stage was set for an epic showdown.

Sources -

Official History of the 1971 India Pakistan War - MoD History Division

De-classified CIA and US State Department Documents

A Stranger in my own Country - Maj General Khadim Hussain Raja

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto - Six Steps to Summit - Kamaleshwar Sinha

The Betrayal of East Pakistan -- Lt Gen A.A.K. Niazi

Through the 1971 Crisis- An Eyewitness Account by a Soldier - Hakeen Arshad Qureshi

We've Learnt Nothing from History - Air Marshal Asghanr Khan

The Blood Telegram: Nixon, Kissinger and a Forgotten Genocide - Gary J Bass