The
Instrument of Surrender was signed at Ramna Race
Course
in Dhaka
at 16.31 IST
on December 16, 1971, by Lieutenant
General Jagjit Singh Aurora,
General Officer Commanding in Chief of Eastern Command of the
Indian Army and Lieutenant
General Amir Abdullah Khan
Niazi, Commander of Pakistani
forces in Bangladesh, as the formal act of
surrender of all Pakistani forces in erstwhile East
Pakistan. Also present during the ceremony were Lieutenant
General
JFR Jacob, Chief of Staff of the
Eastern Command and architect of the plan for the capture of
Bangladesh, and, the commanders of Indian Naval and Air Forces in
the Eastern Theatre.
The signing of the document ended the war, and led to the formation
of Bangladesh. The name of the new country, Bangla Desh (later
reduced to a single word), was used in the instrument of surrender,
which declared: "The Pakistan Eastern Command agree to surrender
all Pakistan armed forces in Bangla desh to Lieutenant-General
Jagjit Singh Aurora, General Officer Commanding in Chief of the
Indian and BANGLA DESH forcesin the Eastern Theatre."
Aurora accepted the
surrender
without a word, while the crowd on the race course started shouting
anti-Niazi and anti-Pakistan slogans and abuses. Niazi along with a
sizeable number of Pakistani soldiers were taken prisoner (upwards
of 90,000). This was the largest number of
POWs
since
World War II and included some
government officials.
Text of the Instrument

The instrument of surrender
"The PAKISTAN Eastern Command agree to surrender all PAKISTANArmed
Forces in BANGLA DESH to Lieutenant-General JAGJIT SINGH
AURORA,General Officer Commanding in Chief of the Indian and BANGLA
DESH forcesin the Eastern Theatre. This surrender includes all
PAKISTAN land, airand naval forces as also all para-military forces
and civil armed forces.These forces will lay down their arms and
surrender at the places wherethey are currently located to the
nearest regular troops under thecommand of Lieutenant-General
JAGJIT SINGH AURORA.
The PAKISTAN Eastern Command shall come under the orders
ofLieutenant-General JAGJIT SINGH AURORA as soon as the instrument
hasbeen signed. Disobedience of orders will be regarded as a breach
ofthe surrender terms and will be dealt with in accordance with
theaccepted laws and usages of war. The decision of
Lieutenant-GeneralJAGJIT SINGH AURORA will be final, should any
doubt arise as to themeaning or interpretation of the surrender
terms.
Lieutenant-General JAGJIT SINGH AURORA gives a solemn assurancethat
personnel who surrender shall be treated with dignity and
respectthat soldiers are entitled to in accordance with provisions
of theGENEVA Convention and guarantees the safety and well-being of
allPAKISTAN military and para-military forces who surrender.
Protectionwill be provided to foreign nationals, ethnic minorities
and personnelof WEST PAKISTAN origin by the forces under the
command of Lieutenant-General JAGJIT SINGH AURORA."
Signed by J.S. Aurora and A.A.K. Niazi on 16 December 1971.
Sources
INSTRUMENTS OF SURRENDER OF PAKISTANI FORCES IN
DACCA Hosted by Ministry of External Affairs, India
Virtual Bangladesh
References
External links