Military Digest: How Indian Army treated Pakistani prisoners of war after their surrender in 1971

The camps

The POW camps were located across India, including in Ranchi, Agra, Gwalior, Roorkee and Jabalpur. Senior Pakistan Army officers, including Lt Gen A A K Niazi, the GOC Eastern Command in East Pakistan, were held in Jabalpur. Apart from the officers and soldiers held in these camps, their parents, wives and children were also in captivity. Therefore, separate arrangements had to be made for these civilians regarding their welfare and medical needs. In fact, many children were born to Pakistani prisoners in the initial days of captivity in 1972. One camp that held civilian internees reported the birth of six children in 1972.

Clothing and food

A scale of rations similar to that of military personnel was established for the Pakistani POWs. For the winter season, each POW received either three blankets or one quilt and one blanket. Each POW without a Pakistan Army pullover was given either a woollen pullover or shirt. In some camps, leather jackets without sleeves were issued. One pair of socks was distributed to all the POWs. Some women refused the army pullovers as unsuitable, requesting shawls that were not available.

A daily distribution of fresh fruits was made among the children detained in the civilian camps, with each child aged 1 to 17 years receiving a banana daily. One thousand bottles of multivitamin syrup were handed over to a Pakistani doctor in charge in one camp, who organised the distribution.

POWs who had Indian currency deposited in the camp could use it for purchases in the canteen.

Freedom of religion

No complaints were made in any of the camps regarding freedom of worship to the inspecting authorities, including independent ones like the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Prisoners who died while trying to escape or due to illness were buried in a Muslim cemetery a short distance away from the POW camps in clearly marked graves that ICRC teams could identify.

In one camp where some POWs had been killed during an altercation with sentries, the windows of all the barracks were fitted with iron bars, and the POWs were locked in their barracks at night. However, during Ramzan, they were provided with all necessary facilities for praying and eating at night.

In one of the camps, the camp authorities spent Rs 5,000 to help POWs celebrate Eid al-Adha and allotted Rs 1 per head for the Christian POWs for Christmas.

The group commander of several camps assisted the Shia POWs in celebrating Muharram. Quran and Bible translations in Urdu were widely available in the camps.

For Christmas, a priest visited the Christians, who were given some delicacies and a special menu. The Shi’ites assembled in one block for the Muharram observances. A mullah, interviewed without witnesses, expressed satisfaction at the respect shown for religious activities.

Newspapers and other facilities

Many POWs complained in the initial days that postal or money orders sent from India or abroad had not been remitted to them. It was explained that only civilians were authorised to receive money orders. Money or postal orders sent to POWs were therefore returned to the senders.

In each block, POWs received one newspaper in Urdu and four in English daily. Once a week, they received two copies of the Illustrated Weekly of India. Each block had a small library, with most books in Urdu.

The POWs could listen to daily radio broadcasts, including a half-hour bulletin from 6.30 am to 7 pm on Pakistan News, a bulletin from 3 pm to 4 pm on Indian News, and an Indian entertainment programme at 8.30 pm.

Officers among the POWs had personal transistors, junior commissioned officers had one transistor per barrack, while officers of other ranks had one per block. On average, two films were shown monthly to the POWs.

Sports, games and musical instruments

As far as outside games were concerned, POWs practised common physical exercises in their courtyard. There was a volleyball ground in each enclosure, and inter-camp volleyball tournaments were organised.

For indoor games, the POWs had a few decks of playing cards, one chess board and two carrom boards per block.

One harmonium, four tablas, one Indian drum and ten flutes were usually available in the camps, provided as gifts by the ICRC. These instruments, purchased from the local market, were to stay in each block for three days before being passed on.

Radio messages for families in Pakistan

A team from All India Radio visited the camps to record personal family messages to be broadcast to relatives in Pakistan. On average, three correspondence forms were distributed to the POWs for writing letters. Some POWs complained that letters sent to or from Pakistan took two to three months to reach their addressees.

Punishment to POWs

A few POWs were given terms of confinement, usually at the request of a POW officer or the senior POW non-commissioned officer of the block. Some POWs faced fines amounting to 50 per cent of their advance pay as a consequence of breaking military discipline.

In all camps, a punishment register was maintained, noting all details. All punishments were administered in compliance with Articles 89 and 90 of the Third Geneva Convention.

Strict orders were given to the sentries to remain calm and not to shoot inside the camp in case of trouble or fights. It was noted that the Pakistani POW jawans frequently fought among themselves, which officers attributed to the mixing of units, frustration and congestion in the barracks.

POWs shot dead while escaping

There were escape attempts by the POWs and while some were successful, others resulted in deaths. One Capt Riaz-Ul-Haq of the 26 Frontier Force escaped from Camp 32.

In Camp 95, there was an attempted escape by Mohd Ishaq of the 48 Baluch, who was placed in detention for 15 days. Afterward, the Camp Commander sent him to the Camp Hospital for a few days since he was in a state of depression.

Two POW camps in India were the scene of incidents in October 1972. The first incident, at Dhanna on 3 October 1972, resulted in eight deaths and numerous casualties; the second, at Allahabad on 13 October, cost the lives of six prisoners.

In one camp in Uttar Pradesh, 16 POWs including six officers were being transported in a closed van to the military hospital for routine dental and eye treatment. At the destination, two prisoners—Lt M I Rizvi and Capt Abdul Wahid—started running in different directions. The escort and the driver chased them. Lt Rizvi was caught by the driver but freed himself and continued running. He was repeatedly challenged but kept running, resulting in the escort opening fire, which led to his death. Capt Abdul Wahid was also shot and wounded.

In another incident, a group of POWs in Uttar Pradesh attempted to attack and overpower the sentries to snatch their firearms. They succeeded in taking possession of one rifle and shot at one of the sentries, wounding him. Another group of POWs rushed towards the sentries at the gate, while several others began climbing the watchtower. The sentries on duty opened fire in self-defence to control the situation, resulting in the deaths of six POWs.

Medical facilities for POWs

Pakistan Army medical personnel were employed to run medical facilities supervised by Indian Army doctors at several locations. In one such hospital, Pak Army Lt Col M Anwar, pathologist; Lt Col A R Minhas, dental surgeon; Lt Col M Akhtar, ENT specialist; Maj Magbool Shah, GDMO; Maj M A Hamid Khan, EDMO; Maj Khadim Hussain, eye specialist; Maj H M Butt, anaesthetist; Capt M.A. Kiani, surgeon; Capt K D Mirza; Capt M A Qamar, medical specialist; Capt Ashur Khan; Lieut I H Bajwa; and Lt Col M S Bhatti, dermatologist, were responsible for running medical facilities for the POWs.