India's Secret War: Bsf and Nine Months to the Birth of Bangladesh

Triggered by the US-backed Pakistani junta's brutal measures against the Bengalis Sheikh Mujibur Rahman proclaimed the independence of East Pakistan on 26 March 1971. They needed the world's support and was their first ally. The Border Security Force (BSF) an elite Indian force was only five years old at the time and became central to India's sustained military response in East Pakistan for nine months until the alliance of Indian and Bangladeshi forces won Dacca. The BSF's founding chief K.F. Rustamji and his men went beyond their charter of policing borders to respond to one of the world's worst humanitarian crises that was unfolding right next door to India.