284 বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্র : সপ্তম খণ্ড Indians because, as Brigadier Baqar said, ‘It is better furnished.' The adjoining officers' mess was warned in advance to prepare additional food for the 'guests'. Baqar was very good at administration. Slightly after midday, Brigadier Baqar went to the airport to receive his Indian counterpart, Major-General Jacob. Meanwhile Niazi entertained Nagra with his jokes. I apologize for not recording them here but none of them is printable! Major-General Jacob brought the 'surrender deed' which General Niazi and his Chief of Staff preferred to call the 'draft cease-fire agreement'; Jacob handed over the papers to Baqar, who placed them before Major-General Farman. General Farman objected to the clause pertaining to the 'Joint Command of India and Bangladesh." Jacob said, 'But this is how it has come from Delhi." Colonel Khera of Indian military intelligence,' who was standing on the side added, ‘Oh, which is an internal matter between India and Bangladesh. You are surrendering to the Indian Army only." The document was passed on to Niazi who glanced through it without any comment and pushed it back, across the table, to Farman. Farman said, ‘It is for the Commander to accept or reject it.' Niazi said nothing. This was taken to imply his acceptance. In the early afternoon, General Niazi drove to Dacca airport to receive LieutenantGeneral Jagjit Singh Aurora, Commander of Indian Eastern Command. He arrived with his wife by helicopter. A sizeable crowd of Bengalis rushed forward to garland their liberator' and his wife. Niazi gave him a military salute and shook hands. It was a touching sight. The victor and the vanquished stood in full view of the Bengalis, who made no secret of their extreme sentiments of love and hatred for Aurora and Niazi respectively. Amidst shouts and slogans, they drove to Ramna Race Course (Suhrawardy Ground) where the stage was set for the surrender ceremony. The vast ground' bubbled with emotional Bengali crowds. They were all keen to witness the public humiliation of a West Pakistani General. The occasion was also to formalize the birth of Bangladesh. A small contingent of the Pakistan Army was arrived to present a guard of honor to the victor while a detachment of Indian soldiers guarded the vanquished. The surrender deed was signed by Lieutenant-General Aurora and Lieutenant-General Niazi in full view of nearly one million Bengalis and scores of foreign media men. Then they both stood up. General Niazi took out his revolver and handed it over to Aurora to mark the capitulation of Dacca. With that, he handed over East Pakistan. The Dacca garrison was allowed to retain their personal weapons for selfprotection against the Mukti Bahini till Indian troops were available, in sufficient numbers, to take over control. The garrison Surrendered formally on 19 December at 11 a.m. at the golf course in the cantonment. The troops, outside Dacca laid down their arms between 16 and 22 December on suitable dates arranged by the local commanders. All India Radio had started broadcasting the news of impending surrender as early as 14 December. It panicked the non-Bengali population in Dacca and elsewhere. Most of them left their homes and moved to the cantonments to share the fate of Pakistani
