:Jagjit Singh Aurora
{{Short description|Indian military officer (1916–2005)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2024}}
{{Use Indian English|date=June 2016}}
{{Infobox military person
| honorific_prefix = Lieutenant General
| name = Jagjit Singh Aurora
| honorific_suffix = PVSM
| image = File:Jagjit Singh Aurora.jpeg
| image_size = 250px
| caption = Official military portrait
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1916|2|13}}
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|2005|5|3|1916|2|13}}
| birth_place = Kala Gujran, Jhelum District, Punjab, British India (now in Punjab, Pakistan)
| death_place = New Delhi, India
| allegiance = {{Flag|British India}}
(1939–1947)
{{Flag|India}}
(1947–1973)
| branch = {{Army|British India}}
{{Army|India}}
| serviceyears = 1939–1973
| rank = 24px Lieutenant General
| commands = 20px Eastern Army
| unit = 2nd Punjab Regiment (until 1947)
Punjab Regiment (after 1947)
| battles = {{tree list}}
- World War II
- Burma Campaign
- Indo-Pakistani War of 1947
- Sino-Indian War
- Indo-Pakistani War of 1965
- Nathu La and Cho La clashes
- Bangladesh Liberation War
{{tree list/end}}
| awards = Param Vishisht Seva Medal
Padma Bhushan
| signature = File:Jagjit Singh Aurora, signature.svg
}}
Lieutenant General Jagjit Singh Aurora (or Arora), PVSM{{cite book |pages=245–246 |title=Indian Army List (Special Edition) 1947 |publisher=Government of India Press |year=1947}}Both spellings are used in official documents; though "Aurora" predominates in the listings in the pre-Independence Indian Army List, as do those in the Gazette of India. (13 February 1916As given in the pre-Independence Indian Army List. – 3 May 2005) was an Indian senior military officer who was the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief (GOC-in-C) Eastern Command during the Bangladesh Liberation War and the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. He organised and led the ground forces campaign in the Eastern Front of the war, which led to an overwhelming defeat of the combined Pakistan Armed Forces in East-Pakistan that led to the creation of Bangladesh.{{cite web |url=http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/LAND-FORCES/Personnel/Legends/170-JS-Arora.html |title=Homage to a Hero: Lt Gen J. S. Arora |date=17 June 2005 |work=Frontline |access-date=24 July 2011}}
As the General commanding the Indian and Bangladesh Forces in the Eastern theater, Gen Aurora received the surrender from the Governor of East Pakistan and Commander of the Eastern Command of the Pakistan Army, Lt Gen A. A. K. Niazi.
After retirement from the Indian Army, he joined Akali Dal and served as a Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha.
Early life
Jagjit Singh Aurora was born to an Arora Sikh family in Kala Gujran, Jhelum District, Punjab, British India.{{cite news |title=Modesty in victory |url=http://www.tribuneindia.com/2005/20050504/edit.htm#6 |access-date=27 November 2016 |work=The Tribune (Chandigarh) |agency=Indo-Asian News Service |date=4 May 2005 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110518093219/http://www.tribuneindia.com/2005/20050504/edit.htm#6 |archive-date=18 May 2011 |url-status=live}} His father was an engineer. He was married to Bhagwant Kaur, she accompanied him to the Pakistani Instrument of Surrender in Dhaka. The couple had two children, Anita Kaur and Kiranjit Singh.
Army career
Aurora graduated from the Indian Military Academy in 1939 and was commissioned into the 1st Battalion, 2nd Punjab Regiment on 1 February. He saw action in the Burma Campaign during World War II.{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/06/obituaries/06aurora.html |title=Jagjit Singh Aurora, 89, Indian War Hero, Is Dead |work=The New York Times |date=6 May 2005 |access-date=15 July 2011}}
After Independence and the ensuing Partition of India, he opted to join the Indian Army and was a commissioned officer in the Punjab Regiment during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947.{{cite web |url=http://indianarmy.nic.in/Site/FormTemplete/frmPhotoGalleryWithMenuWithTitle.aspx?MnId=CVpxJM4HyDk=&ParentID=VBMAob67zU4= |title=Punjab Regiment: Colonels of the Regiment |publisher=Indian Army |access-date=24 July 2011}} On 3 February 1957, he was promoted acting Brigadier and given command of an infantry brigade.{{cite news |title=Part I-Section 4: Ministry of Defence (Army Branch) |page=76 |date=30 March 1957 |publisher=The Gazette of India}}
In May 1961, as BGS XXXIII Corps, Brigadier Aurora led a team of military officers and men sent by the Government of India on a reconnaissance mission to Bhutan. This later led to the establishment of the Indian Military Training Team in Bhutan.{{cite web |title=Indian Military Training Team (IMTRAT), Bhutan |url=http://indianarmy.nic.in/index_imtrat.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090619071023/http://indianarmy.nic.in/index_imtrat.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=19 June 2009 |date=19 June 2009}}
As a brigadier, he fought in the Sino-Indian War in 1962. He was appointed a division commander on 21 February 1963, with a promotion to the rank of Major General on 20 June 1964.{{cite news |title=Part I-Section 4: Ministry of Defence (Army Branch) |page=371 |date=12 September 1964 |publisher=The Gazette of India}} He was then appointed Director of Military Training (DMT) on 23 November 1964.{{cite news |title=Part I-Section 4: Ministry of Defence (Army Branch) |page=509 |date=19 December 1964 |publisher=The Gazette of India}} He also participated in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965.
On 6 June 1966, Aurora was appointed Deputy Chief of the Army Staff (DCOAS) with the acting rank of Lieutenant General, and was promoted substantive Lieutenant General on 4 August.{{cite news |title=Part I-Section 4: Ministry of Defence (Army Branch) |page=628 |date=15 October 1966 |publisher=The Gazette of India}} He was then given command of a General Officer Commanding (GOC) of a corps on 27 April 1967.{{cite news |title=Part I-Section 4: Ministry of Defence (Army Branch) |page=496 |date=24 June 1967 |publisher=The Gazette of India}} On 8 June 1969, he was appointed the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief (GOC-in-C) Eastern Command.{{cite news |title=Part I-Section 4: Ministry of Defence (Army Branch) |page=663 |date=19 July 1969 |publisher=The Gazette of India}}
= East Pakistan =
File:1971 Instrument of Surrender.jpg, Commanding Officer of Pakistan Army forces in East Pakistan signing the instrument of surrender on 16 December 1971 in the presence of Lt. Gen. Aurora]]
In March 1971, the Pakistan Army launched Operation Searchlight to curb the Bengali nationalist movement in East Pakistan. The operation resulted in commencement of the Bangladesh Liberation War which resulted in the Bangladesh genocide, including the systematic murder of Bengali intellectuals by the Pakistan Army. The ensuing violence led to almost 10 million Bengali refugees fleeing from East Pakistan into India.{{citation needed|date=June 2024}} Under the command of General M. A. G. Osmani a Bangladeshi military force, the Mukti Bahini, was formed. Consisting of Bengali defectors from the Pakistan Army and guerrilla fighters, it engaged in hostilities with the Pakistani Army.{{cite book |last=Raja |first=Dewan Mohammad Tasawwar |year=2010 |title=O General My General |publisher=The Osmany Memorial Trust |pages=70, 72 |isbn=978-984-8866-18-4}}
For the next nine months, with tensions escalating between India and Pakistan and anticipating possible hostilities, Aurora oversaw the logistical preparations of the Indian Army on the Eastern front, including the improvement of roads, communications and bridges, as well as the movement of 30,000 tons of supplies close to the border with East Pakistan.
At the outbreak of the war on 3 December 1971, the Eastern Army Commander, Gen. Aurora oversaw the Indian ground forces into battle in East Pakistan. Forces under Aurora's command, in
a meticulously planned operation, formed numerous small combat teams and launched
a four-front attack with the strategy of confronting and defeating Pakistani forces on selected fronts, while bypassing them on others. In less than two weeks, his forces advanced from the Indian border to capture Dhaka, the capital of East Pakistan.{{cite news |title=Obituary: Lt Gen Jagjit Singh Aurora |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/may/11/india.bangladesh |work=The Guardian |date=11 May 2005 |access-date=15 July 2011}}
The Unified Commander of Pakistan Armed Forces's Eastern Military High Command, Lieutenant General Amir Abdullah Khan Niazi was forced to sign an instrument of unconditional surrender. View: Instrument of Surrender. The photograph of Niazi and Aurora at the signing of the Instruments of Surrender became an iconic image of the war,{{cite news |title=Bangladesh honours Gen. Aurora |url=http://www.thehindu.com/2005/05/22/stories/2005052201860900.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129111400/http://www.thehindu.com/2005/05/22/stories/2005052201860900.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=29 November 2014 |access-date=21 November 2014 |work=The Hindu |date=22 May 2005}} with The Guardian describing the scene as "the glum Pakistani officer bowed over his signature. The turbaned figure beside him, showing not a scrap of elation". The 90,000 Pakistani troops under Niazi's command surrendered to Gen Aurora as prisoners of war in what remains to date the largest surrender of soldiers since the Second World War.{{Cite web |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/south-asia/the-bangladeshi-liberation-has-lessons-for-india-today/articleshow/88412623.cms |title=The Bangladeshi liberation has lessons for India today |date=21 December 2021 |access-date=29 December 2021 |website=The Times of India |last=Srinivasaraju |first=Sugata}} Pakistan lost almost {{convert|57000|sqmi|km2}} of its territory and 70 million of its people to the newly formed nation of Bangladesh.
Later life
Aurora was honoured with the Param Vishisht Seva Medal, the Padma Bhushan and the Bir Protik{{Cite web |date=10 February 2011 |title=Punjab Govt. to Confer Punjab 'Rattan Award' |url=http://www.sikhnet.com/news/punjab-govt-confer-punjab-rattan-award |access-date=4 March 2022 |website=SikhNet |language=en}} for his role in the war.{{cite web |url=http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/LST-PDAWD-2013.pdf |title=Padma Awards |publisher=Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India |year=2015 |access-date=21 July 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151015193758/http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/LST-PDAWD-2013.pdf |archive-date=15 October 2015}} He retired from the Indian Army in 1973. Lt Gen JFR Jacob has written in his book An Odyssey in War And Peace that Gen. Aurora approached then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi for governorship of a state but she declined.{{cite book |last1=Jacob |first1=Lt. Gen J.F.R. |author-link=J. F. R. Jacob |year=2011 |title=An Odyssey In War And Peace |publisher=Roli Books |location=Delhi |page= |isbn=978-81-7436-933-8 |quote=Aurora approached Mrs Indira Gandhi, seeking to be appointed a governor. She declined.}}{{page needed|date=February 2023}} Jacob also writes that Gen. and Mrs. Aurora were a regular part of the social life of Calcutta.{{cite book |last1=Jacob |first1=Lt. Gen J.F.R. |author-link=J. F. R. Jacob |year=2011 |title=An Odyssey In War And Peace |publisher=Roli Books |location=Delhi |page= |isbn=978-81-7436-933-8 |quote=Aurora soon became part of the social circuit.}}
In 1984, Aurora fiercely criticised the Indian National Congress leadership following Operation Blue Star, which was an operation by the then government of flushing out armed Sikh militants who had taken up positions inside the Golden Temple in Amritsar but also caused extensive damage to the holiest shrine of Sikhism. Subsequently, he spent several years as a member of parliament in the Rajya Sabha, the upper House of the Indian Parliament, for the Akali Dal, a political party.
Aurora was also an active member of the Citizen's Justice Committee which provided pro bono assistance to Sikh victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
Death
Jagjit Singh Aurora died on 3 May 2005, at age 89, in New Delhi.{{cite web |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/1971-war-hero-Lt-General-J-S-Aurora-dead/articleshow/1095879.cms |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110713025901/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2005-05-03/india/27837229_1_army-officer-eastern-army-command-goc |url-status=live |archive-date=13 July 2011 |title=1971 war hero Lt General J S Aurora dead |date=3 May 2005 |work=The Times of India |access-date=15 July 2011}} He was survived by a son and a daughter. After his death, the gratitude of Bangladesh to General Aurora was emphasized in a message to India, from Morshed Khan, the Bangladeshi Foreign Minister, stating: "Aurora will be remembered in the history of Bangladesh for his contribution during our war of liberation in 1971, when he led the allied forces."
The site of the Pakistani surrender, where Lt. Gen. Niazi signed the Instrument of Surrender with Lt. Gen. Aurora on 16 December 1971 has been converted into a national monument Swadhinata Stambha. The main attraction is the glass Stambha which is built on the precise location where the instrument of surrender was signed. The monument also includes an eternal flame, terracotta murals of martyrs and a body of water.
Dates of rank
See also
Notes
{{reflist|group=note}}
References
{{Reflist|30em}}
External links
- [http://www.rediff.co.in/chat/aurochat.htm Chat with Jagjit Singh Aurora] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111026055021/http://www.rediff.co.in/chat/aurochat.htm |date=26 October 2011 }}, Rediff.com
{{s-start}}
{{s-mil}}
{{s-bef|before = Kunhiraman Palat Candeth}}
{{s-ttl|title = Deputy Chief of the Army Staff | years = 1966–1967}}
{{s-aft|after = Gopal Gurunath Bewoor}}
{{s-bef|before = Sam Manekshaw}}
{{s-ttl|title = General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Command | years = 1969–1973}}
{{s-aft|after = N. C. Rawlley}}
{{s-end}}
{{1971 Indo-Pak War}}
{{Bangladesh liberation}}
{{PadmaBhushanAwardRecipients 1970–79}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aurora, Jagjit Singh}}
Category:British Indian Army officers
Category:Deputy chiefs of Army Staff (India)
Category:Generals of the Bangladesh Liberation War
Category:Generals of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971
Category:Indian military personnel of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971
Category:Military personnel from Punjab, India
Category:People from Jhelum District
Category:People from Punjab Province (British India)
Category:People of the Bangladesh Liberation War
Category:Rajya Sabha members from Punjab, India
Category:Recipients of the Bir Protik
Category:Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in civil service
Category:Recipients of the Param Vishisht Seva Medal