Pakistani Instrument of Surrender

{{Short description|Written agreement of the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War}}

{{pp|small=yes}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2015}}{{Infobox document

|document_name = Instrument of Surrender of Pakistan

|image = 1971 Instrument of Surrender.jpg

|image_size =

|image_alt =

|caption = Lt. Gen. A. A. K. Niazi of the Pakistan Army signing the Instrument of Surrender under the direction of Lt. Gen. Jagjit Singh Aurora of the Indian Army and Bangladesh Forces

|date_created =

|date_ratified =16 December 1971

|location_of_document =Dacca, East Pakistan (now Bangladesh)

|signers = {{flagdeco|Pakistan|army}} {{nowrap|A. A. K. Niazi}}
{{flagdeco|India|army}} {{nowrap|Jagjit Singh Aurora}}

|purpose = Ending the Bangladesh Liberation War and the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971

|subject=Surrender of the Pakistan Armed Forces Eastern Command}}

The Pakistani Instrument of Surrender ({{langx|bn|পাকিস্তানের আত্মসমর্পণের দলিল|translit=Pākistānēr Ātmôsômôrpôṇēr Dôlil}}) was a legal document signed between India (alongside the Provisional Government of Bangladesh) and Pakistan to end the Bangladesh Liberation War and the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971.{{Cite book |last=Burke |first=S. M. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/234380949 |title=Mainsprings of Indian and Pakistani foreign policies |date=1974 |publisher=University of Minnesota Press |isbn=978-0-8166-6172-5 |location=Minneapolis |oclc=234380949 |quote=...continuing deadlock over the release of some 93,000 Pakistani prisoners of war, including 15,000 civilian men, women and children, captured in East Pakistan (the few hundred prisoners captured by each side on the Western front were exchanged on December 1, 1972). |page=216}}{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1971/12/17/archives/dacca-captured-guns-quiet-in-bengali-area-but-war-goes-on-at.html | title=Dacca Captured | work=The New York Times | date=17 December 1971 }}{{cite web | url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/an-unprecedented-surrender-and-the-birth-of-a-nation-101671215066742.html | title=An unprecedented surrender, and the birth of a nation | date=16 December 2022 }} Per the trilateral agreement, the Pakistani government surrendered the Armed Forces Eastern Command,{{cite news |title=The Surrender Document |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1971/12/17/archives/the-surrender-document.html |work=The New York Times |date=17 December 1971 |access-date=19 June 2021 |archive-date=16 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211216212222/https://www.nytimes.com/1971/12/17/archives/the-surrender-document.html |url-status=live }}{{Cite Banglapedia| article = Prisoners_of_War,_Trial_of}}{{cite news |title=Flashback: From behind the barbed wire |url=https://www.dawn.com/news/771713/flashback-from-behind-the-barbed-wire |work=Dawn |access-date=16 December 2021 |language=en |date=16 December 2012 |archive-date=16 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211216211433/https://www.dawn.com/news/771713/flashback-from-behind-the-barbed-wire |url-status=live }} thereby enabling the establishment of the People's Republic of Bangladesh over the territory of East Pakistan. The document was signed by India's Lt. Gen Jagjit Singh Aurora and Pakistan's A. A. K. Niazi, and led to the surrender of 93,000 Pakistanis — the world's largest surrender in terms of number of personnel since World War II.{{Cite book|last=Koul|first=Bill K.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CW78DwAAQBAJ&dq=largest+pow+after+ww2+1971&pg=PA254|title=The Exiled Pandits of Kashmir: Will They Ever Return Home?|date=2020|publisher=Springer Nature|isbn=978-981-15-6537-3|pages=254|language=en|quote=More than 90,000...., the largest ever since World War 2.|access-date=20 January 2022|archive-date=27 July 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230727160759/https://books.google.com/books?id=CW78DwAAQBAJ&dq=largest+pow+after+ww2+1971&pg=PA254|url-status=live}}{{Cite news |date=16 December 2021 |title=Country marks 50 years of 1971 war|language=en-IN |newspaper=The Hindu |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/pm-modi-hails-indias-armed-forces-bangladeshi-freedom-fighters-on-vijay-diwas/article37966588.ece|access-date=2022-01-26|issn=0971-751X|quote=It was the largest military surrender after the Second World War and the Indian armed forces, along with Mukti Bahini, liberated Bangladesh in a span of just 13 days and also the surrender of 93,000 Pakistani soldiers, the largest surrender of armed forces post Second World War. |archive-date=26 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220126060442/https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/pm-modi-hails-indias-armed-forces-bangladeshi-freedom-fighters-on-vijay-diwas/article37966588.ece |url-status=live }} Despite the agreement, Pakistan did not formally recognize Bangladeshi sovereignty until February 1974.{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/02/23/archives/pakistan-admits-that-bangladesh-exists-as-nation-prime-minister.html | title=Pakistan Admits That Bangladesh Exists as Nation | work=The New York Times | date=23 February 1974 }}{{cite web | url=https://www.thedailystar.net/opinion/news/recognition-equals-1881703 | title=Recognition, as equals | date=17 March 2020 }}

The ratification of the agreement by all sides also marked the end of the Bangladesh genocide, perpetrated by Pakistan during the conflict. Bangladesh and the Indian Armed Forces celebrate Pakistan's 1971 defeat and surrender on an annual basis, observing 16 December as Victory Day.{{cite news | url=https://m.economictimes.com/magazines/panache/vijay-diwas-23-how-indian-army-made-pakistani-counterpart-surrender-in-just-13-days-liberated-bangladesh/articleshow/106045731.cms | title=Vijay Diwas '23: How Indian Army made Pakistani counterpart surrender in just 13 days & liberated Bangladesh | newspaper=The Economic Times | date=16 December 2023 }}{{cite web | url=https://www.tbsnews.net/bangladesh/victory-day-celebrated-552862 | title=Victory Day celebrated | date=16 December 2022 }}{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1971/12/25/archives/birth-of-a-nation.html | title=Birth of a Nation | work=The New York Times | date=25 December 1971 }}