Operation Searchlight was a planned military operation carried out by the Pakistan Army to curb the Bengali nationalist movement in the erstwhile East Pakistan in March 1971,[9][10] which the Pakistani state justified on the basis of anti-Bihari violence by Bengalis in early March.[11] Ordered by the central government in West Pakistan, this was seen as the sequel to "Operation Blitz" which had been launched in November 1970. The original plan envisioned taking control of the major cities on 26 March, and then eliminating all opposition, political or military,[12] within one month. President Yahya Khan at a conference in February 1971 said "Kill three million of them and the rest will eat out of our hands."[13] Prolonged Bengali resistance was not anticipated by the Pakistani military leaders.[14] The main phase of Operation Searchlight ended with the fall of the last major town in Bengali hands in mid-May. The operation also precipitated the 1971 Bangladesh genocide and caused roughly 10 million refugees to flee to India as well as the death of up to 3,000,000 civilians.[15][16] Bengali intelligentsia, academics and Hindus were targeted for the harshest treatment, with significant indiscriminate killing taking place. These systematic killings enraged the Bengalis, who declared independence from Pakistan, to establish the new state of Bangladesh.[17]
The violence resulting from Operation Searchlight led to the war of liberation by the Mukti Bahini against Pakistani "occupation" forces in Bangladesh. Following the ill-fated Operation Chengiz Khan, Indian intervention resulted in the Pakistani Army's unconditional surrender to the joint command of the Indian Army and Mukti Bahini[18] on 16 December 1971.
1 Background
2 The operational plan
2.1 The planning process
3 Major components of the plan
3.1 Operational premises
3.2 Requirements for success
3.3 Composition of Pakistan Armed Forces in East Pakistan
3.3.1 Pakistan Army Bengali units in East Pakistan
3.3.2 Other Bengali forces
4 Pre operational steps implementation
4.1 Managing logistics
4.2 Shuffling of armed forces personnel
4.2.1 Dispersion of Bengali units before 25 March
5 Operation Searchlight: 25/26 March to 10 April
5.1 Dhaka
5.1.1 Mymensingh-Joydevpur
5.2 Chittagong
5.2.1 25 March
5.2.2 26 March
5.2.3 27 March
5.2.4 28 March
5.2.5 29 March
5.2.6 30 March
5.2.7 31 March
5.2.8 Aftermath
5.3 Comilla
5.4 Sylhet
5.4.1 Initial clashes
5.4.2 Bengali resistance solidifies
5.5 Jessore
5.6 Khulna
5.6.1 28 March – 10 April: Khulna cut off
5.7 Kushtia
5.7.1 Bengali resistance forms up
5.7.2 Assault on Kushtia
5.8 Rajshahi
5.8.1 Situation explodes: 27 March
5.8.2 Escalation of hostilities: 28 – 29 March
5.8.3 Ring around Rajshahi
5.9 Rangpur-Saidpur
5.9.1 Disarming Bengali soldiers
5.9.2 Securing the air-link
5.9.3 Bengali deployment around Saidpur 1 April
5.9.4 Pakistani counterattack from Rangpur/Saidpur
6 Aftermath
6.1 Temporary Pakistani occupation
6.2 Creation of Mukti Bahini
6.3 Bengali refugees in India
6.4 India's role
6.5 Bengali Civilian casualties
7 Evaluation and importance