The Delhi Agreement was a trilateral agreement signed between

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

and

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

on 28 August 1973; and ratified only by India and Pakistan. It allowed the repatriation of

prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...

and

interned Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without Criminal charge, charges or Indictment, intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects ...

officials held in the three countries after the 1971

Bangladesh Liberation War The Bangladesh Liberation War (, ), also known as the Bangladesh War of Independence, was an War, armed conflict sparked by the rise of the Bengali nationalism, Bengali nationalist and self-determination movement in East Pakistan, which res ...

. The agreement has been criticised for Pakistan's failure to repatriate Urdu-speakers in Bangladesh, not holding to account 195 senior military officials accused of breach of conduct during war and not making provision for a war crimes tribunal. The treaty was signed by the foreign ministers of

and

in New Delhi after the

Simla Agreement The Simla Agreement, also spelled Shimla Agreement, was a peace treaty signed between India and Pakistan on 2 July 1972 in Shimla, the capital of Himachal Pradesh. It followed the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, which began after India interv ...

Background

During the 1971 Bangladesh War, thousands of Bengali bureaucrats and military personnel were

West Pakistan West Pakistan was the western province of Pakistan between One Unit, 1955 and Legal Framework Order, 1970, 1970, covering the territory of present-day Pakistan. Its land borders were with Afghanistan, India and Iran, with a maritime border wit ...

along with their families by the Pakistani Government. In Bangladesh, many in the Urdu-speaking community wished to relocate to Pakistan.

held several thousand Pakistani

after the

Surrender of Pakistan The Pakistani Instrument of Surrender () 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. Per the trilateral ag ...

on 16 December 1971, including 195 military officers held for breach of conduct.

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (5 January 1928 – 4 April 1979) was a Pakistani barrister and politician who served as the fourth president of Pakistan from 1971 to 1973 and later as the ninth Prime Minister of Pakistan, prime minister of Pakistan from 19 ...

(at the time Chief Martial Law Administrator) threatened to put interned Bengali officials on trial if Bangladesh proceeded with plans to indict alleged Pakistani war criminals.

Implementation

The treaty came into effect on 28 August 1973 and ended on 1 July 1974. Under the terms of the agreement,

UNHCR The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and Humanitarian protection, protect refugees, Internally displaced person, forcibly displaced communities, and Statelessness, s ...

supervised the repatriation of Bangladeshi and Pakistani citizens. According to the UN, 121,695 Bengalis were moved from Pakistan to Bangladesh. They included high-level Bengali civil servants and military officers. 108,744 non-Bengali civilians and civil servants were moved from Bangladesh to Pakistan. India released 6,500 Pakistani PoWs, who were mostly transported by train to Pakistan. In 1974, General Niazi was the last Pakistan officer symbolically repatriated through the Wagah - Attari Border. Although the agreement called for the repatriation of

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

-speaking Biharis in Bangladesh, the Pakistani Government backtracked on its promise to resettle the community in Pakistan. This gave rise to the stateless Stranded Pakistani community in Bangladesh.

War crimes suspects

Among the PoWs, 195 Pakistani military officers held in India were identified as prime

war crimes A war crime is a violation of the laws of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility for actions by combatants in action, such as intentionally killing civilians or intentionally killing prisoners of war, torture, taking hos ...

suspects. Pakistan pressed for their release as one of its key demands. It pressured several Muslim countries to withhold recognition of Bangladesh until the release of the 195 officers. India favoured their repatriation to Pakistan. In the text of the agreement, the Foreign Minister of Bangladesh,

Kamal Hossain Kamal Hossain (born 20 April 1937), better known as Dr. Kamal, is a founding leader, lawyer and politician of Bangladesh. He is known as the "Father of the Bangladeshi Constitution" and regarded as an icon of secular democracy in the Indian subc ...

, stated that:

the excesses and manifold crimes committed by those prisoners of war constituted, according to the relevant provisions of the UN General Assembly resolutions and international law,
war crime A war crime is a violation of the laws of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility for actions by combatants in action, such as intentionally killing civilians or intentionally killing prisoners of war, torture, taking hostage ...
s,
crimes against humanity Crimes against humanity are certain serious crimes committed as part of a large-scale attack against civilians. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity can be committed during both peace and war and against a state's own nationals as well as ...
and
genocide Genocide is violence that targets individuals because of their membership of a group and aims at the destruction of a people. Raphael Lemkin, who first coined the term, defined genocide as "the destruction of a nation or of an ethnic group" by ...
, and that there was universal consensus that persons charged with such crimes as 195 Pakistani prisoners of war should be held to account and subjected to the due process of law.

Pakistan evaded Bangladesh's request to hold the trial of war crimes suspects. On April 9, 1974, Bangladesh-India-Pakistan signed the agreement in New Delhi.

Legacy

The repatriation was an important milestone in the establishment of

diplomatic relations Diplomacy is the communication by representatives of state, intergovernmental, or non-governmental institutions intended to influence events in the international system.Ronald Peter Barston, ''Modern Diplomacy'', Pearson Education, 2006, p. ...

in 1974. In Bangladesh, many repatriated officials rose to prominence. A notable example was Justice Abdus Sattar, the 9th

President of Bangladesh President of Bangladesh (POB), officially the President of the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is the head of state of Bangladesh and commander-in-chief of the Bangladesh Armed Forces. The role of the president has changed three times since ...

. Many repatriated military personnel served in the leadership of the

Bangladesh Armed Forces The Bangladesh Armed Forces () is the Armed forces, military force of Bangladesh. It consists of three uniformed organizations, they are the Bangladesh Army, the Bangladesh Navy, and the Bangladesh Air Force. The Armed Forces is under the juri ...

, including Rear Admiral

Mahbub Ali Khan Mahbub Ali Khan (; 3 November 1934 – 6 August 1984) was a Bangladesh Navy rear admiral and the Chief of the Naval Staff (Bangladesh), chief of naval staff from 1979 until his death in 1984. He is known for his heroic actions for his country. ...

, Lt General Muhammad Mahbubur Rahman and Lt Gen Attiq ur Rehman (a Lt Col, commanding an Anti Aircraft Artillery Regiment in 1971). Pakistan's inability to repatriate stateless Urdu-speakers in Bangladesh as well as its refusal to try those accused of war crimes remains a major sore point in Bangladesh-Pakistan relations.

References

Readings

Text of the tri-patriate agreement of Bangladesh-Pakistan-India
{{Bangladesh Liberation War Diplomatic conferences in India Bangladesh–India–Pakistan relations Bangladesh–India relations Bangladesh–Pakistan relations India–Pakistan relations Treaties of Pakistan Indira Gandhi administration Government of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto 1973 in politics 1973 in India 1973 in Bangladesh 1973 in Pakistan Treaties concluded in 1974 Treaties of India Treaties of Bangladesh Treaties entered into force in 1973 Forced migration in Asia Deportation 1970s in Delhi India–Pakistan treaties 1973 in international relations Mujib era