Close shave for a cause

Swaroop Krishna Kaul, a retired air chief marshal who served as the commanding officer of a squadron during the Liberation War of 1971, is one of the many soldiers of the Indian armed forces who risked their lives to save a neighbouring people.
For his valour during the war, he was awarded the Maha Vir Chakra, the second highest military decoration in India. Now in Bangladesh for the first time since the war, Swaroop Krishna Kaul received the Friends of Liberation War honour on Tuesday. He has shared with The Daily Star his experiences of the war.
He first started operations within the territory of East Pakistan in October 1971 as the squadron commander of a fleet of fighter-bomber jets carrying out reconnaissance of the land.
"Our squadron was stationed in Hasimara, a place in Jalpaiguri district of North Bengal. Our planes were fitted with imaging devices and we flew overhead and made a map of the lay of the land for strategists. The hilly areas of Dinajpur were heavily fortified by the Pak army back then," said Kaul.
He told this correspondent that although he had initially signed up for the war because it was his duty to serve his country, the battlefield made him believe in the cause of our independence.
“While flying overhead, I saw the kind of oppression the Pakistani army inflicted on the people of this land -- village after village was completely burnt down. The Pak army left a trail of ruin wherever they went. The lines of refugees going into India could be seen even from the air. That was when I realised why we had to fight the Pak army.”
On December 3, Kaul was shifted from reconnaissance to combat. The Indian army attacked Dhaka in order to lay siege to the capital, Kaul recalled.
"It was important to make the Pak army feel like they were cornered. We destroyed all major communications -- bridges, roads, army barges," said Kaul.
On December 15, Kaul's fleet bombed a government house where General Amir Abdullah Khan Niazi was holding a meeting with his officials. Kaul told The Daily Star he believes that the attack might have been one of the factors that led to the surrender the next day.
"I think Niazi finally realised the futility of their operations in this land. We were everywhere, tracking them down, destroying them," Kaul observed.
It was during their operation in Dhaka that Kaul had a close shave with death.
"I flew into a mist, and in that moment of blindness, I was suddenly attacked by a Pakistani fleet. I was gunned down and could barely escape.”
His one regret is that because he was stationed in Hasimara, he could not attend the signing ceremony between General Amir Abdullah Khan Niazi and Lieutenant General Jagjit Singh Aurora, where the Pak army had surrendered on 16 December 1971.