After Pakistan's surrender on December 16 in 1971, 93,000 prisoners of war (POWs) were transported to Indian POW camp. 

Before the Indian army could leave Bangladesh, the Pakistani POWs had to be transported to India.

About 25,000 of them were kept at Dhaka Cantonment while the rest were being brought to Dhaka from different parts of the country.

At first, they were boarded on train and taken to Narayanganj riverport amid strong guard to ward off possible attempts of vengeance.

At Narayanganj, a Pakistani naval commander organised the embarkation before the POWs started a 36-hour boat trip to river system in Khulna.

When they reached Khulna, they started a long journey across the border to West Bengal by train and onto a POW camp.