Evolution of Pakistan Eastern Command plan

Pakistan Eastern Military High Command
Flag of the Pakistan Armed Forces
Active	14 August 1947– 16 December 1971
Country	Pakistan
Eastern Military High Command Headquarters	Dhaka, East Pakistan
Commanders
Unified Commander of Pakistan Armed Forces	Lt. Gen. A. A. K. Niazi, Main commander of all assets of East Pakistan and also in-charge of the army
Commander of Eastern Naval Command	R. Adm. Muhammad Sharif, In-charge of the naval establishments
Commander of Eastern Air Command	Air Cdre. Enamul Huq, air force commander of East Pakistan
Notable commanders	V. Adm. Syed M. Ahsan

The Eastern Military High Command of the Pakistan Armed Forces was a field-level military command headed by an appointed senior 3-star officer, who was designated the Unified Commander of the Eastern Military High Command. After the partition of India by Great Britain, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan was divided into two territories separated by 1,000 miles (1,600 km) (prior to the independence of Bangladesh in 1971). Most of the assets of the Pakistan armed forces were stationed in West Pakistan; the role of the Pakistan armed forces in East Pakistan was to hold out until Pakistan was defeated by India in the west (in case of war). The Pakistan armed forces created the Eastern Military High Command, with one unified commander of the Pakistan armed forces responsible for the command. The armed forces (particularly the Pakistan Army), had drawn up a plan to defend Dhaka by concentrating all their forces along the Dhaka Bowl (the area surrounded by the rivers Jamuna, Padma and Meghna).

After Pakistan launched Operation Searchlight and Operation Barisal to curb the Awami League-led political movement in March 1971 (leading to the creation of Mukti Bahini and insurgency throughout Bangladesh), General A. A. K. Niazi (last unified commander of the Eastern Military High Command) revised the existing plan according to the Pakistan's premier General Headquarters (GHQ) directive (which emphasised the need to prevent the Mukti Bahini from occupying any area of the province and to fight for every inch of territory). HQ expected the Indians to occupy a large area of the province, transfer the Mukti Bahini and Bengali refugees there and recognise the Bangladesh government in exile – turning the insurgency into an international diplomatic issue. General Niazi (and his deputy unified commander, Vice-Admiral Mohammad Shariff) designated 10 cities (Jessore, Jhenaidah, Bogra, Rangpur, Jamalpur, Mymensingh, Sylhet, Comilla and Chittagong) on major communication hubs as "fortress towns" and placed the bulk of his troops near the Indian border. The final plan called for the armed forces to delay Indian attacks at the border and then gradually fall back to the fortress towns. From the fortresses, part of the surviving force was to take up positions near Dhaka and hold out until India was defeated in the west; Pakistani forces in the fortress towns would delay the bulk of the Indian forces and prevent them from concentrating on Dhaka.