BSF's unsung role in 1971

Journalist Ushinor Majumdar's book brings to light the Border Security Forces' pivotal role in shaping Bangladesh's liberation in 1971, a role that has gone unmentioned in earlier narratives

India’s Secret War: BSF and Nine Months to The Birth of Bangladesh

Author: Ushinor Majumdar

Publisher: 

Penguin

Pages: 289

Price: Rs 499

In late March 1971, when the Pakistan Army started a genocidal crackdown in what was then East Pakistan, India’s Border Security Force (BSF) was thrust onto the frontline in an undeclared war.

The BSF had been raised in the wake of the Indo-Pak war of 1965 to safeguard India’s borders. When Sheikh Mujibur Rahman raised the call for Bangladesh’s liberation in March 1971, the BSF was still led by its first Commander Khusrau Rustamji, an Indian Police Service officer. It was officered by