New Delhi: India Friday said it supports Bangladesh’s “desire for justice” over the genocide committed by Pakistan during Operation Searchlight in 1971, which eventually led to the Liberation War later that year.
”We all are aware of the terrible atrocities committed by Pakistan during Operation Searchlight in 1971. The genocide involved systematic and targeted murder of millions of innocent Bangladeshi people and mass sexual crimes against women,” Randhir Jaiswal, the official spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs said at a regular press briefing.
Jaiswal added: ”It also forced millions to flee the country and seek shelter in India as refugees. These atrocities shook the conscience of the world. Pakistan, however, remains in denial to this very day of its crimes. We support Bangladesh in its desire for justice.”
The comments come days after the 55th anniversary of the beginning of Operation Searchlight. Bangladeshi Prime Minister Tarique Rahman on 25 March 2026 had written a letter which was circulated online calling the Pakistani action one of the most “heinous genocides in history” and a pre-planned “massacre”.
Operation Searchlight led to the killings of a number of Bangladeshis, especially from among the country’s civil society and academia. The Pakistani crackdown led to the start of Bangladesh’s liberation struggle which culminated in a 12-day war between India and Pakistan in December 1971.
Islamabad Thursday said that the 1971 war was “complex and open to different interpretations”. Ties between Dhaka and Islamabad have long been strained over the events surrounding the Liberation War. Dhaka has consistently called on Islamabad to issue a formal apology for the acts committed by its military in 1971.
Islamabad has maintained that all issues pertaining to 1971 were settled through agreements. Pakistan has claimed that the matter was settled through the 1974 tripartite agreement signed between New Delhi, Dhaka and Islamabad. Rahman’s message comes at a time when ties between Dhaka and Islamabad had been improving.
Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus, while leading the interim government since the ouster of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina moved to stabilise ties between Dhaka and Islamabad. Pakistani Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar had visited Bangladesh last year, as normalisation efforts picked up.
Dar during his visit to Bangladesh last year had said that all pending issues related to the 1971 war had been “settled” decades earlier and called on Dhaka to let it go and move on. He pointed to the 1974 agreement and former President Pervez Musharraf’s visit to Bangladesh in 2002 as proof that the chapter of the Liberation War had been closed.
At the time, Bangladeshi foreign adviser Touhid Hossain rejected Dar’s assertions. Hossain called for a formal apology, repatriation of Pakistani nationals stranded in Bangladesh and a fair share in the financial assets dating back to the per-1971 era.
While ties between India and Bangladesh cratered during Yunus’s tenure, under Rahman, the two countries are seeking ways to normalise and stabilise ties.
(Edited by Viny Mishra)