(As received)
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A NEW YEAR'S KICK IN THE ARSE BY SAGAT
On the 16th Dec 1971 evening the Pakistan Army surrendered and by the next evening we had assembled all of them into Dacca cantonment but allowed them to keep their personal weapons for their own protection against the Mukti Bahini who wanted their blood. But Sagat brought them to order and put Major Shafiullah a very capable Mukti Bahini Commander to bring all Mukti Bahini elements under control which was achieved by the 17th evening. Shafiullah was later appointed by Mujib as the first Army Chief of Bangladesh. Restoring complete law and order by 17th Dec was reported by nearly all Indian and foreign press reporters except a few led by Claire Hollingsworth who was a rabid India baiter even though supposedly a friend of Indira Gandhi. She continued to file false reports and HQ Eastern Command responding to them asked Sagat for explanations, Sagat got fed up of offering explanations and asked Aurora to come and see things for himself which he did and found everything in order. But Sagat was very peeved and gave expression to his feelings at a press conference. Claire Hollingsworth however continued to file highly exaggerated and blatantly false reports. Sagat had known Clare from his days in Sikkim in 1967 during the clashes with the Chinese at Nathu La and Cho La and their relations had never been cordial since then.
Things came to a head on 29 December, during a press conference given by our Division Commander Maj Gen Ben Gonzalves GOC 57 Mountain Division, the division that had led the march to Dacca. A foreign reporter in a dispatch from Dacca wrote: "I watched her during an Indian Army Press conference by a major general, who was listing the alleged atrocities committed by the Pakistan Army, including rape. Clare had been in too many wars to give much credence in second and third-hand rape stories, so she got up and said loud and clear, "As far asI am concerned , general, rape is a nonstarter." And that was that, the news conference was over." When Sagat heard of this insult to one of his division commanders, he was rightly furious and decided to expel Clare from Bangladesh but New Delhi rescinded his expulsion order.Sagat being Sagat had his own way of dealing with such issues, and what he did next added another six inches to his already 6ft 2inch height in the estimation of all the officers and men of IV CORPS.
31 Dec 71 at the New Year's Eve party at the Dacca Intercontinental Hotel. The party was attended by several army and air force officers including my friend "Doc" Sridharan, one of the helicopter pilots who had ferried us across the Meghna. I was standing next to General Sagat who towered over all of us, when he suddenly asked me to hold his glass of whiskey and strode towards the entry door of the hall, where I spotted Claire Hollingsworth entering. Sagat walking up to her, placed both his hands on her shoulders, turned her around and pushing her out of the door,placed his foot long foot on her ample behind her sent her sprawling on the hotel corridor floor. Sagat returned and reclaimed his glass from my hand and all this without batting an eyelid or a word. Claire never wrote a word about it and returned to Calcutta the next day and [we were] happy] never to see her again. We were all fed up of her arrogant and abrasive ways. It cost Sagat his well deserved promotions but I am sure that to himself Sagat would have said, "I don't care a damn" -the last words said by Clark Gable in his role as Rhett Butler In the famous novel and movie of the American Civil War, 'Gone with the Wind.'
🤣🤣, I have always admired Sagat Singh..... what a man and what a commander...never got his due.