New Delhi, May 9 -- It was the winter of 1971. I was 29-year-old and had joined the job of government teacher at a school in Delhi's Prahladpur Bangar area merely a year ago. Things were new for me and I was trying to figure out the functioning of department when one fine day, the announcement was made by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, that India will provide training, arms and logistical support to Mukti Bahini Sena, a guerrilla force engaged in sabotage, intelligence gathering and conventional warfare against Pakistan for East Pakistan's independence. The tensions between Pakistan and East Pakistan were escalating for a long time and now India made an entry into the war.

With this announcement, we were also told that all govern...