<P> After the war, the Pakistan army's generals in East held each other responsible for the committed atrocities but most burden laid to Lieutenant - General Tikka Khan who earned the notoriety from his actions as his role as governor of the East; he was called the "Butcher of Bengal" because of the widespread atrocities committed under his responsibility . Unlike his contemporary Yaqub who was a pacifist and knew well of the limits of force, Tikka was known as "soldier known for his eager use of force" to settle his differences . </P> <P> Confessing at the hearings of War Enquiry Commission, Lieutenant - General A.A.K. Niazi reportedly comment on his actions and noted: "On the night between 25 / 26 March 1971, (General) Tikka struck . Peaceful night was turned into a time of wailing, crying and burning . (General) Tikka let loose everything at his disposal as if raiding an enemy, not dealing with his own misguided and misled people . The military action was a display of stark cruelty more merciless than the massacres at Bukhara and Baghdad by Chengiz Khan and Halaku Khan...(General) Tikka...resorted to the killing of civilians and a scorched earth policy . His orders to his troops were: "I want the land not the people ..."." Major - General Rao Farman had written in his table diary: "Green land of East Pakistan will be painted red . It was painted red by Bengali blood ." However, Major - General Rao Farman had forcefully denied writing that comment and laid all responsibility to Tikka while confessing at the War Enquiry Commission in 1974 . </P> <P> The Indian government repeatedly appealed to the international community, but failing to elicit any response despite the External Affairs minister Swaran Singh meeting with foreign ministers of other countries . Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on 27 March 1971 expressed full support of her government for the independence struggle of the people of East Pakistan and concluded that instead of taking in millions of refugees, it was economical to go to war against Pakistan . On 28 April 1971, the Gandhi cabinet had ordered the Chief of the Army Staff General Sam Manekshaw to "Go into East Pakistan". Defected East Pakistan military's officers and the elements of Indian Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) immediately started using the Indian refugee camps for recruitment and training of Mukti Bahini guerrillas that were to be trained against Pakistan . In 1971, there was a strong wave of Indian - supported Bangladeshi nationalism in the East . The situation became violent and the systematic targeted killings of unarmed multi-ethic Pakistanis living in East started . Vehicle bombings on government secretariats became a normal narrative in east with high - profile assassinations of number of those Bengali politicians who were loyal to Pakistan became common in the East . According to Jussi Hanhimäki, Finnish historian of terrorism, the Bengali terrorism in East is somewhat "a forgotten episode of annals of terrorism ." The Hamoodur Rahman Commission endorsed the claims of Bengali terrorism when it critically penned that the ill - treatment of families of multi-ethnic Pakistanis led to the Pakistani military soldiers reacted violently in order to restore the writ of the government . </P> <P> The news media's mood in Pakistan had also turned increasingly jingoistic and militaristic against East Pakistan and India when the Pakistani news media reported the complexity of the situation in the East, though the reactions from Pakistan's news media pundits were mixed . By the end of September 1971, an organised propaganda campaign, possibly orchestrated by elements within the Government of Pakistan, resulted in stickers proclaiming Crush India becoming a standard feature on the rear windows of vehicles in Rawalpindi, Islamabad and Lahore and soon spread to the rest of West Pakistan . By October, other stickers proclaimed Hang the Traitor in an apparent reference to Sheikh Mujibur Rahman . By the first week of December, the conservative print media outlets in the country had published "Jihad" related materials to boost the recruitment in the military . </P>

Who was heading the indian army during the liberation war of 1971