South Asia exploded in 1971.roughout this fateful year Siddiq Salik was in Dacca as a uniquely privileged observer and participant in the political and human drama, which culminated the Indo-Pakistan war and the creation of Bangladesh. During his two years as a prisoner of war, he was able to ponder and digest the facts and analyse the complex circumstances, which underlay the high drama. He has produced an authoritative narrative, dispassionate in tone and rmly anchored in fact. After setting the scene with a comprehensive overview of the political turbulence of the period, he gives us the rst detailed professional account of the war itself ever to be published.