Lt. Gen. J.F.R.
Lt. Gen. J.F.R. Jacob, who played a critical role in the 1971 war that led to the birth of Bangladesh, and later served as governor of Punjab and Goa, died here on Wednesday, aged 92, of “old age complications”.
He died at the Army’s Research and Referral Hospital, where he had been admitted on January 1 after suffering from pneumonia, at around 8 am on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said “India will always remain grateful” to Gen. Jacob for his “impeccable service to the nation”, and recalled his association with him. “RIP Lt Gen JFR Jacob. India will always remain grateful to him for his impeccable service to the nation at the most crucial moments... Lt Gen JFR Jacob and I interacted often. Had a memorable interaction when he presented his autobiography to me,” the PM tweeted.
Army chief Gen. Dalbir Singh Suhag expressed his deepest condolences and described Gen. Jacob as a “pillar of the military leadership” and said he “personified the best qualities of a soldier and a statesman who will always be remembered as one of the most prominent leaders in the annals of Indian military history”.
As a major general serving as chief of staff in the Army’s Eastern Command headquartered at Fort William, he had negotiated the surrender of Pakistani troops in Dhaka in December 1971. He retired from the Army after 37 years of service in 1978.
“Lt. Gen. J.F.R. Jacob was born in 1923 in Calcutta. He enlisted in the British Indian Army in 1942. He served in Northern Iraq, North Africa, Burma and Sumatra. After World War II, Lt. Gen. Jacob attended and graduated from artillery schools in England and the United States.”
“He returned to India following the Partition, and joined the Indian Army. During this period, Lt. Gen. Jacob composed an Indian Army manual on desert warfare,” the Army said in a statement.
Some time after he retired, he joined the BJP and headed its ex-servicemen’s wing. He was appointed governor of Goa under the Atal Behari Vajpayee government and later became Punjab governor and Chandigarh administrator.
Lt. Gen. Jacob authored two books Surrender at Dacca: Birth of a Nation and An Odyssey in War and Peace: An Autobiography.
The Israeli government, in a statement, deeply condoled Gen. Jacob’s death, calling him a “proud son of the Jewish community of India” and recalling that he “will always be remembered in India and around the world as the Indian commander who negotiated the surrender of Pakistani troops in Dhaka in 1971”.
Israeli ambassador to India Daniel Carmon said Gen. Jacob was a “staunch supporter” of closer Indo-Israeli ties and “shall forever be remembered as a human bridge between our peoples”. He added: “Rest in Peace JFR Jacob, an Indian war hero, a proud Jew and a great friend of Israel.”
