Defence of KamalPur The Defence of Kamalpur refers to the battle fought at Kamalpur near the border in the Indo - Pakistani War of 1971 and Bangladesh Liberation War . The Defence of Kamalpur , a hamlet on the border , by Captain Ahsan Malik and his 140 men would be an epic in any army ' s history . He had seventy soldiers of 31 Baloch and the same number of para - military troops ; all fought magnificently against great odds . Battle . Attacks against Pakistani border outposts in the north had begun in July . These were mounted by Mukti Bahini , mainly former members of East Pakistan ' s regular forces , but failed to make any impression . Further attacks on Kamalpur , a kilometre from the border , came on 22 October and 14 November , the latter being made by 13 Guards Battalion ( of Kler ' s brigade ) , which established blocking positions to the south . Malik was cut off and his CO , Lt . Col . Sultan Mahmood Kulachi tried to relive him and the other two outposts ( Naqshi and Baromari , to the east ) without success . On 29 November ( all this before ' war ' broke out ) Major Ayub of 31 Baloch tried to resupply Malik ' s tiny garrison but failed . Kler tried to take Kamalpur on the run , using Mukti Bahini troops , and failed . He then mounted a battalion attack by 1 Maratha Light Infantry on the forty men and four 120mm mortars of 83 Mortar battery and overran them , suffering one casualty . Kler then ' decided to lay siege to Kamalpur and break down its will to resist ' , according to General Sukhwant Singh . Getting wary because of casualties , successive failures and demoralisation among the attacking troops , he decided to starve out the garrison by a prolonged siege . ' A brigade is demoralised by a company ? Sukhwant Singh knew that there was no Pakistani Artillery in this sector , only two troops of mortars , but states that Kler was ' . . . further handicapped inasmuch as one of his battalions had just been reorganised from ( a unit ) raised initially for counterinsurgency with no support elements . In tackling a weak platoon post , another battalion brought out some weaknesses of leadership under fire . The battalion reached its objective with relatively few casualties . As expected , the enemy turned mortar fire on the objective . A mortar bomb landed on the trench occupied by four men close to the commanding officer ( Colonel ) . He saw limbs fly and lost his nerve . ' On the other hand Captain Ahsan Malik did not lose his nerve when much worse was happening in his area and he was fighting an unwinnable battle against overwhelming odds . At about 0930 on 4 December , ' after withdrawing his troops from close siege , Kler ' hammered the post with seven sorties of MiG 21s firing rockets and cannon and this was repeated twice later in the day ' . Maj . General Gurbux Singh ( commander of the north region ) himself entered affairs by sending Captain Malik a note by a Mukti Bahini courier : ' . . . whatever you decide to do we have every intention of eliminating Kamalpur post . It is to save you and our side casualties this message is being sent to you . . . ' . He sent another note after a further air strike and this was met , as had been the other messages , by increased firing by Malik ' s men . But it could not go on , Malik received the order by radio to surrender , which he did at 1900 that day . ' He had , ' as Sukhwant Singh goes on to say , ' put up a courageous stand . . . and surrendered after holding a brigade of besiegers for 21 days . . . Sam Manekshaw sent a personal congratulatory message to Malik commending his defiant stand . ' and wrote ' Militarily his performance was excellent ' . Maj . Gen . Gurbux Singh decided to meet Malik personally but , while being driven towards Kamalpur by Kler to meet the brave Captain , their jeep went over a mine and he was badly wounded . When Captain Ahsan Malik ' s force was taken in , it was found that his company was nearly out of ammunition , barring a few hand grenades and a few bullets each . They were ready to fling themselves on the enemy with daggers and bayonets if it came to that , until they realized that the piece of territory they were defending was already a different country . Nothing remained there to die for . When he returned to Pakistan , he was decorated with a Sitara - e - Jurrat which is the third highest military award in Pakistan . Later on , Field Marshal Manekshaw acknowledged the bravery of his men in a letter written to his Pakistani counterpart . From : Capt Retd ALi Muhammad Bangash , ex engineer officer , 31 Baloch , Jamalpur Cantt . Awards . There have been fought two famous battles in Kamalpur . One on night 31 July / 1 August 1971 when First East Bangal attacked it . Lt Ali Muhammad Shah was commanding it . He had joined us on Secondment from First Baloch . The most famous battle of Kamalpur was fout under command of Capt Ahsan Siddique Malik of 31 Baloch . He had to surrender on 4 December 1971 . At that time I was commanding Bahadurabad Ghat Ferry Site . Thanks , Ali Muhammad Bangash , Main Bazar Hangu , KPK , Pakistan . 15 November 2012 Further reading . From Capt Retd Ali Muhammad Bangash , ex engineer officer of 31 Baloch , Jamalpur Cantt . I was commanding Bahadurabad Ferry Post during the war . I had watched SU 7s diving on Kamalpur Border Out Post . Lt Col Raja Sultan Ahmed , Sitara e Jurrat of 1965 war was commanding 31 Baloch . He died as Brigadier Retd Raja Sultan Ahmed , SJ Bar . Kindly correct his name . He is the author of " The Stolen Victory " . I am Lt Ali , Engineers of that book . Lt Col Sultan Mahmood was killed while commanding 32 Baloch in Siraj G