In 1972, India was still going through the motions of recently gaining Independence from British rule. I knew that there had a been a lot of deaths on both sides when India and Pakistan gained Independence in 1947. Both Hindus and Muslims were forced to leave their homes in the respective Indian and Pakistani territories. What the world witnessed was something that was unnecessary. Maybe we wouldn’t have the conflicts we do today if they never split, but we can’t always rewrite history since we only get one shot. This part of history is known around the world, but what happened in 1972 isn’t. And it wasn’t until I opened the magazine that I realized how brutal it was and that we should spend more time looking at history to make sure we don’t make the same mistakes again.

Some of us are taught or at least read online when learning world history that when Pakistan and India were split into two different nations, current day Pakistan and Bangladesh were one country. East/West Pakistan had their capital in West Pakistan which weakened East Pakistan considerably and opened it to conflicts. The world turned a blind eye, including India before anything was done. This magazine does a much better job than I could of explaining what happened in the perspective of the time period.

These are photos taken from my phone. Hopefully I can get it better formatted or transferred to text one day.

Imprint Magazine, Jan 1972 Edition