The Baghdadi hero of Bangladesh (Harif, 26 March 2024)

General JFR (Jack) Jacob was born in 1923 into a prominent Baghdadi Jewish family in Calcutta. Angered by the Nazi atrocities against the Jews, he vowed to join the British Indian Army. A master strategist, he was to play a seminal role in the liberation of Bangladesh, which resulted from the Indian-Pakistani war of 1971. Ken X Robbins and Brig Ajit Apte, who knew General Jacob well, will tell the story of this outstanding and popular general, who subsequently served as Governor of Goa and Punjab. He died in 2016.

Kenneth X Robbins is a psychiatrist, collector of south Asian art, and author of ‘Western Jews in India: From the Fifteenth Century to the Present.‘ and ‘ South Asian Muslim regimes and Jewish ‘Golden Ages.’

Brigadier Ajit Apte was commissioned into the Indian Army’s Regiment of Artillery in 1970. He participated in the 1971 India-Pakistan War. He played cricket at the National Defence Academy and was a radio cricket commentator. After retiring from the Army in 2005, he held high positions at multinational companies and a chemical company, and has also been associated with various management institutes.