This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, a military confrontation between India and Pakistan during the Bangladesh Liberation War. Lasting just 13 days, it is known as one of the shortest wars in history. As a member of the engineering corps, the late Colonel Jagjit Lal Sahdev was in charge of training and recruiting his fellow men to build infrastructure on the front lines. Here his daughter Dr. Sumita Sahdev, from her home in Ludhiana, shares her father’s experiences during the 1971 war.