The notes bearing the signatures of Lt Gen. J.S. Aurora, Pakistani Lt Gen. A.A.K. Niazi and Lt Gen. JFR Jacob in Ranchi. Picture by Hardeep Singh

Ranchi, May 4: For close to 34 years Colonel (retd) S.S. Bakshi has carefully preserved a Rs 10 currency note of Pakistan. Today, he believes, it would fetch him a fortune if he decides to part with it. But he has no such intention because, he says, it is part of Indian military history.

The note bears the signatures of Lt General Jagjit Singh Aurora, India?s hero of the Bangladesh war in 1971, and the Pakistani Lt General A.A.K. Niazi, who signed the instrument of surrender at Dacca, allowing Aurora to take around 90,000 Pakistani troops as prisoners of war.

Colonel (retd) Bakshi was pensive today, mourning the demise of J.S. Aurora, who was cremated in New Delhi today. Niazi passed away in February last year.

When Niazi died, Bakshi was tempted to produce his cherished treasure for public viewing. But he restrained his impulse and kept it under wraps because, he felt, he should wait for the right time.

Following the death of Aurora, the moment has arrived for Bakshi to claim that he is in possession of the world?s only currency note that bears the autograph of both Aurora and Niazi.

Following the surrender of Pakistani troops, most of them were detained in specially constructed POW (prisoners of war) camps in Ranchi. The Pakistani officers were, however, separated and dispersed and kept under different commands of the Indian Army. General Niazi, himself, was detained at Jabalpur for four years (1971-74) , Bakshi recalls.

There was tight security and only very senior officers of the Indian Army were allowed to meet Niazi, says the retired Colonel, who was then a young Captain in the Army and posted at Jabalpur. But Niazi, he recalls, was provided with all possible comforts.

“ I contacted a senior officer and requested him to secure the autograph of Lt Gen. Niazi on a Rs 5 currency note first. I wanted him to put his signature just above the picture of Mohammad Ali Jinnah printed on one side of the currency. But Niazi refused to oblige and signed instead on the reverse side,” says the reminiscing Colonel . He persisted with a Rs 10 note, which was longer, but once again Niazi signed on the other side. “Significantly, he did not put the date; he was a clever man,” he adds with a chuckle.

It was long after Niazi had been repatriated back to Pakistan that Bakshi came face to face with Lt Gen. Aurora at a get-together in Calcutta on December 16, 1975. Aurora cut a dashing figure, recalls Bakshi, “He was a wonderful man with an attractive personality.”

Bakshi thought the opportunity was too good to miss and rushed back home to collect his precious note. He went back to the celebratory get-together, an annual ritual to mark the surrender in Dhaka on the same day in 1971, and breathlessly presented the note to Lt Gen. Aurora.

“He was surprised to see it and asked how and where I had secured the autograph; but he graciously conceded my request to put his own autograph. He did not forget to put the date though,” Bakshi said.

Lt Gen. Jacob, also present at the get-together, too put his signature on the note, which is now Bakshi’s prized possession.

“I can get a fortune out of it but I will not sell it,” declared Bakshi today, sitting at his daughter’s Lake Avenue residence.