Special Frontier Force---unveiling the secrets

摘要

In 1962, the SFF was created in a remote hilly region called Chakrata in northern India. Since then, there were many military operations in which the Special Frontier Force participated, the 1971 liberation of Bangladesh being the first and major task given to it. Three thousand SFF Tibetan commandos were covertly sent into the jungles of Bangladesh, fighting under the cover of the Mukti Bahini (Bangladesh Liberation Army) along the difficult Chittagong Hill Tracts.;They infiltrated with orders to destroy bridges, dams and communication lines, thereby easing the way for the advance of the Indian Army. During the conflict, the SFF lost 52 men, while 500 others were wounded. None of the SFF fighters have ever been decorated with bravery awards, nor have their contributions ever been officially recognized. This is an issue that has still received scant attention from the world media, much less acknowledgment from the Indian government, which even to this day, refuses to officially recognize the sacrifices made by the Tibetans to safeguard India's honor.;This written thesis shall dwell on the challenges faced by the researcher in the pursuit of his film about the force. Besides verbal information derived from former soldiers, pictures were acquired from former soldiers for the film. There is strict restriction to film and photograph the premises of the force. For obvious reasons there are no archival footage or photographs of the force in action. The film features interviews with veterans with a few still images retrieved secretly and some from the personal albums of former soldiers.