The Defence of Kamalpur was a second battle fought over Kamalpur near the border between India and East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) during the Bangladesh Liberation War. Kamalpur, a hamlet on the border, was defended by 140 regular and paramilitary Pakistani soldiers under the command of Captain Ahsan Malik. The company-sized Pakistani unit fought against a brigade of Indian soldiers and Mukti Bahini as the Indian military made several unsuccessful attempts to overrun the Pakistani positions. After defending the area for 21 days, the besieged Pakistani troops were ordered by their superiors to surrender. The defending Pakistani troops suffered hardly any casualties, despite being subjected to repeated Indian artillery bombardment and air strikes. Start of hostilities Attacks against Pakistani border outposts in the north began in July. These were mounted by Mukti Bahini, mainly former members of East Pakistan's regular forces, but failed to make any damage. Further attacks on Kamalpur, a kilometre from the border, continued on 22 October and 14 November, the latter being carried out by the Indian Army's 13th Battalion, Brigade of the Guards (of Kler's brigade), which established blocking positions to the south. Malik was cut off and his CO, Lt. Col. Sultan Ahmed tried to relieve him and the other two outposts (Naqshi and Baromari, to the east) without success. On 29 November Major Ayub of 31 Baloch tried to resupply Malik's tiny garrison but failed. Unsuccessful siege of Indian Army Kler tried to take Kamalpur on the run, using Mukti Bahini troops, but failed. Later, Kler made two more attempts to overrun the Pakistani troops positions in Kamalpur, but likewise unsuccessfully. He then decided to mount an attack by the 1st Battalion, Maratha Light Infantry on the forty men and four 120 mm mortars of 83 Mortar Battery belonging to Pakistan Army. 1st Battalion of Maratha Light Infantry successfully overran them, suffering one casualty. Kler then "decided to lay siege to Kamalpur and break down its will to resist", according to Gen. Sukhwant Singh. After laying the siege, Kler launched a third attack on Pakistani positions in Kamalpur. However, the third attack met the same fate as previous two unsuccessful attacks. Failure of the third attack and resulting casualties had dispirited the attacking troops, and the higher command had developed second thought about Kler ability to handle live operations. Getting wary because of casualties, successive failures and demoralisation among the attacking troops, Kler decided