PAKISTAN ascribe its break up and creation of BANGLADESH TO INDIA. This was not at all. Bangladesh was the product of the ineptitude of Pakistan’s military establishment, the selfishness of West Pakistan political elite, the liberation struggle of people of Bangladesh and India’s brilliant military campaign.
India’s leadership was clear that the thrust of the effort in liberation of Bangladesh had to be internal, even if the Indian arm delivers the final coup de grace. The chief martial law administrator and commander of the eastern command of the Pakistan army, Lt. Gen AAk ”Tigar Niazi”, surrendered to the joint command of Indian army and the Mukti Bahini on the afternoon of December 16, 1971, almost to the hour on the 13th day of war of liberation of Bangladesh.
A year earlier, Pakistan’s first general election resulted in Awami League winning 160 of 300 seats in National Assembly, compared to 81 Pakistan People’s Party. President Yahya Khan called Sheikh Mujibur Rahaman “the future prime minister of of Pakistan” and ordered the convening National Assembly in Dhaka on March 3. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto promptly announced that PPP would stay away from the National Assembly session. If any PPP parliamentarians did attend, Bhotto said he would see that their legs would be broken. Bhutto could not have become PM in a united Pakistan.
It was not Bhutto, but Yahya khan, who was blamed for the unfolding events. Yahya khan himself predictably blamed Mujib and Bhutto. In 1978 affidavit to the Lahore high court he said that Bhutto was more responsible than Mujib for what happened because Bhutto refused to accept Mujib had a right to govern.
PM Indira Gandhi did not want to precipitately intervene in East Pakistan. She resisted pressure to accord early recognition to Bangladesh as she felt that this could compromise Bangladesh case internationally. The political imperative of preparing the ground internally and internationally coincided with clear military advice from Chief of Army staff, General Sam Manekshaw, that war should not be India’s immediate option.
At 5.30 pm on Decenber3, the Pakistan air force struck eight major airbases in northern and western India. Indira Gandhi was in Calcutta. She spoke on the radio just past midnight about the brave people of Bangladesh and Mukti Bahini who were fighting for their land and the principles for which India too had fought before and added “Today the war in Bangladesh has become a war on India”. The Indian army and Mukti Bahini made short work of the Pakistan army.
When Indira Gandhi visited Washington DC a month before the war, President Richard Nixon and his assistant for national security affairs, Henry Kissinger decided to advise her against military conflict without being unwelcoming. Their objective was to prove China the US relevance in Asia and hope China would “come in” in case of an Indo-Pakistan conflict.
Rawalpindi signalled Niazy on December11 that the USA Seventh Fleet would soon “be in position” and falsely, that the NEFA front has been activated by China”. A smaller but forceful Soviet flotilla tagged the USS Enterprise led task force as it crossed the Malacca Strait, and instead of heading to the Bay of Bengal, it went westward. A reminder of the exchange on India China frontier at Nathu La and Cho La in 1967 and possibility of confrontation with the Soviet Union kept the People’s Liberation Army at bay.
Discussions in the UN Security Council were largely infructuous. India’s permanent representative Samar Sen, underlined that “the problem is not between India and Pakistan but between the Pakistan army and people of Bangladesh”. If the Unite State had been interested in halting hostility, it should have agreed on a political process along with the ceasefire. 1971 was when Indian diplomacy completely synced with its strategic requirements.
Complied by Bimal Dey.
About the Author
Bimal Dey was Chief Engineer with Neuclear Power Corporation. He had travelled extensively around the world. After his retirement some 15 years back, he is now settled at Goa. He is also the current President of GZA.