Page 16 - Pakistan Link - October 13, 2023

P16 - PAKISTAN LINK - OCTOBER 13, 2023 COMMENTARY
n By Dr Syed Amir As the Pakistani forces in East Paki-
Bethesda, MD Nixon, Kissinger and the Bangladesh War stan were collapsing, Kissinger became
worried that, based on some uncon-
oday, most people are too firmed reports, India intended the dis-
young to remember that for a memberment of West Pakistan as well.
Tbrief period in 1971and 1972, The CIA had concluded that if India
the US enjoyed great popularity in attacked, there was no chance that Chi-
Pakistan, and was na, concerned about Soviet reaction,
credited with saving would bail out Pakistan. On Decem-
it from destruction ber 3, Pakistan in a desperate attempt
by Indian forces in to turn the tide launched a massive
the wake of Pakistani air strike against Indian airfields, but
army’s surrender in with little effect. Kissinger, emotion-
East Pakistan on De- ally fraught and anxious to save West
cember 16, 1971. Pakistan, warned Nixon that Pakistan’s
A book by Garry Bass, The Blood defenses could not last two weeks. He
Telegram, Nixon, Kissinger and a pressured him to arrange transfer of
Forgotten Genocide (2013; Alfred F104 fighter planes from Jordan, Iran
Knopf), provides some fascinating in- and Turkey to Pakistan, even though
sights into the last tumultuous year of doing so constituted a clear violation of
Pakistan’s existence as a united coun- the existing US laws. On December 12,
try and the vicious military crackdown Nixon and Kissinger warned the Soviet
in East Pakistan that led to the coun- Union to restrain India by noon that
try’s breakup. Although a number of day, or they would “initiate unspecified
books and scholarly disquisitions have The Oval Office meeting between the two leaders was brutal, “angry and protracted.” “Nixon thought she was a unilateral measures.”
analyzed Pakistan’s civil war, the Bass’ warmonger; she thought he was helping along genocide.” – National Herald In addition, Nixon ordered the nu-
book is unique in that it highlights the clear aircraft carrier Enterprise to sail
role of President Nixon and Dr Kiss- On March 25, 1971, as talks between prime minister, Indira Gandhi, whom President Nixon in the White House. fast forward to the Bay of Bengal in a
inger, the National Security Advisor, Pakistan’s military ruler Yahya Khan they derisively referred to as “the old Neither had relished the prospect of show of force and to threaten India.
in the crisis, their unreserved support and the Awami League leader, Mujib– bitch.” The title of the book, Blood the encounter. Just before the meet- Finally, these measures worked. By the
of Pakistan in suppression of Bengali ur-Rehman, to reach a political settle- Telegrams, is drawn from the tele- ing, Kissinger found Nixon fuming in noon deadline, the Soviet Union in-
nationalism and war with India. The ment broke down; Yahya flew off to Ka- grams sent by diplomat Blood. He was the Oval Office, his dislike of Gandhi formed the US that they had received
book draws upon some highly clas- rachi and ordered a military crackdown. finally removed from his vantage point on full display. “The US has given more assurance from India that “it had no
sified information not available pre- According to conservative estimates, in Dacca, and assigned to a desk job at relief aid to India than the rest of the intention of taking any military ac-
viously. Although Nixon had a pen- some two-hundred thousand people the State Department in Washington. world combined, why don’t they give tion against West Pakistan.” A unilat-
chant for secrecy, he had installed a died in the military action. In addition, Aside from their hostility to India, us any credit for that,” he demanded. eral ceasefire was declared by India on
clandestine recording system in the an estimated ten million Bengalis fled Nixon and Kissinger had another rea- Kissinger replied, “Because these bas- December 17, 1971, the day after East
White House that recorded all con- and became refugees in India, eighty to son to be especially friendly to Yahya tards have played an absolutely brutal Pakistan’s surrender.
versations between him and others. ninety percent of them Hindus. Khan. The US president was trying to game with us.” Today, more than five decades later,
The recorded and transcribed ma- The US administration meanwhile extricate American forces from Viet- The Oval Office meeting between with the benefit of hindsight, it is easy
terials from the White House tapes, had been kept informed of the carnage nam and was seeking an opening to the two leaders was brutal, “angry and to recognize that the union of the East
more than four-decades-old, are now and bloodshed occurring in East Paki- China to enlist that country’s help in protracted.” “Nixon thought she was a and West Pakistan was inherently un-
being gradually declassified and made stan, most prominently by its own Con- doing so. Yahya was more than willing warmonger; she thought he was help- tenable. Geography, language, cultural,
available to the public. sul General posted in Dacca. Archer to serve as an enabler of this mission. ing along genocide.” The meeting failed socio-economic factors were all against
The author, a professor of politics Blood had been sending a detailed ac- In July 1971, Kissinger, a consummate to achieve any agreement. India had it. However, it is tempting to contem-
at Princeton, listened to hours of re- count of the situation in his telegrams practitioner of Realpolitick, went on a entered into a defense treaty with the plate that, had Nixon and Kissinger
corded conversation between Nixon to the State Department. He was most secret diplomatic mission to Beijing, Soviet Union and Nixon warned the been less supportive of the Pakistani
and Kissinger as the East Pakistan crisis unhappy about the use of US-supplied where he met with Premier Zhou En- prime minister that “a war might not military leadership and insisted that
was unfolding. He also studied numer- arms deployed in the massacre of Ben- lai; his visit paved the way for Nixon’s be limited to only India and Pakistan,” they reach a political settlement with
ous recently declassified documents, galis, predicting a breakup of Pakistan. historic visit to China the following hinting the possibility of China enter- the Awami League, maybe, the break-
interviewed the former White House Yet, Kissinger and Nixon dismissed his year. ing the fray. up of Pakistan would not have been
staff and talked to a number of Indian missives, characterizing them as prod- In November 1971, as the situation The next day, alone in the Oval Of- so traumatic and a dark chapter in the
military and civilian leaders. The book uct of an overreaction. According to deteriorated in East Pakistan, Gan- fice, Nixon and Kissinger expressed country’s history would have remained
is a powerful indictment of Nixon and the author, Nixon had a great personal dhi set out on a tour of world capi- themselves freely. Nixon remarked, “It unwritten.
Kissinger for their failure to pressure fondness for Pakistan’s military ruler. tals to explain Indian support of the is just the point when she is a bitch.” (Dr Syed Amir is a former Assistant
the Pakistani generals in 1971 from “He’s a decent man”, Nixon repeatedly insurgent forces, and India’s growing Kissinger could not agree more, add- Professor, Harvard Medical School,
planning and executing a policy of what exclaimed. Both Nixon and Kissinger refugee problems. The book provides a ing that “well, the Indians are bastards, and a health science administrator, US
the author terms genocide of Bengalis. had a visceral hatred of India and its gripping account of her meeting with anyway.” National Institutes of Health)

ooker Prize-winning Indian novelist Booker Winner Arundhati Roy two wars and countless skirmishes with Pakistan
Arundhati Roy could be prosecuted for a over control of the territory.
B2010 speech about held-Kashmir after a Tens of thousands of people, including Indian
top official signed off on the move, Indian media Facing Prosecution In India: Media troops, militants and civilians, have been killed in
reported on Tuesday. the valley since an insurgency against Indian rule
Roy, 61, is one of India’s most famous living broke out in 1989.
authors, but her writing and activism, including Roy’s home in New Delhi was besieged by pro-
her trenchant criticism of Prime Minister Naren- testers in 2010 when her remarks from the panel
dra Modi’s government, has made her a polariz- discussion became public.
ing figure at home. Two of her co-defendants have died in the 13
A criminal complaint accusing her and several years since the case was first lodged.
others of sedition had languished in India’s noto- Roy became the first non-expatriate Indian
riously glacial criminal justice system since it was to win the prestigious Booker Prize for her ac-
first filed in 2010. claimed debut novel “The God of Small Things”
But on Tuesday, Indian media reported that in 1997.
V.K. Saxena, the top official in the administration She is also known for her passionate essays on
governing New Delhi, had given approval for the the plight of the poor and dispossessed in India,
case to proceed before the courts. occasionally earning the ire of the country’s elite.
Saxena’s directive said there was enough evi- In recent years her work has marked her as one
dence for a case to proceed against Roy and her of the most high-profile critics of Modi’s govern-
codefendants “for their speeches at a public func- ment, which has been accused by rights groups
tion” in the capital, The Hindu newspaper re- and others of targeting activists for criminal pros-
ported. ecution and working to suppress free speech.
The original complaint accuses Roy and others Reporters Without Borders warns “press free-
of giving speeches advocating the secession of oc- dom is in crisis” in India.
cupied Kashmir from India. Since 2014, India dropped from 140 to 161
Held-Kashmir is one of the most sensitive top- on its rankings of media freedom, including 11
ics of public discussion in India, which has fought The Straits Times places since last year. - AFP

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