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| “Besides, when has a fight for independence not been bloody? Is there really any need to teach such hatred to our children?” |
ISLAMABAD – Both sides, the Bengalis and the Pakistanis, may hold each other responsible for the events that preceded this day, December 16, exactly 29 years ago. It is the day Pakistan was dismembered, with the East Pakistan becoming Bangladesh since.
But history now has started to get clear as far the hands behind this divide are concerned. It was a bloody and cruel war ignited and led by the Indians, namely then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
The 1971 war saw thousands killed, leaving permanent scars on millions of people in Bangladesh, and almost everyone in Pakistan. Both sides teach their students a different, antagonising story on the events of the war. However, the truth seems to have slipped from the tongue of the Indians themselves, as the Indian politicians now clearly boast of how Indira Ghandi harboured and then implemented her nefarious designs against Pakistan.
It is also a fat that a large number of Hindu teachers were teaching in the educational institutions in East Pakistan. They produced such literature which created negative thinking in the minds of Bengalis against the people of West Pakistan.
The Pakistani students are told that about 10 million Hindus were living in East Pakistan. India stood at the back of these Hindus to protect their interests. India wanted to separate East Pakistan to strengthen the economic position of the Hindus. Many Hindus acted as spies for India. Russia was against Pakistan because Pakistan had allowed America to establish military bases in Pakistan. Under the circumstances Russia openly supported India’s aggression against Pakistan. On the other hand, the Bengladeshi students are taught that the Bengalis under the rule of Ayub Khan were discriminated against and despite East Pakistan being main contributor to the economy, its state was impoverished. And that the Bengalis were denied jobs in key offices, etc.
Well, the truth is that such feelings and thoughts only are reminiscent of the hatred planted by then Indian establishment. Such was that extent of Indian involvement that, according to a media report, American leaders were convinced during the 1971 war that then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was thinking of breaking up West Pakistan and occupy Pakistani Kashmir (AJK).
The report quotes LK Advani’s comments posted on his blog.
Quoting a new book, Advani said wrote that the question about Gandhi's objectives had been on his mind after he read "Bangladesh Liberation War: Myths and Facts" by BZ Khasru, the editor of a New York financial publication.
"A question that had been on my mind since some weeks was: when in 1971 Indiraji decided to help Sheikh Mujibur Rahman carve out an independent Bangladesh for the Bengalis of East Pakistan, was she also simultaneously thinking of an operation in West Pakistan aimed to achieve two major objectives, namely to balkanize West Pakistan, and to liberate Pakistan occupied Kashmir," Advani said.
"This book carries ample data to show that whether or not Gandhi actually contemplated to achieve these objectives, Washington's top leaders of those times, President Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger, the president's national security adviser, were both convinced that Gandhi was seriously thinking of action in that direction, and that the Soviets were likely to help India in achieving its objective," he said.
Advani said US relations with India those days were very bitter and Nixon disliked Gandhi. He said America had developed a great liking for successive Pakistan presidents, Ayub Khan and Yahya Khan.
"After Gen Yahya Khan's meeting with President Nixon at the White House, Kissinger seriously probed with Pakistan whether they would be willing to use their influence with China for a US-China rapprochement," he said.
The BJP leader said that during the India-Pakistan crisis in relation to East Bengal, the US not only dispatched its nuclear-armed Seventh Fleet to the Bay of Bengal and warned Moscow "to stop India from destroying West Pakistan" but also tried hard to make China threaten India against any armed intervention in East Pakistan.
"If what US apprehended was what actually had been planned, USA's threats and moves really paid off," he said.
"As the Indian military marched into East Pakistan, full throttle, and international efforts to stop the fighting gained momentum at the United Nations, Gandhi found herself between a rock and a hard place.
Advani said Gandhi explained to her cabinet that if India accepted the UN ceasefire proposal after Bangladesh's liberation, it could avoid further complications with the US and this "might also rule out the current possibility of a Chinese intervention in Ladakh".
India's defence minister Jagjivan Ram and several other military leaders, however, opposed a ceasefire until India had taken certain unspecified areas of Kashmir and destroyed "the war mechanism of Pakistan".
"Gandhi overruled the opponents, saying that 'for the moment India would not categorically reject' the UN ceasefire proposal. India would accept a ceasefire after the Awami League regime was installed in Dhaka," Advani said.
The BJP leader said he saw no reason to doubt the findings of the author.
Advani added that after reading the book he wished some objective Indian historian researched Indian source material and government documents to give the country a version of events as seen from the Indian side.
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