Declassified papers speak of Indo-US rivalry in South Asia

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 November 2011, 07:09 GMT]
The US Marines were prepared to attack Indian military during Bangladesh war in 1971. The US continued to supply weapons to Pakistan contrary to policies said outside. The US delayed passing Pakistan’s surrender announcement to India by 19 hours and diplomats suspected the delay was because Washington was possibly contemplating military action against India, said a feature based on freshly declassified top secret papers appeared in The Times of India, Sunday. There are worse ‘top secrets’ about India-US equation conducting a genocidal war without witness for the first time in South Asia, making around 140,000 Eezham Tamils to go unaccounted. It may take another 40 years for the ‘ultimate responsibility’ acknowledged. But the worst of the crime, in contrast to Bangladesh, is the equation’s continued denial of independence to Eezham Tamils, commented a political observer in Jaffna.

The Times of India feature was based on a six-page note prepared by Indian foreign ministry that is now declassified.

The note held the then American president Richard Nixon responsible for the pro-Pakistan tilt during India's 1971 war with her neighbour.

"The assessment of our embassy reveal (sic) that the decision to brand India as an 'aggressor' and to send the 7th Fleet to the Bay of Bengal was taken personally by Nixon," the note said.

The Indian embassy: "feel (sic) that the bomber force aboard the Enterprise had the US President's authority to undertake bombing of Indian Army's communications, if necessary," the note further said.

Even though India was aware of US arms shipments to Pakistan and it was thinking of intercepting them, it refrained from doing so as it may be treated as an act of war with the US, the feature said.

“On December 14, Gen A A K Niazi, Pakistan's military commander for erstwhile East Pakistan, told the American consul-general in Dhaka that he was willing to surrender. The message was relayed to Washington, but it took the US 19 hours to relay it to New Delhi. Files suggest senior Indian diplomats suspected the delay was because Washington was possibly contemplating military action against India,” the feature by Josy Joseph further said.

Bangladesh was separated by India amidst opposition from the US. But the Indian way of handling post-war Bangladesh was exploited by the US to back a military coup and bring it under its influence.

In 2009, for the first time in South Asia, genocide and a resulting blood feud situation between two ancient nations has been designed and allowed by the India-US equation’s ‘cooperation and competition.’

Both now compete for control while a third power, China, has also poked its nose and enjoys the spoil.

The US Asst Secretary of State spoke of ‘strategic partnership’ during the war. India’s position after the war was excluding international justice or solutions. Who ever was responsible for experimenting with genocide as a model for imperialism in South Asia, all will fail if due political justice of independence is not bestowed on Eezham Tamils, the political observer in Jaffna further said.

External Links:

The Times of India:

US forces had orders to target Indian Army in 1971