This book is the history of Pakistan's genocidal abuse of its Bengali population in East Pakistan in 1971. War with India and the eventual independence of Bangladesh followed. Pakistan was a US cold war ally and our backdoor for Kissinger's rapprochement with China. They were the recipients of substantial foreign and military aid. Nixon liked the military leaders in Pakistan and despised the heirs of Nehru in India. Pakistan itself was an anomaly, the two sections separated by a thousand miles, and vastly different climates and cultures. Although Muslims, the Bengalis in the east had little in common with the West Pakistanis. A nationwide vote in December of 1970 led to an overwhelming victory for the more populous Bengalis from East Pakistan. It was unthinkable in Islamabad that the dovish, left-leaning, Bengali-populated Awami League could rule the country. They were anathema to the Pashtuns and the militaristic rulers of the country. The military refused to allow the National Assembly to meet, quashed the nascent move to democracy and decided to violently suppress East Pakistan. Airlifted into East Pakistan, the army began the systematic, unprovoked slaughter of civilians, with a particular emphasis on the Hindu minority. Spring in East Pakistan was a bloodbath. Kissinger took the position that the US does not meddle in another country's internal affairs. Opposition to America's indifference (if not support as all of the Pakistan military's equipment was ours) was very high in the US Consulate in Dacca. The Consul General, Archer Blood, and almost the entire staff affixed their signatures to the first formal dissent cable in the history of the Foreign Service. They characterized the Pakistani action, particularly with respect to the Hindus, as a 'genocide.' It was a renewal of the violence of the Partition over two decades earlier.
With millions of refugees, of whom approximately 90% were Hindus, flooding India, and with a Bangladeshi revolution starting, the Indians began to contemplate the strategic advantages of war against their sworn enemy. Cutting Pakistan in half was a very attractive option.The monsoon season prevented any immediate action; war before November was not possible. Amidst the ongoing slaughter of innocents, there was a drumbeat of condemnation for the ongoing US military support for Pakistan. But, for Nixon and Kissinger, it all was an annoying distraction. The Pakistani strongman, Yaya, was the intermediary between Kissinger and Chou En Lai. Nixon felt the approach to China was the most important event in US foreign policy since WW2; Kissinger, since the Civil War. Those who complained about the internal problems of Pakistan received no succor in the Nixon White House. As the refugees continued to flood into India, the Indians upped their assistance to the Bengali guerrillas. Civil government in East Pakistan was virtually non-existent. It was in total chaos. By the time Indira Gandhi, the Prime Minister of India, visited Washington in early November, India had been overwhelmed by 10 million refugees. War was on the horizon.
It began on Dec.3rd when Pakistan attacked in the north. "It is a measure of how well the war went that India's generals have squabbled about credit ever since." By the 7th, progress in the east was so substantial that India recognized Bangladesh. Because India was allied with the USSR in the cold war, Nixon and Kissinger went ballistic and marshaled opinion in the UN in opposition to India. In violation of US law, Nixon and Kissinger used Iran and Jordan to funnel arms, replacements and supplies to Pakistan. They escalated by inviting Chinese help and threatening the Soviets. By the two-week mark, Dacca had surrendered and Gandhi declared a cease-fire, as India had no territorial ambitions in the north. Pakistan was sundered and defeated. Neither superpower had meaningful strategic interests in the sub-continent and the cold war moved on. It is in Pakistan that the war had the most consequences. It led to a further militarization of society, a heavy dose of Islamization and the development of the atomic bomb. When India's cold war ally invaded Afghanistan in 1979, Pakistan allied itself with the Taliban, leading to its strategic predicament today. Thanks to my brother, Bill, for this recommendation.
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