Veil off 'jugular but not J&K' assurance

SUJAN DUTTA

Ronen Sen

New Delhi, Dec. 17: India gave an assurance in 1971 to Soviet Russia that it would not use the December war against Pakistan to alter the status of Jammu and Kashmir but would "go for the jugular" on the eastern front, a former diplomat in the thick of the negotiations disclosed here today.

Ambassador Ronen Sen, who was the special assistant to the Indian envoy to Moscow, D.P. Dhar, 40 years ago, said the war that led to the birth of Bangladesh was the outcome of "a politico-military-diplomatic strategy" under Indira Gandhi that was crafted to see the emergence of Bangladesh and the defeat of Pakistan, stave off a US-China pincer movement, and seal a pact with the then USSR to get crucial military aid.

Sen said that since General Sam Manekshaw told Indira Gandhi in April 1971 that he would take time to prepare for and plan the war, "there was no woolly-headed thinking" in New Delhi.

"Some called Indira Gandhi a Soviet stooge. Nothing of the sort. That frail woman gave nothing away in the negotiations with (Leonid) Brezhnev and (Alexei) Kosygin (the then Soviet President and foreign minister, respectively) but Soviet support was not unconditional," Sen said.

In March, the Pakistani army had clamped down on the Bangladeshis. In some estimates, three million people were killed or maimed by the Pakistani forces. Even if that figure is exaggerated, India was taking in tens of thousands of refugees every day and its demographics were changing.

"The US was paranoid that we would seek to annex Bangladesh and alter the status of Jammu and Kashmir by crossing the Line of Control," Sen said.

He was chairing a meeting called by an outfit of former soldiers, the Conclave of Defence Services Veterans, in remembrance of India's victory in the 1971 war. Uttarakhand chief minister B.C. Khanduri gave the Manekshaw Memorial Lecture. But it was Sen's disclosures that created a hubbub.

The retired career diplomat, who lists ambassadorships to Russia and the US among his assignments in about 75 countries, lifted the veil on the negotiations that led to the Indo-Soviet Treaty of Peace, Friendship and Co-operation on August 9 in the run-up to the war.

For the US leadership of President Richard Nixon and secretary of state Henry Kissinger, the Indo-Soviet pact was a "bombshell".

Not only were the Soviets resolute in their support for India, said Sen, they also conveyed to the US that India would proceed with the two-front war with different strategies for the east and the west.

There was a tacit nod from the Soviets that on the eastern front the Indian forces "would go for the jugular". The Indian Army, backed by the navy and the air force and along with the Mukti Bahini of Bangladesh, made a dash for Dhaka.

"This is important to remember, especially today, because I have found during my interactions with Bangladeshis that they feel that India does not give the Mukti Bahini due credit. It should not be forgotten that Field Marshal (then General) Sam Manekshaw was not only the chief of the Indian armed forces but also headed the India-Bangla joint forces," Sen told the veterans in the auditorium, many of whom had served in the war and even trained the Bangladeshi guerrillas.

India had recognised Bangladesh as a sovereign country on December 6, 1971, 10 days before the Pakistanis capitulated.

For the western front, the Soviets had an assurance from India that its military strategy would be limited to a "holding (defensive) operation". Indeed, the forays by the armoured divisions on the western front were mostly short bursts and not meant to occupy territory for long.

In return for the assurance from India, thousands of tonnes of military hardware was airlifted from Soviet Russia in the weeks preceding the war, which lasted 13 days from December 3 till the Pakistanis surrendered in Dhaka on December 16.

The Soviet Union helped by vetoing a UN Security Council resolution ( number 303) against India on December 3. On December 6 it, along with the UK and France abstained from voting against India.

Forty years ago, on December 16, Pakistani forces lead by Lt General A.A.K. Niazi surrendered to the Indian eastern command at the Ramna Grounds in Dhaka. More than 90,000 soldiers were taken as prisoners of war.