Exactly forty years ago, a new nation was born. Connected through a continuous landmass and closely entwined with its destiny, undoubtedly, without India there would be no Bangladesh. The dream of Mohammad Jinnah of a united Pakistan proved to be short lived. Since its creation Pakistan had been an unquiet and uneasy cohabitation of two regions seperated by Indian landmass - East pakistan which erstwhile called east bengal (before1947) and West Pakistan with Sindh, Balochistan, Pujab and NWFP. Both regions though shared a common religion were far apart in cultural ethos and identities.This proved to be enough of a reason to create a rift in them. What more evidence that religion can not a be the sole unifying factor. For an individual's meaningful existence, there are other identities which are far more important than just a religious one.
Bangladesh's birth was painful and bloody. A concise account here says that a political turmoil had sparked from the sweeping victory of Mujibur Rahman's Party over Zulfikar Ali bhutto in the first general election which susequently prompted Yahya Khan to suspend the election results and send army to occupy east pakistan. India was closely watching all the developments in the region and was prepared for this. What she was not prepared for was the utter brutalilty with which it was carried out.
In a single most daring Blitzkrieg operation, Indian forces launched a multi-pronged offensive involving all three services (land, water, air) first time in the history. Not only this, Indian army also trained thousands of refugees from east pakistan in the military combat techniques and formed "Mukti Bahini" which also faught the war along with them. Severely battered on both the fronts, Pakistan forces lost their ground and finally on December 16, 1971, they surrendered unconditionally.
During Bangladesh crisis Indira Gandhi showed her qualities of decisiveness. Notwithstanding her controversial years in power, this was one such decision which gave her a permamnent place in the heart of Indians. In a penetrating article here on Indira Gandhi, Sudipta Kaviraj presents a picture of global balance of power around that time. She says that global powers such as USSR, america and UK had polarised the world in two factions due to Coldwar. Here I quote from the article - Soviet attitude towards India had changed considerably after Nehru's death, and their overtures with the Ayub regime sometimes created discernible strains with India.On the American side, the Nixon administration tilted US policy heavily against India, in an accentuation of the eternal paradox of American foreign policy—its steadfast preference for an avowed dictatorship to a democracy. China too could be expected to favour Pakistan. Risks of isolation were considerable and quite real. A possible war with Pakistan and the creation of a friendly state in the east could, however, alter the strategic balance considerably, and reduce the requirement for military preparedness and related costs, at least so it was believed at the time. Here Indira in one shrewd unexpected decicion, signed a treaty with the Soviet Union which proved remarkably effective in counter-balancing American support for Pakistan.
Such remarkable assertiveness and convincing victory that established India as the dominant power in the continent, was seen for the first time (and last?? alas) in history. India learnt its biggest lesson from this glorious victory that whatever had been the power equations, countries reacted to any critical developments strictly within the boundary of their perceived self-interests and not on any moral or objective ground.
Bangladesh's birth was painful and bloody. A concise account here says that a political turmoil had sparked from the sweeping victory of Mujibur Rahman's Party over Zulfikar Ali bhutto in the first general election which susequently prompted Yahya Khan to suspend the election results and send army to occupy east pakistan. India was closely watching all the developments in the region and was prepared for this. What she was not prepared for was the utter brutalilty with which it was carried out.
In a single most daring Blitzkrieg operation, Indian forces launched a multi-pronged offensive involving all three services (land, water, air) first time in the history. Not only this, Indian army also trained thousands of refugees from east pakistan in the military combat techniques and formed "Mukti Bahini" which also faught the war along with them. Severely battered on both the fronts, Pakistan forces lost their ground and finally on December 16, 1971, they surrendered unconditionally.
During Bangladesh crisis Indira Gandhi showed her qualities of decisiveness. Notwithstanding her controversial years in power, this was one such decision which gave her a permamnent place in the heart of Indians. In a penetrating article here on Indira Gandhi, Sudipta Kaviraj presents a picture of global balance of power around that time. She says that global powers such as USSR, america and UK had polarised the world in two factions due to Coldwar. Here I quote from the article - Soviet attitude towards India had changed considerably after Nehru's death, and their overtures with the Ayub regime sometimes created discernible strains with India.On the American side, the Nixon administration tilted US policy heavily against India, in an accentuation of the eternal paradox of American foreign policy—its steadfast preference for an avowed dictatorship to a democracy. China too could be expected to favour Pakistan. Risks of isolation were considerable and quite real. A possible war with Pakistan and the creation of a friendly state in the east could, however, alter the strategic balance considerably, and reduce the requirement for military preparedness and related costs, at least so it was believed at the time. Here Indira in one shrewd unexpected decicion, signed a treaty with the Soviet Union which proved remarkably effective in counter-balancing American support for Pakistan.
Such remarkable assertiveness and convincing victory that established India as the dominant power in the continent, was seen for the first time (and last?? alas) in history. India learnt its biggest lesson from this glorious victory that whatever had been the power equations, countries reacted to any critical developments strictly within the boundary of their perceived self-interests and not on any moral or objective ground.
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