In a recent opinion article for The Washington Post, Ishaan Tharoor, the elder son of Indian Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, reflects on the death of former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. Tharoor begins by highlighting Kissinger’s enduring memory in South Asia, particularly for his role alongside President Nixon during the tumultuous events leading to the creation of Bangladesh in 1971.
According to Tharoor, the White House covertly provided a huge cache of arms and ammunition to Pakistan during a time when East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) was the subject of a bloody crackdown, in clear alignment with Pakistan’s generals as Cold War allies. He describes the Pakistani army’s month-long crackdown as “a pogrom on a vast scale,” evoking vivid imagery of vultures growing fat in the aftermath.
The article is met with disbelief from the people of Pakistan, who hold bitter memories regarding the U.S. role in the 1971 crisis. Contrary to Tharoor’s narrative, the Nixon administration could not provide any meaningful support to Pakistan.
It is a fact that Nixon and Kissenger were obliged because of Pakistan’s help to the US in normalising its relations with China. Pakistan had annoyed the Soviet Union by bringing closer together two of its worst enemies, the US and China. And ultimately, Pakistan paid the price. The Soviet Union overwhelmingly supported India in the dismemberment of Pakistan.
Despite Pakistan’s membership in SEATO and CENTO, the Pentagon and U.S. Congress were hostile to it because of Indian propaganda. In reality, the U.S. imposed an arms embargo on both India and Pakistan in order to appear neutral, which was particularly detrimental to Pakistan. While the U.S. had been a primary supplier of arms to Pakistan, India relied on the Soviet Union for its military support.
The bitterness is heightened when recalling a crucial moment during the conflict on 14-16 December 1971. As the Pakistani military found itself surrounded by Indian armed forces and Mukti Bahni, the promised support from the U.S. Seventh Fleet was 1100 miles away from Chittagong ports, leaving a lasting, painful memory for the people of Pakistan.
In the midst of this historical discourse, Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi shrewdly handled the situation. Indira’s first objective was to cut off East Pakistan from its home base, accomplished through the engineering of the Ganga incident and the subsequent banning of overflights in February 1971.
Her second objective was to isolate Pakistan from its western allies. When President Yahya Khan postponed the national assembly session, Indira skillfully used diplomatic manoeuvres to garner international support. Her narrative, portraying Pakistan’s military junta as obstructing democracy, resonated well with Western democracies.
Furthermore, Indra Gandhi played the so-called genocide card for Muslim countries in the Middle East. Through electronic and print media, she exaggerated the stories of mass killings by the Pakistani army in East Pakistan, a narrative that found traction among many Muslim leaders. Henry Kissinger, in his book “Leadership,” written in 2022, recalls the Indian Prime Minister’s shrewdness, denouncing her as he repeatedly refers to her as ‘a bitch’ for lies and deceit. He also calls those Indians at the helm of affairs “bastards and sons of bitches.”
Unfortunately, during the sombre event of Henry Kissinger’s death, an angry Indian author has voiced his dissatisfaction. It would have been better if the author could have contested the remarks of the former US secretary of state in his lifetime. It is also worth mentioning that Ishaan Tharoor has replicated the content already found in an Atlantic piece titled “The People Who Didn’t Matter to Henry Kissinger” by Gary J. Bass.
The author: Atta Rasool Malik hails from semi-tribal areas of Pakistan. He is a veteran and holds an M.Phil. degree in international relations from National Defence University Islamabad. His interests include the politics of South Asia, the Middle East, and Islamic and Jewish theology.