The Blood Telegram

India's Secret War in East Pakistan

A Book Review
by
Ahmad Imran
The ignoble actions of the United States in Latin America have become a matter of public record, but
the inside story of the relationship between Pakistan and the Unites States is still an opaue sinkhole!
"ary # $ass has done a tremendous %ob of, at least, unearthing the dynamics of that relationship during
the height of the cold war when India helped create the new nation of $angladesh!
The conte&t of the events have multiple layers! There is always the tension within Pakistan over
distributive politics and the radicali'ation of the $engalis into a hyper ethno($engalis with the calls of
)#oi $angla* even before the fateful elections! The basis of the conflict was always Pakistani military
%unta+s utter mismanagement of ,ast Pakistan after the elections where the small detached geography of
Pakistan with higher population density won the elections, something not tolerable to Leftist Secular
liberals like -ulfiar Ali $hutto in .est Pakistan who+s irredentism on the issue failed to produce a
political solution to the electoral stalemate! /u%ib was recorded in a candid speech saying he was not
interested in a federalist arrangement but was interested in establishing a separate homeland! The
ensuing crackdown by Pakistani military led to bloodshed of /u%ib+s party with conservative Pakistani
estimate in tens of thousands to probable Indian and US embassy+s in 0acca+s estimates of millions! 1o
forensic facts have been established and the real number of dead will probably never be known!
The new revelation in the book is not about the $engalis, but the allegations of Pakistani army going
after the $engali 2indus! These allegations by Indira+s government complained about as much as eighty
percent of the refugees in India being $engali 2indus! Indians alleged that Pakistani army believed that
it was the $engali 2indus who had put the rest of the $engalis into the separatist fever and thus were
massacring the 2indus not only as retribution but their barbaric efforts to shrink ,ast Pakistan+s
populations demographics in favor of .est Pakistan!
The second layer on the conte&t was Pak(Indian animosity with a track records of multiple wars
between them! The Indian Pakistan divide was a divide of Secular governance versus Pakistan Islamic
identity politics! The Indians always felt vindicated as being better and thought of Pakistan as a
renegade faction! India claimed that refugee problem in India was making it their business of what was
happening in ,ast Pakistan! The Indians were very fearful of Pakistani ,ast $angalis and their .est
$engali socialist3 /aoist activism with the potential of escalating ethnic and sectarian violence on their
own soil! Thus, these above concerns became a conte&t for the Indians to hope they could finally, once
and for all, put a final nail in Pakistan+s coffin! There was evidence to suggest that from multiple
sources, even 1i&on was angry at 4issinger for not properly e&ploiting that angle! 5urthermore, the
Indians were neck deep in aiding and abetting the )/ukti $ahini* 6 the $engali rebels, first through the
Indian $order Security 5orces, then later under the full command of Indian military while Indira denied
it to the hilt! Indian narrative of the conflict was wrapped around the rosy concepts of human dignity,
political rights, and freedom and liberation, while Pakistan and most of the world in the United 1ations
saw it interference in the affairs of sovereign nation by India!
The third layer of the conflict involved tension because of the 7old .ar! The world is a chess board
with the Soviets and the Allies playing for keeps! Allegedly, once again, India polishes its reputation as
the e&emplar 1on(Aligned but signs an alliance with the Soviets after the 1i&on(4issinger team went
public with their forays in 7hina! The vulgar ,uropean realpolitik of 4issinger gives the .hite 2ouse
sleepless nights on the probability of Pakistan succumbing to Indian machinations which they thought
would start a domino effect with other nations in Asia, /iddle ,ast and Latin America going the way
of the Soviets! 7onversation between the 4issinger and 1i&on reveal the two talking doom and gloom
and being all alone in the world! The almost anal retentive obsession of 4issinger to appease 7hina
comes across very insecure of 4issinger! Thus, the Pakistan story for the two was a side show where
7hina opening was the real pri'e! The hatred of Indira+s India is almost pathological for the 1i&on(
4issinger team due to cold war politics and the use of some rather rosy language of them both calling
Indira the ) bitch* word on more than one occasion!
The fourth layer of the dimension was domestic US politics between the democrats and the republicans!
The democrats in 7ongress and the media openly show sympathies with India and the narrative of
human rights, dignity, liberation and freedom annoying the republicans as pro(Soviet appeasement!
8ietnam war lingers on in domestic policy further complicated by potential warfare in South Asia on
the hori'on! The 1i&on .hite 2ouse is found breaking many of US laws on Pakistan as the democrats
with the help of Indian lobbying were successful in cutting off military supplies to Pakistan! The .hite
2ouse is having to fend off the State 0epartment, telling its ambassadors and allies not to communicate
through regular channels since it would be picked up by their own spies! The biggest story in the book
is the role Pakistani military %unta dictator "eneral 9ahya played in the secret shuttle diplomacy to
bring 4issinger to visit 7hina in the middle of the night!
.ithout a doubt Pakistan committed atrocities because the feudal elitist moronic leadership of Pakistan
that runs the security, defense and foreign policy of the nation to this day, the operating paradigm is a
kingly e&ercise the way landlords deal with their vassals! 5or a being a /uslim3 Islamic state they do
not know strategy, tactics or governance! Pakistan is not an Islamic state its an Islamist state!
5or a Pakistani like myself, the epilogue comes as a sweet vindication! Indira , despite, her rosy
narrative would go about acting the same way as 9ahya did and paid the ultimate price for it too! The
new nation of $angladesh following the same ) primordial soup* : 2aksar+s words for the newly
created nation state; of an e&ample as other dictators getting brutally killed by the military along with
his family! India and $angladesh now have their border issues and animosity! .as stoking ) #oi
$angla* in the end really worth it all! The people killed on all three sides, millions displaced,
thousands of children dead due to malnutrition , the tremendous human suffering 6 did it solve
anything in the end <
The recent election of right of center $#P party candidate 1arendra /odi is still more vindication of the
fallibility and myths of absloutisms of democracy and Secularism! .hile on the other hand, Pakistan is
also devolving under a minority led Islamist driven agenda! $oth Pakistan and India are caught up in
the very contradictions of their foundational myths! The people that killed "andhi now define the
status uo, while the Islamists who cursed #innah now rule the roost in Pakistan!
The book is a must read for all Pakistanis, Indians and $angladeshis, or for that matter anyone
interested the history of the region! The book is crucial in understanding US follies across the world
and despicable vulgar realpolitik introduced by 2enry 4issinger in an American social e&periment that
initially desired not to follow the path of continental ,urope!
Quotable Quotes
In the dark annals of modern cruelty, it ranks as bloodier than $osnia and by some accounts in the
same rough league as =wanda!*
)$ut Pakistan+s slaughter of the $engalis in >?@> is starkly different! 2ere the United States was allied
with the killers!*
)1i&on and 4issinger bear responsibility for a significant complicity in the slaughter of the $engalis!*
) In fact , Indira "andhi and her top advisers were coldly calculating strategists, even if their actions
served a humane cause! India put itself in a position of breathtaking hypocrisyA demanding freedom for
the $engali people in ,ast Pakistan, while conducting its own repression of restive populations under
Indian control in 4ashmir, as well as lesser known groups like /i'os and 1agas and 6 with painful
irony( leftist $engalis within India+s own volatile state of .est $engal!*
) India , in other words, was driven not %ust by sympathy for $engalis, but also a certain amount of
fear of revolutionary $engalis!*
).hile Indira "andhi+s government professed its unwavering desire for peace, she almost immediately
turned to aggressive options! B!!!she had the Indian military covertly prepare for a full(scale regular
war against Pakistan! India secretly had its army and security forces use bases on Indian soil to support
$engali guerrillas in their fight against Pakistani state! India devoted enormous resources to covertly
sponsoring the $engali insurgency inside ,ast Pakistan, providing the guerrillas with arms, training,
camps, and safe passage back and forth across a porous border! Indian officials, from "andhi on down,
evaded or lied with verve, denying that they were maintaining the insurgency!*
) It is a patriotic delusion to imagine, as some Indian nationalists to today, that Pakistan+s airstrikes
were unprovoked!*
) .e are the ones who have been operating against our public opinion against our bureaucracy! At the
very edge of legality*
) Sunil 4hilnani, a farsighted Indian e&pert, argues powerfully, that India is the most important
e&periment in democracy since the American and 5rench revolutionsA )its outcome may well turn to be
the most significant of them all, partly because of its sheer human scale, and partly because of its
location, a substantial bridgehead of effervescent liberty on the Asian continent!*
) 1i&on and 4issinger set the stage for an ongoing decimation of Pakistan+s democratic opposition,
giving time and space to Islamici'e the country more and more!*
Ayub 4han lament, ) it is dangerous to be the friend of the United States*
) 1ehru fumed, ) Pakistan becomes practically a colony of the United States*!
)I donCt like the Indians,* 1i&on snapped at the height of the $engali crises!*
) Pakistani intelligence agencies captured /u%ib in a breathtakingly frank moment! They played their
tape to 9ahya, who was shocked to hear /u%ib declare, ) /y aim is to establish $angladesh!* 2e
would tear 9ahya+s federalist framework for upcoming constitutional negotiations ) into pieces as soon
as the elections are over! .ho would challenge me once the elections are over<*
on -uliar Ali $hutto ) So 1i&on loathed himA ) the son(of(a(bitch is a total demagogue!*
the US 7ounsel "eneral 0acca+s observation on Pakistan military, )They were being spat upon,
harassed and hassled by locals, but behaving uite well under the circumstances!*
)The Pakistani martial law administration admitted that >@D people had been killed in the first week of
/arch( figures they had to put out to debunk stories among livid $engali that hundreds of thousands
had been killed! Archer $lood found the military+s statement , ) reasonable, almost apologetic in tone,
and seemingly honest!** B!this was before the crackdown B
on P!1!2aksar !!!* 2e was %oined in this by some of the other leading pro(Soviet Indians who were
"andhi+s closest advisers 6 all of them 4ashmiri $rahmins like her, thus uickly dubbed the )4ashmiri
/afia!**
)She :Indira; sought more Soviet arms sales, helping India to build up a formidable military machine!
.hen the Soviet invaded 7'echoslovakia in >?EF, India refused to vote for a United 1ations resolution
condemning the brutal crack down on 7'ech liberals!*
19Times reporter Sydney Schanberg on Indian pre(emptive e&cursions into Pakistan , ) The Indian
army was making interventions that none of us allowed to see* B!!page DEG
) The Indian officer said yes , they were all the way to #essore* B!!page DEH
After the news of Indian incursion deep inside ,ast Pakistan made 19Times headlines !!!* a 7ongress
party speaker cried , ) India will break Pakistan to pieces!* Another declared , ) .e will make shoes
out of 9ahya+s skin!*!!!!!page DEH
4issinger on Indira after 1i&on 3Indira summit %ust before hostilities b3w India and Pakistan ) She spent
most of her time telling him I1i&onJ that $aluchistan should never have been made a part of
Pakistan!*!!!pg DH?
1i&on fuming about India not acknowledging the US being the biggest donor to refugees in India , )
"oddamn, why donCt they give us any credit for that<* B!!!to which 1i&on replied , ) $ecause these
bastards have played an absolute brutal game with us!*!!!!!pg DHD
) 1i&on, aiming for a higher tone, suggested telling "andhi that while the Americans had no treaty with
India, they were )bound by a amoral commitment* to promote peace 6 and snarled at "andhi, calling
her ) the old bitch!* B!pg DHD
) This is %ust the point when she is a bitch,* said the president! 4issinger replied, ).ell, the Indians are
bastards anyway! They are starting a war there!*!!!pg DHH
day two of the summit while the 1i&on34issinger keep Indira waiting for GH minutes !!!) 4issinger
said, ) /r! President, even though she was a bitch, we shouldnCt overlook the fact that we got what we
wanted , which was we kept her from going out of here saying the United States kicked her in the
teeth!*!!!pg DHH
Kn the possibility of alienating the Indian people as per 19Times articles B!!* 4issinger cut him ofL )
.ell but we havenCt got them anyway, /r! President!* 1i&on agreedA ) .e+ve got their enmity anyway!
That+s what she+s shown in this goddamned thing, hasn+t she<* 4issinger asked, ) when have these
bastards ever supported us!* ) 1ever* said 1i&on! ) Tell me one friend we+ve got in India, do you
know any<* ) ,&actly,* said 4issinger!* B!pg D@>