PropertyValue
rdf:type
rdfs:label
  • Indo-Pakistani War of 1971-Inside Secret
rdfs:comment
  • A set of freshly declassified top secret papers on the 1971 war show that US hostility towards India during the war with Pakistan was far more intense than known until now. The documents reveal that Indira Gandhi went ahead with her plan to liberate Bangladesh despite inputs that the Nixon Administration had kept three battalions of Marines on standby to deter India, and that the American aircraft carrier USS Enterprise had orders to target Indian Army facilities. The documents show how Americans held back communication regarding Pakistan's desire to surrender in Dhaka by almost a day.
Strength
  • 365000
  • 500000
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Casus
  • Bangladesh Crisis.
  • PAF airstrikes against IAF bases in north-west India.
Partof
  • Indo-Pakistani Wars and Bangladesh Liberation War
Date
  • --12-16
Commander
  • 20
Help
  • off
Page
  • Indo-Pakistani War of 1971-Inside Secret
Territory
  • Secession of East Pakistan as the independent state of Bangladesh.
Caption
  • --12-16
substed
  • yes
Day
  • 23
Month
  • July
Casualties
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 7
  • 3843
  • 4350
  • 9000
  • 9851
  • 97368
  • ' Indian Claims''' * 94 PAF Aircraft
Result
  • Decisive Indian victory.
  • Eastern front:
  • Pakistani forces surrender.
  • India declares unilateral ceasefire after Pakistani surrender in the east.
  • Western front:
combatant
  • East Pakistan
  • Mukti Bahini
  • Unofficially supported by:
Place
Conflict
  • Indo-Pakistani War of 1971
Timestamp
  • 20120723055912
Year
  • 2012
abstract
  • A set of freshly declassified top secret papers on the 1971 war show that US hostility towards India during the war with Pakistan was far more intense than known until now. The documents reveal that Indira Gandhi went ahead with her plan to liberate Bangladesh despite inputs that the Nixon Administration had kept three battalions of Marines on standby to deter India, and that the American aircraft carrier USS Enterprise had orders to target Indian Army facilities. The bold leadership that the former PM showed during the 1971 war is well known. But the declassified documents further burnish the portrait of her courageous defiance. The documents show how Americans held back communication regarding Pakistan's desire to surrender in Dhaka by almost a day. That the American establishment had mobilized their 7th Fleet to the Bay of Bengal, ostensibly to evacuate US nationals, is public knowledge. But the declassified papers show Washington had planned to use the 7th Fleet to attack the Indian Army. They also show that Nixon administration kept arming Pakistan despite having imposed an embargo on providing both Islamabad and New Delhi military hardware and support. They suggest that India, exasperated by continuing flow of American arms and ammunition, had considered intercepting three Pakistani vessels carrying war stores months before the war. The plan was dropped against the backdrop of the Indian foreign ministry's assessment that the interception could trigger hostilities. The pro-Pak bias of the then US President Richard Nixon and his Secretary of State Henry Kissinger is vividly brought out by their decision to keep three battalions of Marines on standby: a decision which has so far not found mention in any record of the 1971 war. A six-page note prepared by India's foreign ministry holds Nixon responsible for the pro-Pakistan tilt.