Class 26: Great Game by

Big Powers in Bangladesh

Liberation War
North South University
HIS 103: Emergence of Bangladesh
November 19, Summer 2024
 Introduction
• Bangladesh, the then East Pakistan, was a unique geopolitical reality with
its own coherent reasons for a successful separation from Pakistan.it was
destined to be an independent nation-state soon after the separation of
Indian sub-continent in 1947. in addition, Bangladesh was struggling for
independence at a time when global politics was experiencing strategic
shifts. The part the big powers played in the sanguinary birth of Bangladesh
was defined by those strategic shifts that occurred in the mid-1960s and
early 1970s.
• Each of the major powers played its role in accordance with the very notion
of political realism. Their involvement can be explained in terms of their
regional, global and above all national interests. Ideological differences and
global power parity also led the major powers involve in the Liberation War
of Bangladesh.
 The term ‘Great Game’
• The term ‘Great Game’ became simulated between the US &
USSR during the Bangladesh liberation war in 1971.
• Two power blocks formed in the conflict were: (i) IndoSoviet-
Bangladesh axis & (ii) Sino-US-Pakistan axis.
• In Bangladesh, the independence struggle is perceived as the
National Liberation War of the Bengalis.
• In India, it is portrayed as the ‘fallout of the Indo-Pak War in 1971’.
• To the Pakistanis, it was a an Indian ‘conspiracy’ & the ‘betrayal’
of the Bengalis for the disintegration of East Pakistan
 Big Powers

• India
• Soviet Russia
• United States of America
• China
 India
• India’s initial contribution in providing shelter and food to the
millions of refugees, who crossed borders to India and
Subsequent military help with arms, ammunitions and soldiers,
was significant and impressive without the all round help form
India, the war would have been a prolonged one.
• For the refugees and distressed people of Bangladesh some
international assistance was found but India had to bear nearly
90 percent of the burden.
• Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India, herself undertook a tour of several
Western countries and personally briefed the leaders of the UK, USA, France and
Germany – as result she got come understanding in London, Paris, but very little
from Washington. Due to that she was very disappointed.
• On 31 March 1971, the Indian Prime Minister moved a resolution in both Houses of
the Indian Parliament expressing “profound sympathy for and solidarity with the
people of East Pakistan in their war for a democratic way of life.”
• India invaded Pakistan in co-operation with the Bengali freedom fighters on
November 1971. on 3 December, Pakistan declared war against India.
• General public of India did not hide their feelings for the Bengalis. Their sympathy
soon turned into support. Many Indians welcomed the Bengali fighting as evidence
of the breakup of Pakistan.
• Leftist members of the Indian Parliament interrupted legislative
proceedings in New Delhi to demand that full moral support be extended to
the East Pakistanis. On March 27 Prime Minister Indira Gandhi described the
killing in East Pakistan ‘as not merely the suppression of a movement but a
meeting of unarmed people with tanks’.
• Millions of Bangalis went across the border and India offered them asylum.
This cannot be considered as a violation of international responsibility by
India. International law confers upon every person a right to seek asylum. It
is one of the fundamental human rights granted by the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights.
• The people of East Pakistan in terror, through fear of their lives, and injury
to properties, lawfully sought sanctuary in India. To returned them back to
East Pakistan would have been to force them into hands from which they
escaped due to the fear of humiliation and death.
• More over, India was specially obliged not to expel or return refugees to EP
where their ‘life or freedom would be threatened on account of ….race,
religion, nationality or political opinion’.
• In this connection however, the role of India’s radio broadcasts needs to be
mentioned. Ever since the inception of the crisis, the India took the side of
the Bangladesh liberation movement. For the mass media of an
independent state may take whichever side in the crisis it may wish.
• By announcing the number of refugees everyday, India’s radio covertly
informed the people of EP that India was prepared to grant them asylum.
India’s grant of asylum was only safeguard for the victims of the East
Pakistan army massacre which the international community was unable to
prevent.
• India’s armed assistance strengthened the forces of the people of EP in
resisting Pakistan’s resort to force.
• Afterthe massacre of March 25 in Dhaka, violence
spread throughout East Pakistan. A flood of refugees
went across the borders and took shelter in India.
• In this regard India adopted some policy whose impact
on the events in East Pakistan was decisive.
• In the first phase –
• In the second phase –
• In the final phase -
• The indian army physically invaded Pakistan in support of the
Bangladesh freedom war. The grounds of justification for this
action which India had put forward were as follow;
First, India constructed Pakistan’s air attack of 3 December 1971
on the Indian airfields and border village as an act of aggression
which allowed Indian to act in self-defence.
Second, India charged Pakistan with acts of commiting genocide
against the Bengalis whom it forcibly denied their equal rights and
self-determination. This in effect justified India’s action under the
doctrine of humanitarian intervention.
Finally, following the diplomatic recognition of Bangladesh by
India, the latter had legitimately entered into the territory of the
former on the invitation of its government.
 United States of America

• Governed by own national interest, US played a very complex and negative

role in the Liberation War of Bangladesh. Washington had developed an
interest bias against Bangalis struggle for self determination from the very
beginning. After the sweeping victory of Awami League in the general
elections of December 1970, the emergence of an independent Bangladesh
became apparent.
• The US government started calculating all dimensions from their own
perspective. In many documents they foresighted the birth of Bangladesh
although the American concern for a united Pakistan remained constant
through all the ups and downs in the US-Pak relations during that time.
• The US role in Bangladesh liberation war is evidenced in the writings of a
former American consul to East Pakistan, Archer K Blood (2002), in his
memoir The Cruel Birth of Bangladesh: Memoirs of an American Diplomat.
• Blood condemns Washington's silence & support for West Pakistan during
the liberation struggle of the Bengalis.
• Referring to the telegrams Archer Blood sent out from Dhaka to Washington
criticizing Nixon and Kissinger's policies, journalist Gary J Bass (2013) wrote
The Blood Telegram: Nixon, Kissinger, and a Forgotten Genocide.
• The book cautiously unearths & examines how Nixon & Kissinger chose to
overlook West Pakistani atrocities against the people of East Pakistan to
establish a ‘commercial entry’ into China.
• The US developed support to Pakistan both diplomatically & materially
throughout the early 1960s.
• The US tilt in favor of Pakistan was related to its concerns with the growing
Soviet influence in the region.
• India’s strategic friendship with the Soviet Union during the Bangladesh
crisis, became a turning point for the US for its pro-Pakistani tilt in 1971.
• Since the beginning of the Liberation War of Bangladesh, US showed the
uncompromising attitude that it was an internal affair of Pakistan, which did
not require foreign intervention. On March 15, 1971 an USA ship with
$35,000 arms aid was present in Chittagong.
• President Nixon did not want to offend his valuable ally Yahya for his
ruthless military action against his own citizens. In this background, the US
leader failed to speak out publicly against the genocide in East Pakistan.
• USA maintained continuing ties with Pakistan government. It was on 16 March
the US department of State Spokesman stated that the US was watching the
development in East Pakistan with much anxiety.
• When the American press published the news of genocide, killing of the civilian
and reached the news to the wider public the Senators of the US Congress
began to take note of the Government’s calculated silence and called on the
Administration to stop military aid in Pakistan. The Senate passed resolutions to
cut all arms aid and sales to the military regime and claimed that no American
arms had been sold to Pakistan since the outbreak of fighting in Bangladesh.
• The US State Department and Pentagon strongly warned against letting ships
and sail with US arms. Most significant protest from the American people was to
refused to load a freighter carrying an arms shipment to Pakistan.
• Defying the US public opinion, Nixon sent the Seventh Fleet to the Bay of
Bengal on 11th December 1971 to ease the Indian military attack in the western
front by showing its nuclear might to India.
• US Democratic senator Edward Moore ‘Ted’ Kennedy, visiting refugee camps,
found the situation extremely grave. He said that Pakistan was committing
genocide. But still, the US under Nixon’s administration decided to remain in favor
of Pakistan. US did this for reasons,
Firstly, Pakistan belonged to American-led military Pact, CENTO and SEATO;
Secondly, US believed any victory of India and its allies would be considered as the
expansion of USSR’s influence in this region, even though both Bangladesh and India
were non-aligned countries.
• In addition, US needed China beside them and it was Pakistan that was helping to
become close to China. China had become a nuclear power and fought war with
India in 1962. China maintained a close tie with Pakistan as a counterpoise against
India; a potential opponent in its ambition to become a regional power. This very
calculation led US support Pak-China alliance. Nixon administration thus offered
unequivocal assistance to Pakistan till end.
 USSR
• USSR was not only the first great power to recognize Bangladesh
as an independent country but also was the first great power to
criticize publicly the Pakistani crackdown began on 25 March
1971. The reaction of the Soviet Government was immediate.
Soon after a week of Pakistani crackdown President Podgorny,
in a letter to President Yahya, urged to halt the bloodshed and
repression, noting that the Awami League had an overwhelming
majority of seats in the election of December 1970.
• In this letter to Pakistani President on 2 April 1971, the Soviet
Union President warned him to stop the continuation of
repressive measures and bloodshed in East Pakistan.
• Podgorny also showed his concern and sympathy for the Awami
Leaders who got victory in the general elections. He was also
very much concerned about Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur
Rahman’s arrest and prosecution and appealed Pakistani
President to recognize the humanitarian principles recorded in
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
• In response of Soviet President’s letter, the Pakistani President
assured him that, to transfer power to the elected
representatives of East Pakistan he would start talk with them
when the opportunity arises.
• In the beginning Soviet Union wanted a political solution of the
conflict. They were deeply concerned with the status quo and
political situation of the region of South Asia. When the Indian
Minister for External Affairs, Swaran Sing, visited Moscow in June
1971, the Soviet Prime Minister Alexi Kosygin emphasized the
need to resort a peaceful method to achieve a political
settlement of the Pakistan crisis. In a joint statement they called
for an immediate measure to ensure the stoppage of refugee
influx from East Pakistan.
• They also agreed to adopt measures to restore peace in the
region and to create conditions of security for the return of the
East Pakistani refugees to their homes.
• However, as tension grew, and war intensified USSR took Bangladesh side.
With time passed, USSR support became more solid and undaunted. In
response to the presence of US 7th fleet in the Bay of Bengal, led by the
aircraft carrier USS Enterprise on 13 December, USSR dispatched a nuclear-
armed flotilla, Pacific Fleet, from Vladivostok. To counter the American
deception Russians took a brilliant strategy of bluff. The Chief Commander
ordered to lift the subs when the Americans appear.
• It was done to demonstrate that they had nuclear submarines in the Indian
Ocean. Ultimately this bluff paid off; Russians encircled the US, not allowing
the fleet to close in on Chittagong or Dhaka, securing the independence of
Bangladesh. Soviet Union’s positive role thus contributed immensely to the
historic triumph of Bangladesh.
• However, when Bangladesh got independence, Russia announced that
they would meet with Mujib before they met Bhutto but after
Pakistan’s recognition of the new state. The birth of Bangladesh with
India’s support and sympathetic Soviet supervision did indeed mark
the emergence of the Soviet Union as “the military arsenal and
political defender of India with access for (Moscow’s) rising naval
operations on China’s southern flank”.
• On 25 January 1972 the Soviets recognized the new nation and
simultaneously sent a plane load of relief supplies. Soon after the
arrival of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman the Soviet Consul
General, VF Popov quickly signed a barter agreement with the new
government.
 CHINA
• As a close ally of Pakistan, China chose to provide moral & material
support to the Yahiya regime in its brutal suppressive policies during the
Bangladesh liberation war.
• China continued to supply its military and economic aid to Pakistan after
the army crackdown of 25 March, 1971.
• Allowed the unloading of arms shipment in the port of Chittagong in
April.
• Chinese friendship with Pakistan was strengthened in 1963.
• Amid the war, President Nixon’s National Security Advisor Henry
Kissinger secretly visited Beijing, in July 1971, in the sideline of his trip to
Pakistan.
• During this visit, Kissinger tried to convince China to get military involved in
the conflict in favor of Pakistan.
• The newly declassified documents of the State Department suggest that
the US was planning to attack India from the north & south with the help of
China & thus obstructing India’s war plan on East Pakistan.
• As China was suspicious about the real intent of the US, it was unwilling to
‘dirty its hands’ through direct intervention in Bangladesh.
• China extended its support for Pakistan, defying the question of Bangladesh
liberation.
• Members of the Pakistani embassy in Peking enjoyed greater prestige with
the Chinese than most representatives of their counties.
• At the insistence of President Bhutto, the Chinese in 1972 blocked the entry
of Bangladesh into the United Nations.
 Concluding Remarks
• The discussion made above indicate that the Super Power hostility between
the US & USSR during the Cold War era had significant influence in the
Bangladesh liberation war.
• It is also true that as a legacy of the British Divide & Rule policy, Indo-Pak
hostility emerged as the inborn enmity that India could successfully
manipulate against Pakistan.
• The discussion also suggests that India’s claim about the creation of
Bangladesh as the fall out of Indo-Pak war is an exaggeration of facts &
realities at that time.
• Finally, we can conclude that without the presence of a Bengali nationalist
movement in former East Pakistan, no other country or power had the
capacity to intervene into the internal affairs of Pakistan in the given geo-
political realities in South Asia.
THANK YOU