THE NEW YORK TIMES, FRIDA Y, AUGUST 13,1971
SOVIET MOVE TO AVERT WAR IS SEEN IN PACT WITH INDIA
By Tad Szule
Special to The New York Times
Washington. August 12-Authoritative United States officials said today they understood that the Soviet Union succeeded in dissuading India from formally recognizing East Pakistan as an independent nation three days ago by quickly signing a friendship treaty with India.
They said the 20-year treaty of peace, friendship and cooperation signed in New Delhi on Monday by Foreign Minister Andrei A. Gromyko appeared to be the price for an indefinite delay in India’s plans to recognize East Pakistan, or Bangladesh. Mr. Gromyko rushed to the Indian capital during the weekend on two days’ notice to sign the treaty.
According to intelligence reports submitted to President Nixon on Monday, the Soviet Union had warned the Indian Government that recognition of Bangladesh could precipitate a war between India and Pakistan.
Suppression Began March 25
Bangladesh is the name given to East Pakistan by its separatist Bengalis who have India’s open support. Pakistan has sought to suppress the separatist movement since March 25 through military action, which, according to estimates accepted by the United States Government, has resulted in close to 200,000 deaths and more than seven million refugees,
The controversy over East Pakistan has created deep tensions between Pakistan and India, partly because the millions of refugees are a vast burden on India, and threats of a war have been exchanged between the two countries.
The reports received in Washington said that India had advised the Soviet Union early last week that she planned to recognize Bangladesh on August 9. There are Bangladesh leadership groups in East Pakistan and in India. Rebel guerrillas are known to be supported from the Indian side.
According to these reports, the message on the planned recognition was delivered in Moscow by Durga Prasad Dhar, former Indian ambassador to the Soviet Union, apparently acting as special envoy for Prime Minster Indira ghandhi. Mr. Dhar Hew to Moscow on August 2.
American intelligence and diplomatic reports said that Mr. Gromyko had told Mr. Dhar that India should act with caution, warning that recognition of Bangladesh could provoke a war.
The next step, American sources reported, was for Mr. Gromyko to propose that he visit New Delhi as soon as possible for talks with Mrs. Gandhi and Foreign Minister Swaran Singh. The visit was officially announced last Friday and Mr. Gromyko arrived Sunday.
Mr. Gromyko was reported to have told Indian representative in Moscow that he would use “whatever pressure is necessary” to dissuade Mrs. Gandhi from recognizing Bangladesh now.
American sources said they understood Moscow was prepared to provide India with additional economic and military aid as a demonstration of support in her dispute with Pakistan.
At the same time, however, the Soviet Union was determined to discourage any drastic steps by India that might cause an India-Pakistan war.
Officials here recalled that President Agha Mohammad Yahya khan recently warned that war with India was “very near”. He had said that if India helped the East Pakistani separatists to seize the state, it would be regarded as an Indian attack on Pakistan and the cause for a war.
In recent weeks, working independently, the United States, Britain, the Soviet Union and China have engaged in diplomatic efforts to cool the tempers in India and Pakistan and avert an outbreak of hostilities. Washington has publicly counseled restraint to both Governments.
China, which has close ties with Pakistan, was reported by diplomats last week to have been quietly advising President Yahya to proceed with caution.
American officials surmised that Mr. Gromyko was successful in Persuading India when he agreed to sign the friendship treaty immediately. The pact, it was understood had been under negotiation for a number of months but Moscow had not been prepared to sign so quickly.
Authoritative sources said, however, that India was eager to sign at once in the light of her mounting dispute with Pakistan. The two countries fought a brief war in 1965, and the. Indians were believed to regard the Soviet pact as a guarantee of her present security. Soviet mediation helped to end the 1965 conflict.
It was not known here whether the Soviet Union had also agreed to provide India with new economic and military aid.
State Department officials said that India had not notified the United States in advance of a plan to recognize Bangladesh and that they were not aware of any Soviet effort to pass this information on to Washington.
Robert G. McCloskey, the department’s spokesman, said today that the Soviet Union and the United States were not in touch over the Indian Pakistani dispute. He was asked the question at the regular daily news briefing without reference to the intelligence reports on the Soviet role in the controversy.
The Indian Government went out of its way yesterday to assure Secretary of State William P. Rogers that it’s new treaty or its allies. The assurances were conveyed by Ambassador Lakshmi Kant J ha and were r ported accepted by Mr. Rogers.
American officials cautioned, however that the Indian-Pakistani tensions were not likely to diminish in the foreseeable future even if New Delhi continued to withhold recognition from Bangladesh.
Intelligence specialists noted that Mrs. Gandhi was under pressure at home to recognize the rebel and to give the guerrillas even greater assistance in their efforts to end West Pakistani control of East Pakistan.
This pressure, they said is likely to increase with guerrilla activities and the problems posed by the refugees.
The United States agrees with India that the. East Pakistani crisis can be solved only through a political accommodation under which President Yahya would grant the region autonomy. But it is recognized here that such an accommodation under which President possible in view of the mounting guerrilla war.
Betrayal of Rebels Charged
New Delhi, August 12 (Reuters). An Indian political leader today accused his country and Soviet Union of stabbing Bangladesh.
Atal Behari Vajpayee, leader of the right-wing Jan Sangh party charged at a rally that there was no mention of Bangladesh in a Soviet-India issue yesterday.
“On the contrary, it discusses the interests of the entire people of ‘Pakistan. Mr. Vajpayee declared. “This is a stab in the back of Bangladesh and amounts to support for the indivisibility of Pakistan.”