NEWSWEEK, NOVEMBER 15, 1971
THK SUB-CONTINENT: A LOSING BATTLE
State occasions are usually made up of platitudes and pleasantries. And when President Nixon greeted India’s Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, on the south lawn of the White House last week, he tried to follow the formula, even to the point of expounding on Washington’s balmy weather. But Mrs. Gandhi was having none of it. Alluding to Pakistan’s repression of its Bengali minority-and the resultant flood of 6 million refugees into India – she told Mr. Nixon that her country was facing “a manmade tragedy of vast proportions.” And with India and Pakistan poised on the edge of war, she added. “I have come here looking for a deeper understanding of the situation in our part of the world.” But Mrs. Gandhi’s search apparently proved fruitless. For the President and the Prime Minster failed to agree on a way to end the crisis between India and Pakistan-or even how to repair the strained relations between ‘Washington and New Delhi.
From the beginning, Mrs. Gandhi hoped to persuade Mr. Nixon to put pressure on Pakistan to slop its campaign to crush the Bengali independence movement. As she has done in the past, she argued that only America-which still sends arms to Pakistan and never openly censured Pakistan for its policy toward the Bengalis-has enough influence on the Islamabad government to bring an end to the crisis. But the American response to Mrs. Gandhi, as White House spokesman Ronald Zieglber described it. “didn’t break much new ground.” And the present U.S. policy of urging India to pull back its troops from the Pakistani borders and lo accept international mediation in the dispute cut little ice with Mrs. Gandhi. “Our people cannot understand.” she said in a blunt toast at a White House dinner, “how it is that we who are the victims should be equated with those whose action caused the tragedy.
It was. in all, a bitter week for the Indian leader. For even as her mission to America ran aground on the rocks of indifference, the death toll in her homeland rose tragically in the aftermath of a massive cyclone and tidal wave. More than 10.000 people died when the winds and water mauled the low-lying coastline of the Bay of Bengal in the state of Orissa. And officials feared that the destruction of rice crops and the poisoning of river water by dead bodies would drive the toll even higher.
Ail Unwinnable War
The tragedy along the Bay of Bengal could hardly have come at a worse time for India. For its fragile economy is now near collapse as a result of the burden of caring for the Pakistani refugees. And it faces the threat of a two-front war with an increasingly- restless Pakistani Army. Although the majority of India’s troops are massed in the west, the outbreak of conflict is more likely to begin to the east. To assess the military situation in that sector, News week’s Senior Editor Amaud de Borchgrave flew last week to East Pakistan and cabled the following report: “Go anywhere you wanu see for yourself” Pakistan’s President Mohammed Yahya Khan told me. And there was no better place to see how close India and Pakistan might be to war than the border area near Camilla in East Pakistan. I boarded a two-car military supply train headed for Pakistani headquarters. And although there was the danger of Indian artillery fire, an army Colonel said reassuring, “They’re lousy shots.” Huddled behind a protective brick wall inside what once was the second-class compartment, I nervously made the trip. We were rattling along, running parallel to the border when the train was flagged down; recoilless rifles were peppering the tracks in front us. There was nothing to do but walk to the nearest command post. A tall Punjabi sergeant fingered his red beard and said, “It’s just a mile up the track,”
That one mile turned out to be seven. Mortar shells constantly splashed into the muddy paddy fields alongside the tracks and rifle bullets slammed into the steep railroad embankment. But the paddy water absorbed the mortar fragments, the Indian riflemen were indeed “lousy shots,” and three hours later 1 safely reached the headquarters of Delta Company of the 30th Punjabi Battalion. Bullets kept thudding into the trunks of palm and date trees and ripping through the foliage of the banana groves. The company commander’s batman had just been killed while he was saying evening prayers. And the 150 men assigned to defend 9 miles of frontier had been suffering through war’s repetitious frustration: continual artillery barrages from the Indians, continual harassment from the Mukti Bahini guerrillas (the Bengali rebels fighting for an autonomous East Pakistan).
However, dangerous or nerve-racking India’s artillery barrages may be to the frontline soldiers, the attacks did not seem to border the Pakistani commanders. “We can take it,” Brig. M.H. Alif remarked casually. “We are not afraid. Let the Indians waste a lot of ammo; attrition will hurl them more than it will hurt us.” The tall 43 year old Punjabi officer, a field-hockey star on four Pakistani Olympic teams, was fresh off the tennis court and his attention was focused not so much on the border troubles as on sport. Pakistan’s hockey team had just won the world championship (India finished third) and Atif found significance in the event. “Your victory over India,” he cabled the hockey team, morale-raising and considered a good omen out here. Proud of you.” And he told me. “India has five times as many hockey players as Pakistan and we still beat them.” His point was inescapable: Pakistan even though outnumbered militarily 5 to 1. would defeat India in a war as it did in a hockey tournament.
Such thinking lays bare the fact that the Pakistani Army has only the dimmest notion of guerrilla warfare. For while the soldiers were clustered on the border, the Mukti Bahini seemed to have the run of East Pakistan. The government has attempted to combat the insurgents with “razakars,” local teen-age hoodlums raised to the status of a paramilitary force. But the razakars harm the government cause more than they help it. “They think they are God because they have guns,” one villager told me. They tell the people they have blanket power from the army “to make life hell” for the rebels, but they are as apt to terrorise a man who refuses to give them food or a girl who resists their lewd advances. Several times my car was stopped by two or three razakars at makeshift bridges-once with the barrel of a gun poking through the window. I was asked to pay a “toll.” Such actics when apport when I asked angladesh, alm
tactics when applied against the populace, have turned most Bengalis into Mukti Bahini supporters: when I asked people whether they wanted to remain part of Pakistan or create a new state of Bangladesh, almost all answered, “Bangladesh.”
Even some unlikely people expressed hope for an autonomous Bangladesh. At a ferry crossing on the outskirts of the capital city of Dacca, 1 asked a young man who worked for the government what he thought would be best for the people. “I am not allowed to say,” he replied at first. But reassured that he would not be named, lie mumbled in a low voice, “Bangladesh should be independent, of course. All of us feel that way.” And seemingly thousands do. For while green and white Pakistani flags flutter over even the most wretched huts, and peasants everywhere make a point of wearing sarongs and shirts in the national colors, several people whispered to me that they did so only to deceive the razakars into thinking they favored the government.
Like the Americans in South Vietnam, the Pakistani command seems dangerously unaware of the real sentiments and loyalties of the population. The official insistence that all was going well was reflected in the remarks of Gen. A. A. K. Niazi, the eastern sector commander. The rebels were no serious problem-“we have the razakars to take care of them” the shelling from India’s troops massed just across the border was not a great threat -“My men are not worried; as long as they are in their bunkers, they can relax, even play cards.” And as for the report that Mukti Bahini leaders were calling on Bengalis to take their fight, into the streets of Dacca, Niazi insisted that he would relish such a move. “I wish they would do it.” he told me, “My tanks are only a few miles from the city.” Then, referring to the repression of the Bengalis revolt last March, he added, “They saw then what we can do and we will do it again if need be.”
What the genera) does not seem to appreciate is the steady deterioration of internal security and the degree of organisation of the Mukti Bahini. By last week, the government had lost control of 25 per cent of the police stations in East Pakistan. A number of distinct commissioners are tacitly co-operating with the guerrillas and much of the area north of Dacca itself is controlled outright by the Mukti Bahini. 1 personally was contacted by a Mukti Bahini representative within 30 minutes of checking into my hotel in Dacca-despite tight Police security. The rebels have established a disciplined network carefully organized into teams-some assigned to collect taxes and organise bank robberies others designated as saboteurs, still others coldly earmarked to be assassins.
The harsh truth about Bengali resistance are being concealed not only from the area’s civil governor, A. M. Malik, but from President Yahya himself. They are both convinced that the Pakistani Army is effectively and honorably fighting the guerrillas. Yet highly knowledgeable foreign observer accuses the soldiers of atrocities. Ostensibly in pursuit of a rebels, army troops recently surrounded the village of Demora (where the Mukti Bahini had never been), raped all the women between 12 and 35 and shot all the men older than 12. Only days later, Pakistani gunboats swept up the river at Chalna, sinking fishing boats and shooting the fishermen as they swam for safety. All this accomplishes to make resistance in East Pakistan more extreme, more dedicated than ever. The majority of the people are already anxious to break away from Pakistan, while army commanders despite their public bravado-are beginning to realize that they are trapped in an unwinnable guerrilla War.
A Talk With Indira’s Prime Minister Gandhi Two week ago, Newsweek’s Arnaud de Borchgrave interviewed Pakistan’s President Mohammed Yahya Khan. Last week, with Pakistan and India still teetering on the verge of war. Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi gave an exclusive interview to Newsweek’s Foreign Editor Edward Klein. Below, excerpt:
On War With Pakistan
For a long time, even though there were very provocative and threatening actions and speeches by the President of Pakistan, India did not do anything. Now, when we feel that we are being threatened, we simply can’t leave our border undefended. I don’t know any country in the world that would say, “We leave our border undefended”…. What should we do when this is happening on our border? Do we just sit quietly and say. “Do whatever you like even if its consequences to us arc so great”? ….This I would say: by and large the Indian people don’t want war. We do have vocal elements who have been wanting war. But we don’t have among the people an anti-Pakistan movement as Pakistan has a hate-India movement I sincerely hope that there will not be a war and 1 am doing everything possible to keep it from happening…. The threat of war is considerably less since we moved our troops to the border of West Pakistan. But. of course, as the situation heals up in the east, that is where the threat is. We feel every day the danger to eastern India is increasing.
On Supporting The Bengalis
Only when, the refugees started coming can you say that India had a hand in the Pakistan crisis. Only after all the Pakistan Army terror can you say, “Well may be some of the guerrillas do come over from India”…. Some of the training may be taking place on our side, but certainly not all of it. Even now the guerrillas are not dependent on India. As you know, the majority of the guerrillas are the paramilitary forces of East Bengal. … And they’re the ones who are training new people. … What the Bengalis consider to be the spirit of their people has been very deeply wounded. And while that spirit is there, the Pakistani Army will have to kill all the 75 million people in East Bengal before they can have control over them. . . . India can only prevent such a massacre in small indirect ways. And I have absolutely no hesitation in saying that if I were placed in a situation like the Bengalis, I certainly would fight. After all. we did fight the British and we have encouraged independence struggles all over the world.
On The Bengali Refugees
Taking care of the refugees means cutting a lot of our programs, it means a certain austerity in living, cutting government spending and reorienting various schemes and programs. It is indeed a very, very heavy burden. I don’t think it will cripple our economy, we won’t go under with it but the major danger is not this burden, which is heavy enough. It is the social and political tensions which are growing out of this problem. And we feel that there is even a very real threat to our security.
On The Breakup of Pakistan
I don’t think any country in its right mind would want its neighbor to disintegrate. We have enough problems of our own without having a weak neighbor, it’s not a healthy situation.. (But) it is our assessment that East Bengal cannot remain untied with Pakistan ever again in the same way it has been.
On Soviet Aid To India
I’ve never asked for help at any age. Not even as a small child did I ask any person, “will you do this for me or will you give me this.” I have not asked the Soviet Union for help. I have explained to them as I have to other countries what the situation is. Now, it is up to the Soviet Union-and other countries to decide; is the stability of India important to our region or not?.. We certainly welcome help from whatever quarter it will come. We welcome sympathy. But I have always stood on my own two feet and I want India always to stand on its feet. We don’t want to be depended on any country in the world
On Yahya Khan
He is one man who could not get elected in his own country if there were a failelection. I would say he would not even get elected in his province if there were a fair election…Asked to reply to a statement by President Yahya in last week’s Newsweek interview, Mrs. Gandhi noted that Yahya had referred to her as “that woman.” That woman! I’m not concerned with the remark but it shows the mentality of the person. I mean, how well has he judged his own capacity to deal with East Pakistan? If he can’t judge a very small section of what was his own country, what weight has his judgment on India? What does he know about it? It’s a world which is quite outside his ken.