9/02/2017: Lecture 14 – Bangladesh Continued

[Battle of Longewal + Bangladesh Famine]

The Military Movement

The use of US politics had been highlighted in the previous session. General Sam from India
created deliberate leeks saying that Indian troops are amassing in West Bengal and Tripura.
The intention behind creating these leaks is to make the opposition feel that there is
somebody behind these leaks and that the Indian army has traitors and the Indian structure
is disabled. Sam Maneckshaw wants Pakistan to break and attack India first and this move to
be declared as an act of war, so that then India can retaliate. The risk is that Pakistan could
attack in Kashmir, and then because Kashmir is just a disputed area, this wouldn’t be an act
of war – but just ‘’conflict’’.

The Gamble Of Longewal

The gamble is that if Bangladesh is really important for Pakistan, on hearing rumours [true
rumours] of Indian forces gathering close to it, they would attack an area India is the
weakest according to them. This is why, in these leaks, it is mentioned which troops are
being moved from where to Bengal. These regiments are along the Radcliffe line from
Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujarat. This is actually happening, these areas are being weakened,
it is a gamble. Sam hopes that Pakistan attacks Rajasthan, and the Indian Airforce can stop
these advances via Jaisalmer. Most planes from Jaisalmer however did not have night vision.
It was a BIG gamble.

The Battle of Longewal

Pakistan takes the bait and takes attacks Rajasthan. They attack a small border post called
Longewal. They could have wanted to attack here, and then threaten India to withdraw
from Bangladesh if they had to withdraw from Rajasthan. The battle takes place on 4/5
December 1971, and Kuldeep Singh Chandpuri does not let the Pakistani forces go beyond
Longewal. Had they reached Jaisalmer, the war could have taken a different turn altogether.

VIDEO

Chandpuri’s troops were completely outnumbered. They used very smart tactics to deal
with the battle. They used anti-tank mines. Chandpuri did not let the Sappers work. They
were kept under fire. They used jeeps and drove them around in circles on high speed over
sand dunes. The kind of dust that drew up was insane. Even the Pakistani tanks started
going around in circles. The Jaisalmer planes started at night, began flying on instinct and at
4:30 a.m. on a clear day the air force getting involved was deathly for Pakistan. The warfare
was tactical.

[Details of Battle from Video in the photo posted below.]

The battle has been immortalized through the ages. Courage would have been futile, had it
not been used smartly. A quote which Sikhism believes in ‘’Chidiya Naal Je Baaj Ladawa, Tan
Guru Gobind Singh Naam Dharawa’’ - the Sikh battalion at Longewal replicated this quote
very well. The war was played very smartly. The battle which began on 3/12 lasted just till
16/12. After the ground offensive, Pakistan withdraws, and sends in the only submarine
from Karachi. This is the PNS Ghazi. Pakistan decides to send it all the way around to reach
Bay of Bengal. This would at least take 10 days. It is sunk at Vishakhapatnam using depth
charges. The navy is now effectively out of question.

US and Russian involvement in the 1971 war

The US by now is getting paranoid, because the Bagdad pact isn’t responding. Nobody is
willing to help. Brezhnev from Russia was also calling some of these countries and telling
them to not get involved. No country is willing to send their forces. The US also asked Great
Britain to deploy their aircraft carriers from the South Pacific into the Bay Of Bengal to act as
a deterrent. Britain too refused due to Russian prominence.

Since nobody is responding, a US enterprise is sent into the Bay Of Bengal. There are red
nosed Russian submarines which it crosses, and a red nose signifies a nuclear charged
submarine. This is just a passive onlooker and stays in Bangladesh from 11 – 16 December.
16th Is when Pakistan signs the unconditional surrender. This was the best period of India-
Russian relations, but a controversy still remains as to whether Russia got involved for India,
or it came because America entered the domain.
India had captured 90,000 Pakistani soldiers of Operation searchlight. As part of the peace
agreement, in order to sound heroic India handed these people back to West Pakistan. This
is India’s moment of glory – handing back Prisoners of war without trial. These are the same
people who terrorised Bangladesh. After the whole peace agreement, the US is furious due
to its inability to not let Bangladesh get its freedom. It decided to create a famine like
condition for Bangladesh 2 years after liberation in 1974.

The Bangladesh Famine

John Pilger made a documentary on Bangladesh’s famine. In 1974 – Pilger says US is being
apathetic and is not doing anything to help. Today we know that US was doing a lot, but to
keep the famine going for as long as possible. The famine was so bad, that parents would
carry their own dead children to beg for food. Even the cities were a mess, the situation of
the interiors of the country cannot even be imagined. US’s stance [Henry Kissinger] at this
point of time Is – ‘’To give food aid to a country just because they are starving is a pretty
weak reason.’’

In 1964 – the UN had launched a conference called the world food programme. Nobody
should have to fight for the next piece of bread, no child should go to bed hungry. The irony
is that the head of this programme is Henry Kissinger.

[Details about the famine from video in the photo below]

World Apathy

The plight of 1974 was gruesome, and the apathy was immense. An exact count has never
been kept of this famine. People in Bangladesh were drying all the time, it wasn’t even
considered. Nobody helped. The famine helped because 3-5 million people died, and the
leftover food was enough for the left over people. Even India did not help, because we
barely had enough for the country, but this happened a decade after the green and white
revolution. We have 7 million refugees, we are taking care of them. We cannot do more.

Britain gives them 2 helicopters to carry food to the regions. The ignition of the helicopter
was taken out, hence the helicopter cannot take off. In order to get this ignition, for which
Bangladesh would have to get in line in London in order to get the helicopters going.

Dirty US Politics

The US wins. The famine was a ‘’success’’. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman appoints himself PM for
Bangladesh. Following the Famine in 1975 he changes his title to president, which again
signifies a notion of dictatorial rule. An emergency was declared due to famine, and
constitutional elections were on hold. The US now plays their final card. When Bangladesh is
trying to stimulate its country via trade. The one country willing to trade with Bangladesh
was Cuba, and US put an embargo on that. The US accuses Mujibur Rahman of communism
because of a 1 party system. Gruel kitchens were being set up, hence communism. His
ideology had actually been called Mujibism. He was killed under a US mission in 1990. His
entire family was killed, except Sheikh Hasina who was studying in Germany.

An Interview Of Mujibur Rahamn

John Pilger interviewed Mujibur Rahman, who seemed to say that the crisis was not as
grave, and that the community kitchens were doing their job considerably well. He is seen
defending the country. He says that it is incorrect that people are not getting food in the
country. This interview was just 4 months into the famine, and the whole thing lasts for 2
years. It is a tragic story, and then, it was just unfortunate, but today we know that it was all
deliberate.