'Indians are bastards anyway'

Asia Times ^ | Debasish Roy Chowdhury

[Smokin' Joe]

Wonder what Nixon had to say about the Democrats?

[Cronos]

Despite the avowed goal of containing war, the US administration, in its zeal to put India in a spot, even went to the extent of pleading with the Chinese to initiate troop movements toward the Indian border in coordination with Pakistan, and assured it support in case the Soviet Union jumped into the fray

Nixon was a *******

[Bon mots]

Those days are over. Why the hell bring this up now?

A lot of us Americans work with and appreciate Indians as well as people from all over the world. Heck, WE ARE from all over the world.

Some idiot has an agenda.

[Cronos]

Chinese or russian hiddenhand ploy to remind Indians that the US has not been their best bud in the past?

And a pretty good one. This would still rankle the Indians a lot -- and rightly so, any nation would be majorly p'oed that the US supported military dictatorships and communist states over a fellow republic.

[Cronos]

well it was a commie govt in India granted a Democratically elected one.

India's never had a commie central government -- it has two states (out of 28) that have had democratically elected communist governments who've won and lost. India was socialist, still is, though it is dismantling that now that its improving its own lot.

India was allied with Russia at the time

No. India was friendly with Russia and still is for a very good reason -- Russia and India have lots of points in common, #1 being to contain their mutual neighbor: China, with whom both have fougth wars.

Plus, most Indians keep emphasising that Russia is their true friend. There's no way we could split the two nations -- they trust each other completely.

Nixon was a virulent anticommunist

Oh, I guess that's why he got so pally with the COMMUNIST Chinese?

[Cronos]

The tilt involved the dispatch of the aircraft carrier Enterprise to the Bay of Bengal to try to intimidate the Indian Government. It also involved encouraging China to make military moves to achieve the same end, and an assurance to China that if China menaced India and the Soviet Union moved against China in support of India, the United States would protect China from the Soviet Union. China chose not to menace India, and the crisis on the subcontinent ended without a confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union.

Nixon was a nut -- he nearly made a little war of liberation into world war III. What a beautiful scene -- the US fighting on the side of communist China and the military dictatorship of Pakistan against the Republic of India, who would be supported by the USSR. And this, just 2 decades after the Chinese had bled America in Korea.

[Cronos]

Right now in Afghanistan Al Queida and Taliban hide in the Northeast corner of Pakistan and conduct raids across the border. It is essentially on the same level as Syria when it comes to allowing terrorists sanctuary within it's borders.

No, it's worse than Syria -- it TRAINS terrorists, it trained and created the Taliban, it trained Al-Qaida and now it trains other terror groups

[Cronos]

The US, like most nations, will condone brutality if it suits her.

That's acceptable IF IT SUITS THE US. But supporting the Pakis was not and IS NOT in our long-term interests (to a large extent not even in our short-term interest)

[Cronos]

There's a difference between Nixon and Bush. Bush understand ground realities. I don't understand why he's giving the pakis those F16s though.

[Cronos]

I agree. I don't think Reagan condoned the use of chemical weapons by Saddam.

[Cronos]

The US should have taken out the Taliban in Afghanistan AND the slamofascist dicatorship in Pakistan (eliminating theIslamicbomb and preventing its proliferation to North Korea, Iran, Libya etc.)

[Cronos]

Can someone explain to me India's motivation to war with Pakistan here?

Simple -- the same as the US's intervention in Iraq -- to liberate a people, to prevent a genocide and to insure that the instability in East Pakistan didn't affect India.

[Racehorse]

India was allied with Russia at the time

No. India was friendly with Russia and still is for a very good reason -- Russia and India have lots of points in common, #1 being to contain their mutual neighbor: China, with whom both have fougth wars.

Plus, most Indians keep emphasising that Russia is their true friend. There's no way we could split the two nations -- they trust each other completely.

The August 1971 friendship pact with the Soviet Union made them what . . . just friendly friends?

Remember, during this period the overriding objective was to contain the Soviet Union.  Hence, ping pong diplomacy and Pakistani go-betweens.

From "The SVR:  Russia's Intelligence Service," a March 2000 paper written by Gordon Bennet.

India was an ideal country for the Soviet intelligence services. Large, chaotic and poor, India was a useful ally, and natural opponent of China, especially after the border clashes between the USSR and China in 1968. The generation of activists fighting for India’s independence and hostile to both the UK and the USA held many important posts in the Indian administration.

[CarrotAndStick]

But isn't it worthwhile to note that not a single Soviet military base ever existed on Indian territory? If it had, then the Soviets wouldn't have needed to invade Afghanistan. IIRC, the Soviets were desperate for a warm water naval base, in the Indian Ocean.

[Gengis Khan]

"Can someone explain to me India's motivation to war with Pakistan here? "

India's motivation to war with Pakistan could be anything from dismembering Pakistan so that India's eastern flanks are no longer a threat. Moreover a smaller Pakistan = a less dominant and a less belligerent Pakistan.

But the most important reason was.....(and what the article didnt mention out of political correctness) was that the East Pakistan genocide was actually a Hindu genocide. It was the time when Hindu population of East Pakistan plummetted from near 20% to 14% almost overnight. Hindu majority India with a large Bengali population (my folks included) wont have take that lying down even if that meant risking a military confrontation with the US. If its not India comming to the aid of the Hindus, who would?

Now do you see the motivation ?

[Gengis Khan]

India's motivation to war with Pakistan could be anything from dismembering Pakistan so that India's eastern flanks are no longer a threat.....[to establishing regional dominance.]

Left that one out :)

[Racehorse]

But isn't it worthwhile to note that not a single Soviet military base ever existed on Indian territory? If it had, then the Soviets wouldn't have needed to invade Afghanistan. IIRC, the Soviets were desperate for a warm water naval base, in the Indian Ocean.

It wasn't for lack of trying by the Soviets.

I don't think an Indian port would have staved off the Soviet misadventure in Afghanistan.  But, I'm pretty sure the prospect of the Soviets reaching the Indian Ocean didn't please anybody in the Carter Administration.

Had the Shah survived his problems, he might have lured Daoud, and Afghanistan, away from the Soviets, making an invasion impossible for fear of being confronted by Iran and the U.S, with assistance from Pakistan.  Would Carter have followed through?  Who knows?

I do know that in the same year the Soviets invaded Afghanistan (1979), they also set up what would become their largest overseas naval base at Cam Ranh Bay.

And, I do know that after being turned down by the UK and the US during the sixties, India turned to the Soviets for assistance in creating their navy.  I'm fairly certain their fleet consisted almost exclusively of ships purchased from the Soviets--until the eighties.

[Cronos]

Hindu majority India with a large Bengali population (my folks included) wont have take that lying down even if that meant risking a military confrontation with the US. If its not India comming to the aid of the Hindus, who would?

Quite correct. And also to note -- the General who led the war on the Indian side was a Parsi/Zoroastrian, and the chief Indian war architect was a Jew and there were many Christians and Sikhs in the army. What I'm saying is that India as a whole would not tolerate the slaughter.

[DM1]

Hey pal you want to get specific fine:
"The Congress split into two in 1969, the new factions being the Congress (O)--for Organisation--and Mrs. Gandhi's Congress (R)--for Requisition. The Congress (R) continued in power with the support of non-Congress groups, principally the Communist Party of India (CPI) and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK--Dravidian Progressive Federation)."
more "Indira Gandhi wanted to use a populist agenda in order to mobilize popular support for the party. She raised slogans such as Garibi Hatao (Remove Poverty), and wanted to develop closer ties with the Soviet Union. "

what i should have stated was a Quasi Communist govt VERY FRIENDLY with the SOVIET UNION

as for Nixon the man knew how to play sides against one another
he exploited things like this:
"After 1967 the Cultural Revolution overthrew the existing structures of state and party in China. The only significant party apart from the Albanians to support the Chinese line was the Communist Party of Indonesia, which was destroyed during a military coup in 1965. Maoist parties were formed in many countries.

The Sino-Soviet confrontation had now become a conflict between states. In January 1967, Red Guards besieged the Soviet Embassy in Beijing. Diplomatic relations were never formally broken, but they went into a deep freeze. The Chinese also chose to raise the issue of the Sino-Soviet border, which was the result of nineteenth century treaties imposed on the weakened Qing Dynasty by Czarist Russia. China did not make specific territorial demands, but insisted that the Soviets acknowledge that the treaties were unjust. The Soviets flatly refused to discuss the issue."
and made China a semi-ally
look i am no fan of ChiComms but Nixon used the split between China and the Soviets to our advantage
yes i am generalizing and have no time to quibble just learn to relax when reading posts

[Gengis Khan]

"Quite correct. And also to note -- the General who led the war on the Indian side was a Parsi/Zoroastrian, and the chief Indian war architect was a Jew and there were many Christians and Sikhs in the army. What I'm saying is that India as a whole would not tolerate the slaughter."

Precise assessment. BTW you might be interested inthis article:

Srinandan Vyas
Hindu Genocide in East Pakistan

This article by Srinandan Vyas has been taken from http://rbhatnagar.ececs.uc.edu:8080 It deals with slaughter of about 2.5 million Hindus in East Pakistan in 1971. This article refers to information provided by Dept. of Planning of Government of Bangla Desh, Encyclopedia Britannica, Senator Edward Kennedy's report to the U.S Senate Judiciary Committee, Newsweek, New York Times,etc. This information and elementary math are used to show that indeed millions of Hindus were killed in East Pakistan in 1971.

ABSTRACT

It is well known that the 1971 army repression in Bangla Desh (former East Pakistan) resulted in an influx of 10 million refugees into India. Most world renowned relief and news agencies put the number of dead at 3 million. However the fact that is glossed over in these statistics is that THE ENTIRE HINDU POPULATION OF EAST PAKISTAN WAS THE PRIMARY TARGET OF PAKISTANI ARMY DURING THE 9 MONTHS OF REPRESSION IN 1971. Using the population statistics from Bangla Desh Government and US Government publications this article PROVES that 80 percent of the refugees from Bangla Desh were Hindus and that 80 percent of the 3 million killed were Hindus. THUS IT WAS A HINDU REFUGEE PROBLEM and IT WAS A HINDU GENOCIDE THAT TOOK PLACE IN EAST PAKISTAN IN 1971.

10 References - Encyclopedia Britannica, Bangla Desh Government - Ministry of Planning (for statistics), Newsweek, New York Times, Senator Edward Kennedy's report to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee.

Figure1.
Few of the Hindu Victims of the Bagladeshi Genocide

INTRODUCTION

In the December 1970 general election in Pakistan, Awami League won 167 of 169 seats and over 80 % of popular votes in East Pakistan. Numerically Awami League had an absolute majority of seats in the Pakistan National Assembly (167 of the total 313 seats)(1). Historically, East Pakistan was allocated only 36 % of the total resources and East Pakistanis occupied only 20 % of the positions in the federal government in the United Pakistan (2). The Pakistani government's apathy towards East Pakistan after a terrible cyclone in November 1970 in which over 250,000 people died, had alienated East Pakistani people. The solid outcome of the 1970 elections for Awami League created an alternative power center for an already alienated people. The differences between the East and West Pakistani politicians snowballed into a major international crisis. On March 25, 1971 Pakistani army on President Yahya Khan's orders initiated a campaign of terror which was to last till its final surrender to the Indian army on December 17, 1971. This terror campaign by Pak army resulted in 10 million Bangla Deshi refugees crossing over to India (per Senator Edward Kennedy's report to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee (3)) and 3 million killed (4,5) based on reports from most relief agencies and official Bangla Desh government estimate. However the religious mix of both the refugees and the dead is nowhere emphasized anywhere. This significant information has particularly been absent in the reports from Indian News Media. This selective news dissemination has kept a more sinister truth of Hindu genocide in East Pakistan hidden from the world in general and Indians in particular.

Figure2.
Piles Of Hindu Corpses littered the streets

HINDUS IN EAST PAKISTAN WERE SPECIAL TARGET OF PAK ARMY

In the summary of his report dated November 1, 1971 Senator Edward Kennedy writes (6):

'Field reports to the U.S. Government, countless eye-witness journalistic accounts, reports of International agencies such as World Bank and additional information available to the subcommittee document the reign of terror which grips East Bengal (East Pakistan). HARDEST HIT HAVE BEEN MEMBERS OF THE HINDU COMMUNITY WHO HAVE BEEN ROBBED OF THEIR LANDS AND SHOPS, SYSTEMATICALLY SLAUGHTERED, AND IN SOME PLACES, PAINTED WITH YELLOW PATCHES MARKED "H". All of this has been officially sanctioned, ordered and implemented under martial law from Islamabad. ..' (emphasis added by author of this article).

Sydney Schanberg, pulitzer prize winning journalist (of 'Killing Fields') was New York Times correspondent in Dhaka in 1971 at the time of army repression and during the 1971 Bangla Desh war. In his syndicated column 'The Pakistani Slaughter That Nixon Ignored' Mr.Schanberg writes:

"I covered the war and witnessed first the population's joyous welcome of the Indian soldiers as liberators .. Later I toured the country by road to see the Pakistani legacy firsthand. In town after town there was an execution area where people had been killed by bayonet, bullet and bludgeon. In some towns, executions were held on a daily basis."

This was a month after the war's end (i.e. January 1972), ... human bones were still scattered along many roadsides. Blood stained clothing and tufts of human hair clung to the brush at these killing grounds. Children too young to understand were playing grotesque games with skulls. OTHER REMINDERS WERE THE YELLOW "H"s THE PAKISTANIS HAD PAINTED ON THE HOMES OF HINDUS, PARTICULAR TARGETS OF THE MUSLIM ARMY." (7) (emphasis added by the author of this article).

Thus two independent observations one dated prior to November 1, 1971 and other in January 1972 confirm that Hindu houses in East Pakistan were marked with yellow "H"s and that Hindus were particular targets of the Pakistani army. The situation thus bears an uncanny resemblance to the predicament of Jews targeted by Nazis from 1939 to 1944, with similar out come.

 

MOST OF THE REFUGEES FROM BANGLA DESH WERE HINDUS

Senator Edward Kennedy in his report gives following details about the the refugees from Bangla Desh in 1971. As of October 25, 1971, 9.54 million refugees from East Pakistan had crossed over to India. The average influx as of October 1971 was 10,645 refugees a day (3). Hence the total refugee population at the start of Bangla Desh war on December 3, 1971 was about 10 million (5).

Sen. Kennedy further mentions that Government of India had set up separate refugee camps for Hindus and Muslims where possible, i.e. refugee camps of Hindus were located in Hindu majority areas and similarly Muslim camps were located in Muslim majority areas. THE COMMUNAL REPRESENTATION OF REFUGEES WAS 80 PERCENT HINDU, 15 PERCENT MUSLIM AND 5 PERCENT CHRISTIAN AND OTHER (8).

This means that 8 MILLION OF THE 10 MILLION REFUGEES WERE HINDUS (8). Other fact that corroborates this is that when Sen. Kennedy had asked several Chief Relief officers in charge of refugee camps what was needed most urgently, their reply was "crematoriums".

THE MISSING 2 .5 MILLION HINDUS

Several agencies indicate that the brutal Pakistani army repression killed 3 million Bengalis. This estimate is even given by the Government of Bangla Desh (5). However no religious mix of the dead is easily available.

Let us therefore look at the population demographics for Bangla Desh which is given in Table I.

TABLE I

Source : Based on Information from Bangladesh Ministry of planning, Bureau of Statistics (9)

YEAR	Total Population in Millions	Hindu Population as % of Total	Hindu Population in Millions
1941	42.00	28.0	11.76
1961	50.84	18.5	9.41
1974	71.48	13.5*	9.655
1981	87.13	12.2	10.633

^{* Encyclopedia Britannica (10) gives 13.5% figure for 1974, where as Government of Bangla Desh gives 13.5% for 1971 and total population of 71.48 million for 1974 (9).}

Since Hindus and Muslims in Bangladesh have similar socio- economic and educational backgrounds, the birth and death rates for these two groups must be very similar. This means that the Hindu population must grow at the same pace as the total population growth rate. Hence any unusual drop must be accounted for by influx of Hindu refugees and mortality rate from non natural causes. The expected Hindu population, the emigration to India from E. Pakistan and actual populations are listed in Table II.

Table II

YEAR	Hindu Population of East Pak/BD Actual (9) (millions)	Expected Hindu Population in Absence of Strife (millions)	Refugees from E. Pakistan to India(8) (millions)	Hindus Missing (millions)
1941	11.766	-	-	-
1961	9.41	14.24	4.12(1947-58)	0.711
1974	9.65	13.23	1.11(1964-70)	2.477

Thus if 1947 partition had not resulted, the Hindu population of East Pakistan area should by 1961 have increased proportionally from 11.76 millions in 1941, to 14.24 millions (11.76 * 50.84 / 42 = 14.24). The official Indian Government records indicate that between 1947 and 1958, 4.12 million (Hindu) refugees crossed into India from East Bengal(3). This means the Hindu population in East Pakistan in 1961 should have been 10.12 million (14.24 - 4.12) compared to the actual 9.41 million. The missing 0.7 million Hindu population can be accounted by several hundred thousands killed in the riots in 1947 on the Bengal border, plus the refugee influx from 1958 to 1961. 1961.

Let us now look at Hindu population in East pakistan from 1961 to 1974. With proportional increase the Hindu population of 9.41 million in 1961 should have increased to 13.23 million ( 9.41 * 71.48 / 50.84 = 13.23 ) by 1974. However the actual Hindu population as per Bangla Desh Census data for 1974 was 9.65 million. Of the 3.58 million shortfall only 1.11 million can be accounted for since Government of India's record indicate that 1.11 million (Hindu) refugees crossed into India between 1964 and 1970 (3) i.e.PRIOR to the 1971 crisis.

THUS 2.47 MILLION (13.23 - 9.65 - 1.11 = 2.47) HINDUS FROM EAST PAKISTAN ARE UNACCOUNTED FOR FROM THE 1971 PAK ARMY REPRESSION.

 

OTHER PROOF FOR 2.4 MILLION HINDUS KILLED IN EAST PAKISTAN

Since the 80 percent of the refugees in 1971 were Hindus,a similar proportion of the dead are likely to be Hindus also. The official Bangla Desh government estimate puts the number of Bengalis killed at 3 million. 80 percent of 3 million put THE NUMBER OF HINDUS KILLED AT 2.4 MILLION which is close to the number of Hindus missing calculated comes above.

 

SUMMARY & CONCLUSIONS

1. Independent accounts indicate that Hindus from East Pakistan were special target during the 1971 army repression. HINDU HOUSES WERE PAINTED WITH YELLOW "H"s, THEY WERE ROBBED OF THEIR LANDS AND SHOPS, AND THEY WERE SYSTEMATICALLY SLAUGHTERED.
   
   
2. 80 percent of the refugees to India in 1971 were Hindus, THUS IT WAS A HINDU REFUGEE PROBLEM.
   
   
3. NEARLY 2.5 MILLION HINDUS WERE KILLED DURING THE 9 MONTHS OF PAKISTANI ARMY REPRESSION OF EAST PAKISTAN IN 1971. THUS IT WAS A HINDU SLAUGHTER IN 1971.
   
   
4. ALL THE ABOVE BEAR AN UNCANNY RESEMBLANCE TO THE PERSECUTION & HOLOCAUST OF JEWS BY THE NAZIS.
   
   
5. INDIAN GOVERNMENT CONTROLLED 'SECULAR' MEDIA DELIBERATELY HID THE SINISTER TRUTH OF HINDU GENOCIDE IN EAST PAKISTAN.
   
   
6. In any internal political problem of an Islamic country, Hindus (or minorities of other religions) become the scapegoats and will be liquidated at the first chance the Islamic Government gets.
   
   
7. WE HAVE LEARNT NOTHING FROM THE HISTORY AND WITH THE 'PSECULAR' MEDIA WE WILL LEARN NOTHING.
   

Figure3.
Millions Of Innocents like these were brutally massacred by the
Islamic Army Of Pakistan

 

COMMENTS & FUTURE WORK

This is just the tip of the iceberg. The ethnic cleansing of Hindus in Bangla Desh did not end in 1971. Since 1974 to 1981 the Hindu population as a percent of total Bangla Deshi population decreased from 13.5 % to 12.2 %. This slide has continued over the last decade. Same is true about Hindus in Pakistan and in Kashmir valley.

There is a genuine need for systematic record keeping and documentation of the history of Hindu genocides & Hindu ethnic cleansing, so that we don't repeat it again (and again and again..) There is also a need to build a memorial of this Hindu holocaust similar to the Jewish Holocaust memorial in Washington DC.

This topic is extensively dealt in a book 'Genocide in East Pakistan/ Bangla Desh' by S.K.Bhattacharya. However the present author has verified the findings of S.K. Bhattacharya based on completely independent sources. For detailed descriptions and news reports of 1971, reader should refer to the original book.

 

REFERENCES

1. Bangladesh: The Birth Of A Nation, A hand book of Background information and Documentary Sources Compiled by Univ. of Chicago Group of Scholars, by M.Nicholas, P.Oldensburg, Ed.W.Morehouse, M.Seshachalam & Co., India, 1972, p.7

2. Same as reference 1, p.73

3. Crisis in South Asia - A report by Senator Edward Kennedy to the Subcommittee investigating the Problem of Refugees and Their Settlement, Submitted to U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, November 1, 1971, U.S. Govt. Press, pp.6-7.

4. Newsweek, August 1, 1994, p.37

5. Same as reference 1, pp.44-45

6. Same as reference 3, p.66

7. The Pakistani Slaughter That Nixon Ignored , Syndicated Column by Sydney Schanberg, New York Times, May 3, 1994.

8. Same as reference 3, p. 19

9. Bangladesh A Country Study, Ed. J.Heitzman & R.L.Worden, 2nd Ed, Federal Research Division, Library of Congress, Publisher U.S. Army, 1989, pp.250,255

10. Encyclopedia Britannica, 15 th Ed, Micropedia, Vol.1, p.789 Desh