Refugee Influx in India and Indian Response

One consequence of the civil war in East Pakistan was the exodus of refugees (mostly Hindus) from that country into India, the numbers running into millions by August 1971. India allowed these refugees in and set up camps for them (in West Bengal, Tripura and Meghalaya, and even in Madhya

Pradesh and Orissa) and fed them. It was the central government that bore the cost of all this.

In the beginning, India mounted diplomatic efforts at convincing the world powers of the desperate situation building up. Indira Gandhi contacted the US on the matter. Henry Kissinger, the national security adviser to the US president at the time, brought a letter from the US president asking India to send back the refugees under UN supervision. Indira Gandhi pointed out that the American arms given to Pakistan, which were once used against India in 1965, were now being used by Pakistan against its own people. She also asked if the refugees from Hitler’s Germany would have been repatriated under the conditions that existed at the time. It is now known that Kissinger and Nixon differed in their opinions on the situation. Nixon favoured Pakistan, especially as it had secretly helped Kissinger establish contact on behalf of the US with China, and did not want to help India.

The USSR, as opposed to the US, agreed with India on the situation on the subcontinent – that the two wings of Pakistan had drifted too apart for a possible reconciliation. The USSR offered military equipment to India. It also proposed a friendship treaty with India, which would act as a deterrent to Pakistan and China if they thought of getting together and indulging in military adventurism. When India’s foreign minister at the time, Swaran Singh, visited Moscow in June 1971 and met his Soviet counterpart, Andrei Gromyko, and the president, Alexei Kosygin, it was decided that such a friendship treaty would be signed. In August 1971, the foreign ministers of the two countries signed the Treaty of Peace, Friendship and Cooperation. The most significant part of the treaty spoke of the mutual consultations on suitable measures to be taken in the face of any attack or threat of an attack on either country so as to remove the threat and ensure peace and security of their countries.

By the summer of 1971, India had decided to intervene actively in the situation. Indian forces began to provide instruction in the use of weapons to Bengali guerrillas in training camps. The group of these fighters, comprising regular soldiers of the erstwhile united Pakistan as well as fresh volunteers, was known as the Mukti Bahini. These

guerrillas were to sneak across the border into East Pakistan to attack army camps and communication installations. The Mukti Bahini was to play an important role in the liberation of East Pakistan.

Indira Gandhi toured the world to acquaint the leaders of the situation on the subcontinent. The country that could have made a difference, namely the USA, remained unimpressed. In November 1971, Richard Nixon and Indira Gandhi met but did not agree on the situation; Nixon said that the US would not agree to overthrow Yahya Khan and warned India against taking military action.

In the meanwhile, the situation along the border between India and East Pakistan had reached conflict stage with shelling across the line taking place. It was an opportunity for the members of the Mukti Bahini to use the exchange of fire to cross the border to carry out their insurgent activity.