How Russia helped India by blocking USA Seventh Fleet in 1971 Bangladesh liberation war; Nixon-Kissinger discussions on the war

Last updated on 17th Sept. 2015

In December 1971 I was nine years old living in Bombay (now Mumbai) in a Ground+6 stories set of buildings in Dadar (East) area of Mumbai (Central Railway Officers' Quarters, Dadar; my father was then an Accounts officer in Central Railway). If I recall correctly, we lived on the fourth floor (the building had a lift), and we had to put brown paper on glass window panes and be prepared to switch off all lights if the air raid siren went off. The fear then was that Pakistani war planes could attack and bomb Bombay. At that time, these four or five Ground+Six stories buildings, clustered together, would have been standing out among the rest of the much lesser in height (two or three storied) buildings around it in Dadar. Further, the vital railway tracks of Central Railway connecting Bombay to a large part of India was next to the buildings (Bombay also has a Western Railway which connects some parts of Western India to Bombay). So if these buildings and the railway tracks could be spotted by Pakistani fighter jets during a night time raid, they would have been an attractive target for them to bomb. But no Pakistani fighter jet ever made it that far to Bombay, during that war, if memory serves me right.

Then, of course, India's great friend was the USSR. As the linked article below shows, the USSR stood by India, in its time of need, and neutralized plans by USA Seventh Fleet (ordered by then USA president Richard Nixon) and UK to muscle into that war, and force India to back off from its objective of helping to resolve the refugee crisis and liberate Bangladesh and stop the genocide there.

That was nearly forty five years ago! Today, India has great friendship with USA. I personally have lived in the USA for a total of nearly two years in the second half of the eighties and early nineties, and have very fond memories of USA. I have nothing but goodwill for the people of the USA, and have many contacts & friends among USA citizens both of Indian (India of South Asia) origin and of non-Indian origin. But India should never forget the great hand of friendship that Russia provided her during her decades of need. Ideally India should be very friendly both with USA and Russia.

Some details now about the 1971 Bangladesh liberation war, which some readers may want to skip as it is somewhat lengthy.

This article, Defence News - How Russia prevented a joint US-UK attack on India in 1971: http://www.defencenews.in/defence-news-internal.aspx?id=2%24%243%2FZDbdMJQ%3D, has a lot of inside dope on what Nixon and Kissinger wanted to do with India then (not so pleasant stuff for Indians; but at that time USA was a staunch ally of Pakistan and its ruler, General Yahya Khan). It also provides other vital information like Indian PM Indira Gandhi's role and the help rendered by USSR to block USA Seventh Fleet (and some UK naval forces) from attacking Indian forces.

Yes, India did help to liberate Bangladesh from what was called West Pakistan then. India DID NOT OCCUPY AND EXPLOIT BANGLADESH after helping to liberate Bangladesh. From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangladesh_Liberation_War:

The Bangladesh Liberation War[a] (Bengali: মুক্তিযুদ্ধ Muktijuddho), also known as the Bangladesh War of Independence, or simply the Liberation War in Bangladesh, was a revolution and armed conflict sparked by the rise of the Bengali nationalist and self-determination movement in East Pakistan and the 1971 Bangladesh genocide. It resulted in the independence of the People's Republic of Bangladesh. The war began after the Pakistani military junta based in West Pakistan launched Operation Searchlight against the people of East Pakistan on the night of 25 March 1971. It pursued the systematic elimination of nationalist Bengali civilians, students, intelligentsia, religious minorities and armed personnel. The junta annulled the results of the 1970 elections and arrested Prime Minister-elect Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

Rural and urban areas across East Pakistan saw extensive military operations and air strikes to suppress the tide of civil disobedience that formed following the 1970 election stalemate. The Pakistan Army created radical religious militias - the Razakars, Al-Badr and Al-Shams- to assist it during raids on the local populace. Members of the Pakistani military and supporting militias engaged in mass murder, deportation and genocidal rape. The capital Dacca was the scene of numerous massacres, including the Dacca University killings. An estimated 10 million Bengali refugees fled to neighboring India, while 30 million were internally displaced. Sectarian violence broke out between Bengalis and Urdu-speaking immigrants. An academic consensus prevails that the atrocities committed by the Pakistani military were a genocide.
...
The Provisional Government of Bangladesh was formed on 17 April 1971 in Mujibnagar and moved to Calcutta as a government in exile. Bengali members of the Pakistani civil, military and diplomatic corps defected to the Bangladeshi provisional government. Thousands of Bengali families were interned in West Pakistan; from where many escaped to Afghanistan. Bengali cultural activists operated the clandestine Free Bengal Radio Station. The plight of millions of war ravaged Bengali civilians caused worldwide outrage and alarm. The Indian state led by Indira Gandhi provided substantial diplomatic, economic and military support to Bangladeshi nationalists. British, Indian and American musicians organized the world's first benefit concert in New York to support the Bangladeshi people. Senator Ted Kennedy in the United States led a congressional campaign for an end to Pakistani military persecution; while US diplomats in East Pakistan strongly dissented with the Nixon administration's close ties to the Pakistani military dictator Yahya Khan.

India joined the war on 3 December 1971, after Pakistan launched preemptive air strikes on North India. The subsequent Indo-Pakistani War witnessed engagements on two war fronts. With air supremacy achieved in the eastern theatre; and the rapid advance of the Allied Forces of Bangladesh and India, Pakistan surrendered in Dacca on 16 December 1971.
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[I thank Wikipedia and have presumed that they will not have any objections to me sharing the above extracts from their website on this post which is freely viewable by all, and does not have any financial profit motive whatsoever.]