310 { China’s Quest
and other locations relevant to the East Pakistan crisis of 1971. Indian leaders
were dismayed by the formation of the China-Pakistan partnership, and that
dismay contributed to India’s decision to intervene in East Pakistan to sepa-
rate that region from Pakistan.
The creation of Bangladesh out of East Pakistan arose out of deep ethnic
cleavages between the Bengali-speaking people of East Pakistan and the
Punjabis who constituted a substantial plurality in West Pakistan and
dominated Pakistan’s national institutions, including most importantly,
the army. Those two very different peoples—Bengalis and Punjabis—had
been joined together into the single nation of Pakistan in 1947 on the basis
of their common Muslim religion. Islam did not prove enough to hold
the nation together. A Bengali movement arose in East Pakistan in the
late 1960s to push for a restructuring of relations between the two wings
of the country. Gradually that movement moved from demanding greater
regional autonomy to demanding independence. A turning point was
reached in March 1971, when Pakistan’s central government, led by General
and President Yahya Khan (who had replaced Field Marshal Ayub Khan
by military coup in March 1969) ordered the arrest of the leaders of the
Bengali movement and the imposition of order in the turbulent east by the
Pakistani army. Ruthless and frequently bloody repression spread across
East Pakistan. This happened just as Beijing and Washington were maneu-
vering toward rapprochement.
Many national rebellions with deep historical and social roots ultimately
succeed because of foreign intervention. French assistance to the American
rebellion of the 1770s is one example. This was the case with Indian assis-
tance to the Bengali rebellion. Indian intervention in East Pakistan, first in
the form of covert assistance to the Bengali liberation movement and then,
in December, in the form of outright invasion, was critical to the creation of
Bangladesh. India acted with Soviet backing.
India had begun moving much closer to the Soviet Union in 1969 as Indira
Gandhi adopted a more socialist approach to development—and as mounting
Soviet-Chinese conflict prompted Moscow to look for partners to counter
China. Indian-Soviet ties became closer still in 1971 as India moved toward
overt intervention in East Pakistan. In August, India and the Soviet Union
signed a mutual security treaty. Article IX of that treaty provided that the two
countries would “immediately consult” to “remove” and “take appropriate ef-
fective measures to assure ... the security” of the two countries, should either
come under attack or threat of attack. This treaty was essentially an Indian
insurance policy against Chinese intervention in the upcoming Indian inter-
vention in East Pakistan. New Delhi calculated that the threat of Soviet inter-
vention would deter Chinese intervention to counter India’s planned action.
The memory of China’s threatened intervention in the 1965 India-Pakistan
war was strong.