1971: Did India Win the War but Pakistan the Peace? Did Bhutto Get the Better of Indira?

2 weeks ago 6

Press Release & Video: 1971: Did India win the war but did Pakistan win the peace? Did Bhutto get the better of Indira Gandhi?: Avtar Singh Bhasin, former Head of the Historical Division of the Ministry of External Affairs, to Karan Thapar for The Wire. .......................................... In an interview to discuss his recent book ‘Negotiating India’s Landmark Agreements’, Avtar Singh Bhasin, who served for 30 years in the Historical Division of the Ministry of External Affairs, retiring as its Director in 1993, argues: “Pakistan was right in its assessment of the Simla Agreement that it lost the war but won (the) peace.” Mr. Bhasin adds: “At the end, Bhutto the ‘dramatist’ had carried the day at Simla.” In a 35-minute interview to Karan Thapar for The Wire, Mr. Bhasin says that even before the conference began in Simla in June/July 1972 “a careful study of the pre-conference developments and discussions at various levels left one with the impression that the terms of the Conference was set by the defeated party.” Bhutto made it clear, both directly to India and via Moscow, that he would only attend if the outcome was honourable and if there was no agreement on Kashmir at the Conference but it was left to an unspecified later date. Mr. Bhasin also says that similar messages were sent to India by then Soviet Prime Minister Kosygin and the then French President. More importantly, Mr. Bhasin says at the Conference the Indian position is that a verbal unwritten agreement was reached between Gandhi and Bhutto that “the existing ceasefire line provided the best solution to the Kashmir problem”. But Bhutto insisted that this could not go into any agreement because “he would be thrown out by his people”. Mr. Bhasin says he needed time to “prepare his people for this solution in the long run”. So this was just an unwritten verbal agreement and nothing more. The reason it was left as such is because that suited Pakistan. A written agreement would have run counter to Bhutto’s interests. More significantly, Mr. Bhasin says, we don’t have a clear leave aside authentic and precise idea of what this verbal agreement was. “What was agreed verbally between the two leaders has since remained a mystery since there is no authentic record of the conversation.” Mr. Bhasin points out that the best we know is that Indira Gandhi briefed her Principal Secretary P. N. Haksar as well as P. N. Dhar but “neither of them made any official record of what was told to them.” He adds “both were remiss in not recording what was told to them.” This absence of proof, as Mr. Bhasin calls it, cost India heavily when after Bhutto’s execution Pakistan denied any knowledge of a verbal unwritten agreement and challenged India to produce a note “if it had it”. This left India defenceless in the face of Pakistan’s denial. Mr. Bhasin says had Haksar and Dhar recorded a note “it would have (had) unimpeachable archival value.” Equally significantly, some of the responsibility for not recording the verbal agreement lies with Mrs. Gandhi herself. After Simla she wrote five letters to Bhutto (30th March 1974, 22nd May 1974, 20th March 1975, 11th April 1976 and 31st December 1976) but, Mr. Bhasin says, “in none of these letter did she even remotely refer to his verbal commitment of 2nd July 1972”. Mr. Bhasin’s position is that Indira Gandhi could have and should have but failed to do so. In the course of the interview, Mr. Bhasin goes one step beyond what he writes in his book. He says it’s even possible that there was no understanding/agreement at all and at best Indira Gandhi and Bhutto had a conversation where certain ideas were mentioned but, it’s possible, no agreement/understanding was reached about them. This could be one explanation for why neither Haksar and Dhar nor Indira Gandhi made any written mention of this. It could be it was just a conversation and not an understanding/agreement. I will stop there. For those who are interested in India-Pak relations and the Simla Agreement, in particular, this is a fascinating and potentially eye-opening interview. Here is the link to the interview: Join The Wire's Youtube Membership and get exclusive content, member-only emojis, live interaction with The Wire's founders, editors and reporters and much more. Memberships to The Wire Crew start at Rs 89/month. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChWtJey46brNr7qHQpN6KLQ/join

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