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COVER STORY: Conflict in Asia: India v Pakistan |
India and Pakistan:
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Section: The World, Page 28, TIME, Dec. 6, 1971 |
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The first warning that a serious clash occurred came in an announcement over
Radio Pakistan. India, it said, "has launched an all-out offensive against East
Pakistan without a formal declaration of war." That charge proved to be false;
it was not a full-fledged war -- yet. On the other hand, it was certainly not a
trifling skirmish, as Indian spokesman at first euphemistically described it.
For months, border battles had broken out almost daily between troops of the two nations. The conflict that finally erupted last week along the 1,300 mile frontier was plainly big enough to raise the specter of a major conflagration on the subcontinent. The presence of Indian troops on Pakistan's soil escalated the dispute between the two nations to the point where full-scale war that could erupt at any moment -- a war that could also cause an uncomfortable confrontation of the major powers. Rigid restrictions on news coverage by both governments made the exact shape of the conflict murky, but it was clear that battles had occurred roughly half a dozen sites along the borders. At week's end, a combination of Indian regulars and Bengali Mukti Bahni (the East Pakistani liberation forces, which oppose West Pakistan's rule over the East) had captured portions of five areas, totaling perhaps 60 sq. mi. of real estate. All along the border, artillery exchanges and firefights kept the situation tense and dangerous through the week. Scene of the biggest battle was a slender salient of Indian that points sharply into East Pakistan some 20 miles west of the Pakistani city of Jassore, an important railhead that leads to key ports on the Bay of Bengal. Early last week, according to a Pakistani general, one battalion of Indian regulars operating along side a battalion of Mukti Bahni crossed the Indian border point of Boyra. From there, camouflaged with netting and supported by tank and heavy artillery, they thrust northeastward along a U-shaped front into East Pakistan. After the Indians and guerrillas had moved about six miles inland and seized the village of Chaugacha, Pakistani resistance halted the advance. In the counterattacks that followed, the first tank battle of the war broke out. In ten hours of fighting, Pakistani forces said they destroyed eight Indian tanks and damaged ten others; they admitted losing seven tanks. Next day, Pakistani forces called up an air strike, sending four Sabre jets on Indian positions. Indian Gnats, light weight jet fighters, intercepted the planes within Indian territory, and shot down three of them. Two of the Pakistani pilots who bailed out were captured by Indian forces. Captured Material TIME Correspondent William Stewart paid a visit to Boyra last week. "Refugee camps are scattered along the road, but there are no soldiers in sight," he cabled. "In fact, not until we reach the small city is there any sign of fighting. We sit down in a semicircle in front of the briefer -- Lieut. Colonel C.L. Proudfoot. In blazing Bengal sun there are three Pakistani tanks (U.S.- made Chaffees) and an old assortment of captured material; American machine guns and Chinese ammunition. Proudfoot explains that Pakistani tanks have been probing the border near Boyra since Nov. 17. On the night of Nov. 20-21, he said, a number of tanks were heard approaching Boyra. The tanks reached and began firing on Indian positions. A squadron of 14 Indian tanks (Soviet-made PT 76s) crossed into East Pakistan to outflank the Pakistani squadron. The battle raged four or five miles into East Pakistan. When the smoked cleared, three Pakistani tanks had been trapped in India, and another eight were reported destroyed. The Indians claimed a loss of only one tank." The Indian and Pakistani accounts differed in a number of details. Initially, Pakistani spokesmen in Islamabad told of 100,000 and then of 200,000 Indian troops pouring across the border at half a dozen points. Those figures were considerably exaggerated. Major General M.H. Ansari, Pakistan commander in Jessore sector, told newsmen that Indian guerrilla forces had lost 200 to 300 dead and twice as many wounded, but that they had managed to recover all the bodies; that would be quite a feat under any circumstances. Ansari showed journalists a letter stamped "14th Punjab Regiment" and an Indian soldier's diary picked up in the course of fighting. There was no disagreement over the essentials of the battle and its dangerous significance. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi went before Parliament in New Delhi and acknowledged that Indian troops had entered East Pakistan "to repulse a Pakistani attack" near the border. She also corroborated the report that India has shot down three Pakistani Sabre jets. Mrs. Gandhi added that she would not emulate Pakistani President Aga Mohammed Yahya Khan by declaring a national emergency -- a move that was more symbolic that substantive for West Pakistanis since their country had been under martial law since March 1969. But later that day Indian defense officials announced a significant change in policy: henceforth Indian troops would be allowed to enter the East "in self-defense." |
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