India and Pakistan:
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Section: The World, Page 28, TIME, Dec. 13, 1971 |
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No Restraints According to the very different Pakistan version, regular Indian army troops on the western frontier had moved earlier in the afternoon toward seven posts manned by Pakistani rangers. On being challenged , the Indians opened up with small arms, and the Pakistani rangers began firing back. Normally, border forces of both countries follow a gentlemanly procedure for handling firing across the frontier; they meet and talk it over. "In this case ," reported a Pakistani officer, "when our rangers approached their opposite numbers, they were surprised to find regular troops and they were fired upon." The Indians mounted attacks with artillery support two hours later, he claimed, and Indian jet planes provided support. Pakistan planes then fanned out to strike at India's airfields, one of them 300 miles deep inside India. Radio Pakistan made no mention of the Indian border attack until India announced that Pakistan's planes had struck, but it wasted no time in acknowledging its bombing missions. "we are at liberty now to cross the border as deep as we can," a Pakistani army officer said. A Foreign Ministry representative added that Pakistani troops were "released from any restraints."
Fabrication Earlier in the week, newsmen including TIME's Louis Kraar, reported Pakistani movements at Sialkot, about eight miles from Indian border. Kraar saw commandeered civilian truck carrying fuel tins, portable bridges and other supplies. A train loaded with military vehicles chugged by, and wheat fields bristled with camouflaged gun emplacements. Families were moved out of the army cantonment at Sialkot, and civilian hospitals were advised to have blood plasma ready beside empty beds.In New Delhi, Indian spokesmen vigorously denied the story that Indian troops had launched an attack in the west to justify the air strike. "No sensible general staff attacks first on the ground," said Defense Secretary, K.B. Lall. Some six hours after the Pakistani air raids, India hit back in force, bombing eight West Pakistani airfields including one at Karachi. Some time after midnight, Pakistani and Indian planes entangled in dogfights over Dacca in East Pakistan. When asked to account for the six-hour delay in India's response. Lall joked that there had been some difficulty in getting the air force to move. It did appear that India was taken by surprise: nearly every senior cabinet official was out of the capital at the time, including Mrs. Gandhi, who was in Calcutta. During the night, Pakistani planes repeatedly attacked twelve air fields. On the ground, Pakistan launched attacks along the western border
Reckless Perfidy The next morning, Prime Minister Gandhi went before the Indian Parliament, "This morning the government of Pakistan has declared a war upon us, a war we did not seek and did our utmost to prevent," she said. "The unavoidable has happened . West Pakistan has struck with reckless perfidy." In a broadcast at noon the same day, Pakistani President Aga Mohammed Yahya Khan accused India of starting a full-scale war and declared that it was time "to give a crushing reply to the enemy." He made no mention of a formal declaration of war, but a proclamation in the government gazette in Islamabad declared: "A state of war exists between Pakistan on one hand and India on the other." Mrs. Gandhi did not issue a formal declaration of war, but Foreign Secretary T.N. Kaul told newsmen: "India reserves the right to take any action to preserve her security and integrity."The conflict had its genesis last March when the Pakistani President and his tough military regime,
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