Kissinger denies secret deal with India during 1971 war
Saturday March 17, 2012 04:47:46 PM,
IANS
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New Delhi: Veteran
diplomat Henry Kissinger, the architect of the US' historic
opening to China, has denied that that the US struck a secret pact
with India to prevent an attack on West Pakistan in 1971.
Known in India for unflattering comments on former prime minister
Indira Gandhi, he sought to correct the picture, saying he always
thought she was "an extremely strong and far-sighted woman".
"India and the former Soviet Union had made a near-alliance around
this time. It was in the national interest of the US to preserve
West Pakistan," said Kissinger, a Nobel Peace laureate, while
delivering the keynote address at the India Today Conclave Friday
night.
He was reacting to the perception in strategic community that
after the 1971 war, which led to the split of Pakistan and the
creation of Bangladesh, the US asked India not to strike against
West Pakistan.
With the Indian Army moving into East Pakistan Dec 4, 1971, Nixon
resorted to gunboat diplomacy and sent the Seventh Fleet led by
the nuclear powered aircraft carrier USS Enterprise into the Bay
of Bengal.
"Each side did what it had to do. Each acted on its own national
interest which clashed for a brief moment," he said.
Kissinger surprised many in India by revising his much-quoted
opinion of Indira Gandhi which became public after White House
tapes of the Nixon presidency were declassified in 2005.
"I was under pressure and made those comments in the heat of the
moment. People took those remarks out of context," Kissinger said,
adding that he had the "highest regard" for Indira Gandhi.
She was an extremely strong woman who acted in India's national
interest and a far-sighted woman as a far as foreign policy is
concerned, said the 89-year-old Kissinger.
The declassified tapes reveal Nixon calling then Indian prime
minister Indira Gandhi an "old witch" and Kissinger agreeing with
that assessment and reiterating that expression in their
conversation.
Speaking on the Making of an Asian Century, Kissinger, the
architect of President Nixon's historic visit to China in 1972 and
the author of the bestselling "On China", advocated "a balance of
power" in the Asian continent.
It would not be in India's national interests to allow a dominant
power or a transnational power that would intrude into its sphere
of influence, from Singapore to East Africa, he suggested.
When asked whether China would treat India as an equal, he said
China would treat India respectfully, but suggested that India,
China and the US would have to work together to balance China's
internal forces that had the potential to destabilize it.
He said he believed in the long-term compatibility of the India-US
interests and described India as "a key country" in the evolving
global geopolitical landscape.
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