After the December 3 air strikes on India by Pakistan, Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi sought US President Richard Nixon's understanding and urged him to persuade Pakistan to shun the path of aggression and military adventurism it had embarked upon.
Gandhi slammed General AM Yahya Khan for his repressive, brutal and colonial policy in East Pakistan, which “culminated in genocide and massive violence since March 25, 1971. This, as you know, has resulted in an exodus of 10 million East Bengali nationals into India whose number is still increasing”, she wrote in the letter to President Richard Nixon.
Gandhi asked Nixon to exercise his undoubted influence to have Pakistan stop its aggressive activities against India and ‘to deal immediately with the genesis of the problem of East Bengal which has caused so much trial and tribulations to the people not only of Pakistan but of the entire sub-continent”.
The letter, sent to the White House on December 6, originated from New Delhi in the forenoon of December 5 Indian time.
Indira Gandhi said India had borne the burden of these events and withstood the greatest pressure that any country could face in such circumstances. “We have also acted with great restraint in the face of continuous provocations from Pakistan.”
India's attempts in this regard at the UN and the visits undertaken by high officials had not produced any results, she said.
“We have now received incontrovertible evidence of Pakistan's war-like intentions,” Gandhi said, referring to the air strikes of December 3 on India across its western frontiers. “This has been followed by a gazette extraordinary published by the Government of Pakistan” on December 4, declaring that it was in a state of war against India.
“That this aggression is premeditated and planned is evident” from the fact that President Yahya Khan had declared on November 25 that he would be "off to fighting in ten days' time".
Gandhi said Pakistan chose to launch the attack when she had been away in Kolkata, addressing a public meeting. “It is also significant that within minutes of the launching of the attack the Pakistani publicity media launched a malicious propaganda offensive accusing India of having attacked West Pakistan earlier in the afternoon.”
The Indian premier emphasized that this was the fourth time that Pakistan had attacked India since independence. “Our bitter experiences of 1947 and 1948 and 1965 have taught us that Pakistan is determined to threaten our territorial integrity and security by all means available-this time especially to divert attention from its colonial and repressive policies inside East Bengal and to internationalise the issue.”
She added that the success of the freedom movement in Bangladesh had now become a war on India due to the adventurism of the Pakistan military machine.
Gandhi said she had declared an emergency for the defence of India. “The grave consequences that should follow Pakistan's unprovoked attack on us all shall be the sole responsibility of the Government of Pakistan.
She demanded that this wanton and unprovoked aggression be decisively and finally repelled once and for all.
