The Blood TelegramIn 1971, the Pakistani army launched a devastating crackdown on what was then East Pakistan (today’s independent Bangladesh), killing thousands of people and sending ten million refugees fleeing into India. The events also sparked the 1971 Indo-Pakistani War. Drawing on recently declassified documents, unheard White House tapes, and meticulous investigative reporting, Gary Bass gives us an unprecedented chronicle of the break-up of Pakistan, and India’s role in it. This is the pathbreaking account of India’s real motives, the build-up to the war, and the secret decisions taken by Indira Gandhi and her closest advisers. This book is also the story of how two of the world’s great democracies—India and the United States—dealt with one of the most terrible humanitarian crises of the twentieth century. Gary Bass writes a revealing account of how the Bangladeshis became collateral damage in the great game being played by America and China, with Pakistan as the unlikely power broker. The United States’ embrace of the military dictatorship in Islamabad would affect geopolitics for decades, beginning a pattern of American anti-democratic engagement in Pakistan that went back far beyond General Musharraf. The Blood Telegram is a revelatory and compelling work, essential reading for anyone interested in the recent history of our region. |
Contents
The Tilt | |
Cyclone Pakistan | |
Mrs Gandhi | |
Mute and Horrified Witnesses | |
The Blood Telegram | |
The Inferno Next Door | |
12 | |
The Mukti Bahini | |
The Hell with the Damn Congress | |
Soviet Friends | |
Kennedy | 29 |
We Really Slobbered over the Old Witch | 40 |
The Guns of November | 48 |
The FourteenDay | 53 |
Dont Squeeze Yahya | |
Exodus | |
India Alone | |
The China Channel | |
11 | |
The East Is | |
I Consider This Our Rhineland | 77 |
106 | |
Notes | 112 |
Acknowledgments | 116 |
Index | 118 |
Other editions - View all
The Blood Telegram: Nixon, Kissinger, and a Forgotten Genocide Gary Jonathan Bass No preview available - 2013 |
The Blood Telegram: Nixon, Kissinger, and a Forgotten Genocide Gary Jonathan Bass No preview available - 2014 |
Common terms and phrases
ambassador American April Archer Blood arms atrocities August Awami League Bangla Bangladesh Bengalis Bhutto Blood telegram Blood to Rogers border cable Calcutta Chib to Kaul China Chinese Country Files—Middle East crackdown crisis Cruel Birth Dacca December Delhi Desh Dhar East Pakistan Farland to Rogers File 19 genocide Haksar Papers Haksar to Gandhi Haldeman Hindus Hoskinson to Kissinger India Indian Democracy Indira Gandhi IndoPak IndoPakistan war 1971 Islamabad Jha to Kaul July June Keating to Rogers Kissinger to Nixon Kissinger’s Manekshaw March memcon million Mujib Mukti Bahini Narayan Nixon and Kissinger NixonKissinger telcon NMML November NSC Files October Oval Office Pakistan army political president refugees Saunders to Kissinger says Schanberg September 1971 Singh South Asian Congressional Soviet Union SRG Meetings Subject File 169 Subject File 227 told Nixon troops University Press wanted Washington West Bengal White House tapes wrote WSAG Meetings Yahya York