UPSC Mains 2013 GS Paper 1 Q10: model answer

After the Awami League won an absolute majority in Pakistan's 1970 elections, the military launched Operation Searchlight (25 March 1971) in East Pakistan. India's role in the birth of Bangladesh was shaped by compulsions more than choice.

Compulsions

• Humanitarian and economic: nearly 10 million refugees strained West Bengal, Tripura, Assam and Meghalaya.
• Security: instability on the eastern border, a two-front threat from Pakistan, and the risk to the North-East.
• Strategic: the US–China–Pakistan alignment pushed India into the Indo-Soviet Treaty of Peace, Friendship and Cooperation (9 August 1971).

Critical view

• Critics called it interference in Pakistan's internal affairs; India argued it was the victim of 'refugee aggression'.
• War came after Pakistan's air strikes of 3 December 1971; it ended on 16 December with about 93,000 prisoners of war.
• India showed restraint at the Simla Agreement (1972), returning prisoners and territory.

Way forward

These lessons still guide India's refugee policy and ties with Bangladesh.

Diplomatic campaign

• Indira Gandhi toured world capitals in late 1971 to explain the refugee burden, building opinion before war.
• India recognised Bangladesh on 6 December 1971, among the first countries to do so.
• The US Seventh Fleet's move into the Bay of Bengal showed the Cold War stakes.

Conclusion

India acted under the combined pressure of humanitarian, economic and security necessity, and turned a crisis into a lasting regional role.