The border fighting yesterday between India and China reminds me of what happened way back in 1962, when Pakistan was securely in the American camp. It was a member of two pacts, CENTO (earlier known as the Baghdad Pact, renamed after the murder of the Iraqi royal family) and SEATO (which was primarily aimed to contain China). China openly supported India whenever the Kashmir dispute was talked about.
But then, India and China turned against each other. China claimed parts of Ladakh and the entire Arunachal Pradesh. After initial skirmishes, the Chinese army invaded and (according to Defence Minister Krishna Menon), it could have marched right up to New Delhi. That was also the time for Pakistan to start a war and take over Indian-occupied Kashmir. But Ayub Khan made a mistake. Instead of starting a war and winning it, the stupid man offered a joint-defence pact against China to the Indians. That was the biggest mistake of his life.
Nehru then turned to the U.S. to provide weapons to the Indian army. These arms were then used against Pakistan when Shastri ordered the Indian army to march into Lahore (after Pakistan seemed poised to capture Srinagar).
The only good thing for Pakistan after the 1965 war was that it got Chinese support for the Kashmir problem. But instead of modernizing the army, Pakistan's generals spent their time drinking and womanizing, and running the country at the same time. If a civilian government had been in place in 1971, East Pakistan would never have seceded. But that is another story. The tragedy is, our establishment is still involved in rigging elections and "selecting" prime ministers like Imran Khan. One hopes the country will not be dismembered again.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Post a Comment