How Zulfikar Ali Bhutto made Indian PM Indira Gandhi a Kitten

India won the 1971 war and held 930000 Pak soldiers as POWs, yet the Indian PM was outsmarted by the Pak Leader Bhutto and he got his POWs back without giving away anything in return

No result after victory

Bhutto and Indira

Fruits of Victory turn sour

I have given an account of the Kargil war, where the timidity of the Vajpayee government allowed the war to become a stalemate. Obviously, India achieved nothing after the Kargil war. But there is one war in 1971, which led to the creation of Bangladesh and was a decisive victory for India and yet India allowed the advantage of victory to slip away despite the fact that we held 93000 Pakistan army POWs. How did this happen that a victorious India allowed the fruits of victory to slip away from its fingers? The answer lies in the gullibility of Indira Gandhi and the astute skill of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the Pakistani leader.

Advantage India
After the creation of Bangladesh, the Indian army held 93000 Pakistani soldiers as POW. This was the time to strike a hard bargain on Kashmir and ask that the present Line of Control be converted to an international border. I am told this was agreed to by Bhutto in secret talk with Indira Gandhi, but later Pakistan denied it. In fact in the Simla accord, India agreed to discuss the Kashmir problem with Pakistan. Bhutto had assured Indira Gandhi that this was just a ploy to please hardliners in Pakistan and he would soon move forward on Kashmir. Bhutto was working to a plan and during this meeting, he gave away nothing and in turn was able to get his POWs back. This was a great achievement. Indira Gandhi was outsmarted by Bhutto, who not only got his POWs back but also made India accept that a problem in Kashmir existed. Rarely has a victor at a conference been so misled as Indira Gandhi was during the Simla meeting.

Last Word
In hindsight, India frittered away a great opportunity to settle the Kashmir issue. India should have insisted on a Kashmir solution and agreed for a return of the POWs only after that. By handing over the POWs, India lost all leverage on Kashmir. in effect, the Simla accord was a blunder. Whatever Bhutto agreed privately is not recorded and now we can say that Bhutto played his cards in an adroit manner.
In fact, after the victory in Bengal, the war should have been continued. Additional troops from Bengal would have been available and an attack on Kashmir was a necessity. Pakistan was in the throes of a crisis and Yahya Khan had resigned, it was an opportune moment to try and solve the Kashmir issue. History records that India failed and today the Kashmir issue is alive as ever

Conquest of Tibet by China

Conquest of Tibet

Tibet location

Tibet has a border of 3300 miles with India. But the Himalayas were a great barrier and as such cultural and military contacts between India and Tibet were minimal. The Tibetans were however closely connected with the Chinese since ancient times, but at no time was Tibet a part of China. The current Tibetan culture has been formed since the time the Lama culture was established in Tibet. The Tibetan form of Buddhism came from India when the Bodhisattva left from South India to preach Buddhism to the Tibetans. Buddhism became a state religion and was spread in Tibet by the edict of the Dalai Lama.

The Dalai became the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism was called upon to assume full political power as well. The Dalai Lama to protect Tibetan culture from outside influence forbade outside contacts and Tibet grew in isolation of world development.
The 19th century was a tumultuous period for Tibet’s history as the Western powers gained control in Asia and Tibet was also involved in the stream of western invasions. In 1893, the Ch’ing court signed the “Tibet India Treaty” also referred to as the Sikkim-Tibet Treaty under duress as Britain was the paramount power and controlled India and also had a big say in China

To emphasize British power an invasion under Colonel Francis Young Husband was launched against Tibet in 1903. The Tibet army was routed and the British Army seized Lhasa in 1904, forcing Tibetan officials to endorse the Lhasa Treaty. The 13th Dalai Lama, Thubten Gyatso (1876-1933) fled to Mongolia and was stripped of his powers. This gave the Chinese under the Ch’ing government to established direct rule over Tibet for the first time in 1910. At that time the Dalai Lama fled to British India.
Chinese rule did not last long and In 1912, Tibet became an independent country when the Ch’ing Dynasty was overthrown by the Hsinhai Revolution. The Dalai Lama returned to Tibet from British India and proclaimed the independence of the Empire of Tibet. Tibet was effectively an Independent nation till 1951.

However, Communist China’s People’s Liberation Army occupied Tibet in 1951 and set up the Tibet military division in the following year. China abandoned the “Empire of Tibet” and established the Tibet Autonomous Region. The Chinese had a free hand as Nehru the Indian Prime Minister fed on theories of British imperialism refused to intervene and thus Tibet was lost as a buffer state to India.

Tibet is now effectively controlled by China and the Chinese define the 14th Dalai Lama as the “leader of the counter-revolution elements”. He had escaped to India in 1959 after a plot was uncovered to murder him.
He is the legitimate “head of state” of the “Empire of Tibet” and the government in exile in India is the legitimate government of Tibet region. Unfortunately, this is all on paper as the Chinese control Tibet and there is no way the status Quo of 1950 can be restored.

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JohnWayne: A Titan from Hollywood

Me and Wayne

JOHN WAYNE

I was a small boy when John Wayne died in 1979. But even at that age I loved the films of John Wayne and watched them in cinema halls with my friends while playing truant from school. Later, I built up a collection of his films and have now over 90 of his films on my hard disk. For me, there is no bigger star of cowboy films than John Wayne. Maybe Clint Eastwood would come a close second, but Wayne was the original macho star.
I saw his movie in a morning show in 1985 or 86 titled "True Grit". In this movie, he plays an aging one-eyed Marshal and the best scene is when he goes at the outlaws with the horse's reins clenched in his mouth and both guns firing at the outlaws. It was a great shot and I am so glad that John Wayne won an Oscar as the best actor for this role in 1973.

A Great Star

JOHN WAYNE

Wayne was the original macho movie star. He had strong views about negroes. In one of his interviews in Playboy magazine, he was asked what he thought of black rights. His reply was succinct and lucid. He said, "tell me which country in the world does a black have a better life than in America?". How very true, as all over the world like in Africa, the black man is dying of hunger, malnutrition and internecine wars.

John Wayne was a tough star and he lived his roles. One can remember his roles in The Horse Soldiers, Big Jake, North to Alaska, the Longest Day, True Grit and many more. I am told he acted in almost 170 films and never played a role as a supporting actor. I have almost 90 films of his on my computer and it gives me great pleasure to watch him act on an afternoon holiday with a glass of beer.

A Man to be Remembered

WAYNE

Wayne teamed up with all the top heroines of that era. The career of John Wayne touched almost 40 years. He was honored posthumously with the President of the United States Freedom Medal in 1980.
John while filming close to the Nuclear test site suffered some radiation and later developed cancer of the stomach. I think he died prematurely in 1979. He lived a full life and married thrice with 7 children from 2 wives. But this is just an aside and one cannot forget his drawl and the cowboy hat and the blazing gun. Truly a Hollywood great.