India - Pakistan war of 1971: A Sri Lankan Perspective

Abstract

The 1971 India - Pakistan war arose due to the East Pakistani’s claim to be a separate nation. The war was one of the shortest battles in history, ending victoriously after 13 days of its commencement. West Pakistan who is the administrative dominant, attacked 11 Indian air bases and made India declare a war. Since the birth of Pakistan in 1947, it was separated into two parts as West Pakistan and East Pakistan by 1600km. Though they existed as one state, these two wings had conflicts due to language, culture, political power, production, etc. Nevertheless these struggles continued for decades, neither a war nor a separation occurred immediately. However these incidents made Bengalis ask for a separate state. Eventually the first Pakistani election triggered a conflict for separation. Parties to the incident were reinforced by international actors at each other’s interest. The paper will provide a discussion on Sri Lanka’s approach to this situation using her vital geostrategic location against India in order to balance the power within South Asia and to maintain the policies of non - alignment. Moreover the professionalism and diplomacy of the parties involved will be further discussed.

The objectives of the study are to identify the issues which led to the birth of Bangladesh, while giving attention to India’s intervention and her military power. The paper will further address the way Mrs. Bandaranaike handled relations with conflicted parties and the rejoinders of that involvement. Information in this regard will be derived from secondary sources i.e. reference of text books, electronic data bases, journals, etc.

The paper will propose professional and diplomatic ways the parties acted to come to a settlement within India and Pakistan can be a lesson to current and future diplomats and government officials for a better professional integration in stressed situations.