Department of State

 

TELEGRAM

 

SECRET 966

 

 

STATE 221252

44

ORIGIN SS-07

INFO OCT-01 SSO-00 CCO-00 FILE-01 /009 R

66611

DRAFTED BY : S/S: T. ELIOT

APPROVED BY: S/S-0 : S. HOLLY

                                                  ………….017092

P 082021 Z DEC 71 ZFF4

FM SECSTATE WASHDC

TO USMISSION NATO PRIORITY

SECRET STATE 221252

EXDIS TOSEC 12

FOLLOWING SENT ACTION SECSTATE INFO DACCA, LAHORE, KARACHI NEW DELHI, USUN FROM ISLAMABAD DECEMBER 8, 1971, QUOTE:

SECRET ISLAMABAD 12215

EXDIS

SUBJECT : CONVERSATION WITH PRESIDENT YAHYA DEC. 8

REF : ISLAMABAD 12205         

 

1. SUMMARY: Yahya proceeding with his blueprint for transfer of power. Has sent Bhutto on short visit to UNGA. Yahya completely amenable to UNGA resolution in form reported. Appears resigned to loss of East Pakistan by Indian military action. Advised me of possibility INS Vikrant sunk. End summary

 

2. I met with President Yahya at his residence at 1230 hours local Dec. 8. The conversation lasted for about 30 minutes and was strictly informal. The man just wanted to talk.

 

3. Referring to the new civilian government announced in the papers Dec. 8, Yahya said that, in accordance with what he had heretofore told me, he intended to carry out his qte blue print unqte effecting a transfer of power (see reftel). Yahya said that the emergency had brought about a greater unanimity of opinion among Pakistani politicians than had heretofore been in evidence, and that he was hopeful, although its formation came about at a time that was less than propitious, that the new government could function effectively. He recalled that his plan was to bring the same into being on Dec. 27, but that the exigencies of qte India's attack in the West unqte had caused a stepup in the timetable.

 

4. He noted that Bhutto, who had as yet not been sworn in but who would be immediately upon his return from New York, had taken off by car for Kabul where he would enplane for New York. Yahya expressed his hope that Bhutto's presence at the UNGA would be salutary but concluded by saying qte I told him to come back forthwith if his presence in New York was not productive, there being much work to be done here. unqte.

 

5. Yahya then mentioned the fact that he had heard bic BBC that the General Assembly had overwhelmingly voted in favor of a ceasefire resolution and asked me whether or not I had the full text thereof. I told him that, as yet, it had not come through the qte log jam unqte which was plaguing the Embassy's communications section, but that I had heard the resolution called for (a) a ceasefire and withdrawal, (b) the return of East Pakistani refugees and (c) all effort be made to stop bloodshed. Having said this, I asked Yahya whether or not the GOP would be agreeable to acting in accordance therewith. He replied qte I have been agreeable to this concept for months, as you should know. Unqte To pin this down, I asked him if he would be informing his ambassador at the UN accordingly and he replied that he would do so as soon as he saw the text of the resolution and found it in accord with the ideas I had expressed.

 

6. The conversation concluded on the subject of present military moves being made by both India and Pakistan. Yahya said it was now patent that India plans to hold in the West while it militarily dismembers East Pakistan. He said the GOP armed forces in East Pakistan would fight qte to the last Muslim, for not only their country but their faith is in jeopardy. Unqte He went on to say that, with the port in Chittagong now cut off by the Indian capture of Feni and the Indian Naval blockade in the Bay of Bengal, there was qte just no way of supplying or assisting the armed forces in East Pakistan. Unqte Yahya opined that the Indian offensive would not only bring about the deaths of thousands of his military personnel but that the Indian aggression would unleash a holocaust that qte not thousands but millions of people unqte presumably  will die--these- being the Biharis, the Razakars, the peace committees, and that great segment of the population who were not Awami Leaguers. He concluded by caving that. In addition to the violent deaths which will ensue, there was the stark specter of famine to be reckoned with. With the effective stoppage of foodgrain distribution, widespread famine may be only days away, he observed.

 

7. As I« as leaving, Yahya said that, although the war news was generally bad, he had heard from his Navy C-in-C that one of GOP's recently acquired French submarines may have qte quite possibly unqte sunk the Indian aircraft carrier, the INS Vikrant, while it was engaged in India's Naval blockade of Chittagong.

 

GP-2.

FARLAND, Unquote. JOHNSON

 

 

 

Source:  The American Papers – Secret and Confidential India.Pakistan.Bangladesh Documents 1965-1973, University Press Limited, p.736 - 737