CHAPTER - 6

U.S DECISION TO RESUME ARMS SUPPLY TO PAKISTAN

Reply to discussion, Rajya Sabha, 10 March 1975

The Minister of External Affaris (Shri Y. B. Chavan) : Mr. Vice Chairman, Sir, I am indeed grateful to hon. Members for giving me this second opportunity to discuss and express my views on this very important debate that is going on in the country about the arms supply to Pakistan by the USA. Many Members have participated in it and different shades of national opinion from anxiety, concern, disappointment and regret to resentment, have been expressed in this debate. And it is very heartening to see shades Right, Centre and Left - are completely united in rejecting this policy, in disapproving of the policy decision taken by the United States in supplying arms, or in lifting the embargo on arms supply to Pakistan. I would not like to repeat the whole thing again but I would like to give some background as to how it is that the whole situation came about. We know the history of the last few years, nearly ten years. At one time, America on its own decided that giving this sort of lethal arms either to India or Pakistan was not going to help peaceful conditions in the sub-continent; it was not that they completely stopped the supply of arms. Some are non-lethal and some lethal weapons. The decision was that they would not give lethal weapons. But there was something in that system of arms supply by the imperial powers. Sometimes there are some compulsions which force them to make some sort of an exception because in 1970, they made some ‘onetime exception’ which ultimately resulted, as we know, in further belligerency and militant attitude which resulted in Pakistan’s armed aggression against India. Admittedly, there was that tilt. Admittedly, there were certain positive results of what happened on the sub-continent. India emerged as a country which stood for justice, for the liberation of the oppresed people. Justice was on its side and the cause it supported was so just that it got victory, we took a series of initiatives and started a new process, on our own re, of detente on  he continent, of understanding that without the interference of any of the big sub powers, it is better that we take our own initiatives, be liberal, be very generous, and try to remove the tensions in this area, because that is the only way of bringing about peace in the world. What exactly is detente process? Detente is a process which would remove areas of tension in this area, because that is the only way of bringing about peace in the world and emphasise the necessity and the compulsions of co-existence - peaceful co-existence - between two powers. 

This was exactly what was happening, and actually it was our intention. It was, I think, the necessity of the time to see that the forces which interfered with this process of normalisation of relationship should also be neutralised, that they should also be encouraged to support this process, that powers which by interference always created this sort of an imbalance should be encouraged to support. So, the genesis of the discussion with Dr. Kissinger, really speaking arose out of this objective condition and of certain historical necessity to which there was some response from the other side. That does not mean that we were deceived or somebody was trying to work out the theory of deception. All that I am saying is that, at least, we were not deceived.