At the UN, a race against time

On 13 December 1971, Prime Minister Tajuddin Ahmad sent a message of thanks to BP Koirala Sarnath, former prime minister of Nepal, who had earlier felicitated the Bangladesh government on its recognition by the Indian and Bhutanese governments. The Bangladesh leader wrote:

"I am most grateful for your kind message of felicitations on the occasion of the recognition of the People's Republic of Bangladesh. I hope other countries will follow India and Bhutan for our just cause.

"I thank you for your good wishes for Bangladesh."

At the United Nations, the United States, having earlier expected a response from China that would be similar to its own with respect to Pakistan, namely, ensuring the territorial integrity of West Pakistan through warning India to desist from breaking up what remained of the country, moved to the Security Council. The Americans tabled a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire, of course in both the eastern and western theatres of war, and the withdrawal of troops to their original areas.

The resolution also stressed the need for efforts to be intensified for the return of Bangalee refugees from India, where as many as 1 crore of them had taken refuge since the conflict broke out in March of the year.

The US resolution was swiftly vetoed by the Soviet Union, which clearly was unwilling to make or support any move that would help the Pakistan government to hold on, in however weak a form, to East Pakistan. At the same time, Moscow had clearly come to the conclusion that a ceasefire acceptable to all, meaning India and Bangladesh, needed to be in place if peace was to be restored in South Asia.

India banked on the Soviet Union and so did the Bangladesh government to do everything it could as a permanent member of the UNSC to stave off a cessation of hostilities until the Pakistan army had been decisively beaten in the east.

Meanwhile, in Delhi, the Soviet ambassador called on PN Haksar to hand him the outlines of a document Moscow thought should underpin a ceasefire resolution at the United Nations. Haksar, while informing the ambassador that General Rao Farman Ali's suggestion of a peaceful transfer of power to the elected representatives of the Bangalees should be worked on, also took it on himself to consult Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on the points Moscow was making about an end to the war.

For all the parties to the conflict – India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, the Soviet Union and the US – it was a race against time as all of them needed to be reassured that at the UN their interests would be held uppermost.

While diplomacy ran its course, within Bangladesh the murder squads raised and armed by the Pakistan army – al-Badr comprising elements of the rightwing Jamaat-e-Islami – began a new and sinister mission of going after the Bangalee intellectual classes. Beginning on 13 December, al-Badr elements began calling at the homes of doctors, writers, artistes, journalists and academics in Dhaka and abducting them. It would be an operation that would go on for three days, until the eve of liberation.