Third Soviet veto bars truce plan

December 13, 1971

INDIRA'S LETTER TO U THANT

In a letter to the UN Secretary General U Thant, Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi said "there can be a ceasefire and withdrawal of Indian armed forces" if Pakistan withdraws its troops from Bangladesh and reaches a political solution with the leaders there. She added if there was an assurance that the basic causes would be objectively examined, India "will not be found wanting in offering its utmost cooperation".

Indian Finance Minister YB Chavan announced in a speech to the Lok Sabha today, a special emergency tax programme to raise $188 million in extra revenue to meet the expenses of the war.

MOSCOW ASSAILS US STEP

The Soviet press agency Tass accused the United States today of "gunboat diplomacy" and "gross blackmail" against India with its reported movement of an American naval squadron towards the Indian Ocean from the Gulf of Tonkin.

The Soviet Union also vetoed in the Security Council tonight a United States resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire and withdrawal of Indian and Pakistani forces to their own sides of the border. Within a span of nine days, it was the third Soviet veto of such a resolution. Eleven council members voted for the resolution; Britain and France abstained. Poland joined the Soviet Union in opposition.

Yakov A Malik, the Soviet delegate, said he rejected the American resolution mainly because it did not include a call for a political settlement acceptable to the Bangladesh authority.

Italy and Japan immediately after the vote submitted a new resolution that they hoped might bring a break in the deadlock between the big powers. Their proposal called for an "immediate opening of negotiation [for] a comprehensive political settlement" as well as for a ceasefire "as a first step" and for "operations of disengagement and withdrawal" without any allusion to borders.

ON THE WAR FRONT

Mitro Bahini today continued their three‐pronged advance on Dhaka and an Indian spokesman declared that "within 24 to 48 hours we will be in a very strong position around Dhaka".

General SFHJ Manekshaw, the Indian army chief of staff, made a third appeal tonight to the Pakistan generals in East Pakistan urging them to surrender because "your garrisons are now within the range of my artillery".

The western front was reported largely quiet today, with the only significant action reported in northern Kashmir, where the Indians said they had taken two more mountain posts near Kargil.

The International Committee of the Red Cross announced today that it would assist the wounded and prisoners of both sides in the India‐Pakistan war. A committee spokesman said India and Pakistan had agreed to accept Red Cross help. A similar assurance that the Bangladesh government would abide by the conventions had also been received, the spokesman said.

Bangladesh Radio was broadcasting personal appeals from Prime Minister Tajuddin Ahmed to be quiet and not to take revenge. It would be bad for the new nation to be launched with bloodshed, he said.

Shamsuddoza Sajen is a journalist and researcher. He can be contacted at [email protected]