e-News® | The NEWS Company…DHAKA, December 04, 2015 : Flamboyant Pakistani President Agha Muhammad Yahya Khan, known for his big talks, suddenly turned philosopher as his troops continued to receive a hard bashing in the hands of Freedom Fighters in then East Pakistan.
In an interview given to American weekly news magazine “Newsweek” in November 1971, the Pakistani strongman literally prayed so that India stops helping the cause of Bangladesh, saying its historic enemy will be the worst loser if an independent Bangladesh comes to a being.
“The worst losers will be the Indian themselves. East Bengal and Assam will soon join in, and that will be the beginning of the breakup of the Indian Union itself. I hope to God this woman (then Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi) understands,” Yahya told Newsweek senior editor Arnaud de Borchgrave. Clinging to the mercy of his few international friends in his bid to stand the valiant attacks of the Freedom Fighters, the Pakistani leader brazenly talked about getting things at free of cost from his allies.
Yahya, who already sensed the fact that his force, which has already been bruised and battered by the glorious sons and daughters of Bangladesh, is no longer fit to stand a full-force attack by India, start threatening in the names of muscular friends.
“The Chinese will not tolerate an attack on Pakistan. We will get all the weapons and ammunitions we need, short of physical intervention. We get some things free and pay for others,” Yahya said.
“How can our army fight and win against an (Indian) army that is five times its size? It would be military lunacy for me to take them on… If they can lob over 3,000 shells in a day, that means they have plenty of ammunition on hand. It’s a luxury to our army cannot afford,” a somewhat broken Yahya added.
“No one ever treated the Bengalis fairly. We too have made mistake and by ‘we’ I also mean East Pakistanis who have been our president and premiers since independence. East Pakistan was down and out, and did not pay sufficient attention to its development. We are now trying to make up for last time,” Yahya added.
