The Pakistan Embassy delivered to the Department on April 25 the
attached letter to the President from President Bhutto. It
acknowledges the President’s letter to Moscow and, noting the
President’s forthcoming visit to Moscow, asks his assistance in
promoting a rapprochment between all parties concerned in the recent
South Asian crisis.
The Department will shortly forward a suggested reply to President
Bhutto.
Attachment
Letter From Pakistani President Bhutto to President
Nixon
Rawalpindi, April 18, 1972
Dear Mr. President,
I thank you for your letter of March 22, which was delivered to
me by your Charge d’Affaires in Islamabad.
I am grateful to you for your concern for the well-being and
security of the people of Pakistan and for the help you have
offered my country in rebuilding our war-shattered economy. The
assurance of your support at this critical juncture is most
heartening.
I also thank you for your impressions of your historic visit to
China, and for the outline of your talks and their significance.
Your visit has not only paved the way to a healthier
relationship with China but has considerably improved the
prospect for world peace.
May I once again take this opportunity to discuss the situation
in our sub-continent. I regret that I should have to deal with
it at some length, but since you are shortly to visit Moscow I
feel you may find this information of use in your discussions
there.
On the 16th of March I went to Moscow principally to make a
first-hand assessment of the intentions of the Soviet leadership
towards the sub-continent. I also wanted to assure the Soviet
leaders of our desire to live in peace and to seek an honourable
settlement of our problems with India.
My impression is that in the short term the Soviet Union probably
wants to see an early return to peace and the “normalization” of
the situation in the sub-continent. The Soviet leaders showed
considerable anxiety that we recognise ‘Bangla Desh’ and that I
meet Mrs. Gandhi in order
to negotiate a settlement of the problems that bedevil our
relationship. But their desire for peace may be no more than a
move in their efforts to consolidate their position in India and
‘Bangla Desh’.
On the issue of prisoners of war, Mr. Kosygin read out from a letter of Mrs. Indira Gandhi her comment that
she could not return our prisoners of war
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to augment Pakistan’s war potential
until she was satisfied as to Pakistan’s peaceful intentions. I
told both Mr. Kosygin and
Mr. Brezhnev that I was
resolved to work for peace between India and Pakistan and that
if I intended otherwise there was no dearth of manpower
available to join the armed forces in Pakistan.
I also gathered from the talks with Soviet leaders that the
prisoners of war would not be returned until ‘Bangla Desh’ had
been recognised. I told them quite candidly that ‘Bangla Desh’
had come into existence as a result of direct intervention by
Indian armed forces and that it would be unrealistic to expect
the people of Pakistan readily to accept the dismemberment of
their country in this fashion. The question of recognition
arouses deep emotions among our people. It was therefore
essential for me to lay the ground-work for such an eventuality.
I expressed my willingness at this stage to signify an “intent
to recognise” ‘Bangla Dash’ and would like to meet Shaikh
Mujibur Rahman to discuss with him this and other matters of
mutual concern.
I told the Soviet leaders that they could greatly assist in
preparing the climate for normalization of conditions and return
to peace in the subcontinent by persuading India to release the
prisoners of war immediately. I informed that it was wholly
inappropriate for India to link the question of the release of
prisoners of war with other political issues. They could not be
used as hostages in brazen contravention of international
conventions to which India was signatory.
The Indians are threatening the preservation of the tenuous peace
that has been achieved; they have in the last month moved five
additional Divisions to the west Pakistan border, and the Indian
Chief of Staff has recently visited Moscow to replenish military
equipment. Then too the Soviet Union and India have stepped up
their subversive activities in both Baluchistan and the
North-West Frontier Province.
We have nevertheless responded positively to Mrs. Gandhi’s proposal that the
emissaries of both countries should meet to prepare the way for
a meeting between the two of us. I have left her to decide the
time and place for the emissaries to meet.
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At the moment it appears that the prospects of any worthwhile
negotiations with Shaikh Mujibur Rahman have diminished. The
persecution and killing of the helpless Biharis continues—for no
other reason than that they are federalists. Many thousands of
Bengalis who are opposed to the secession of East Pakistan have
been dubbed “collaborators”, consigned to concentration
camps.
Moreover, Shaikh Mujibur Rahman seems determined, with the
cooperation and collaboration of India, to try some 1500
prisoners of war for alleged “war crimes”. This is a most
disturbing development. If the Bangladesh authorities went
forward with these trials they would indeed have very serious
repercussions in Pakistan. There are over 400,000 Bengalis in
West Pakistan. We have so far succeeded in ensuring that they
are not maltreated in any way. But if the projected trials took
place, they would generate such bitterness and resentment among
our people that irreparable damage might be done to the
prospects of establishing normal relations with India and
“Bangla Desh”.
Mr. President, the United States may be in a position to use its
influence to prevent the Indian and “Bangla Desh” authorities
from going forward with the proposed trials. I shall be grateful
for any assistance you can give us in this respect and for the
influence you can use to promote a rapprochment between all the
parties concerned so that a durable peace can be established in
the sub-continent.
With warm personal regards,
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto
President of the Islamic Republic of
Pakistan
