| De-classification of official documents have | | | | of continued allegiance to the might of the |
| been a routine practice in the United States, | | | | United States. Whatever had been the public |
| while just the opposite is true of Pakistan. | | | | posture of various politicians and military |
| Successive governments over the years have | | | | officers active during 1965 and 1973 -- which |
| believed in hiding away from public eye even | | | | is the relevant period in the context of this |
| the most innocuous of official documents | | | | book -- they were all in one voice the moment |
| without realizing that the practice only adds | | | | they reached backstage.The anti-US, anti-West |
| to the sense of national confusion. "I will | | | | stance of the Pakistan People's Party, for |
| expose everybody when the time is right," is | | | | instance, was quite obvious during the 1970 |
| a sentence that finds place in every | | | | election campaign, with Bhutto and his |
| politician's armory. A case in point is that | | | | cohorts going out of their way to condemn |
| of Mohammad Khan Junejo who kept repeating | | | | Imperialism. Various notes sent by US embassy |
| the line in the context of the Ojhri | | | | staff to Washington, however, show what was |
| disaster, but the "right time" never came in | | | | going on behind the scene, with Bhutto |
| his own lifetime.The book, The American | | | | offering private assurances in this regard to |
| Papers, is a selected bunch of documents | | | | calm down any frayed nerves his campaign may |
| de-classified by the US government in recent | | | | be causing. One of the notes by Ambassador |
| times, and now resting at the National | | | | Farland talks of a meeting Bhutto had with |
| Archives II at College Park in Maryland. The | | | | him in Peshawar where he had also brought |
| documents in the current volume have been | | | | Mustafa Khar and Hayat Sherpao, "who during |
| drawn from State and Defense Department | | | | political campaign was violently anti-US." |
| files, and focus on the 1965 war, the East | | | | The ambassador notes: "He (Bhutto) was quite |
| Pakistan crisis of 1971, the breakup of | | | | jovial in acknowledging that Sherpao had been |
| Pakistan, and the first two years of Z.A. | | | | one of my principal vilifiers, adding that |
| Bhutto's rule. The documents, consisting of | | | | Sherpao's presence in this meeting indicated |
| correspondence between the US embassy staff | | | | that `that chapter' had now closed." Not just |
| in Pakistan and the State Department, | | | | that, "Bhutto said that he had asked them to |
| confidential letters to the US president, | | | | come with him to stress the fact that these |
| draft replies and minutes of high-profile US | | | | two men would serve in their respective areas |
| government policy meetings, constitute the | | | | as the PPP's principal contact for `Mutual |
| thought of American diplomats and the US | | | | Briefings' with US officials."The cynicism |
| government about events taking place in the | | | | and disillusionment that even a quick glance |
| subcontinent.The documents give the reader a | | | | through the book causes is, indeed, enormous. |
| taste of how foreign missions conduct their | | | | This is not a book for the faint-hearted. |
| business, and the quantum of input that the | | | | Interestingly, however, when Roedad Khan |
| US government has at its disposal before | | | | embarked upon this gigantic task, he himself |
| taking any decision. For instance, a Policy | | | | had been below his usual self. Jamshed Marker |
| Appraisal airgram dated February 2, 1971, | | | | has this to say in the Introduction: "The |
| from the US embassy in Islamabad to the State | | | | material in this book was culled by Roedad |
| Department in Washington talks of a | | | | Khan during a period of enforced medical |
| "hypothesis" which leads to the question: | | | | confinement following a surgical procedure in |
| "... will the country split into two | | | | Washington, D.C. This is an unusual form of |
| independent wings, East and West?" The same | | | | convalescence, but then all who know Roedad |
| document later says, "Keeping Pakistan | | | | would know that he is an unusual man ... |
| together has now become a major political | | | | Roedad's assertion that his research work |
| task ... both parties lack seasoned leaders | | | | formed a therapeutic component of his |
| except Mujib and Bhutto at the top. Both | | | | convalescence is a value judgment which is |
| parties have more experience in agitating | | | | best left to the discernment of the |
| than in governing."The 14-page appraisal and | | | | reader."The documents, naturally, have the |
| a few more follow-up papers based on various | | | | potential to constitute source material of |
| embassy officials' meetings with key | | | | immense importance to research scholars, |
| Pakistani figures of the time led to the | | | | historians, diplomats, students of History |
| National Security Study Memorandum 118, dated | | | | and International Affairs as well as the |
| February 16, 1971, which was issued by the | | | | general public. Having said that, it must be |
| National Security Council, advising the State | | | | borne in mind that these documents have been |
| and Defense departments and the CIA that the | | | | selected from among a large number of papers |
| "President has directed that an immediate | | | | available, and, as such, any concrete |
| contingency study be made of the alternative | | | | assessment of any subject that has come under |
| US postures towards a possible move in the | | | | discussion in the book will have to be made |
| East Pakistan toward secession." This study | | | | keeping in view the documents that have been |
| was to be completed not later than February | | | | left out for reasons of brevity or even |
| 26. All this, mind you, was being actively | | | | otherwise.While the readers must be grateful |
| discussed when the actual event was still a | | | | to Roedad Khan for having done what he has, |
| good ten months away!All this input, | | | | the importance of the Introduction written by |
| naturally, cannot be generated in the absence | | | | Jamshed Marker must not be forgotten. The |
| of willing and colluding local officials. For | | | | 23-page write-up gives the correct context to |
| instance, the note on President Yahya Khan's | | | | the accompanying 985 pages of official |
| visit to China in December 1970 repeatedly | | | | correspondence. Those who may fall to the |
| quotes Tabarak Hussain, who was | | | | temptation of skipping the Introduction and |
| director-general (Socialist countries) at the | | | | heading straight for the text would do so at |
| Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and had | | | | their own cost, for they will be making hasty |
| accompanied the president on the visit. The | | | | and inexact conclusions.The American Papers: |
| covering letter for the detailed note ends | | | | Secret and Confidential India, Pakistan, |
| thus: "Some of Hussain's comments to the | | | | Bangladesh Documents 1965-1973. Published by |
| reporting officer were made in `strict | | | | Oxford University Press, Karachi.The writer |
| confidence'. Please protect source."What | | | | is a senior Pakistani journalist, associated |
| might give a feeling of nausea to a | | | | at present with the largest circulate |
| discerning reader are the repeated and | | | | English-language newspaper of the country, |
| continued assurances handed out to American | | | | the daily Dawn, as its Assistant Editor. He |
| officials by almost every single key | | | | is based in Karachi. |
| Pakistani figure -- political or otherwise -- | | | | |