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