New Delhi: India could have settled the Kashmir issue once and for all prior to the signing of Shimla agreement as more than 95,000 Pakistani prisoners of war were in Indian custody, but lost the chance, veteran journalist Prem Prakash said.
Prakash who penned important memoirs of his 70-years-long active journalistic career in his book 'Reporting India: My Seventy-Year Journey as a Journalist' told ETV Bharat's senior reporter Gautam Debroy in an exclusive interview that China can never be trusted.
He said that after the 1962 war debacle, late Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru managed to rebuild the Indian army in 20 months.
Here are excerpts from the interview:
Q: Please tell us some important points of your book?
I have compiled in this book, the issues I have covered in my whole career. I was a young boy when the British were still in India and I have mentioned something about that in this book. When it comes to covering politics, my accreditation was done when I was only 31 years of age. Those days it was easy, and I got an easy appointment to cover a day in the life of Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. I was almost a household name in the Prime Minister's house. And I would admit that Pandit ji helped me in building my career - how to do interviews, filming and so on. It was a great moment, and then I started covering everything whether it was Pandit Ji's tenure, building projects, relationship with China, 1962 war, Pandit ji passing away, Shastri ji (Lal Bahadur Shastri) leaving for Tashkent, winning the 1965 war… In fact, I climbed with the army on the top of a hill while covering a war (as you can see me in the cover page of my book). I covered almost everything. As far as Narendra Modi or Dr Manmohan Singh are concerned, I mainly reported, though I was not in the field.
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Q: In your book you have mentioned that the then Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru felt guilty as India lost to China in the 1962 war.
It was not that he (Pandit Nehru) was guilty or surrendered to China. But he felt that the army should have been modernized. But the problem was that he had Krishna Menon as his defence minister. And somehow Krishna Menon and he (Pandit Nehru) do believe that the world after world war II horrors would not solve problems by war. Because of that, well, they did not modernize the Indian army and the army was equipped with only world war II weapons when it had to fight China.
Pandit ji was dealing with China all through politically to keep them away… But I tell you can never trust China as Chinese came out to fight. It crossed into the North East Frontier Area (NEFA), which is today's Arunachal. Our troops had to be flown all the way from Punjab and other plain areas. They somehow reached there and when they reached the top of Chela and started digging when the Chinese were already above us. Then came the Chinese weaponry and unfortunately it led to the defeat of Indian army out there.
Also remember, Krishna Menon had politicized (the war) and appointed a General (BM Kaul) who was not at all a fighting General. He was a general from the army's supply corps. He used to supply ration to the troops, he did not have any fighting experience. With that kind of a General you are bound to lose a war definitely!
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Q: If we talk about India's foreign policy in the past and present, what is your take?
You see, through the independence movement the nation has decided to have an independent foreign policy. And unfortunately, that independent foreign policy became non-alignment. We became victims of the cold war between the Soviet Union and the US because we have to align with this or align with that. And either side wanted us to be with them. We became victims of that, otherwise, our policy itself was not wrong. But, however, the world has changed. And therefore, India should have a policy taking care of its own interest. But remember after the 1962 war debacle, Pandit ji managed to rebuild the Indian army in 20 months.
I used to see him working late at night. And you can see the result that in 1967 when the Chinese again tried to fight with us at Nathula, we not only beat the Chinese, over 400 of them were killed and they had to withdraw 30 miles inside Tibet. Then India's General Sagat Singh declared a unilateral ceasefire so that Chinese could come and take away their bodies. Thus, Indian Army was left very strong before he passed away.
Q: You have extensively covered India's role in the Bangladesh liberation war. Tell us something about that.
The Bangladesh crisis began when Pakistan itself refused to recognize its own election. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in East Pakistan was elected the majority leader. And Bhutto (Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto) and the Pakistan army could not accept that he became the Prime Minister. So, that led to the struggle and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman declared loud and clear that ebar sangram mukti sangram (This fight is for liberation). Then the Pakistan army cracked down on them and over a million refugees came into India. Not only Hindus but Muslims also, especially those who were supporters of Awami League. India needs to take a stand. And accordingly, a decision was taken that these people have to go back. India will have to help them and have an independent Bangladesh! So, the day came mukti bahini fought and Indian Army demolished them in just 15 days.
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Q: You have said late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi faced criticism for signing the Shimla agreement before the Kashmir issue was sorted out?
Remember one thing, we had 93,000 Prisoners of War (PoW) from Pakistan. In fact, this was the biggest number of PoW after World War II. There was pressure on Pakistan to get them (PoW) back. Bhutto came with his daughter for talks in Shimla. Actually, we lost in brinkmanship as Bhutto kept promising that they would maintain a line of actual control along the Kashmir border and so on. I felt on the last day that the talks were finally broken down, as India was insisting on sorting out the Kashmir issue.
However, suddenly it was told to us that the agreement is going to be signed at night and it was signed without the Kashmir issue being settled. In fact, that was one occasion where we could have settled the issue for once and for all. We lost it!
