And under Soviet influence, Afghanistan invaded us twice and intensified the Pashtunistan issue. Thankfully, the problem subsided in the 1960s, but that didn't mean we were still under threat. By the 1970s, we had already lost East Pakistan, and were incredibly demoralized. Afghanistan entering Soviet hands would be capable of dealing a deadly blow.
Okay, I expect you to read fully. I can go into further details then if required.
Pakistan saw an enemy in the Soviets because the Americans wanted to, a classic case of biting off more than one can chew. There was a cold-war going on between Americans and the Soviets, nothing to do with Pakistan, unless Pakistan identified itself as a party. If Pakistan decides to get involved then it should be able to take on the repercussions as well, don't you think ? I'm surprised at your notion that you make an enemy out of somebody and then expect him not to react.
I don't deny that the Pakistani administration played a role in what happened in 1971, but armed leftist-leaning separatist armies don't appear magically, no matter the circumstances. Especially during the '70s when the Soviet Union was at its peak.
Left-leaning is essentially not a bad thing or something to be looked down upon. If the idea is mandated by the people, then who are we to say any different ?
Those were the times of a great power struggle between the two great powers of the World. Back in those days, if you sent a post card to the American Information Centre in Delhi or Kolkata, they would send you a whole box of material describing US, its society, culture and achievements, with beautiful pictures. Specially the NASA pictures were nice. You send a post card to the Soviet Office and they would do the same thing. My father had them both. There were books of Soviet publications, Vostok, Mir, all available in wide circulation, translated not only into English, but Hindi and Bengali as well. The Americans did the same thing. Now what is this ? This is their propaganda machinery at work.
Everybody wanted to increase their sphere of influence and well within their rights to do so, both Soviets and Americans. You, my friend, have to understand one thing here, there cannot be a propagation of an ideology or influence, without active support from people on the ground.
There was active supporter of Communism in East Pakistan, yes. The question that needs to be asked is do you perceive it as a bad thing ? If yes, then why ? If you know why, then whose responsibility it is to do something about it ? We also have maoist rebels in our country. Do we complain to China about it ? It's the Chinese ideology and we don't expect the whole World to see things through our eyes. Best we can do is deal with it internally.
Stop blaming others for your own problems.
Pinning the blame on somebody doesn't solve the problem, it just creates an enemy out of an adversary.
East Pakistan broke away more due to internal conflicts than for anything else. If their issues had been addressed properly then it would not have happened. At that time, about 53 % of the Pakistani population was Bengali, so they were the majority ethnic race. They decided to ditch the decision that was taken 24 years back and create an identity based on linguistic characteristics, rather than religion. Incidentally, the day Bangladesh was created, that was the day the 'Two Nation Theory' was drowned in Bay of Bengal.