Amid Friction, Indian Army's Throwback Post On US' Arms Support To Pakistan

The Indian Army on Tuesday took a dig at the United States by sharing an old newspaper clip from 1971 showing how the country has supported Pakistan for decades. The post comes a day after President Donald Trump threatened India over its purchase of Russian oil, saying he will substantially raise tariffs on goods from India.

The clip, shared by the Eastern Command of the Indian Army, dated back to August 5, 1971. It showed how the US was supplying arms to Pakistan for decades in the buildup for the 1971 war. "This day, that year build up of war - August 5, 1971," the army captioned the post.

The newspaper clip mentioned the then Defence Production Minister VC Shukla's telling the Rajya Sabha about how the NATO powers and the Soviet Union had been contacted over the arms supply to Pakistan in the backdrop of Islamabad's armed aggression in Bangladesh. While the Soviet Union and the French government had denied supplying arms to Pakistan, the US continued its support, the report mentioned.

It also said that both the US and China sold arms to Pakistan at "throwaway prices" - indicating that Pakistan fought the 1971 war with India with weapons provided by the two countries.

The US, even now, has gone easy on Pakistan with its tariffs.

During his latest bid to reshape the global trade in favour of US businesses, Trump signed a new executive order slapping higher tariffs on dozens of countries - hours before the trade deal deadline on August 1. However, he slashed the tariffs on Pakistan, bringing it down to 19 per cent from the previous 29 per cent.

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