Reluctant to hear anything against then Pakistan president Gen Yahya Khan and his army ahead of the 1971 war, the then US President Richard Nixon branded his own envoy to India as a “traitor” and an “Indian mouthpiece”, a new book on declassified documents says.
In fact, Nixon wanted to fire Kenneth B Keating, the then US Ambassador to India, because he refused to tow his line and instead had the courage and strength to speak the truth to the President that his closest ally Pakistan was indulging in a genocide, says the book ‘The Blood Telegram: Nixon, Kissinger, and a Forgotten Genocide’.
The book is authored by Gary Bass, who is a professor of politics and international affairs at Princeton University.
“Nixon said, ‘Keating’s a traitor’ and told (the then Secretary of State Henry) Kissinger that they should fire the ambassador.