Abstract
The liberation war of Bangladesh in 1971 was a watershed moment in the page of South Asian history and the trajectories of the then Cold War politics. Although many people of East Pakistan jumped into the liberation war taking whatever they had in hand inspired with the flammable 7th March speech of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and started guerilla fight against West Pakistan army, the then Indira Gandhi government sent Indian military in favor of East Pakistan was also vital. It is till now a matter of interest that why Indira Gandhi sent military for liberating Bangladesh despite many studies have been carried out on this issue. Therefore, this paper attempts to investigate the factors causing Indian military involvement in liberating Bangladesh from West Pakistan. In doing so, this article applies Kenneth Waltz’s three levels of analysis- Individual, State and International. Moreover, this paper focuses on the conceptualization of the Level of Analysis and describes the background of the liberation struggle of East Pakistan and the Indo-Pakistan dissension. Based on secondary data, this paper takes the Indian military involvement as a case study of the Level of Analysis. By sincere exploration of previous history and utilization of Waltz’s Level of Analysis in International Relations, it is found that the shrewd leadership of Indira Gandhi, the internal organization of India, and the then bipolar system were vital factors influencing the Indian military involvement in the 1971 crisis of East Pakistan. It is also argued that the military involvement of India was shaped by the combination of the three levels of analysis.
Highlights
In 1971, the liberation war of East Pakistan ( Bangladesh) influenced the regional political landscape and the global context
Agarwal contends in reality what happened during the liberation war in the SubContinent was determined by the Soviet Union vs. the United States of America and China. He further shows that inefficacy of the United Nations (UN) during the independence war of East Pakistan was the reflection of the realities of the Cold War politics [5]
The people of East Pakistan were ignored from the actual political framework of Pakistan and they were even vehemently marginalized by the West Pakistani rulers in economic and educational sectors and military services
Summary
In 1971, the liberation war of East Pakistan ( Bangladesh) influenced the regional political landscape and the global context. He further shows that inefficacy of the United Nations (UN) during the independence war of East Pakistan was the reflection of the realities of the Cold War politics [5]. The aim of the study is to examine the reasons of the Indian military intervention into the 1971 East Pakistan crisis through the three levels of analysis of Professor Kenneth Waltz: Individual, State, and International. By sincere exploration of previous history and utilization of Waltz’s Level of Analysis in International Relations, it is found that the shrewd leadership of Indira Gandhi, the internal organization of India, and the bipolar system were the vital factors influencing the Indian military involvement in the 1971 crisis of East Pakistan. The article highlights the value of Waltz’s Level of Analysis in International Relations as it provides great empirical evidence for the theoretical tool with the reference of the particular case of the Indian military participation
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