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With 1971 war ammo, Indian Army fires back at US over Russian oil hypocrisy

With 1971 war ammo, Indian Army fires back at US over Russian oil hypocrisy

India Today18 hours ago
As tensions rise over US President Donald Trump's warning against India's imports of Russian oil, the Indian Army took a not-so-subtle dig by revisiting a decades-old chapter in history to put the spotlight on American military aid to Pakistan during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War.The Army's Eastern Command shared a newspaper clipping dated August 5, 1971, detailing US weapons supplies to Pakistan in the lead-up to the war. The post was captioned, "This day, that year build up of war - August 5, 1971." The headline of the clipping read, "US arms worth $2 billion shipped to Pakistan since '54."advertisementThe article was about then Defence Production Minister VC Shukla's address in Parliament, mentioning that while France and the Soviet Union had denied selling arms to Pakistan, the US continued supplying weapons.#IndianArmy#EasternCommand#VijayVarsh #LiberationOfBangladesh #MediaHighlights"This Day That Year" Build Up of War - 05 Aug 1971 #KnowFacts.". $2 '54"@adgpi@SpokespersonMoD pic.twitter.com/wO9jiLlLQf— EasternCommand_IA (@easterncomd) August 5, 2025
Shukla also accused Nato powers of overlooking Islamabad's aggression in Bangladesh. The piece claimed that both the US and China had sold weapons to Pakistan at 'throwaway prices,' implying that Islamabad fought the 1971 war with American and Chinese weapons.The Army's post comes just 24 hours after Trump threatened New Delhi with higher levies if India continued buying Russian oil. The mercurial leader said he would 'substantially raise tariffs on goods from India' beyond the current 25 per cent if India didn't back off its energy ties with Moscow.INDIA PUSHES BACKIndia responded to Trump's threats with a sharply worded rebuttal, taking apart Washington's own double standards. New Delhi ponted out that the US had 'actively encouraged such imports' from Russia in the early months of the Ukraine war, when energy prices were skyrocketing.The Ministry of External Affairs also pushed back at the European Union's criticism of Indian crude exports, saying Indian purchases were 'a necessity compelled by the global market situation.'It added that several countries targeting India were themselves 'indulging in trade with Russia' even though 'such trade is not even a vital compulsion.'PAKISTAN GETS A PASSEven as Trump threatens India with steeper duties, he has gone soft on Pakistan. In his latest executive order, he reduced tariffs on Pakistani goods from 29 per cent to 19 per cent, while raising rates for dozens of other nations, including India. The announcement came just before the August 1 deadline.The tariff relief follows a flurry of engagements between Islamabad and the Trump camp. On June 18, Pakistan's Army chief Gen Asim Munir enjoyed a private lunch with Trump at the White House, barely a month after a brief military conflict with India.Later, in July, Trump branded India a 'dead economy' and announced a raft of trade deals with Pakistan. Even as Indian officials warily eyed the growing bonhomie between Islamabad and Washington, the US President suggested that India might one day buy oil from Pakistan, which added to the diplomatic frost in India-US ties.- EndsTune InMust Watch
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