DECLASSIFIED BRITISH DOCUMENTS OF 1971 INDIA-PAKISTAN WAR
‘U.S. felt India planned to split West Pakistan’
The United States believed in 1971 that India was trying to dismember West Pakistan and had asked the then Soviet Union to restrain New Delhi, according to secret British official papers released by the Public Record Office in London, on Jan. 1. The papers from 30 years ago shed new light on the bloody confrontation between India and Pakistan that saw the breakup of Pakistan’s two separate territories, the flight of hundreds of thousands of refugees into India and the birth of the state of Bangladesh, Sanjay Suri reports.                                                                   More..
Richard Nixon Edward Heath
Indira Gandhi Yahya Khan
TOPIC OF THE WEEK
Young princes from Karoli and Himmet Nagar, Gujarat. Young royals were given rigorous training and education. Their day would begin early with a regimen of physical training, riding and sports such as archery, shooting, hockey, cricket and tennis. Till the children were old enough to attend day or boarding schools, they studied at home with tutors. They were given religious instruction and often taught several languages, court etiquette and rituals of official ceremonies. The day usually ended with formal or informal visits to parents and prayer sessions. (Photo: Courtesy, Roli Books) Whatever happened to Indian royalty?
What must it be like to have been born a royal and live like a commoner? In India, 562 royals are said to have ruled over 90 million people before World War II, while the British were still in India. Aug. 15, 1947, it was apocalypse of sorts. Overnight, they were powerless, with most of their wealth taken away. Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Home Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel drew up a blueprint, by which the independent royal enclaves had to accede to the Union, which promised a United India. In exchange, they got a privy purse ---- an annual maintenance allowance, like prodigal children. The privy purses were abolished in 1972.                                   More..
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