Taking a sharp swipe at the United States, the Indian Army on Tuesday posted a newspaper clip from August 5, 1971, recalling how America had supplied weapons to Pakistan in the lead-up to the Indo-Pak war. Captioned "This day, that year’s buildup of war, August 5, 1971," the post reminds of the decades-old US inclination towards Islamabad. The article quoted then Defence Production Minister VC Shukla in Rajya Sabha, revealing how NATO powers and the Soviet Union were consulted over Pakistan's arms build-up during its aggression in Bangladesh.
While France and the USSR denied arms support to Islamabad, the US and China reportedly supplied weapons to Pakistan at "throwaway prices."
Trump’s continued pressure
The Army’s post came just a day after US President Donald Trump ramped up pressure on India over its discounted oil imports from Russia amid the Ukraine war.
Trump threatened "substantially higher tariffs" on Indian goods, accusing New Delhi of profiting from Moscow’s oil despite Western sanctions.
What did Trump do?
Hours before the global trade deadline on August 1, Trump signed a sweeping executive order raising tariffs on dozens of nations. While India saw its tariffs hiked to 25%, Pakistan ironically received a reduction from 29% to 19%.
India calls Trump remarks ‘unjustified’
India's Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) hit back late Monday night, defending its energy trade with Russia. In a strongly worded statement, the ministry termed Trump's accusations "unjustified and unreasonable."
MEA clarified that India turned to Russian supplies only after traditional OPEC nations redirected output to Europe. "The US had, at that time, actively encouraged such imports to help stabilise global energy markets," the statement added.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump doubled down, "India has the highest tariffs and most obnoxious non-monetary trade barriers. We've done relatively little business with them." He also hinted at possible secondary sanctions on India over its energy ties with Moscow.
