Army unearths 1971 newspaper clip on how US armed Pakistan
What's the story
The Indian Army took a jibe at the United States on Tuesday, posting an old newspaper clip from 1971 that showed how the country had supported Pakistan for years. The newspaper clipping showed that $2 billion worth of US arms had been shipped to Pakistan since 1954. The post comes a day after President Donald Trump warned India over its purchase of Russian oil, stating that he would significantly increase tariffs on Indian imports.
Twitter Post
Check out the post here
#IndianArmy#EasternCommand#VijayVarsh #LiberationOfBangladesh #MediaHighlights
— EasternCommand_IA (@easterncomd) August 5, 2025
"This Day That Year" Build Up of War - 05 Aug 1971 #KnowFacts.
"𝑼.𝑺 𝑨𝑹𝑴𝑺 𝑾𝑶𝑹𝑻𝑯 $2 𝑩𝑰𝑳𝑳𝑰𝑶𝑵 𝑺𝑯𝑰𝑷𝑷𝑬𝑫 𝑻𝑶 𝑷𝑨𝑲𝑰𝑺𝑻𝑨𝑵 𝑺𝑰𝑵𝑪𝑬 '54"@adgpi@SpokespersonMoD… pic.twitter.com/wO9jiLlLQf
Paper
What the clip said
The clip, shared by the Eastern Command, showed then-Defense Production Minister VC Shukla telling the Rajya Sabha about how NATO powers and the Soviet Union had been contacted about arms supplies to Pakistan in the wake of Islamabad's armed aggression in Bangladesh. The article said that the Soviet Union and the French government had denied supplying weapons to Pakistan, but the US kept supporting Pakistan. Last week, the US had also announced a 19% tariff on Pakistan, down from 29%.
Oil controversy
MEA defends oil imports amid US sanctions threat
For India, Trump reimposed 25% tariffs, accusing New Delhi of profiting from Russian oil. Later, Trump threatened "substantially" higher tariffs over India's purchase of oil from Russia, which New Delhi called "unjustified and unreasonable." On Tuesday night, India's Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said its decision to import oil from Russia is based on national interest and necessity. The ministry clarified that India turned to Russian supplies only after traditional oil-exporting nations diverted their output due to the Ukraine conflict.
Diplomatic rebuttal
Trade pact nations have with Russia
The MEA also pointed out that the US continues to import from Russia uranium hexafluoride for its nuclear industry, palladium for its EV industry, and fertilizers as well as chemicals. Furthermore, it said other nations also have trade pacts with Russia. "The European Union in 2024 had a bilateral trade of Euro 67.5 billion in goods with Russia. In addition, it had trade in services estimated at Euro 17.2 billion in 2023," it pointed out.