The Indian Army on Tuesday shared an archival newspaper clip from August 5, 1971, highlighting decades of US military support to Pakistan. The Eastern Command’s post comes a day after US President Donald Trump threatened to substantially raise tariffs on Indian goods over New Delhi’s continued purchase of Russian oil.
The 1971 newspaper extract detailed then Defence Production Minister VC Shukla’s statement in the Rajya Sabha about global arms supplies to Pakistan in the run-up to the Indo-Pak war. While the Soviet Union and France denied any such support, the US continued to arm Pakistan, with both the US and China allegedly providing weapons at “throwaway prices.”
The post drew parallels to the present, where the US recently reduced tariffs on Pakistan from 29% to 19% while warning India of steep hikes. Trump, in a Truth Social post, accused India of profiting from reselling Russian oil despite the ongoing war in Ukraine and pledged to impose tariffs higher than the existing 25%.
India’s foreign ministry responded by pointing out that Washington had initially encouraged Russian oil imports after the Ukraine conflict began. The ministry also noted that European nations, while criticising India, continue substantial trade with Russia, including record LNG imports in 2024. Official figures cited EU–Russia trade at €67.5 billion in goods and €17.2 billion in services in 2023, far exceeding India’s trade volume with Moscow.
