Indian Army posts ‘1971 newspaper article’ to shut US over support to Pakistan

The Indian Army on Tuesday indirectly criticised the United States by sharing a decades-old newspaper clipping from 1971 that highlighted America's historical military support to Pakistan.

The move came just a day after US President Donald Trump threatened to impose steep tariffs on Indian goods over its continued imports of Russian oil.

The clipping, posted by the Indian Army’s Eastern Command, was dated August 5, 1971, and featured a report from the Rajya Sabha.

#IndianArmy#EasternCommand#VijayVarsh #LiberationOfBangladesh #MediaHighlights

"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

— EasternCommand_IA (@easterncomd) August 5, 2025

Then Defence Minister VC Shukla had stated that while the Soviet Union and France had denied providing arms to Pakistan, the United States and China had been supplying weapons—allegedly at "throwaway prices".

The post was captioned: “This day, that year – build-up of war, August 5, 1971".

Trump this week signing an executive order increasing tariffs on several countries, while surprisingly reducing tariffs by 10 per cent on Pakistan—from 29% to 19%. In contrast, he warned India of a sharp tariff hike, citing Delhi's trade with Russia.

“India is not only buying massive amounts of Russian oil, they are selling it on the open market for big profits,” Trump wrote on his platform Truth Social.

“They don’t care how many people are dying in Ukraine. Because of this, I will substantially raise tariffs on Indian goods.”

India swiftly responded, criticising what it called an "inconsistent and selective approach" by Western countries, including the US and the EU.

It noted that India's oil imports from Russia were a "market necessity", initially even encouraged by the West after the Ukraine conflict began.