From The Past Pages Of Dawn: 1950: Seventy-five years ago: Calcutta conspiracy
KARACHI: Information available in Karachi up to date from a number of reliable sources now confirms that recent events in West Bengal culminating in the Second Calcutta Killing were the result of a gigantic conspiracy in which high Indian authorities were directly involved. … New Delhi was worried by a number of trends and events: (a) India was losing the propaganda war regarding Kashmir. … The Security Council might take some action not to the liking of India; (b) India’s trade war against Pakistan had failed. East Pakistan’s jute trade, considered by India to be most vulnerable, had survived the Indian boycott. … (c) dissatisfied Hindu elements in West Bengal … were giving more … trouble to the West Bengal and the Indian Central Governments.
New Delhi therefore evolved a “master plan.” The objectives were: (1) to create a new situation which would divert world attention from Kashmir to the Eastern side of the Indo-Pakistan sub-continent; (2) to create new and tremendous difficulties for the Government of East Pakistan and the Central Pakistan Government which might result in a slackening of counter measures against India’s trade war… .
Published in Dawn, February 23rd, 2025