The declassified 1971 war papers narrate a curious story of the Pakistani ambassador to Argentina fetching up an hour-and-a-half late for his farewell dinner. B K Sanyal, then India’s ambassador to Argentina, in a 1969 note to New Delhi found this amiss but said the Pak ambassador had not acted irresponsibly. “In my view, the ambassador did not act irresponsibly, but went away with a brigadier to visit mule breeders who are chiefly located in the Cordoba and Pampas areas.”

Before the 1971 war, Pakistan bought mules from Argentina to beef up its logistics capability in Kashmir. The Pak ambassador’s conduct triggered a chain of communications. K Sankaran Nair, then joint director, R&AW, wrote on Septemer 24, 1969, to C B Muthamma, joint secretary (Americas): “The Pakistani army has raised four mountain regiments and are likely to raise four more. These have mountain guns carried on artillery mules over hilly terrain. Eight mountain regiments would require 3,000 mules. The regiments are meant for use in PoK.”

How US responded to the signs of war

The 1971 war papers document how the US mission in India packed off confidential documents to secure places during the conflict, asked its banks to be ready to close accounts of American citizens and discussed the possibility of the war being a long affair.

A letter written at the peak of the Indo-Pak war by the then IB chief gives an insight into the mindset of the US mission in India during the 1971 war. “Sensitive documents with various US missions in India have been sealed under instructions from the US government. Thereafter, the documents are to be sent partly to Colombo and partly to Kuala Lumpur,” Atma Jayaram, director IB wrote on December 13, 1971.