Khan's administration was responding to an insurrection launched by Communist guerillas (the ''Awami League''), armed with Indian weapons and demanding independence for East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), with a massive campaign of violence dubbed "''Operation Searchlight.''" India was exploiting these internal tensions within Pakistan as part of a divide-and-rule strategy; it hoped for Pakistan's division into smaller Indian proxy states that could be played against one another and used the violence committed by Pakistani forces as a possible pretext for military intervention in Pakistani affairs. | Khan's administration was responding to an insurrection launched by Communist guerillas (the ''Awami League''), armed with Indian weapons and demanding independence for East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), with a massive campaign of violence dubbed "''Operation Searchlight.''" India was exploiting these internal tensions within Pakistan as part of a divide-and-rule strategy; it hoped for Pakistan's division into smaller Indian proxy states that could be played against one another and used the violence committed by Pakistani forces as a possible pretext for military intervention in Pakistani affairs. |