ABSTRACT
Throughout the liberation struggle, the Pakistani army committed serious human rights violations, yet the United Nations (UN) was unable to stop the suffering of millions of people in Bangladesh because it can be effective only when the five permanent members of the Security Council (UNSC) act together. At the time, the UNSC was a house divided along the lines of Cold War geo-politics. The UN’s failure to initiate preventive diplomacy is highlighted here. The UN, during the Liberation War, was a forum for discussing but not resolving the 1971 conflict. The UNSC’s proposals of immediate ceasefire and falling back to pre-war locations were thrice vetoed by the USSR. The Polish Resolution (15 December 1971), which apparently had the backing of the USSR, gave India no choice but to finish the war and liberate Bangladesh through blitzkrieg operations.
