Tweedie was denied commissions to cover the 1971 East Pakistan crisis and photographed Air India's in-flight meals at Heathrow Airport in order to obtain a ticket to Calutta (now Kolkata). She was contacted by "The Sunday Times" after the newspaper used a photograph of hers on one of its front pages. Tweedie and several colleagues travelled into East Bengal by rickshaw when India declared war on Pakistan. The group was arrested by the Indian Army who mistaken them for spies. They were imprisoned in a gaol and Tweedie was isolated in the women's section.