পাতা:বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্র (চতুর্থ খণ্ড).pdf/২৭১

241 বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিল : চতুর্থ খন্ড শিরোনাম সূত্র তারিখ মার্কিন যুক্তরাষ্ট্রের সরকার ও জনগণের প্রতি | আমেরিকান লীগ অফ বাংলাদেশ ১৫ এপ্রিল, বাংলাদেশের জনগণের আবেদন প্রকাশিত বুলেটিন Ֆի, ԳՖ AN APPEAL TO THE GOVERNMENT AND THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES FROM THE PEOPLE OF BANGLADESH Only four months ago the people of Bangladesh (formerly East Pakistan) experienced the greatest natural disaster of modern times when a cyclone hit the coastal areas. The utter apathy and criminal negligence of the military regime was witnessed by the whole world at that time. To-day the same military junta are enacting the greatest man-made human tragedy of modern era. A wholesale massacre of defenseless people by the army with machine guns and bombs has been going on for the past three days. Hospitals have been bombed, population centers razed to the ground, unarmed people mowed down in the streetsthis is the picture that has been given to the world press by foreign correspondents present in Dacca when the carnage began. It is a measure of the horrible intention of the military - that they have found it necessary to expel the foreign correspondents at gun point. What is taking place is a massacre without parallel in modern history. The people of Bangladesh are being systematically killed, because they have committed the crime of demanding that the military junta led by General Yahya hand over power to the elected representatives of the people. This promise was solemnly made by General Yahya when he illegally usurped power and was repeated before the General Assembly of the United Nations in October last year. The events of this month have made it clear, if there was any doubt, that the military junta have no desire to abdicate power to the people, or loosen their colonial grip over Bangladesh. They are determined that Bangladesh should continue to remain a colony and captive market for West Pakistan, even if it means decimating the population. The people of Bangladesh are no less determined to break themselves loose from a forced union with their oppressors from West Pakistan. Let there be no doubt as to the outcome of this contest of wills. They are equipped with modem weapons, we are equipped with invincible faith in our cause. They are mercenaries, we are freedom fighters. They are few, we are many. They are morally corroded, we are morally strong. They may win a few battles, but we will win the war. The struggle that is now going on in Bangladesh is part of the general world-wide movement for liberation from colonial domination. It is no different from the struggle that the American people waged against their distant rulers two centuries ago. Like the British colonies in America, East Pakistan is being bled white in the interests of alien