leaders have urged Bengali farmers to plow under their jute and plant rice to feed the “liberation fighters”, and the jute industry is in massive disarray, some processing mills having been destroyed in the fighting. Pakistan has a $ 3 million debt to the World Bank coming due in June, with no country as yet rushing to bail out Yahya's foundering government. But in its efforts to stop Communism in East Bengal, the U. S. may put its bets on the central government. By further mortgaging the Pakistan economy, the U.S. could open Pakistan to greater penetration by American private capital.
All in all, it seems unlikely that the Army can bold out through the monsoon season in East Bengal without causing tremendous unrest in West Pakistan. To satisfy the demands of the more rational elements among the West Pakistani elite, Yahya Khan will probably abdicate in favor of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, leader, of the West Pakistani People's Party and the winner in West Pakistan in the December elections.
Bhutto was foreign minister of Pakistan during the parliament of Ayub khan, resigning in 1966 in protest of the agreement ending the Indo-Pak war. A large landholder who talks of socialism-nationalizing banks, insurance and basic industry Bhutto promises in the same breath an atmosphere “conducive” to private ownership in industry. Disliked by the East Bengalis. Bhutto is not totally popular in West Pakistan, either. The Times of India reports that demonstrations against Bhutto have been staged recently by workers and students in a number of Punjabi towns.
But whoever rules Pakistan in the next few months on years, East Bengal Bangladesh-is now in the first stages of people's war, with no outside support, no arms, no military training-just some seventy-five million people united behind independence. As leadership passes from the Awami League to more radical forces, China will probably offer concrete support. But whether or not this happens Bangladesh will probably wit its independence. As one NAP leader told T.J.S. George of the Far Eastern Economic Review, “We don't worry whether China openly support us or not, whether Russia tries to mediate, or America tries to replace Yahya Khan; we have to wage our own battle, and we are sure to win.”
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