পাতা:বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্র (চতুর্দশ খণ্ড).pdf/২২১

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বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্রঃ চতুর্দশ খণ্ড
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suspended; but when three ships were discovered to be carrying U.S. military equipment to Pakistan any way, the State Department explained that it intended only to honor licenses already issued. Over the years, it is estimated that close to $1 billion has been provided for military assistance alone.

 The U.S. may well have to do some re-thinking of its Pakistan Policy. In a recent interview with Time, former French Culture Minister Andre Malraux warned that before long, “you in the United States will, have a big new problem in Asia: Bengal. It will be like Vietnam, except that there are 78 million Bengalees (in Pakistan). The Bengalees are nationalists, not Maoists. But the present serene attitude of the U.S. will have to change".

Condoning genocide

 India is particularly incensed over the present U.S. policy and Prime Minister Mrs. Indira Gandhi strongly protested to Henry Kissinger about U.S. military shipments when he visited New Delhi this month. The supply of arms by any country to Pakistan, Foreign Minister Swaran Singh charged last week. “amounts to condo nation of genocide". Mrs. Gandhi is faced both with mounting pressure for military action, and an awesome cost that could set her own economy back for many years. India is feeding the refugees for a mere 1.10 rupees per person per day, but even that amounts to more than $1,000,000 a day. The first six months alone, Indian officials say, will cost $ 400 million. Contributions pledged by other countries (the U.S. leads with $73 million) equal barely one-third of that-and much of that money has not yet actually been paid.

 Still, it would hardly, be cheaper to launch a war and get it over with, as some high level Indians openly suggest. Hours after Indian troops marched into East Pakistan, Pakistani tanks and troops could be expected roll over India's western border. Moreover, fighting could spread over the entire sub-continent. For all of India's commitment “to Bangladesh, democracy and those who are fighting for their rights", in the words of Mrs. Gandhi, New Delhi is not at all interested in taking on the burden of East Bengal's economic problems. The only answer, as New Delhi sees it, is a political solution that would enable refugees to return to their homes.

 The impetus for that could conceivably come from West Pakistanis. It is still far from certain that they are really determined to go the distance in a prolonged war. Thus far, the war has been officially misrepresented to the people of the west as a mere “operation" against “miscreants." Tight censorship allows no foreign publication containing stories about the conflict to enter the country. Even so, as more and more soldiers return home badly maimed, and as younger officers are brought back in coffins (enlisted men are buried in the East), opposition could mount. The pinch is already being felt economically, and there have been massive layoffs in industries unable to obtain raw materials for lack of foreign exchange.

Immense suffering

 Meanwhile, the food supply in East Pakistan dwindles, and there is no prospect that enough will be harvested or imported to avert mass starvation. August is normally a big harvest month, but untold acres went implanted in April, when the fighting was at its height. Already, peasants along the rain swept roads show the gaunt faces, vacant stares.