পাতা:বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্র (চতুর্দশ খণ্ড).pdf/২২২

190 বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্রঃ চতুর্দশ খন্ড pencil limbs and distended stomachs of malnutrition. Millions of Bangalis have begun roaming the countryside in quest of food. In some hard-hit locals, people have been seen eating roots and dogs. The threat of starvation will drive many more into India. Unless a relief programme of heroic proportions is quickly launched, countless millions may die in the next few months. Yahya's regime is not about to sponsor such an effort. His latest federal budget, adopted last week, allocates S 6 out of every $ 10 to the West, not the East; in fact, the level of funds for Bengal is the lowest in five years. The U.S. still fretful about driving Yahya deeper into Peking's embrace is seen unlikely to provide the impetus for such a programme. Tagore once wrote: Man's body is so small, His strength of suffering so immense. but in golden Bengal how much strength can man summon before the small body is crushed? Good Soldier Yahya Khan Pakistan's General Agha Mohammad Yahya Khan bad been settled in President's House in Rawalpindi for a full year before he finally agreed to hold a press conference for foreign newsmen. When be entered the packed drawing room where the first conference was held 14 months ago, he immediately let loose a few choice expletives about the hot TV lights. A trembling technician quickly switched them off. Then Yahya started in on the journalists. "Don't play politics with me," he snapped in his characteristically gruff bass, "because I'll play politics with you." Yahya, 54, runs his country pretty much the same way-with impatience, illdisguised contempt for bungling civilians, and a cultivated air of resentment about having let himself get involved in the whole messy business in the first place. When Ayub Khan yielded the presidency to him two years ago. Yahya switched from Khaki to dark business suits, which he still wears with obvious discomfort. As if to emphasize his longing for the barracks, he occasionally carries a swagger stick and misses no chance to play the simple, straight-talking soldier. On The Slow Flow of Cyclones Aid to East Pakistan Last Winter: "My government is not made up of angels." On Pakistan's Fiscal Problems: "I inherited a bad economy and I'm going to pass it on." On His Mission: "I'll be damned if I'll see Pakistan divided." On His Mandate: "The people did not bring me to power. I came myself." Few Pakistanis knew anything about Yahya Khan when he was vaulted into the presidency two years ago. The stock, bushy-browed Pathan had been army chief of staff since 1966. Half a dozen high-ranking generals were deeply disturbed about the avuncular Ayub Khan's willingness to permit a return of parliamentary democracy, despite his own comment that politicians behaved like "five cats tied by their tails." When a weary Ayub stepped aside in March 1969 in the wake of strike and student riots that focused on wages, educational reform and a host of other issues, the generals eagerly imposed martial law. In his first speech as President. Yahya delighted his military sponsors by declaring that the country was at "the edge of an abyss." What really