the jangly fastnesses of the delta, they have disrupted rail traffic, blown up road bridges, sunk river boats, blocked off channels, destroyed boatrepair yards. Transport is the lifeblood of the Army's occupation of East Bengal. If the Bangladesh Liberation Army can deny the West Pakistanis their lines of communication, they can eventually drive them out.
To the extent that the United States, acting in the name of a United Nations relief project, can restore the lines of communication, the grip of the Pakistan Army on East Bengal can be prolonged.
While the proposed rehabilitation team is carefully characterized as “international” and “under U.N. sponsorship,” the preeminent role of the United States Stands out clearly. The United States .has offered to contribute an initial $1 million to help the group organize and fly necessary equipment to Dacca. Radios and other items have been prepared for dispatch by air once the Pakistani Government's formal approval is received by the United States Agency for International Development. The. agency had several hundreds of employees on its roster in East Bengal. A considerable number of the Americans were evacuated in March and April, on the ground that the United States Government could not guarantee their personal safety under the Pakistan Army occupation.
That the United States has been able to persuade President Yahya Khan to accept its proposal is explained by the circumstance that in recent years the U.S. has forked over almost half of the $450 million a year of economic aid pumped into Pakistan by the so-called “consortium” of loan giving countries. Here the argument comes full circle. American action to shore up the unpopular ruling junta in Pakistan by massive injections of economic and military assistance ever since 1951, is justified ex post facto.
The mission dreamed up by the United States Government may serve to strengthen temporarily the Pakistan Army. In this case, the chances for restoring genuine order in East Bengal would be set back. No real relief and rehabilitation activities can be undertaken until the West Pakistan army withdraws from East Bengal, and the Bengalis become masters of their own destiny.
[Alice Thorner is lecturer on India at the University Paris VII and author of many studies on the Indian subcontinent. She was at Dacca until March 19, 1971.]
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