পাতা:বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্র (চতুর্দশ খণ্ড).pdf/৩১৪

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বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্রঃ চতুর্দশ খন্ড
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had any ideas of annexing the territory. For while the predominantly Moslem rebels were more than willing to accept help from India's Hindus across the border, they would undoubtedly look with a much colder eye on Indian efforts to bring about a fun political take-over. In fact. India appeared likely to inherit enough troubles just by acquiring an independent Bangladesh on its doorstep to discourage any thoughts of bringing it into the Indian fold.

 An international welfare case even in its palmiest days. East Bengal is in worse shape than usual as a result of the current tumuli. Its rickety communications network and minuscule industrial base have been all but destroyed. The region will plainly need massive infusions of Indian money and materials lo get back even minimal stability. Without that aid. Bangladesh could collapse into anarchy and become a focal point for Marxist radicalism on the subcontinent. Finally, though social scientists on both sides of the border discounted the theory, some government officials in New Delhi still feared that an independent Bengali state would fan the flames of India's own separatist movement in adjacent West Bengal.

 From the Indian point of view, however, there was no question that an independent Bangladesh would do far more good than harm. For starters, it would allow New Delhi at least to case the refugee problem somewhat. In the long run, the re-establishment of traditional trading patterns between East and West Bengal should hold some economic benefits for India. Bui most important of all the breakup of Pakistan would assure India's undisputed supremacy on the sub-continent. For with the loss of an estimated 60 per cent of its population. 50 per cent of its foreign exchange and 20 per cent of its tax revenue. Pakistan seemed likely to present little in the way a sustained military threat to the New Delhi government and appeared destined to wind up with just about as much diplomatic cloud as that wielded by neighboring Afghanistan.

China's Influence

 With the Pakistani counterweight safely out of the way. India would no doubt also seek to flex its political muscles beyond the limits of the sub-continent. Particularly in Asia. Mrs. Gandhi & Co. have their sights set on chiselling away at Peking's preponderant influence. The Indians have long resented playing diplomatic second fiddle to their Chinese, rivals, and in view of the international attention lavished upon the Chinese, the Foreign Office in New Delhi is smarting more than ever. “Why is Nixon treating China like a big power?” complained one Indian political scientist: “Because they have nuclear weapons? In 1960, we were as advanced as China in these weapons but we chose not to go on, in the interest of everyone. And now we are treated like stepchildren.' Obviously, even without nuclear weapons, India hopes to change that relationship soon.

 The U.S. itself faces an uphill fight to improve its own relations with South Asia. For in supporting the Pakistanis in the latest upheaval, however reluctantly, Washington clearly seems to have bet on the wrong team. As one American diplomat put it last week: “If there's an all-out war, the Indians will see us as being against them and the Paks will think we've betrayed them. Only the Russians have done their maths right. They know that any way you add West Pakistan's 60 million and the East's 80 million, it doesn't