পাতা:বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্র (চতুর্দশ খণ্ড).pdf/৭৮৩

751 বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্রঃ চতুর্দশ খন্ড East Bengal decide their own future; the fact had better be faced that no political compromise can work after what has happened in East Bengal during the past two months. Yet the big Powers seem still to think that some kind of accommodation is possible, perhaps because they are not prepared to accept the alternative to a political settlement. Apparently, they fear the prospect of West Pakistan moving closer to China, as if Western and Russian help to Islamabad has done anything so far to discourage such movement. Apparently it is also being argued that disintegration of Pakistan would upset the balance of power on the subcontinent and promote instability in the eastern region. Much mischief has been done in the name of maintaining an artificial balance of power; the tragic events in East Bengal are a direct consequence of the support which West Pakistan has received over the years for maintaining this balance. And the argument that a free, and presumably weak, West Bengal would encourage subversive activity over a wide region is superficial. The scope for such activity would be much greater if the East Bengal freedom movement turned into an underground guerilla struggle for an indefinite period. Even if the West Pakistani military administration is able to re-establish full authority in East Bengal, pockets of guerrilla resistance will remain; the greater will be the chance of both their leadership and their objectives undergoing a radical change. Should such a situation develop, the Chinese might not remains a anxious to see Pakistan's territorial integrity preserved as they seem now; whatever its recent statements may seem to imply. Peking has not really closed its long term options.