পাতা:বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্র (চতুর্দশ খণ্ড).pdf/৯৫৮

926 বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্রঃ চতুর্দশ খন্ড "Since our cantonments are far from the borders, it is not possible for India to move her troops backwards over just a little distance. Pakistan can do this for its cantonments are close to the borders and it can bring the troops quickly up to the border. If we are attacked, who will give us the guarantee that our lost land would be restored to us 7" she said. If Pakistan withdrew its troops from East Bengal, there would be no war. The bringing of these troops to Bangladesh had been the cause of so much trouble, Mrs. Gandhi commented. She said a suggestion had been mooted in some quarters that U.N. observers be posted in East Bengal. She wondered of what help this would be. "Will they be able to ensure the return of the refugees 7" The refugees say that they will go back to Bangladesh only when it is free and there is peace there. The Prime Minister thought that the first task was to bring peace to that strife torn land. People were still being killed there and women raped. Mow can we "ask the refugees to go back at this stage, although their stay in India is a burden on us as we are a poor nation." During her foreign tour, she was given the impression that there might be a political solution of the East Bengal problem. But if the Big Powers had tried to find any solution, it had not yet yielded any result. Pakistan was threatening India. "I had waited for several month, but there had been no solution to the problem." Referring to the role of some Big Powers, Mrs. Gandhi said these countries had the impression that Asian countries were still their "slaves." But India was no longer what it was before independence or even what it was five years ago. Five years ago, questions were being asked whether India could remain united or whether democracy in this country would survive. But such doubts had now been dispelled. There was a new self-confidence in the country. If anyone through that India would be unable to act in its national interest, he was badly mistaken. If the Big Powers give us any help, it is well and good and we will accept it with gratitude. But if they do not, let them know that India is today in a position to stand on its own legs and does not have to look towards others for support, the Prime Minister remarked. "It has been said of me." Mrs. Gandhi stated, "that I am rather obstinate. But to stop the genocide in East Bengal is not a matter of my obstinacy. It is in our national interest to save the 75 million people of Bangladesh from being decimated. It is certainly in the interest of Bangladesh also. Pakistan had been pampered by some countries who had been supplying weapons. This had increased its belligerency towards India. She did not think that the leaders of Pakistan were following the correct policy because they were being made to do things which was not in their national interest.