পাতা:বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্র (ত্রয়োদশ খণ্ড).pdf/৪১৫

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বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্রঃ ত্রয়োদশ খণ্ড
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 The situation in East Bengal should particularly distress Americans, since it is our military hardware........... our guns and tanks and aircraft delivered over a decade.......... which are contributing substantially to the suffering. And even more shocking is the fact that these military supplies continue to flow......... apparently under instructions from the highest officials of our land. Pakistani ships loaded with U. S. military supplies continue to leave American harbors bound for West Pakistan troops. And it is all so shameful and so sad. For they could be halted with a simple stroke of a pen.

 It is argued that the continuation of military aid to West Pakistan somehow gives us “leverage” to constructively influence the Pakistan military's policy in East Bengal. Well, where is that leverage? Where is the leverage to stop the use of U. S. arms which produce the refugees and civilian victims that we then must help support in India? Where is the leverage to halt the secret trial of Sheikh Mujib whose only crime is that he won a free election? Where is the leverage to prevent our humanitarian aid from being turned into military equipment, when American relief boats are transformed into American gun boats? Why, if we have the leverage to influence the government of Pakistan, must our great nation assist in this shabby and shameful enterprise?

 It is time for Americans to ask their leaders: “Just what kind of government is it that we seek to influence........ and for what purpose?”

 For over ten tragic years, Americans have been asked to sacrifice nearly $100 billion and 45,000 lives to uphold the concept of self-determination and democratic principles in a land 10,000 miles from our beaches. Today,......... in a land 12,000 miles away and with 5 times the population........ America is being asked by its leadership to support the repression of self-determination....... to cooperate in a conspiracy against the results of a free election.

 Consider another pitiful parallel: after all our sacrifice and our effort in South Vietnam, we are confronted with a so-called “democracy” that is ruled by a military elite which still cannot conduct a free election"—which calls an election “free” when it eliminates all significant opposition. Meanwhile, in East Bengal-less than 2000 miles from Saigon-we ignore the results of a free election only to help a group of generals suppress an electoral mandate and, in the process, to subvert all the principles for which we have sacrificed so much for so long.

 You may say that we have no business getting involved...that we cannot police the world. That may be true. But the cold fact is that we already are involved in East Bengal. Our guns are involved, our money............... invested over two decades of economic assistance...is involved. It is not a question of whether we should be involved but, rather how we should be involved. It is not a question of whether we should spend funds but rather, how are we spending funds. Whether we supply more guns, or invest in the humanitarian programs to bring peace and relief to a desperately troubled area.

 There is irony in the voices of the leaders of East Bengal with whom I talked and who now constitute themselves as the Government of Bangladesh. These leaders will not come to America to ask for assistance. As one Awami League official said: “Many nations and people come to America to ask for billions of U. S. dollars for more guns.