পাতা:বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্র (ত্রয়োদশ খণ্ড).pdf/৪৫৬

428 ংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্রঃ ত্রয়োদশ খন্ড শিরোনাম সূত্র তারিখ উপমহাদেশের পরিস্থিতি সম্পকে কংগেস | প্রতিনিধি পরিষদের কার্যবিবরণী । ৮ ডিসেম্বর, ১৯৭১ সদস্য মিঃ ই. গালাঘের- এর বক্তৃতা December 8, 1971 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE H 12039 The Situation on the Indian Subcontinent Mr. GALLAGHER. Mr. Speaker. I rise at this point to respond to certain remarks made by some of my colleagues earlier in the Foreign Aid debate about the blame for the crisis now gripping the Indian subcontinent. In May of this year, I held the first congressional hearings on the crisis in East Pakistan. I was the first Member of the Congress to view the refugee camps in India, and I authorized the House-passed restrictions on all aid to the Government of Pakistan. I have kept myself constantly informed on developments there. I think I speak now with some credentials on this matter and with special knowledge about the Indian sub-continent. Nothing could be further from the truth than to say that the fault in any possible degree belongs to India. And nothing could be contrary to India's national interest than the present tragedy of the dismemberment of Pakistan. BACKGROUND Since the army of Pakistan began its brutal sweep to overturn the result of a free and fair election inside East Pakistan-an election in which the Awami league won control of both wings of Pakistan by gaining 167 of the 313 seats contested nationwide-the root of the problem and the heart of the solution has been inside East Pakistan. India was drawn into the problem because refugees, now numbering 10 million, tied across her borders. What I saw when I visited the refugee camps cannot be understood simply through debate. The excellent coverage in newspapers, magazines, and recently on television speaks far more powerfully about the brutality and the wretched conditions of those who were forced to flee. India had no way in the world to close that border between herself and East Pakistan Except to fire into the refugees fleeing into her country. Certainly, no civilized people could exercise that option. These refugees were helpless, terrified people, some of whom. walked over 250 miles to escape the Pakistan soldiers who were murdering, looting, and raping innocent civilians who were their own countrymen. The territory of India completely surrounds East Pakistan, and in many places there is no way to determine where Pakistani territory ends and Indian territory begins. The only alternative to accepting these peoples would have been to immediately move machine guns into position along the border and annihilated, perhaps, 4 or 5 million of these refugees. But India, thank God is not that kind of country and she took the terrorized, starving Bengalis into her country. When I first requested information about the evolving tragedy which I said on May 11 in the opening statement to my Asian and Pacific Affairs Sub-committee "combined