U. S. equipment) which have been provided to the West Pakistan Army via Italy trough Iran speak more loudly than hopes and wishes for peace. Our direct involvement is so very obvious at every turn and so one-sided it is hard to understand any statement that suggests that we are not directly intervening, specifically on one side in this violent civil war. A simple rerouting of military assistance does not in any way reduce our responsibility.
There is of course no question that the Central Government of Pakistan experts De Jure control; however, there is an enormous body of data that suggests De Facto control is entirely moot. Why are truckloads of dead West Pakistan Army troops still rolling back to Dacca under the cover of darkness? How can the most established and safest of the large river steam-ships be taken over by the Bangladesh fighters, and last week shipments of Jute destroyed on the main waterways? Why in over two months hasn't any shipment of food grain arrived in the entire area affected by the cyclone of last November? Why is nothing moving through the main port city of Chittagong? Why can't the Army drive vehicles from Dacca to Chittagong? Why everyday are villages being burned and their occupants killed if control is a fact?
Particularly malignant in this chaotic picture is the emergence of an openly avowed policy of disposing of all “Hindu miscreants". Isn't it clear that if such a policy persists that India will have to intervene if are unable to take a decisive stand? Do we really want to foster a war between India and Pakistan? These are clearly not times for “normal” diplomatic practices when these practices by default seem to be leading inexorably toward famine and a major war on the Indian subcontinent.
It is of course a totally inaccurate statement to say that economic aid does not support the military activities in freeing funds which would otherwise have to be used for civil needs, as you are very well aware. It is also public knowledge that there has been major diversion of humanitarian relief goods to military purposes, You know that the 50 assault craft that were to be used for relief of the cyclone-devastated areas are being used for military purposes. The Government of West Pakistan doesn't think this diversion important enough not to publish pictures of these boats in their newspapers showing Punjabi soldiers out to punish “Hindu miscreants”.
With regard to humanitarian and relief activities, the testimony of USAID officials before the House of Representatives last week acknowledged that even with full international action now there will be one million starvation deaths within East Pakistan. People familiar with the patterns of behavior in times of famine know that starving masses move toward food. Deaths along the roads during such movements characterized the Bengal famine of 1943. If the proposed infusion of aid to be thrust in on the Indian side of the border is carried out, in addition to the hundreds of thousands of Bengalis fleeing from the onslaughts of the army, later will come millions seeking food. India cannot and will not stand this for very sound reasons. This then seems a dangerous and unworkable solution. It makes little sense from any point of view to be on the one hand supporting the systematic annihilation of the 10 million “Hindu miscreants” within East Pakistan, while on the other hand offering “humanitarian” assistance to those shocked and battered survivors that make it across the border to India. It is obvious that with the
