পাতা:বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্র (ত্রয়োদশ খণ্ড).pdf/৭০

42 ংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্রঃ ত্রয়োদশ খন্ড population and the cultivation of their land which is so vital to the food supply has not been as catastrophic as appeared. I believe that cultivation is going on. Nevertheless, although the formal war-if we are right to call it that-may be over, despite the desperate efforts of émigré groups and various individuals to maintain that it is still going on, an appalling problem of rehabilitation and political settlement remains. We must turn our minds to the future. Pacification, if it can be achieved, and a return to normality will take time. These wounds will not be healed readily, but two great tasks lie ahead. The first, clearly, is relief and rehabilitation, and the second is a political settlement, which has some hope of enduring. On the first, the main problem is the restoration of communications, which is much more accrue and urgent than the actual question of the availability of food and medical supplies-important though that is. The West Pakistan Government have said that the food supply position is not yet critical, but the distribution is. Therefore, I hope that the Government of Pakistan will be more flexible than they have been up to now in allowing in relief teams through whichever agency the United Nations, the Commonwealth or CENTO. All sorts of suggestions have been made along these lines. I like the CENTO suggestion, because, unlike ourselves, the powers involved are basically Muslim powers, and this could count in dealing with a highly emotional situation like this. But I hope that the Pakistan Government can be more flexible in the way in which they would be prepared to deal with possible teams of observers, in order to ensure that the supplies diverted for this purpose were properly and promptly distributed and to the right sort of recipients. I would urge them to consider this very seriously. I know that matters of national pride are at stake here and how prickly we can all be about them, but the important thing is to get the relief going and doing the task that it is intended for. As the Right Hon. Member for Leeds, East (Mr. Healey) said, if aid is being provided from international sources on a very large scale, it is reasonable and proper that those who supply that aid should be satisfied that the proper and intended use is being made of it. If I am right in thinking, and I am sure I am. that the immediate requirement is to get communications going again, then this means the provision of, for example, cement, railway lines and flat-bottomed boats, which are particularly useful on the myriad of creeks and rivers which are characteristic of the country, and we should not waste resources by supplying things that are not needed. In the recent hurricane, disaster on the coast of East Pakistan an enormous consignment of babies' milk bottles was included in the aid, teats and all. Everyone knows that every child in Pakistan is breast-fed. The recipients of these bottles did not know what to do with them. I accept that this was a well-intentioned mistake. However, it is important to see that the right kind of aid goes in, and initially it must be designed to restore communications, rebuild railways, culverts, and bridges and so Oj1. As for a political settlement, I am firmly on the side of those who say that there is no conceivable viability in an independent East Pakistan. [Interruption.] The idea of a