পাতা:বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্র (ত্রয়োদশ খণ্ড).pdf/৭০৯

681 ংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্রঃ ত্রয়োদশ খন্ড exists a sizable bloc of Senators and Congressmen who are less known to you but who have already expressed themselves either individually or in the form of their action where in the last session of Congress they struck off Pakistan from the list of those who would receive aid in future. This is a tangible and concrete action, the only one that I can cite, of any significance, up to the present time. The new session of Congress is now meeting and we have agreed among ourselves to work for the adoption of resolutions and above all for refusal to vote monies which would be used for aid to Pakistan. Whether we shall be successful remains to be seen. It is very difficult to predict. In spite of anything which you may have heard, the American public opinion is overwhelmingly against the Pakistanis. If you have heard to the contrary, I am here to tell you that this is not so. The intellectuals, students, youths and others unquestionably know what is happening to the people of Bangladesh. Had it not been for public opinion, it would have been completely a different story. Finally, a word of caution. You must understand that the American people are now at the fag end of a very bitter and negative experience-the Vietnam story. They have reasons to believe or to hope that it will soon be over. Whether they are deceiving themselves once more or not, we cannot say, They certainly want it to be over. They want to see that it is over with the complete withdrawal of the American forces from Vietnam. Now this has its effect so far as Bangladesh is concerned and I think you can understand that. One Vietnam is more than enough-more than enough not in a decade but in a century so that when any question of conceivable or possible involvement in some other international sphere arises the reaction is one of withdrawal, of anxiety and of a wish, a conscious wish, not to have anything to do with it. I know and you know that there is no comparison between the Vietnam experience of America and what is going on in Bangladesh. That is true. But the mass of people cannot think on these lines and if they are approached in the wrong way and in any way that they feel can conceivably lead to some kind of a new military adventure they react very strongly against that. And I hope that is understood by all. But leaving that aside, I want to say again-this would be my last word-make no mistake about it. The American people have absolutely no sympathy for the Rawalpindi Regime. None at all. Any possible sympathy that Pakistan may have had in the United States was long since lost when the Generals and the leaders of that country persisted in insensible genocide. Nobody supports them as far as the general people are concerned. If the administration pursues the policy that it has pursued up to this time it is for other and completely different reasons-reasons which are alleged to be of strategic importance. The administration is trying to work out a fresh approach towards China. But you see, this split between public opinion not yet properly organized or mobilized, and the administration on political matters is a bogey which some of us realize in our own area. If those of us who are working for the Bangladesh cause succeed, and let us hope that we will succeed, the result would be that public opinion will once again assume the upper hand. That is what the issue in the future will be-particularly in next year's Presidential campaign. I cannot predict the outcome. I can only say that here is a growing number of