quarrel either with Pakistan or the people of Pakistan. But we feel that because of one person’s mistakes Pakistan is suffering. And, if we try just to bail that one person out, it will not be at the cost of India; it will be at the cost of Pakistan itself....
Question: If Pakistan were to succeed in ousting its remaining Hindus, what would happen to the sixty million Moslems in India?
Prime Minister: I trust and hope that they will be perfectly safe. Although we do have people who have some very wrong ideas, and we have had riots, which we feel a cause for great shame, the Government has been very firm on this matter. And I think that today all Indians, even those parties who do not normally support us in this. are supporting us in ensuring that peace is maintained in India and our minorities feel that they enjoy the rights and privileges which are theirs under our Constitution.
I said something about our not being against Pakistan. The Foreign Secretary has very rightly drawn my attention that I should make it clear that India has no designs on any territory of Pakistan. And I will add: or on any part of East Bengal. We certainly don’t want to provoke a war with Pakistan.
Question: What is your reaction to the defeat of the U.S. foreign aid bill?
Prime Minister: I think this is an internal matter which affects many countries.... (Laughter). I can’t prophesy the future. So I don’t really know what is going to happen to this. So far as India is concerned, we have welcomed help, and the help which we have received from this country has enabled us do many things which we could not otherwise have done. But little by little, we are becoming self-reliant and able to stand on our own feet.
And the real burden of development has been increasingly and overwhelmingly our own, built on the endeavor and the sacrifice of the people of India. Also, today, the foreign aid we get largely goes to repay what we got before. So, it does not really help us to do very much more.
Question: What impact will the improvement of United States relations with China have on India and on other Asian countries?
Prime Minister: It should have a good impact. Any relationship, if it is not against anybody else, increases the area of peace. And that is why we have welcomed this move. And we sincerely hope that one by one the various areas of tension in the world will be reduced.....
Question: Is your recent treaty with the Soviet Union completely compatible with the policy of non-alignment, such as was promoted by your father, Prime Minister Nehru?
Prime Minister: We think it is. And a few people who have commented on it-President Tito when he was in India, just before he came here-he also told us that he fully realized that it did not impinge on our non-alignment. And I believe that our friend Chou
