পাতা:বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্র (দ্বাদশ খণ্ড).pdf/৬৭২

\:)8\:) বাংরাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্রঃ দ্বাদশ খন্ড after the words, 'to establish diplomatic relations with it', the words to give military and other assistance to it be inserted." The questions were proposed. SHRI M.C. CHAGLA (Maharashtra):Mr. Chairman, I think it is agreed on all hands that what has been happening in Bangladesh is not only a crime but a tragedy. History has known many dark ages. History is full of deeds which make our blood curdle. But I think what has happened in Bangladesh is practically unprecedented. Every principle of international law, every purpose that is writ large in the United Nations Charter, every convention of human rights has been violated, crushed under feet, deliberately without any compunction, without any justification. I do not think history records in the long period in which history has been written, a spectacle so horrible, so inhuman, so reveling, as the one that we have been witnessing in Bangladesh. And the question I want to ask myself is -- I will try to be brief as possible because I know many want to participate in this debate-how has India reacted to this crime? I will deal with how others have reacted. But our interest and our concern is to find out how India has reacted. When this shaking crack-down as it is called was reported to India the Prime Minister instinctively reacted to it with horror and disgust. I very often found that honorable Prime Minister's first instincts are sound. But then something happens. And in this case the instinct was converted into hard thinking, into considering the pros and the cons, in balancing the interests of our country, the prejudices of other countries, and so on. I say this with respect to my very great friend, the honorable External Affairs Minister. This is what always happens when the External Affairs Ministry gives advice. I know the Minister fairly well and I can say that the officers of that Ministry are loyal, devoted, able and competent. Butand this is an important 'but -the Ministry suffers from the defect which every bureaucracy suffers, and that defect is that they believe in the status quo, they believe in precedents, they believe in pouring over tones of international law, and so on. And they found there was no precedent for what has happened. Sir, how, can there be a precedent of what has happened in Bangladesh? What has happened is that a lawfully constituted Government, a Government elected through the ballot box, has been subverted by a minority by the most violent means that history has ever known. You will note that this is not a case of secession. If anybody has seceded, it is not Mujibur Rahman, but Yahya Khan because as a result of election Mujibur Rahman would have been the Prime Minister of Pakistan. But Yahya Khan could not brook this. Therefore, the majority was sought to be subverted by a whole- sale massacre or, what is known in the English language, genocide. Even genocide does not fully describe what happened in Bangladesh. As was pointed out by the mover of the Resolution, the Prime Minister rightly came to this House and the other House and got a Resolution passed unanimously on the 31st March and wanted us to agree with the Government, to sympathize with what is happening there and also to give support, We have given full sympathy. Sympathy does not cost us anything. All over the country, there is a tremendous feeling that we should sympathize with the suffering of the people of Bangladesh. What I want to ask the Government and my friends is. What have you done to support Bangladesh.............