পাতা:বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্র (দ্বাদশ খণ্ড).pdf/৯৩

এই পাতাটির মুদ্রণ সংশোধন করা হয়েছে, কিন্তু বৈধকরণ করা হয়নি।
বাংরাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্রঃ দ্বাদশ খণ্ড
৬৭

Assure you that Government will carry out the promises made. Government will always take such steps as will benefit crores of our own people and those of Bangladesh.

 An objection may be made why I talk of the good of the people of another country. But you must be aware how greatly the events there have affected us and will affect us in future as well.

 Even the biggest and the richest country in the world today will not welcome such a huge influx of refugees and will not be prepared to give them succour. We, who are among the poorest nations of the world, have taken up this burden, fully realizing its implications. We have done this because the only way to stop the influx of refugees was to shoot them when they entered our borders or to tell them that this would be done. There was no other way of stopping the influx of people in such large numbers. There is another aspect to this problem. Shall we stop people from coming to us knowing fully well that they would be massacred in their homeland? This has not been our tradition. India has always kept its doors open for people in distress whatever the difficulties we might have to face. We gave them whatever help we could. Even today, our people are prepared to make sacrifices to save the lives of those who have sought shelter with us. But just now, we are not able to do much for them.

 We certainly want help from outside and we have been receiving some. But we must all understand an important issue which I have stressed wherever I have addressed people in this country. It is that we must stand on our own legs and not rely on others. Whatever the hardships, we must bear them ourselves even if no one comes to our help. The question is not if we have friends or whether anybody will help us. Of course, we shall be grateful to those who offer us help, but we cannot rely on others.

 I am conscious of the great burden on us. As I said earlier, even the biggest and the richest country would totter under such a heavy burden. We also tottered, but we are standing form and have held our head high because we are conscious that what we are doing is in accordance with our tradition, self-respect and the ideal of good neighborliness.

 The path ahead is hard and difficult. It has been so for years and our difficulties might increase further. But I know that the greater the difficulties the greater will be our courage and strength. We shall show the world that no power on earth can cow down his country despite its poverty, economic backwardness and illiteracy. Many have threatened us. Many have brandished their swords. But that is not our way. We do not want to glorify these people by talking about the. But we know that there is no real strength in those who give out such threats. They will try to find an excuse to save themselves. This has been our experience with some nations and some people even in our own land. While the people of Bangladesh are undergoing terrible sufferings, there are some in this country who are attempting to make political gains on the Bangladesh issue. This is something very painful. The leader of an opposition party said today that if I did not consider it proper, to give recognition to Bangladesh today, this did not mean that there was unity of opinion on the issue. I never said that there could not be two opinions. I only said that at this juncture all those who wanted Government to take, strong steps must do