situation in Pakistan. Some other members made stronger observations at the meeting. But most, reacting to mounting domestic public pressure at home against the atrocities of the Pak army, were happy to use the excuse of the prevailing inhospitable climate for development in Pakistan to with old new aid pledges. The U. S. delegate made a moderating plea for some support to Pakistan but did not argue the case very strongly and went along with the decision of the Consortium.
The Consortium meeting was a serious setback for Pakistan and a modest triumph for the international mobilization which had taken place around the world in support of Bangladesh's liberation struggle.
Apart from our work with the Consortium. Daniel used my presence in Paris to present the Bangladesh cause to influential French intellectuals. I had some useful meetings with Journalists and some leading figures of the French intellectual establishment such as Raymond Arom, Louis Dumont the Social Anthropologist and the Arabist, Maxim Robinson. I also gave a seminar at the Sorbonne. We had learnt that the French Government had been an important source of arms supplies to Pakistan. Our target was to mobilize some influential opinion in France to get these sales suspended. As it turned out the more decisive influence on the French Government was the attempt of Pakistan to renew on their payment for the arms by seeking a rescheduling of their debt. This eventually led to a cut off in arms deliveries from France.
From Paris I moved in to Rome. During a short stay there I delivered a memo to the World Food Programme suggesting that Food aid to Pakistan, ostensibly meant for Bangladesh, should be diverted to the Bangladesh Government, who would supply it across the border to inhabitants in that arca. Apart from this objective I also met with officials in the three major Italian political parties, the Christian Democrats Communist and Socialists to seek their support in securing a cut off in Italian aid to Pakistan. This was meant more as a gesture, since the Italian's had never been particularly large aid donors to Pakistan or any other developing country.
From Rome I returned to base to report in the results of my campaign to the Mujibnagar government. Whilst I was there during the month of July 1971 I found that a number of my friends and academic colleagues had surfaced. We felt it appropriate that some thought be given to the future direction of an independent Bangladesh. With this in view I submitted a proposal to the Bangladesh cabinet for the creation of a Bangladesh Planning Board. This was envisaged to have as members, Prof. Moshsraf Hossain, Prof. Sarwar Murshed. Dr. Anisuzzaman, Dr. Swadesh Bose and myself. The idea was
