পাতা:বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্র (সপ্তম খণ্ড).pdf/৮৬

52 বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্র : সপ্তম খণ্ড শিরোনাম সূত্র তারিখ ২১। পুর্ব পাকিস্তানে বিদেশী স্বেচ্ছাসেবী দ্বারা সাহায্য সরকারী দলিলপত্র ২৯ এপ্রিল, ১৯৭১ বিতরণ সম্পর্কে ওয়াশিংটনস্থ রাষ্ট্রদুতের কাছে প্রেরিত পররাষ্ট্র মন্ত্রণালয়ের চিঠি Secret Immediate MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS ISLAMABAD. No. IC-9/1/70 April 29, 1971 My dear Ambassador, Please refer to my telegram No. 3014 dated April 29, 171, regarding relief assistance. In this connection your attention is also invited to telegram No. 2246 dated April 24, 1971 and circular letter No. IC-9/1/70 dated 24.4.71 on this subject. 2. As explained in the above mentioned references, the Government is opposed to the idea of letting loose hundreds of "volunteers" from foreign countries to organize relief assistance in East Pakistan. To begin with, there is a very genuine difficulty of looking after them. We found it by experience in the cyclone disaster that the majority of foreigners need certain minimum comforts and facilities and, under the present circumstances, we are not in a position to arrange these for them. Besides, there is the problem of security: one aspect of it is the security of the foreign personnel who would be exposed to mischief by miscreants, a number of whom are still armed. The other aspect of it relates to our own security because we cannot be certain of the bonafides of these "volunteers". Even assuming that they would all be genuine social workers, the fact remains that our inability to look after their basic minimum comforts, or failure to provide them with adequate transport facilities, would only cause frustration among them and this, in turn, in bound to lead to adverse publicity. It is, therefore, Government's intention to look after the distribution of the relief assistance through its own agencies. For your information, the major task in this field is to be assigned to the armed forces. 3. However, we do not wish to cause avoidable offence and, in explaining our side of the case, you should emphasize that at the moment there is no shortage of essential supplies. All the same, the Government is engaged in drawing up a list of priorities and we would be approaching Governments and international organizations is due course for material and financial assistance which, because of the obvious difficulties the foreigners would face, would be distributed through our own agencies. As and when the situation permits, we might also consider availing of the services of specialists and experts in the field of relief organization. In short, the impression we should leave is that we are not against relief assistance on humanitarian grounds and will avail of the generous offer from friendly countries and international organizations as and when necessary. At the