বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্র (দ্বাদশ খণ্ড)/১২৮
| শিরোনাম | সূত্র | তারিখ |
|---|---|---|
| বাংলাদেশকে স্বীকৃতি প্রশ্ন ‘বাংলাদেশ’ প্রবলেমস অব রিকাগনিশন: বিএল শর্মার পর্যালোচনা | অমৃত বাজার পত্রিকা | ৭ মে ১৯৭১ |
Political Forum
BANGLADESH: PROBLEMS OF RECOGNITION
BY B.L. SHARMA
Than more than a month the armed forces of Pakistan have been literally running amok in Bangla Desh. They shot men, bayoneted women and children, set fire to homes and hamlets.
Inhabited areas have been staffed by military planes and shelled by artillery and gunboats; No one knows the number of casualties which according to some estimates run into several hundred thousand.
Shocking as the massacre has been-and continues to be-not a single Government, except India, has thought it fit to condemn it. Some of the countries like Britain have dismissed it as a domestic concern of Pakistan. Peking has gone still further and offered its full support Islamabad. True, Podgorny sent a rather strong letter to Yahya Khan but the results were negative. And yet world public opinion, far ahead of Governments, has not hesitated to charge Pakistan with committing a planned genocide, intended to destroy the leadership and economy of Bangla Desh and break the spirit of its people.
In the circumstances, is there nothing that the Government of India can do to close the chapter of horror and bloodshed across our border? It has been suggested that India should intervene in Bangla Desh in some form or another.
Thus one proposal is that India should recognize the Government of Bangla Desh. Unfortunately International law on the subject of recognition is in a state of chaos. Not only has a distinction been made between recognizing a government-for example in Bangla Desh both forms of recognition are involved-a State need not be recognized de jure and yet bilateral agreements could be signed with it as trade agreement have been signed between East Genmany and India. Much less recognition is necessary for participation in multi-State conferences.
Conditions
Many conditions have been suggested by international jurists for recognizing a State. These include possession of territory and an independent government in control of economic, technical and military resources, exercising authority over people living in its territory. In contrast, a Government before it is recognized must not only be in effective control of the territory and its population but must also be, stable enough to last, so that it can enter into international obligations and be held responsible for their fulfillment.
In practice, some of the major powers have ignored these considerations, thus the United States recognized Israel as a State as soon as Israel proclaimed her independence, Similarly when President Kasavubu handed over government to General Mobutu, France and Belgium promptly recognized the General’s.
The writer, a former Principal Information Officer of the Government of India, and later-Officer on Special Duty in the Ministry of External Affairs, discusses the problems that might arise if India were to recognize Bangla Desh as an independent nation.
government. In both cases the reasons were political, not legal. The US representative described the recognition of Israel as a “highly political act of recognition”. In the Congo, France and Belgium were protecting their economic interests which generally under line political policy.
Indian recognition of Bangla Desh will thus have to be a political decision.
Assuming such a step is taken, certain consequences may follow immediately.
India and Pakistan may find themselves at war with unforeseeable consequences, including economic ruination which might prove to be catastrophic. Even if, for some reason, hostilities do not break out between the two countries, India may find it difficult to refuse supply of arms to Bangla Desh, as the USA finds it necessary to arm Israel. Sooner or later this is likely to lead to an armed conflict.
Also this would give Pakistan exactly what she is looking for, namely an opportunity to bring up the matter in the Security Council where not only Bangla Desh, but also the Kashmir issue will be ripped open. India has had enough experience of the Security Council and it would be vain to expect any support from majority members of the Council. Thus once again India will be left high and dry, without rendering any substantial assistance to Bangla Desh. It has also been suggested that India should take the lead in raising the matter in the Security Council or in the General Assembly. With the exception of the Soviet Union how many member countries of the United Nations have raised their voice in support of the helpless people of Bangla Desh? The plain fact is that Governments are not moved so much by humanitarian considerations as by national interests.
Muslim States are presumably loathe to see a Muslim country Pakistan weaken forgetting that an additional Muslim State would come into being. Some of the super-powers are worried about military balance of power being upset in this area and would not be happy to see Pakistan weakened vis-a-vis India. A number of States suffer from nightmares of secessionist movement elsewhere. They forget that in Bangla Desh it is not a minority which is seeking independence but majority of the population which has already expressed its will in a free general election.
Obviously none of these proposals is sound. And yet as the Prime Minister has put it we cannot be silent spectators of the atrocities that Pakistan troops are committing daily in Bangla Desh. There is only one way in which India can render service to Bangla Desh and bring the matter to a head without getting involved in recognition or a war with Pakistan.
A New Threat
Already nearly a million refugees have poured into India. This is posing a new threat to our economy and administration. The party at the Centre has been returned to power by the electorate on the basis of programme the objective of which is to eradicate poverty. The mounting relief operations along the Indo-Pakistan border in the East are eating away our resources which are badly needed for economic development. We should not forget that our own people need mobile hospitals kitchen for the poor clothes for the naked houses for the homeless hope for the hopeless.
The time has come for India to take up in a big way the matter of relief in all the major capitals of the world as well as with all the international relief organizations-FAO WHO International Red Cross UNESCO CARE and so many others. What prevents super-powers and major powers as well as so-called Afro-Asian countries from making liberal specially for the purpose?
Relief operations do not involve teasing legal and political issues. If hundreds of thousands of damaged lives are to be repaired surely the world cannot cast the entire burden on India and wash its hands of the whole business. Why do we not rear up our whole information and diplomatic machinery to meet the challenge.-INFA