RADIO PRAGUE. CZECHOSLOVAKIA ON JUNE 14.1971
TRAGEDY IN BENGAL
COMMENTARY BROADCAST IN THE AFRO-ASIAN SERVICE
When the Head of a State admits that Pakistani forces during their reprisals in East Pakistan were behaving “roughly” this only confirms that the alarming reports from this part of the world are founded on truth. And even if it were not far this unexpected admission, the unceasing How of refugees from East Pakistan itself indicates that in that country one of the most terrible tragedies of modern history is being enacted.
It is never easy for anyone -with the exception of political adventurers-to leave his own country. There ala ways must be a serious reason for doing so. For the five and a half million refugees from East Pakistan there is a serious reason in the situation that has arisen after the unique election victory of the East Pakistani Awami People’s League. The victory of that Party which won practically all votes in East Pakistan and more then 50 per cent majority in the envisaged all. Pakistan parliament is due to the fact that the Party voiced the just claims and complaints of the population. Among its leading election slogans was the demand for an equitable distribution of the national income and a call for a higher degree of autonomy. On both these points, the leaders of the Party, held a realistic view, taking into account that East Pakistan makes up the majority of the whole country’s population and that it contributes a larger share into the common treasury.
Although at the fringe of this party stood some extremist forces calling for a fully independent East Pakistan yet the Awami League as a whole could not be described as separatist.
Events only took an unfortunate turn when the West Pakistan authorities began to see in the legitimate East Pakistani demands a threat to the country’s integrity. On March 25th they responded to political arguments by military force. What followed only reflected the loss of goodwill for any dialogue guided by common sense. There was an uncoordinated forceful resistance by the population, the desperate calls for an independent Republic-Bangladesh, and finally the massive fight of the population caused by the “rough” treatment meted out by the army, which is mainly recruited from West Pakistani citizens. The fact that among the refugees there are about one million Muslims shows that the army does not seem to differentiate between the people of different religions.
The fate of the refugees, who, rather than risking their lives at home, chose an uncertain existence, hunger and the threat of cholera in refugee camps on Indian soil, is only one aspect of the tragedy. The other-still more serious with regard to the international situation is the danger of the tension that has, arisen between India and Pakistan. It is an unbearable burden for India to look after five or six million refugees. The exchange of fire between Indian and Pakistani frontier guards and reprisals on both sides are a serious warning that what was originally an internal political problem could easily grow into a dangerous international conflict.
The attempts made by the U.N. Secretary General, U Thant, to coordinate international relief have been most valuable and will help alleviate the plight of the refugees in the camps at least in the immediate future. However, all relief schemes are aimed at overcoming the consequences and not the causes of the suffering and tension.
Rude Pravo, the daily of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia writes today that the situation on the Indian-Pakistani borders is indeed “extremely gloomy and intolerable from a human point of view, while at the same time being dangerous with regard to foreign political affairs …” It emphasizes that the only solution would be the immediate creation of conditions for a safe return home of the refugees.
The urgency of the matter was stressed last week in a communiqué issued during the unofficial visit of the Indian Foreign Minster Mr. Swaran Singh in Moscow and also by the Soviet Prime Mister Mr. Alexei Kosygin who said Soviet Government believes that the Pakistani authorities must take immediate steps to solve this problem:
We should remember in this connection that the Soviet leader once before five years ago played an important part in setting the Indian-Pakistani conflict and that his name is connected with the success of the well-known Tashkent Agreement. All the more reason for his warning to be headed by the Pakistani authorities once more today.