THE STRAITS TIMES, KUALA LUMPUR, DECEMBER 7, 1971
A POLITICAL SOLUTION WAS POSSIBLE
Indian concern for the seventy-five million people of East Pakistan must be recognized. The failure of the major powers to persuade west Pakistan’s president to carry out his election promise, and above all the brutal repression of the popular feeling which followed the arrest of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and outlawing of the Awami League, have been vital ingredients in Indian policy and action. Yet, in the end, impatience has triumphed and Indian national interests are discernible in this dismemberment of Pakistan.
Until yesterday, it was still possible that a compromise could be evolved, amounting to undisputed home rule for East Pakistan. Instead, there is a political solution and inevitability of unrestrained war, not peace.