AMRITA BAZAR PATRIKA, APRIL 8, 1971
INDIA SHOULD NOT BE PASSIVE OBSERVER’
Mr. Prafulla Chandra Sen, former Chief Minister of West Bengal; Dr. P. C. Chunder, President, W.B.P.C.C.(O), and Mr. Gobindalall Banerjee, have issued the following statement in Calcutta on Wednesday:
The political situation in Bangladesh is now clear. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the lawfully and democratically elected leader of the majority party in the whole of Pakistan has formed Provisional Government of the free and independent Bangladesh in the Eastern part of Pakistan with the sanction of the people in a circumstance which is known to all. Unlike other countries India has special reasons which are patently clear, to be greatly concerned with the swiftly changing situation in Bangladesh. Other countries including the Western part of Pakistan do not hear the cries of the fighting people who are being mercilessly killed in thousands. They do not see the devastation that is carried on in Bangladesh but India does. To us, because of the proximity the country, it is not newspaper report alone but visual experience. It is not a fight of cannon against cannon or bombing against bombing. It is a fight between total non-co-operation and mad use of modern foreign weapon. It is a fight which knows no defeat. It will degrade us if we remain a helpless witness to the brutalities. History will paint us black if we do not act in a situation like this. Let the people of Bangladesh know and believe that India will respect, and if necessary, guard their independence for all time to come. It is now the time that declaration to that effect would follow the dignified and solemn solidarity resolution that has already been adopted unanimously by the Parliament”-(PTI).