HINDUSTAN STANDARD, JUNE 16, 1971
Editorial
THE TRAGEDY OF ITALL
Days roll by, weeks pass. And with time mounts the plight of the peace and freedom- loving people of. Bangladesh. The distress of those who have taken refuge in India to escape the barbarous hordes of General Yahya Khan is indeed too deep for words. Yet, the Prime Minister of the Bangladesh Government, Mr. Tajuddin Ahmed, has sought for the umpteenth time to bring home to the Big Powers and not so big powers, the tragic truth about the refugees. In the course of his recent broadcast to the world, he spoke feelingly about the problems facing the uprooted masses arid their host country. He also underlined the sad fact that the so-called world conscience seemed to have taken a holiday.
The Prime Minister of Bangladesh has thanked India for standing by his people in times of great calamity. This, India has of course done -this, one might say, was expected of this country with its policy of friendship and understanding and solid opposition 10 forces of tyranny. The influx of refugees no doubt has put a tremendous strain 011 India’s limited resources. Still the guests from the other side of the border have been received as guests. With no immediate promise that other nations would share the bill or that the refugees would soon safely return from where they bad originated. It is indeed a great pity that the Arab countries for whom India had always spoken up, have not thought it fil to utter one word of condemnation. Their ominous silence gives Islamabad the benefit of which certainly is not in doubt.
What is more painful is that the great powers of the world are quite reluctant 10 condemn openly and unequivocally the brutalities perpetrated by Islamabad which, in the first place, destroyed so many homes and lives. They have not yet told Yahya that no arms or economic aid could be given him, for the simple reason that any such would inevitably be converted into instruments of persecution. Mr. Ahmed knows from experience how cruel this could be. And he is fully eligible to hold that any country which now will come to the aid of the tottering regime of Yahya Khan will forfeit the right to make pious noises in the name of democracy, peace, human rights and the like. Those who will extend helping hands towards Islamabad’s military clique are to he dubbed for what they are-accessories to genocide.