Belated measures
The anxiety of the West Bengal Government over the reported flow of arms into the State from Bangladesh is a trifle belated. It should have anticipated this threat to the State’s security as soon as the civil war broke out in Bangladesh and taken adequate measures to prevent clandestine entry of arms from the other side of the border. The Government was put on the alert in the first few days of the exodus when some evacuees were found selling fire-arms which they had picked up on their way to the border. In the West Bengal situation, ready buyers for such commodities are many, and a brisk trade was about to develop when the Government came down upon it.
Obviously, there were loop-holes in the preventive measures through which arms could be smuggled in not only by pauperized evacuees who intended to exchange them for cash on reaching safety but also by political elements and criminals whose designs were clearly sinişter. The recovery of China-made sten-guns and fire-arms and weapons of other sorts with Pakistani markings from certain suburbs of Calcutta is a conclusive proof of the failure of the preventive cordon. The Government is now faced with the double task of preventing arms smuggling and recovering the unknown quantity of arms that have already filtered in. In spite of the sizable hauls that the police claim to be making every day it will be rash to presume that they have succeeded in unearthing all or nearly all the dumps.
The cessation of hostilities in Bangladesh has not brought the solution of this security problem within sight. While beating a hasty retreat the Pakistan Army left behind veritable arsenals all over the country. The Razakars and other collaborators, who had all been indiscriminately armed by the Pakistani rulers have divested themselves of these arms so that they may pass as victims of the regime whose willing tools they were. Neither the Indian army nor the Bangladesh Government has been able to collect all these arms. Some have passed into private hands where they may remain in spite of the Bangladesh Government’s appeal for arms surrender. For various reasons the danger of some of those arms finding their way to West Bengal will remain for an indefinite period. The time seems to be far off when it will be prudent of the Government to relax the vigilance on the borders to stop gun-running.
Reference: Hindustan Standard 05. 01. 1972