THE AGONY IS OVER
WITH the unconditional surrender of West Pakistan’s army of occupation in Bangladesh a new inscription appears on the palimpsest that is South Asia. A nation-tale, born in the minds of seventy five million people in the dark night of March 25 last, has received its baptism in a war that has inflicted a crushing defeat on those who tried to stand in the way of its glorious emergence. The victory in Bangladesh is a triumph of right over wrong, of secularism over bigot, of moral values over brute force, of the will of the people over the conspiracy of a few. The victory has ended a monstrosity in geography and started a new chapter in history. In significance, it is comparable to the partition of 1947 for it has partly undone the medieval absurdity that went into the creation of Pakistan.
The struggle of the people of Bangladesh has been a long ordeal for India too. Her sympathy and suport for the hunted and persecuted millions were never in doubt; she could not act in a huff, though, The Prime Minister and her colleagues scoured the world for a pacific settlement, but only a few counties chose to respond. Any other leader would have buckled under the tremendous pressure at home for forcing the pace, but the Prime Minister withstood it with a the past went inter Bang rare calm till Pakistan had closed all options for her by its preemptive attack a fortnight ago. The Prime Minister has already established herself as an able and competent politician; the way she has steered the country through the nine-month crisis proves her skill as a statesman.
Under the combined assault of the Indian armed forces and the Bangladesh Mukti Bahini the muchvaunted Pakistan Army has crumblexl faster than many had dared to hope; the dark December is not yet half through. With the liberation of Bangladesh and the consequent outflow of evacuees, India’s task is over. She has already ordered a unilateral cease-fire on the western front to be effective tomorrow. If the war there still drags on that will be Pakistan’s responsibility; the military rulers will commit a second folly whose result will be as disastrous and humiliating for them as in Bangladesh. Their patrons who had egged them on, directly and indirectly, to a confrontation with Indian and Bangladesh should now persuade them to abjure the suicidal course and make a gesture to the new nation by releasing Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. There is still time for them to salvage through goodwill a part of what they have lost through enmity in Bangladesh. For the countries that have watched with sympathy and admiration the emergence of the new nation the time has come to extend recognition so that it may not be harried by the belligerency of those who may still refuse to accept the reality gracefully. (Editorial]
Reference: Hindustan Standard 18. 12. 1971