US public opinion support Bangla: Galbraith
From Our Diplomatic Correspondent, NEW DELHI, September 7.– PROF. J. K. GALBRAITH, who arrived here today meetings with Indian and Bangladesh leaders arrange visit to the refugee camps, said the public opinion in the United States was “overwhelmingly in support of Bangladesh.”
Prof. Galbraith, who has been one of the staunch critics of the Nixon Administration’s policy on Bangladesh, is leaving for Calcutta on Thursday.
During the stay here. Prof. Galbraith, who was US Ambassador in New Delhi at the time of the Chinese attack, will meet the Prime Minister.
Prof. Galbraith has been here only once since he left India seven years ago and that was for Mr. Lal Bhadur Shartri’s funeral.
The chairman of the policy Planning Committee of the Ministry of External Affairs, Mr. D. P. Dhar, is giving a lunch in his honour tomorrow.
On his return, Prof. Galbraith will informally report on the Bangladesh situation to the members of the US Senate Foreign Relations Sub-Committee on India.
During an interview. Prof. Galbraith was reluctant to be drawn into a discussion of the American policy on Bangladesh.
Deeply concerned about the fate of the refugees, Prof. Galbraith called the exodus the greatest tragedies of modern times, comparable to the “enormous suffering” inflicted during the World War II.
He said one should never assume that disasters of this scale were inevitable. One must always try to avoid them. “One must always hope that sensible people will avoid them.” Speaking of the Indian reaction to the Bangladesh problem. Prof. Galbraith said: “we have all agreed on the fortitude with which India has faced this enormous problem and the restraint it has shown.”
This was one of the reasons why people like him hoped the world must share the burden which India carried.
He said: “The world does not regard India as a war-like nation.”
Mrs. Gaibraith, who had come here several days ago, is now in Sikkim. She will join her husband when he returns here from Calcutta
Reference: Hindustan Standard 08.09.1971