CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, MARCH 30. 1971
CIVIL STRIFE IN EAST PAKISTAN
It is regrettable; indeed, that Pakistan’s President Yahya Khan has had to resort to military action against East Pakistan, especially after the majority vote the latter had won in the December elections.
Even though Pakistan is, titularly, a democracy, the military influence in government has always been strong.
Sadly, heavy casualties are reported amongst the unarmed East Pakistani civilian population. The crushing blow which President Yahya has apparently administered may well return a thousand fold in guerrilla-type warfare. The East Pakistanis, fighting in support of their leader, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, against the West’s Soviet tanks and United States planes, are poignantly reminiscent of the Minutemen of the American Revolution.
Though the West has the weaponry advantage, the East Pakistanis possess the knowledge of their terrain, interlaced with rivulets, creeks, swamps, rivers, and bays in which heavy Western equipment would find difficulty in maneuvering.
The logistic and geographic difficulties of operating from West Pakistan bases 1,000 miles away distinguish the Pakistan civil war from that of Nigeria. Humane relief operations may encounter the same harassments they did in Nigeria where humanitarian supplies were often interpreted as aid to the enemy.