SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST, HONG KONG, DECEMBER 6, 1971
INDO-PAKISTAN CONFLICT
Islamabad is. of course, largely responsible for the present serious situation in the Indian sub-continent. Admittedly, President Yahya Khan invited Mrs. Indira Gandhi to the conference table to discuss and reconcile their differences and also proposed mutual withdrawal of armed forces from the border areas.
But he took no concrete steps of initiated any move to eliminate the root cause of the developments in East Pakistan which led to the mass fight of ruthlessly oppressed East Pakistanis to seek sanctuary in India.
Mrs. Indira Gandhi had tried for months to persuade President Yahya Khan and the world to help restore conditions that would encourage the more than nine million East Pakistani refugees to return to their homes.
India’s own stability is gravely threatened by the continuing influx of these refugees requiring food, shelter and medical care among other necessities.
The world, however, looked away and President Yahya Khan continued to disregard appeals to resolve the East Pakistan crisis through a political solutionallowing the people of East Pakistan to determine their own future, a right which they won at last year’s general elections.
With the prospects of easing the extremely heavy burden of caring for nearly 10 million refugees growing dimmer and dimmer, India found herself in a position where she had to act to help the Bangladesh movement bring about a situation conducive to a voluntary return of the millions of refugees to their homes.
The issue has now belatedly been raised in the security Council, but if intervention by the Council is to be effective in restoring peace on the Indian sub-continent, the world organisation must recognize and deal realistically with the basic problem of East Pakistan.
Islamabad must be made to recognize the legality of last year’s general election, and at the same time, guarantee the safety and rehabilitation of refugees returning from India.
These are the conditions that President Yahya Khan must accept in the interest of peace in the Indian sub-continent and the world, for further escalation of the war could draw the big powers into the conflict.