THE STATESMAN, DECEMBER 4, 1971
PAKISTAN HAS LAUNCHED A FULL-SCALE WAR ON INDIA
WE MUST BE PREPARED FOR A LONG PERIOD
OF SACRIFICE : MRS. GANDHI
New Delhi, December. 3. The Prime Minister Mrs. Indira Gandhi told the nation tonight that Pakistan had launched a full-scale war on India. In a broadcast shortly after midnight Mrs. Gandhi said “At 5-30 p.m. today Pakistan launched a full-scale war against us,” reports PTI.
Mrs. Gandhi said “We have no option but to put our country on a war footing.” Mrs. Gandhi said emergency has been declared throughout the country and “every step is being taken and we are prepared for all eventualities.”
She said We must be prepared for a long period of hardship and sacrifice.
Mrs. Gandhi declared that” wanton and unprovoked aggression of Pakistan would be decisively and timely repelled”.
Aggression must be met and the people of India will meet it with fortitude with discipline and the utmost unity”.
Today the war in Bangladesh had become a war on India, she said.
The Prime Minister declared “Peace cannot last if we cannot guard our freedom our democracy and our way of life. So, today we fight not merely for territorial integrity but for the basic ideals which have given strength to this country and on which alone we can progress to a better future.”
The Prime Minister in her broadcast to the nation said, “I am speaking to you at a moment of great peril to our country and our people. Some hours ago soon after 5-30 p.m. on Friday Pakistan launched a full-scale war against us. The Pakistan Air Force suddenly struck at our airfields in Amritsar, Pathankot, Srinagar, Avantipur, Uttarlai, Jodhpur, Ambala and Agra. They opened fire at our defensive positions in Sulemanki, Khem Karan, Poonch and other sectors.
Earlier addressing nearly a million people at Calcutta’s Brigade Parade Ground the Prime Minister exposed the role of some foreign countries in the development of the Indo-Pakistani conflict and reiterated India’s determination to defend its national interest at any cost, says our reporters.
Mrs. Gandhi, reminded the Powers which had a sneaking sympathy for Pakistan that “India is not what it was before independence or even what it was five years ago. The country is prepared today to make any sacrifice to give as much blood and sweat as necessary to meet any threat to its security.”
The Prime Minister who was given a tremendous ovation on her arrival in the city discussed the West Bengal situation with the Governor and the Chief Secretary and met some writers, film artists and other prominent citizens before leaving for Delhi.
The meeting one of the biggest held in recent years was organized by the West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee(R). Mr. Abdus Sattar Presided. Wearing a printed sari, Mrs. Gandhi addressed the vast gathering from a decorated 12 ft rostrum. About 200 Indian and foreign journalists attended the meeting.
Cheers and claps greeted Mrs. Gandhi when she appeared on the dais. She was profusely garlanded by a number of organizations affiliated to the Congress (R). Patriotic songs by Mr. Hemanta Mukhopadhaya and other artists had by then created an atmosphere appropriate to the occasion.
The Prime Minister, who spoke in Hindi for about an hour, said in the critical days ahead everyone would have to suffer but she was sure that the people here had the inherent strength to endure hardship and overcome difficulties.
Mrs. Gandhi was aware that a war would cause immense suffering particularly for the poor. But if a war was essential to maintain territorial integrity it had to be fought. The youths and the women had a special responsibility to ensure that normal life was maintained. Such a role was played by women in England during the last war when all men below 45 were called out.
She said the influx of refugees gave rise to a host of financial, administrative, social and political problems. But the problem that caused the utmost concern was the threat to “our security”. Previously, the East Pakistan Rifles and the East Bengal Regiment used to be posted on the East Bengal border, while the BSF were on India’s border.
But after the EPR and the EBR men joined the Mukti Bahini the Pakistani troops were brought to the border in both East Bengal and the western sector. She said when the U.N. observers in Kashmir were told about the movement of Pakistani troops, they said the troops had been brought to the border for training exercises.
“Who can believe this?” the Prime Minister asked. “It was not possible for us to believe this since we had been attacked thrice in the past by Pakistan.” However, it was only after about 10 days that Indian troops were moved to the border the Prime Minister said.
Continuing, she said it was strange that when Pakistan moved its troops up to the border, most of the Big Powers felt no concern about the danger to India’s security. But when India moved its troops they raised a hue and cry and said peace was threatened in the sub-continent.
She remarked that no responsible Government could take the risk of leaving the border unguarded at such a critical juncture.
“Since our cantonments are far from the borders, it is not possible for India to move her troops backwards over just a little distance.
Pakistan can do this for its cantonments are close to the borders and it can bring the troops quickly up to the border. If we are attacked, who will give us the guarantee that our lost land would be restored to us ?” she said.
If Pakistan withdrew its troops from East Bengal, there would be no war. The bringing of these troops to Bangladesh had been the cause of so much trouble, Mrs. Gandhi commented.
She said a suggestion had been mooted in some quarters that U.N. observers be posted in East Bengal. She wondered of what help this would be. “Will they be able to ensure the return of the refugees ?” The refugees say that they will go back to Bangladesh only when it is free and there is peace there.
The Prime Minister thought that the first task was to bring peace to that strife torn land. People were still being killed there and women raped. Mow can we “ask the refugees to go back at this stage, although their stay in India is a burden on us as we are a poor nation.”
During her foreign tour, she was given the impression that there might be a political solution of the East Bengal problem. But if the Big Powers had tried to find any solution, it had not yet yielded any result. Pakistan was threatening India. “I had waited for several month, but there had been no solution to the problem.”
Referring to the role of some Big Powers, Mrs. Gandhi said these countries had the impression that Asian countries were still their “slaves.” But India was no longer what it was before independence or even what it was five years ago. Five years ago, questions were being asked whether India could remain united or whether democracy in this country would survive. But such doubts had now been dispelled.
There was a new self-confidence in the country. If anyone through that India would be unable to act in its national interest, he was badly mistaken.
If the Big Powers give us any help, it is well and good and we will accept it with gratitude. But if they do not, let them know that India is today in a position to stand on its own legs and does not have to look towards others for support, the Prime Minister remarked.
“It has been said of me.” Mrs. Gandhi stated, “that I am rather obstinate. But to stop the genocide in East Bengal is not a matter of my obstinacy. It is in our national interest to save the 75 million people of Bangladesh from being decimated. It is certainly in the interest of Bangladesh also.
Pakistan had been pampered by some countries who had been supplying weapons. This had increased its belligerency towards India. She did not think that the leaders of Pakistan were following the correct policy because they were being made to do things which was not in their national interest.
The Prime Minister began by saying that every time she addressed a public rally in Calcutta, she felt that the crowd could not be bigger. Yet every time she was surprised to see how vast the gathering was.
But she said the welcome accorded by the crowd was not “to one person but to the new programme we have taken up.”
After the mid-term elections, “we thought that the road was now clear for us to start implementing our socialistic programmes”. But a new crisis developed on the borders and the country was faced with a massive influx of people free from the terror unleashed by the Pakistani Army. “Initially, we thought that the problem would last only a few days and that with help from foreign countries we would be able to tide over the difficulties.” But this did not happen. In the first place not much aid was received and in the second, the aid-giving countries did not go to the root of the problems to find out why the refugees were coming away from their homeland in such large number. To cure a disease the Prime Minister said, one must go to the root of the problem.”
Referring to the Congress (R) election pledges, she said what the party was trying to achieve nothing new. This was the original programme of the party, which could not be implemented because of opposition from some of its members.
The Congress (R) was not against the “maharajahs or millionaires as such” but it was against the system under which a minority prospered while the rest of the population remained steeped in poverty. There was much poverty and unemployment in West Bengal, she said, because of frequent bands and other disruptions. No attempt was made to solve these problems by those parties which considered themselves revolutionary. These parties enticed the poor peasants to grab land but this did not solve the problem of land hunger.
To give long lasting benefits to the poor peasantry, there was need for enacting laws such as the 25th Amendment to the Constitution under which property might be taken over in national interest. Mrs. Gandhi said that the Swatantra party often alleged that nationalization or taking over of property would not help judging from the performance of public sector industries which were running at a loss. She agreed that this was sometimes true but referred to the closure of textile mills in Ahmedabad because of the failure of the mill owners to plough back their profits for the benefit of the industry. Mrs. Gandhi commended the efforts of the Yuva Congress and the Chhatra Parishad to root out the politics of murder and violence in West Bengal but said that a lot still remained to be done. Peace was all the more essential in West Bengal today because of the threat to our borders. She urged the people to ensure normal life in the cities and to check the activities of hoarders and profiteers not by attacking shop owners but through peaceful means. Calcutta had an unfortunate reputation for being a dirty city she said. The fault was probably the Corporation’s but the citizens had also a responsibility in this matter. The city should be kept clean during such an emergency to prevent the outbreak of an epidemic.