TO YAHYA’S RESCUE
THE condition set by the Prime Minister for the withdrawal of Indian troops from their forward positions on the borders goes to the heart of not only the present situation but also the concatenation of events since March 25 last. Whet ever remains of the Pakistani presence in Bangladesh is sustained by the army, and neither President Yahya Khan nor his guardian angels can agree to the Prime Minister’s suggestion for withdrawal of Pakistan troops from Bangladesh until they realise that East Pakistan is a burnt-out case. According to the Prime Minister, the withdrawal will be a gesture of peace; what she has not said is that it will also be a token of readiness to transfer sovereignty to the people of Bangladesh. There cannot be two different solvents of the problems of the border areas and Bangladesh; that is why the Prime Minister has forecast a month of very great difficulty for both and their eventual emergence from the tunnel.
It seems the Prime Minister has been provoked to lay down India’s condition so firmly and clearly by the U.S. President’s latest note to her. It has been said that during her recent trip abroad the Prime Minister received tea and sympathy in Britain and only tea in the U.S. Even such minimal politeness has now been dispensed with by the U.S. If newspaper reports are correct, President Nixon had the temerity to threaten suspension of aid to India if the tension in the subcontinent continued to mount. This is an affront to India. President Nixon is reported to have made much of recent newspaper reports in his country; how is it that earlier reports in those very papers of the happenings in Bangladesh did not quicken him into action? History has no parallel of any country taking on quietly like India the burden of millions of evacuees fleeing their homes for the misdeeds of a despot. Noné can blame India if she has reached the end of her patience, much less the U.S. with its sordid intervention in Vietnam.
President Nixon’s letter is an indication of what India can-rather cannot-except from the West Instead of putting pressure on Yahya Khan to come to terms with the duly elected leaders of Bangladesh it will try to bully India into a situation which will leave Yahya Khan free to carry out his genocidal programme. This rejects a shift of stance; those who were watching from the side-lines are now in the field playing Yahya’s game. India has already rejected all suggestions for posting U.N. observers in her territory, and any such proposal remains equally repugnant to her even if its is blessed by U.S. or the Security Council. It is clear that India will have to so it alone. She must solve her own problem and as the Prime Minister has indicated, help in the process in the solution of the problem of Bangladesh. The time is fast approaching when recognition of Bangladesh may brook no delay. (Editorial)
Reference: Hindustan Standard 3.12.1971