Return to Dacca
On their return to Dacca the acting President, the Prime Minister and some other Ministers of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh have been given an ovation befitting the historic occasion. They have been received by their people as national heroes which should set at rest all cynical speculations over whether they still enjoyed the confidence of those who had elected them a year ago. None but a highly politicized electorate could have voted in the manner the people of Bangladesh did last December and it has not been difficult for them to appreciate why it had not been possible for their leaders to be in their midst all through the struggle. Bangladesh’s war of independence has not been fought on one front only; if the leaders were not always physically present on one front, it was because their presence was required on some other front. They have provided the struggle with leadership for nine months and they are now back among their people to take up the challenging task of reconstruction of their war-ravaged country.
With its formal installation in Dacca the Government of Bangladesh fulfills all the necessary conditions for recognition. The overwhelming popular support behind the Government had never been in doubt. What was not equally clear was whether its authority extended over a sizable territory and whether it was in a position to function from that territory. The return of the Bangladesh leaders to Dacca has shown that their authority is supreme in the new state and they can function from the very capital which they had to flee nine months ago because of the organized butchery of the Pakistani occupation forces. Their return has revived the question of recognition, even lent an urgency to it. Any inordinate delay by the countries of the world in recognising the People’s Republic of Bangladesh can only mean that they are allowing themselves to be guided by considerations other than those internationally accepted for recognition of a new regime. [Editorial]
Reference: Hindustan Standard, 24.12.1971