Bengal Fighting May Bring Indian Attack
Peter Hazelhurst
Calcutta, March 28. Mr. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the West Pakistan leader, has been applauding the Army’s decision to repress the eastern wing and 75 million Bengalis by force. “Thanks to Allah, Pakistan is at last saved”, he said, as the tanks and guns rolled into Bengal. But the dream of Mr. Jinnah, the first Governor-General of Pakistan, of a country united by the bond of Islam has vanished into thin air. Mr. Bhutto’s new Pakistan will be kept together with rifles and bayonets.
There can be no denying the fact that the armed forces have moved into East Pakistan to repress the majority of Pakistanis in order to preserve the interests of a powerful minority. It is a sad commentary on Pakistan’s political life and the role of its military machine that troops have been used more against their fellow Pakistanis than against their so-called foe, India, during the past 10 years. And the future certainly looks grim today.
Mr. Bhutto talks somewhat naively about convening the National Assembly and a return to democratic rule in the future. Perhaps he genuinely believes this, but no sober-minded Pakistani will agree with him. The moment for democracy has bypassed Pakistan. The President’s historic attempts – and they were genuine at first – to hand power to his people have failed. The best Pakistan can expect is a petty dictatorship in the western province and a ruthless spell of Army rule in the more populous eastern province. But it is far more likely that the Army will not be able to suppress the strong wave of Bengali nationalism and that the eastern province will be subjected to a bloodbath that would bring Indian troops across the border.
Mr. Bhutto does not share this pessimistic view. Addressing a press conference recently, he suggested that democracy would return to Pakistan and that the Bengali members of the Assembly would join West Pakistan in framing a constitution. But Mr. Bhutro has still to explain how he or any other western leader can rule the eastern province or even ask the Bengalis to take part in a democratic system. At best, Mr. Bhutto could set himself up as the unquestioned ruler of West Pakistan, but he will have to rule the majority of the country as a colony with the force of the Army. But even then one wonders what is in store for the western wing. Mr. Bhutto is without doubt the idol and unquestioned leader of the western province, but has not his tenure of office in ex-President Ayub Khan’s dictatorial regime dimmed his democratic instincts?
To be fair to both President Yahya Khan and Mr. Bhutto, there can be no doubt that Pakistan was at the point of separation before the Army intervened. But one can hardly put all the blame on Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the East Pakistan leader. Even Mr. Bhutto will have to recognize the fact that things were moving along smoothly in Bengal until the crisis arose last month. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had been quite prepared to enter the Constituent Assembly and frame a constitution with the western leaders. Although the document might not have been acceptable to Punjab and Mr. Bhutto, it would have kept the country together. But then Mr. Bhutto set in motion a course of events which angered, bewildered and pushed the Bengalis towards the ultimate step.
At first he announced that his party, the largest single group in the western province, would boycott the Assembly, He mounted a campaign to pressure other western leaders from attending the Assembly. Under pressure from Mr. Bhutto, President Yahya Khan made the first blunder since assuming office. The President has said that the Sheikh insisted that power should be handed over to provincial governments and that martial law should be withdrawn immediately as a precondition for future constitutional negotiations. The President, suspecting a trap, said he is quite willing to withdraw martial law but not under the circumstances suggested by the Sheikh. As an alternative, the President asked the Sheikh to convene the National Assembly to empower him to remain as the interim head of the central government. But the Sheikh refused and insisted martial law should go first. The President. told the nation that the Sheikh was obdurate, unreasonable and obviously had no desire to take part in the affair of a united Pakistan.
One can fully understand the President’s reasonable fears, but he failed to tell the nation that the Sheikh had simply cited democratic precedents and had earlier said he was willing to form a central government. It was Mr. Bhutto who insisted that his party must be included in any interim coalition government. At the same lime. Mr. Bhutto mounted a civil disobedience movement in the Punjab to press his demand. The President gave way to Mr. Bhuuo. He hesitated, the: moment slipped out of Sheikh Mujib’s hands and the moment was lost.
Now the Sheikh is to be put on trial on a charge of treason at the military court and the President will have to remember that East Pakistanis showed at the last elections that they supported the Sheikh to a mandate. Mr. Bhutto and the President will in effect be putting the collective will of 75 million Bengalis on trial.
Reference: The Times, 29 March, 1971.