NO OPEN BREAK EXPECTED
India’s long-simmering feud with Pakistan, aggravated by the happenings at East Pakistan has deteriorated into open clashes on the eastern border. The situation between the two countries has not become easier, as about two million East Pakistanis fled their homeland to India to avoid the long cruel arm of the Pakistani army. While India opened her doors widely to receive the hard pressed East Pakistanis, Pakistan remained a gleeful observer of the exodus, expecting that one day India would feel the burden of the refugees. Pakistan herself did nothing to prevent this mass exodus, an indicaton that she was glad to get rid of so many troublesome people. Now the state has to feed two million people less, indeed an unexpected windfall for this desperate country, caught between the devil and the deep sea.
There is no reason to fear that the occasional border skirmishes would lead to largescale warfare between the two countries. Both are definitely not prepared for such a showdown, but they are willing to make life more difficult for each other.
As the army’s stranglehold on the Pakistan government increases, as the tragedy of East Pakistan has clearly shown, there is less reason for Indonesia which officially takes a hands-off stand on the Bangla Desh question to feel close to the present ruling elite in Pakistan. By no means Indonesia could condone the senseless killings in East Pakistan by the state security forces, however great our government’s understanding for Pakistan’s efforts to keep their nation from falling apart. But there must certainly be other peaceful methods to avert a possible secession.
The innocent Pakistani people must be pitied for the unpleasant sitution they are presently in through no fault of their own but the short sightedness of their present leaders.
Reference : The Indonesian Observer, 02.06.1971