PAKISTAN EMBASSY ON VISIT OF JP NARAYAN
THE attention of the Embassy of Pakistan was drawn to certain statements made by the Indian Sarvodaya leader Mr. Jayaprakash Narayan during his visit to Indonesia a Pakistan News release said. The Embassy reactions are indicated below :
“The Indian leader Mr. Jayaprakash Narayan and his associate Prof. Sisir Gupta, have just concluded a visit to Indonesia. The ostensible object of M. Narayan’s visit seems to have been to promote peace and reconciliation between India and Pakistan.”
“As an well advertised apostle of peace, Mr. Narayan has chosen the hospitality of a friendly country like Indonesia to generate a hate Pakistan (campaign). In his various public pronouncements Mr. Narayan has sought to internationalise what is an internal problem of Pakistan, namely, the recent developennts in East Pakistan. Thus impinging on Indonesia’s own stated policy. He has farther conjured up visions of imaginary outside enemies threatening the sub-cotinent of Pakistan and India and also the South East Asian region. In the process he has slurred over machinations of his own Government and influential elements in his own country in stirring up the trouble in the Eastern wing of Pakistan and continuous farming it by incuration and massing of Indian armed force across the border and intermittent shellings from the Indian side for the last many days which is causing more tension.”
“While paying lip service that india does not want to see Pakistan split, all of Mr. Narayan’s efforts during his recent global tour and the action and statements of the Indian Prime Minister, Foreign Minister, and Defence Minister, to name a few, are all pointers to an direction- that India is precisely acting for aiding and abeting the secessionist movement in East Pakistan.
“Little background of Mr. Nariyan himself will perhaps assist the Indonesian public in understanding the real motive of his visit, and the glaring divergences between his professions and practices. It may be recalled that after a rather turbulent political carreer, Mr. Narayan seemingly has abjured the hurly burly of day to day politics in his home country and has become a messenger of peace and is associated with organisations at home in India and abroad masquerading as a pacifist and a social worker. ·
“But as far as Pakistan is comcerned. Mr. Narayan evidently carries on his own tradition and that of his own compatriots whose attitude towards Pakistan is one of belicosity and uncompromising millitancy. It may be recalled that as early as 7th March, 1950, dealing with India, Pakistan relations, Mr. Narayan issued a statement on an allleged communal riot in East Pakistan. So imbued was he with animoity against Pakistan that in that statement Mr. Narayan, among others, promted : “The onty alternative left (for India) is to send forces into East Bengal (East Pakistan) to protect our minorities there. If Pakistan takes it a declaration of war, which it is not meant to be, it can not be helped. On some occassion Mr. Narayan went to the extent of saying that if India went down under it, it ws preferable to tolerance of Pakistan.
“On September 2,1984, Mr. Nariayan delivered himself with a statement saying that he was opposed to the partition of Indo-Pakistan Sub Continent into PAKISTAN and India He emphatically took the stand then : ‘We must do away the mischief of partition”.
“It is therefore clear that Mr. Narayan like the lunatic fringe on the Indian political life and the extremist Hindu organisations like Jan Sangh. RSS, etc., is not reconciled to the fact and existance of Pakistan. While Mr. Narayan over these years spoke on occasions the need for promoting better relations between his country and Pakistan, but the running theme of his political activities. vis a vis Pakistan was one of unmitigated hostility to Pakistan.
“Thus when in Ahmedabad anti-Muslim riots broke out in 1969. where thousands of Muslims were slughtered, their properties destroyed accompanied by loot and arson and other atrocities, Mr. Narayan blamed the so-called “pro-Pakistan Muslims” for their alleged provocative attack on Hindu temple which reportedly started the riot”
“At a time then when the entire world was aflame with anger and resentment when the Zionist burned the Al-Aqsa mosque and the Muslims took out a proceasion in. Gujrat, Mr. Narayan in his wisdom blamed the Muslims for sparking of the Ahmedabad riots.”
“Coming nearer to the crisis in East Pakistan, Mr. Narayan in a statement issued on April 2, 1971, said: “India’s expression of sympathy and support for Bangla Desh does not amount to interference in Pakistan’s internal affairs”. He said that the ideas of “non-interference” was ‘nothing more than a fiction” as “every great Power is actively interfering in the affairs of weaker and less developed countries”. Mr. Narayan then added that from his sense of history and knowledge of International affairs it will not be any violation of internationslal law to accord immediate recognistion to Bangla Desh”.
“So sccording to Mr. Narayan’s logic it is an accepted fact that “every Great Power” is actively interfering in the affairs of weaker and less developed countries. Narayan’s justification for Indian interference seems to stem from the fact that he considers India a “Great Power’ and hence it has a right to interfere in the affairs of a weaker Pakistan.”
‘It will thus be seen that while talking about peace and concilliation between India and Pakistan and utilising the friendly hospitable grounds of Indonesia, Mr. Narayan’s visit to this country is patiently concerned with generating hysteria against apropes in East Pakistan. Thus his statement and pleas here in Indonesia and elsewhere are calculated to malign the Government and people of Pakistan and in thwart the efforts of President Yahya Khan to restore normalcy in East Pakistan.”
Reference : The Indonesian Observer, 24.06.1971