University of Virginia Library

Bangla Desh Needs Support Of Powers

All these recalcitrant
elements are believed to be
receiving training, arms and
encouragement from
Communist China. Some
Indians believe that the Naga
and the Tipra rebels are also
aided and trained by Pakistan
in its eastern territory. In view
of China's attitude towards
India and of the fact that it is
possible to slip into China from
India along the NEFA (North
East Frontier Agency) region,
one should not be surprised to
find a secret Chinese hand in
the troubles India is having in
her eastern territory.

East Pakistan is a big
physical obstruction to India
because it is situated between
Assam and the rest of India.
Should the insurrection in
Assam escalate and become a
threat to India's integrity, a
hostile East Pakistan could
block the narrow Indian land
corridor between West Bengal
and Assam and thoroughly
impede the movement of
Indian troops from other parts
of India to Assam.

The fight in Bangla Desh has
added new shades to India's
eastern question." The
Awami League leaders who
formed the Bangla Desh
government and the
commander-in-chief of the
Liberation Army are moderate
democrats and are friendly
toward India. There is a
hardcore of pro-Peking leftists
among the Bengali politicians
who have not been included in
the Bangla Desh Government
and who are trying to get into
it. A sizeable section of the
leftists has joined the
Liberation Army.

It is axiomatic that at the
opportune time the leftists will
make an attempt to topple the
Awami leadership and take
control of the movement. It is
also axiomatic that the leftists
of West Bengal and Assam will
help the Bangla Desh leftists in
their struggle for power.

Chinese Game

If the fight in Bangla Desh
were to drag on for a long
period of time, the Awami
leaders would become
discredited and the leftists
would take over the leadership.
This leftist leadership would
with encouragement and help
from Peking, link up with
leftists of Assam and West
Bengal and set the whole of
east India aflame.

To prevent this nightmare
from becoming a reality, India
has to do what it is doing now.
It is not Communist China's
friendship with Pakistan that
has made China resentful of
India's decisive and bold
action. What has embittered
China most is that India has
seen through the Chinese game
and thwarted it, at least
temporarily. We say
temporarily, because there is a
possibility that by doing too
much India may weaken the
very forces it wants to
strengthen and strengthen
those elements which it wants
to eliminate.

India has assumed control
of the Bengali Liberation
Army; its army will remain in
Bangla Desh until law and
order is fully established; and
India is sending civilian
officers, doctors, engineers and
other types of experts to set up
a civilian administration in
Bangla Desh.

These steps, besides raising
the spectre of gradual
absorption of Bangla Desh by
India, really undermine the
leadership of the Awami
League. Bengalis are fighting
for independence, not for a
change of masters. Any
attempt to absorb Bangla Desh
will be bitterly resented and
opposed by 75 million people
and will eventually bring for
India—at least for east
India—the nightmare that it
wants to avoid.

Indian Designs

If we take India at its word,
that it has no territorial design,
then these measures can be
attributed to India's eagerness
to help the Awami League
consolidate its hold over
Bangla Desh and guide it in
following the course which the
Indian Government thinks will
be good for both.

Such guardianship is bound
to be counterproductive.
Bangla Desh has enough
qualified and experienced
persons who can run the
country. Quite a few qualified
doctors, engineers and men
with other professional
qualifications are unemployed.
Export of so-called Indian
experts to Bangla Desh will
create resentment among the
educated people of the new
nation.

This and the presence of
Indian troops, that is, civil and
military control of Bangla Desh
by India, will expose the
Bangla Desh Government to
the charge that it is an Indian
stooge. The leftists will make a
nest of political capital out of
it. Instead of ensuring political
stability in Bangla Desh, Indian
guardianship will lead to
political turmoil.

This is the area where the
big powers and the
international community can
and should concentrate. They
should accept the stark fact
that Pakistan now means West
Pakistan alone, help Bangla
Desh stand on its feet and
assure India that it is not
necessary for her to nurse the
new state.

Recognition

They may persuade the
West Pakistan government to
recognize the new state. The
least that they should do is to
extend recognition to the new
state, make it a member of the
United Nations and give n
technical and economic
assistance for reconstructing the
facilities that have been
destroyed during the war.

Surely the big powers can
free Bangla Desh from its
dependence on India for help
and support and save India
from doing too much in its
anxiety to do enough. Such
steps would save the world
community another shock of
the kind which it is
experiencing now from its
inability to extinguish the
conflagration that is raging in
the subcontinent.