University of Virginia Library

Bengali Brutalities

After about a week of
military brutalities, the
surviving Bengalis, who saw
their wives, children and
relatives being killed and
tortured and who themselves
were fleeing for their lives,
turned around in a desperate
attempt to save their lives by
hitting back their pursuers with
whatever they could lay their
hands on. It is this elementary,
primeval instinct of thousands
of hounded Bengalis that has,
over the last seven months,
taken the shape of the Mukti
Bahini or Liberation Army.

If anybody deserves more
than anybody else the credit or
discredit for making the
Bengalis take up arms against
Yahya's troops, it is Yahya
Khan himself. The Awami
leaders who escaped the
holocaust could only have
done what they are doing,
namely, organized the
spontaneous uprising of the
Bengalis and used it to liberate
the place which is their home,
but to which they cannot
return so long as it remains
under the occupation of the
West Pakistani troops.

Fourthly, how does India fit
into the picture? Whatever
weight may be given to the
traditional hostility between
India and Pakistan and to
India's desire to see Pakistan
wither away, such hostility
certainly is not the major
determinant of India's decision
to support with her armed
forces the cause of Bangla
Desh.

Indira Gandhi has, at least
twice, alluded to the factor
that weighs heavily on her
mind. She has said that east
India is an explosive region and
that it may go out of control.
Though she has refrained from
elaborating upon her remark,
one should be able to
understand its implications
from what has been happening
in the Indian provinces around
Bangla Desh.