228 বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিল : চতুর্থ খন্ড শিরোনাম সূত্র তারিখ ইয়াহিয়া খানকে প্রতিশ্রুতি অস্ত্র সাহায্য না আমেরিকাস্থ ইষ্ট পাকিস্তান ১২ মার্চ, দেয়ায় আবেদন জানিয়ে যুক্তরাষ্ট্রের জনগণের লীগের দলিল Ֆի, ԳՖ উদ্দেশ্যে প্রচারিত চিঠি THE EAST PAKISTAN LEAGUE OF AMERICA, INC. 2667 BROADWAY, NEW YORK. N.Y. 10025 Dated: 12th of March, 1971. Dear Sir, The organisation on whose behalf I am writing this letter represents the people of East Pakistan origin and their many friends in the United States. I feel impelled to write this letter to you because of what is going on in East Pakistan at this time. The memory of the greatest natural disaster of recorded history which befell East Pakistan is still fresh in the minds of the American people. Few of them, however, seem to be aware of the magnitude of the danger that confronts the people of East Pakistan today. Unlike November last year the danger this time is man-made and, therefore, preventable. Seventy five million people-unarmed and helpless-stand face to face with machine guns and napalm bombs of an occupation force more than a thousand miles away. In the twenty three years since Pakistan came into being, the people of (he Eastern Wing have been consistently exploited by the power elite in West Pakistan. Through their control of the bureaucracy and the army, they have been able to run the affairs of Pakistan in a manner which benefits them at the expense of the people of East Pakistan. They have frustrated the evolution of a democratic form of Government because it would mean giving a just share of the administration of the country to East Pakistan. Although 56 per cent of the population lives in the Eastern Wing, they have made significant concessions and sacrifices in a vain effort to weld the two distant parts into a nation. In 1956, they agreed to parity in representation by surrendering the rights of the majority. They did not even object to the capital being located ill the other wing. All this, however, was of no avail. Repeated blows were struck at the very basis of nationhood in 1956, 1958 and several times thereafter by an unholy alliance of the bureaucracy, the business interests and the army-all from West Pakistan. For nearly two decades the dominate clement in the politics of Pakistan has been the Army which is almost wholly composed of West Pakistanis. A series of coups engineered by the army took place to deny the people of East Pakistan their inalienable rights. The result has been utter destitution of the people of East Pakistan. The world got a glimpse of the unabashed callousness and indifference of the ruling circles in Rawalpindi to the plight of East Pakistanis in the wake of the cyclone last November. Driven to the wall by stark poverty and a tremendous pressure of increasing population in a small area, the people rose in revolt against Ayub whose 10 years rule collapsed under the assault of an aroused population; when General Yahya took over
