refugees-was accomplished so quickly. There was little surprise when Prime Minister Gandhi announced to both houses of Parliament early last week that India would become the first government to recognize Bangladesh. Still members thumped their desks cheered loudly and jumped in the aisles to express their delight. “The valiant struggle of the people of the Bangladesh in the face of tremendous odds has opened a new chapter of heroism in the history of freedom movements,” Mrs. Gandhi said. “The whole world is now aware that Bangladesh reflects the will of an overwhelming majority of the people which not many governments can claim to represent."
There was little joy in New Delhi, however, over the Nixon Administration's hasty declaration blaming India for the war in the subcontinent, or over U. N. Ambassador George Bush's remark that India was guilty of “aggression. Indian officials were also reported shocked by the General Assembly's unusually swift and one-sided Vole calling for a ceasefire and withdrawal of troops.
Call For Armaments
Meanwhile, there was still the danger that other nations could get involved. Pakistan was reported putting pressure on Turkey, itself afflicted with internal problems, lo provide ships, tanks, bazookas and small arms and ammunition. Since Turkey obtains heavy arms from the U.S., it would be necessary to have American approval to give them to Pakistan. There was also a report that the Soviet Union was using Cairo's military airbase Alinaza as a refueling slop in flying of reinforcements to India. Some 30 giant Antonov-12 transports, each capable of carrying two dismantled MIGs or two SAM batteries, reportedly touched down last week. The airlift was said to have displeased the Egyptians, who are disturbed over India's role in the war. For its part, Washington stressed That its SEATO and CENTO treaties with Pakistan in no way bind it to come to its aid.
If the Bangladesh government was not yet ensconced in the capital of Dacca by week's end, it did appear that its foundations had been firmly laid. As Mrs. Gandhi said in her speech to Parliament the leaders of the People's Republic of Bangladesh-as the new- nation will be officially known-"have proclaimed their basic principles of state policy to be democracy, socialism, secularism and establishment of an egalitarian society in which there would be no discrimination on the basis of race, religion, sex or creed. In regard to foreign relations, the Bangladesh government has expressed their determination to follow a policy of non-alignment, peaceful coexistence and opposition to colonialism, racialism and imperialism."
Bangladesh was born of a dream twice deferred. Twenty-four years ago, Bengalis voted to join to the new nation of Pakistan, which had been carved out of British India as a Moslem homeland. Before long, religious unity disintegrated into racial and regional bigotry as the autocratic Moslems of West Pakistan systematically exploited their Bengali brethren in the East. One year ago last week, the Bengalis thronged the polls in Pakistan's first free nationwide election, only to see their overwhelming mandate to Mujib brutally reversed by West Pakistani soldiers. That crackdown took a terrible toil: perhaps 1,000 000 dead, 10 million refugees, untold thousands homeless, hungry and sick.
