বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্রঃ চতুর্দশ খন্ড In the Economist there is a long article about the role of the big powers in Asia. The Economist points out the reasons for Russian and Chinese interest in Asia, and says that the conflict between the interests are partly responsible for the unrest in many Asian countries. The Economist thinks that the Western Powers should take a greater interest in Asia and should do more to support those countries where democratic rule of one sort or another is still maintained. There is also an article in the Economist specifically about Pakistan. The Economist thinks that the resistance movement has lost the struggle for the towns. It says that other countries are unlikely to recognize the provisional government of Bangladesh which is reported to have been set up because it is not firmly in control of any territory. The Economist fears that border incident would lead to a flare up between India and Pakistan. The only way to bring pressure on President Yahya Khan, the Economist says, is by refusing his current requests for aid until he stop the military action. The Economist ends by warning that shortage of food, the large number of casualties and even possibly more floods could lead to a terrible tragedy unless some form of normalcy returns to East Pakistan quickly. G | OUTSIDE INTERESTS IN PAKISTAN 17th April, 1971 Nicholas Carroll (OC) The Pakistan press and the Pakistan Government have alleged that recent events in East Pakistan have been misreported and other countries have been interfering with the internal affairs of East Pakistan. Nicholas Carroll of the 'Sunday Times' discusses these allegations: From the moment the Government of Pakistan decided to use its army to restore its control over East Pakistan, a rigorous press censorship was imposed throughout Pakistan. East and West. And so journalists of all nations, and especially Indian and British, had to use their initiative to find out as best as they could what was going on. As it happened, the Pakistani authorities were notable to impose a total border control along the international frontier between West and East Bengal; and because of this many reporters managed to get into East Bengal. In consequence the world did get some kind of an independent picture of events. It was a distressing picture, and on the basis of it there has been an outcry of protest against the Pakistan military regime in newspaper editorials everywhere, and no more so than in Indian and British newspapers, There is probably nothing more sensitive to criticism than a dictatorial leadership using armed force in a violent and secretive way to impose order on a rebellious part of its population. To judge from the Pakistani press, as well as from official spokesmen's statements, foreign criticisms have been going home. One sign of this has been some of
