644 বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্রঃ চতুর্দশ খন্ড শিরোনাম সূত্র তারিখ ২৩১। পরাশক্তিসমূহের দায়িত্ব লা লিব্র বেলজিক ১৮ অক্টোবর, ১৯৭১ THE LA LIBRE BELGIQUE, (BRUSSELS), OCTOBER 18, 1971 Editorial RESPONSIBILITY OF THE GREAT POWERS Is war going to be added to the drama of millions of Bengali refugees? Every day, on the roads leading to Calcutta, this capital of Indian poverty, Bengali men, women and children, all coming out in miserable conditions from East Pakistan, chased by an army which wishes to make the place empty, die from hunger and disease. Tomorrow, will we see more victims made through war? Is there going to be an end to this absurd situation? The world is today taking account of the width of this tragedy of the 10 million Bengalis threatened by death. The solidarity movement is growing day by day. Because one must help these unfortunate people and no one can rest indifferent to their misery. But the funds which have been collected here and elsewhere could better be used to serve the rehabilitation of Bengalis in their own country and permit them to reconstruct it. And here, one comes to the heart of the problem which is Political. The question arises today: Can we leave a Government, that of Pakistan, to continue lo chase out, day after day the Bengalis from their own country and thus create a dangerous tension with India? Is it admissible that in the name of grand international strategy, the U.S. Government furnishes by one hand, arms to the Pakistani leaders, who throw out the Bengalis on the exile route and on the other hand, doles out aid to these refugees which enables them to survive in their exile? The reply in Washington is that Pakistan has regional importance in the Asian sub- continent, that Peking is supporting her, while Moscow has aligned itself with India through a friendship treaty of 20 years and that United States must therefore play its role. But has not President Nixon opened the era of dialogue in meeting the Chinese and the Soviets? And should not one of the objectives of this dialogue be to put an end to this absurd game: that millions of refugees should pay through their suffering for the global designs of the Great Powers of the world.
