784 বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্রঃ চতুর্দশ খন্ড West Pakistani leaders have explained what the accommodation would be: by holding fresh elections in the light of "the changed political realities in East Pakistan" the status of a minority would be conferred upon the majority. With so much in common between them and Yahya Khan, and between Yahya Khan and the hard line generals who constitute the bulk of the military junta, hope should not be invested in an internal break up in West Pakistan unless difficulties arise in the wake of denial of foreign aid to the barbaric oligarchy. Foreign governments have shown much greater understanding of the refugee problem on the Indian side of the border than for the political problem on the other side. Their response can be described as generous. So generous in fact that Indianfears of the purely economic aspects of the burden begin to seem unrealistic; after all, as against the three and half million refugees who have come already or the five million who may. We normally add fifteen million people to our population every year, and that without gelling any promises of any special assistance for keeping them alive. Given moderate efficiency in relief management the refugees can be confidently hopeful that they will still be alive at the end of six months or even as many years. But whether they will ever cease to be refugees is much less certain. From relief they must go either towards rehabilitation or repatriation; but prospects about one journey are as unsure as about the other and will remain unsure unless either the big powers change their policy towards Pakistan or India decides to act independently of them. In fact the more people talk about the problem on the Indian side of the border rather than the one on the East Bengal side, the less likely does it become that the refugees will ever be able to go back to their homes. No matter how hard India presses for "credible guarantees" for the refugee when he goes back home, they will never be credible in his eyes if their implementation is left in the hands of Yahya Khan or any puppet-regime that he may yet be able to contrive in Dacca. This is especially true of the two million Hindus who have been driven out and those who may yet be; their sources of livelihood, especially land; which has already been seized and distributed by members of the Muslim League, will never be restored to them by a government which is hostile to the Awami League. That is, if they are able to go back in the first place. During the long and laborious process which Yahya Khan will be able to insist upon for shifting the refugee from the "Indian destitute," the world will lose all interest in the problem and then only a thin trickle will be allowed to cross back into East Bengal. And yet it is happening every day that the political problem is King pushed into the back ground as everyone talks more and more about the economic and human problem of refugee relief; the contrast between Senator Kennedy's latest statement, contained in his letter to Secretary of State Rogers, and his earlier statements is a warning light. If it is ignored, the political problem will remain unsolved in the end and therefore the human and economic problem as well. It is an enormous illusion that the latter can be solved while the former is forgotten. Either India must act in the contexi of the political problem or the aid giving countries must show much greater awareness an purposefulness than they are showing at present if the triple problem is not to become a permanent legacy for Bangladesh and India.
