73 ংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্রঃ ত্রয়োদশ খন্ড million people are still living on imported supplies. I welcome the assurance that this matter is well understood and that we shall play our part with the United Nations in relief measures. I come now to the political aspects of the problem which faces us. As has been said many times, Pakistan is a free, independent nation and also a member of the Commonwealth. I am sure that what she requires from us is the attitude of a true friend, a friend who does not hesitate to speak his mind fearlessly and honestly and who seeks not to dominate but to help in this situation. We all know that there are others not similarly motivated. There are political vultures circling the disaster, knowing only too well that out of tragedy comes political opportunity and seeking to exploit weakness, not to help. The solution must be found within the borders of East Pakistan itself. The real tragedy was that before 25th March Pakistan was close to producing a solution which made sense in political terms. A solution cannot be imposed from outside, however much some people may think that it should be. I always feel that those who argue in that way are people who want to interfere in countries and regimes which they do not like and not in those which they do like, even though the same conditions of bloodshed and suffering may equally prevail. The essence of any solution is long-term stability, for without long-term stability there will not be economic growth or alleviation of the plight of the citizens of East Pakistan, which was so movingly described by my Hon. Friend the Member for Essex, South-East (Mr. Braine). It is no good talking in this context in terms of democracy, self-determination and so on if that means the poor people concerned accepting one tyranny for another. My own view accords to a certain extent with that of the Hon. Member for Kensington, North (Mr. Douglas-Mann) to whom we are indebted for this debate, that eventually some form of separate political development must come, whether in a federal set-up or not, I pay tribute and give my support to the objects set out in the Hon. Gentlemen's Motion, the halting of killing and the relief of suffering. That is what we must work for: that must be our first priority, in conceit with the other nations of the Commonwealth and the world. 3.27 p.m. Mrs. Judith Hart (Lanark): At this point in the day, all those Right Hon. and Hon. Members who have already expressed gratitude to my Hon. Friend the Member for Kensington, North (Mr. Douglas-Mann) should be even more grateful because the quality of the debate has well justified his success. I have heard most of the speeches, and it seems to me that Right Hon. and Hon. Members find it impossible to exaggerate the degree of tragedy in the present situation in Hast Pakistan. In terms of human suffering, the destruction of life and the disintegration of society there, no one is sure that the horror revealed by the figures we have thus far may not be exceeded when the full facts and figures are known. It is a sobering reflection that what man has done to man in East Pakistan seems to have exceeded what natural disaster did to man last autumn.
