76 ংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্রঃ ত্রয়োদশ খন্ড Views have been expressed about the long-term political solutions, and it is right that individual Members should express their views clearly. But the Minister and the Government must divide the matter into these two roles. I conclude with a comment on the need for the concentration of aid in East Pakistan. I was glad to hear the Hon. Member for Essex, South-East (Mr. Braine), my Hon. Friend the Member for Portsmouth, West (Mr. Judd) and others emphasize this so strongly. Perhaps, to underline what Hon. Members said from their intimate and moving personal observations. I should add a couple of figures. The per capita income in Karachi is almost 60 per cent above the per capita income of East Pakistan, The per capita income in West Pakistan, rural areas is 25 per cent above that in East Pakistan's rural areas. However, it is fair to say that the figures showed a narrowing of the gap between West and East Pakistan during the 1960s. There was some effort to correct disparities in comparatively recent years. What went wrong was the period of desperately poor harvests in East Pakistan, but they were beginning to catch up with this setback. My Right Hon. Friend the Member for East Ham. North (Mr. Prentice) elicited a reply from the Minister at the beginning of this month which indicated for this, both he and I take our share of responsibility-that of British aid under way this year only one-fifth was taking place in East Pakistan, and most of that had begun in 1970. We are, therefore, bound to be the more pleased that, during the last year, we initiated the programme, which the Minister is continuing, of irrigation and agriculture in East Pakistan. I hope that an agreement will be resolved very quickly as to the best way we can make our contribution to this large scheme. What is required, whether in relation to the need to help India with her problems, the need to get as rapid a programme of relief through the United Nations into East Pakistan, or the need to use what I have called legitimate leverage to create peaceful conditions in which aid can again be meaningful in Pakistan, is for the Government to be inspired with some sense of acute anxiety, which has been shared by all who have spoken today, and to spread that sense of anxiety and urgency within the aid consortium and within the United Nations. 3.43 p.m. Mr. Wood: If the House is prepared to give me leave, there are a number of questions which I should like to try to answer. A good deal has been said about the various political issues involved and the basis of the election of the Awami League in December. There is probably little for me to say about that. My Right Hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs gave a cautious reply to the Hon. Member for Kensington. North (Mr. Douglas-Mann) when he asked a Question on Tuesday. The only observation I should add, which I have made from time to time elsewhere in politics, is that occasionally problems either appear or are presented as more simple than most of us in our hearts know them to be. This is a problem, which I find extremely difficult, On the political relationship between the Pakistan Government and other governments, when the Right Hon. Member for Wednesbury (Mr. Stonehouse) was giving his opinions
