88 ংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্রঃ ত্রয়োদশ খন্ড communal religious grounds, then the question of fear being removed-my Right Hon. Friend referred to this in answer to an earlier supplementary question-would not seem to have any effect, because the bulk of those who went out of India into Pakistan and out of Pakistan into India never in fact returned to their homes. Sir Alec Doglas-Home: I think that fear is the overriding influence. Mr. Alfred Morris: Does the Right Hon. Gentleman recall his reply of 24" November about my proposal for a world disaster stockpile, a suggestion which I made at the I.P.U. Conference at the Hague? Does he recall using the word "urgency" and saying that he would act urgently in the matter? Could not this have been the subject of an important British initiative? Sir Alec Douglas-Home: I hope the Hon. Gentleman will not accuse me of dragging my feet, as I think he did yesterday, after I tell him what I did. I wrote then to the Secretary-General of the United Nations. He setup machinery to examine the possibility of a permanent body to try to use preventive action so that we could anticipate the worst dangers in advance of such tragedies. The report is corning out in a month's time. If that report can be expedited, I will ask the Secretary-General to do so, but he has given very full consideration to these possibilities. Sir R. Thompson: Is my Right Hon. Friend satisfied with the arrangements in hand for the co-ordination of the flow of foreign aid to this disaster? Is he aware that all kinds of aid from voluntary and governmental sources will converge on to an area where administration is virtually collapsing? Does he think that the United Nations will have the necessary resources to inject personnel capable of dealing with this, and might it not be wiser to ask the Indian Government to devote additional personnel to handle this, which is their problem on their own ground "? Sir Alec Douglas-Home: I do not think that the administration is in a state of collapse. The Indian Government are doing a great deal, and it is for them to judge whether they can do more. What is wanted is co-ordination of all the supplies of aid which are coming from overseas. This cannot be put on the shoulders of the Indian Government alone, but must be undertaken by the United Nations coordinator. He and his team are now on the spot. We have offered U Thant help and administrative personnel, and we will send them if he requires them. Mr. Shore: I welcome the aid which has been given and the further aid pledged by the Foreign Secretary to help the refugees, but is not the heart of the matter the policy of the Pakistan Government in East Bengal which is continuing to cause the efflux of refugees across the border? Has the Foreign Secretary any suggestions or proposals to make to ease the situation and help to bring forward the political settlement which he rightly believes is the only possible answer? Sir Alec Douglas-Home: The first thing to do is to carry conviction with the President of Pakistan that such a settlement is absolutely necessary if this country is to be reunited. I
