বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্রঃ ত্রয়োদশ খণ্ড
16. Mr. Sisco said that the long term presence of Indian forces in Bangladesh would have to be addressed. Mr. Van Hollen remarked that should the Indian Army remain more than two or three weeks after the situation in East Pakistan is wrapped up they would, in fact, become a Hindu Army of occupation in the eyes of the Bengalis.
17. Mr. Van Hollen raised the problem of the return of the refugees from India. In as much as Bangladesh is predominantly Moslem, the return of 10 million refugees, most of whom are Hindus, would present another critical problem.
18. General Westmoreland suggested that the Indian position in the West was not un-advantageous. He briefly discussed the order of battle in West Pakistan and suggested that the Indians were in relatively good shape. He said that the expected the major Pak effort to be toward Kashmir and the Punjab. The Indians, he, felt, will be striking toward Hyderarabad so as to cut the main LOC to Karachi. He did not think that the Indians necessarily plan to drive all the way to Karachi. He also suggested that the current Indian move in that direction could very well be diversionary in' order to force the Paks to pull reserves back from the Kashmir area.
19. Mr. Packard asked about the POL supply situation, for Pakistan. Mr. Helms said that at the present time it looked very bad. The overland LOCs from Iran, for example, were very tenuous.
20. Mr. Williams suggested that the reason for the Indian thrust to the south was essentially political. Inasmuch as the Indians do not want to fight on the border they will have to give ground in Kashmir. In order to ward off parliamentary criticism, Mrs. Gandhi may be going for some Pak real estate in the south.
21. Dr. Kissinger then asked about UN initiatives. Mr. Sisco said that we are now reviewing the situation with Ambassador Bush. Two Security Council resolutions have been voted by the Soviets. However, there is a ground-swell building in New York for an emergency session by the General Assembly to be convened under the provisions of the 'threat to peace' mechanism. The crisis could be moved into the Assembly through a simple majority vote.
22. Dr. Kissinger and Mr. Sisco agreed that any resolution introduced into the General Assembly must retain two key elements; Ceasefire and withdrawal of military forces. Dr. Kissinger agreed that our UN delegation has handled the situation extremely well to date. Mr. Sisco said that although it is very likely that the crisis will be introduced in the General Assembly, we must remember that there are 136 countries represented therein and we can expect all sorts of pressure to be generated. Mr. De Palma suggested that when the resolution is introduced in the Assembly there will be a new twist, i.e., the Indians will be no longer terribly interested in political accommodation. By that time that issue will have ceased to be a problem.
23. Mr. De Palma said that a Council meeting was scheduled for 3.30 today and at that time we could try to get the Council to let go of the issue in order to transfer it to the Assembly, it being quite obvious that we are not going to get a cease-fire through Security Council.