Mr. DORFMAN. I think that both contending parties will have to do very unwelcome things from their point of view, but I should think that the East Bengali could be persuaded to remain legally part of a united Pakistan, provided that they are given the substance of the demands of six points of the Awami League, and that the West Pakistani troops are withdrawn.
I think in West Pakistan the strains of continuing the conflict will be so severe that they could reconcile themselves to almost any settlement that leaves the East part of the country. The think they have to avoid is separation.
Mr. GALLAGHER. Do you feel that it is in the interest of both wings of Pakistan to have a political settlement and remain a viable nation?
Mr. DORFMAN. I don't know how long a political settlement would stick. The hatreds that have grown up are substantial. The countries, of course, were widely separated geographically, culturally, ethnically, even by language previously, so that people have long been predicting that the union would fall apart sooner or later. How violently, I suppose no one anticipated. But I think under the circumstances, rather than have a fight to the finish now, they should try for a compromise and try to make it work.
Mr. GALLAGHER. Do you see any possibility of it working, in view of your long experience?
Mr. DORFMAN. Yes I do, though it will require more good will on both sides than they have displayed so far. There is no conflict of interest. If the West were able to allow the East to follow an economic policy that was not in the West's favor but in the East's and if the other nations repented, as I am sure we do, of their excessive obsession with West Pakistan, I am sure they could stay together.
Mr. GALLAGHER. I note in your statement that “nevertheless we should stand ready to provide food and medical relief to East Pakistan.” How do you feel the distribution should be made?
Mr. DORFMAN. In East Pakistan at present?
Mr. GALLAGHER. I mean should the Government of the United States make that distribution bilaterally into East Pakistan?
Mr. DORFMAN. I think we should not. Supervisory administration by the U.N. or the International Red Cross would be needed.
Mr. GALLAGHER. Wouldn't that be the only real effective way of doing it?
Mr. DORFMAN. That way, plus an informal recognition that relief supplies sent to the nearby regions of India are likely to leak across the border also. It is quite a long and open border.
Mr. GALLAHER. How would distribution be made, if we did it in that way?
