efforts of a well armed minority to subdue the overwhelming majority constituting more than one-half of a divided country, separated by more than 1,000 miles of alien territory, speaking different languages and with deep built-in-cultural conflicts and differing economic interests.
If “we assume leadership in mustering world opinion to stop the fighting, the Soviet Union, which has limited its reaction to a mild plea for restraint, will almost certainly support our position. This is particularly so since China has seized upon the situation to stir up trouble between India and Pakistan even though this puts them in bed with the rightist military dictatorship of West Pakistan.”
The upheaval in East Pakistan came at a moment when there was new hope for political stability and economic progress in South Asia. In December, the overwhelming victory of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his Awami League in the first free election ever held in Pakistan had opened the door not only for the first genuinely democratic government but for greatly expanded trade with India and the easing of the conflict between the two nations.
Two months later, Mrs. Gandhi's landslide election in India provided her with a mandate not only for an all out effort to ease the poverty of the Indian masses but also to improve India's relations with its neighbors.
Tragically, the action of the West Pakistan Government has destroyed for some time to come the hope for a politically stable, united Pakistan living at peace with its neighbors. In all likelihood, the West Pakistani forces in East Pakistan ultimately will be driven out. Although their military superiority is substantial, the movement of food and military supplies in the coming monsoon through the aroused countryside will be extremely difficult. An independent East Pakistan appears to be in the cards.
But if the United States and the U.N. combine to look the other way and the present struggle is allowed to continue to its inevitable bloody climax. East Pakistan will become a political vacuum with 70-million embittered people convinced that the only hope for support is from the most extreme elements in India. This is particularly likely if, as many observers believe. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who has been deeply committed to the democratic process, is already dead.
As this danger grows, Mrs. Gandhi's Government will be increasingly diverted from its programs of economic development to raise the living standards of the Indian people, instead turning to the political and military problems of securing its northern and eastern borders.
