ংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্রঃ ত্রয়োদশ খন্ড situation based on a political settlement in conformity with the known wishes of the people, there will be a real risk of further clashes there have been one or two clashes between the Armed Forces of India and Pakistan-and certainly the tragedy of communal strife will continue. If the present sanitation continues, there is a risk, not just of the Indian and Pakistan Governments becoming directly involved in a conflict with one another, but with Russia and China having taken sides on the issue-China supporting the Pakistan Government, and Russia supporting the Indian Government and criticizing the Pakistan Government-of a real threat to stability in the whole of Southern Asia. Against that background, I should like to say a few words on the problems in order of priority. First, there is the problem of relief. I hope we all agree and perhaps the Minister will say something about this if he seeks leave to speak again-that the critical thing is to get the United Nations aid moving and to persuade the Pakistan Government to accept the Secretary-General's offer. I hope that the British Government will make a generous contribution to United Nations aid, and so set an example to the rest of the world. I know the Minister would not claim that the £18,000 already given is anything like commensurate with the scale of the problem, and again I hope that, as the country which has some historical responsibility for, and close human ties with, Pakistan, we shall set an example which is commensurate not only with the scale of the problem but with what we hope others in the world will give. There is something in the idea put forward by the Hon. Member for Torquay that a parliamentary delegation might be sent to that area. I should not care to say whether it should be the same delegation that visits both West Bengal and Pakistan, but it seems to me that not only should we inform ourselves better as a Parliament if we were able to send an all-party delegation, but that those who go might be able, on their return, to generate more public interest in the problem of relief and in the problem of a settlement. The next problem, beyond the immediate problem of relief, is that of aid. I fully accept what the Minister said. We cannot dictate the nature of a settlement, but I think that we can, and must, insist on visible progress towards a settlement as a condition of effective aid. After all, as has been said, the E.C.G.D. has already been compelled, by its own charter, to refuse to guarantee credits for Pakistan because the physical conditions do not exist which would justify that, and I think I am right in saying that the International Bank and the International Monetary Fund are both differently bound by the statutes which set them up to insist on certain conditions as justification for aid. This is not a question of political strings in the vulgar sense. It is a question of institutions which are spending the money of their taxpayers all over the world in giving aid having to insist, in duty to those who contribute the funds, that the situation in the recipient country exists which will allow aid to be used effectively, and there is no question but that we have the right, and the duty, to insist at least on that, I disagree with my Hon. Friend the Member for Kensington, North about cutting off aid altogether. I hope that I interpreted the Minister correctly when he said that the bulk of aid now given by Britain is being concentrated on projects in East Pakistan. In the light of
