a war. If the nations of the world wanted to stop a war, there was still time for them and they could have done so by securing justice for the people of Bangladesh.
We know that this could not be done suddenly and we did not say that it should be done immediately. We only said that a step or two should be taken which might meet the aspirations of the people of Bangladesh and also ensure that their voice was heard. Among such steps could be the release of the Bangladesh leader, Sheikh Mujibur rahman, the annulment of the fake elections that were scheduled to be held, and lastly, some sort of negotiations by which the people of Bangladesh could have an assurance that something would really be done. They could not be told to forget and forgive or that it was not necessary that the refugees must go back.
It was also necessary for some sort of popular government to be set up. We were told that civilian rule might be established. We made it clear that we could not accept a government formed by those who had lost in the recent elections. The people of Bangladesh also would never accept such a government.
We never said what we thought about the whole question or what we wanted to be done. We only explained the real situation, because we were aware that certain forces had raised their heads in Bangladesh, which nothing in the world could suppress. When a whole people fight for freedom, and When every individual is determined to lay down his life for it, the struggle is bound to succeed. This has been the experience of people all over the world. We repeatedly told the people of the United States and also nations of Europe that they must look to the realities of the situation. If the struggle for freedom could not be suppressed, further steps had to be considered in future because Bangladesh is so close to our borders and we cannot ignore the effect on us of events taking place there.
Every country has its own ideals and interests. Our ideals and the interests of the country are the same. We want peace, and we shall have peace, even though we have at times to fight to secure peace. This is the reason for the war going on today. Unless the situation in Bangladesh changes there can be no peace either there or in the eastern region of our country.
Let us now examine the reasons for the present situation. Pakistan was built up on a wrong foundation, namely, that one religion could form the basis of a nation. There is no country in the world which has people only of one religion. In fact, every country today has people professing several religions and if all of them are not treated with equality and justice that country can have neither unity nor strength. The very basis of the formation of Pakistan was thus wrong.
There are some people in this country who do say that Pakistan must be crushed and that this is the opportunity to end Pakistan. This, however, has never been the stand of the Government. I am convinced that this is not the opinion of the people of this country. We want Pakistan to continue to exist. But this is possible only if it follows the right path. If Pakistan was bent on destroying itself, no outsider could help.
