present circumstances, is bound to be used for the suppression of the majority of Pakistan’s people. It is, therefore, not out of any ill will for the people of Pakistan, but in the desire that the agony of strife in Pakistan should end as quickly as possible, that we urge that all countrics should suspend all military and economic assistance to Pakistan till a political solution acceptable to the people of East Bengal is found.
India Threatened
I hope that the people of this country will understand and appreciate our grave anxiety over the situation in East Bengal. We in India have been at the receiving end of the results of the region of terror and killings that has gone on in East Bengal since March 25. The point has now been reached where the actions of Pakistan’s military Government threaten to disrupt the economic, social and political fabric of our society and our state. These action threaten to engulf our region in a conflict the end of which it is not easy to predict.
We have acted with patience, forbearance and restraint. But, we cannot sit idly by if the edifice of our political stability and economic well-being is threatened.
In the 23 years since our independence, we have struggled to give economic and social meaning to our political democracy. We have not succeeded in eliminating poverty and hunger and disease from our land, but the lives of our people are a little better than they were 2½ decades ago. We have doubled our food production, we have vastly expanded the availability of education, medical care and the opportunities of work to our people. The rate of annual increase in our exports touched a high of 7 per cent last year, and our growth rate has moved up to 5 per cent per annum. The United States has helped us in our endeavors, and I am sure you share our pride in these achievements.
Crises of Pakistan's Making
After our General Elections in February, which gave our Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, and our party, the Indian national Congress, a massive verdict of peoples’ support for our programmes, we were getting ready for a powerful assault on our economic and social problems. And, then came this crisis of Pakistan’s making. which threatens to wipe out our gains, and destroy the prospect of peace and progress for our children.
To any responsible Government, this would be an intolerable situation. Hence our anxiety that a, political solution should be forged in East Bengal which is acceptable to the Bengali people and their elected representatives, so that peace may return to that troubled land, and refugees who have come to our country should go back to their homes.
We face a grave situation, but we continue to have faith and hope that concerted and determined action of the world community will help a satisfactory solution and lift the threat to India’s stability and to the peace of the region.
