neither may find it easy to survive. This is why cries of independence and absolute autonomy in East Pakistan raise fears and cannot be brushed aside as acts of misguided individual charlatans. Whether the pamphlets reflect the minds of their authors only or a larger number of people, one thing is very clear and that is that the people who write them want to destroy Pakistan. Demands by East Pakistanis of autonomy with powers to decide most matters at the provincial level, provincialization of Services and freedom to regulate industry and commerce are not new. Before each Provincial election, such demands were made vigorously and among programmes of cach political party, these demands figured prominently. In fact, success depended upon the length to which a party offered to go. The concept of provincial autonomy was progressively enlarged but however tenuous the connection with the Centre as conceived by an individual or a party. Last Pakistan was to continue to be an integral and vital part of Pakistan. For the first time now, since 1947 demands for an independent East Pakistan with no connexion with West Pakistan have begun to be made openly. There was a small group of East Pakistanis which favored an independent, undivided Bengal even in 1947. Mr. Suhrawardy was an ardent supporter of this idea and this ultimately led to his expulsion by the Quaid-i- Azam from the first Constituent Assembly of Pakistan. Pro-Pakistan opinion was so strong at that time that Mr. Suhrawardy had to take refuge in Calcutta. Mr. Fazlul Huq's loyalty to Pakistan, at that time, was also questionable (his close relations for long lived on both sides of the border) and. perhaps, left to himself, he would have voted for an independent undivided Bengal. Such persons were, however, few and far between and they did not dare make their views public. Today, posters advocating complete independence are being broadcast in large numbers with impunity and the reactions which they rouse are surprisingly mild. In West Pakistan, on the other hand, any talk of undoing Pakistan even today would arouse violent feelings and emotions. Is one right in guessing that in East Pakistan the thought of undoing Pakistan docs not raise the same pitch of feelings which it did at one time? In face of this apathy, would not the cessationalists' forces become desperately confident and aggressive and decide to deliver a harder blow?
III-will growing in West Bengal against Delhi
The true implications of the posters should be assessed in relation to two important developments. Today both in East Pakistan and in West Bengal, a feeling is growing that the Central Governments in Rawalpindi and Delhi are unsympathetic, step-motherly and even hostile and that the hopes and aspirations of the people in the two Provinces are suffering as a result of that connexion. This feeling is fairly widespread and is much more pronounced in West Bengal, where there is greater ill- will against Mr. Nehru, the Congress high command and the Government of India. The mood of the people in West Bengal is .one of sullen resentment and despair with the Central Government. The disturbances in Assam caused a further invasion of Calcutta by destitute refugees and aggravated the uneasiness. The West Bengalees demonstrated their anger against the Central Government by refusing to take part in the independence celebrations in August last and they blamed Nehru and the Congress high command for not acting firmly against the Assamese who had wrought such havoc to their Bengali compatriots. West Bengal and particularly Culcutta is explosive. The administration is weak and ineffective and the Congress high command has even been flirting with the idea of making a Bengalee as the
