Q.- Are you saying, Mr. Foreign Minister, that if West Pakistan did not release Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, you will still return West Pakistan troops?
A.- We attach importance to the release of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, because he is the one man who can stabilize and give the right lead to the 75 million people of Bangladesh, and, therefore, it is necessary anyhow, and we would do our best along with other countries to ensure that he is released and goes back to his people.
Q.- Mr. Foreign Minister, you mentioned last night two conditions that must take place before withdrawal. One was that all the refugees must return to their country. I did not quite get the second.
A.- In fact, I mentioned in my yesterday’s intervention in the security Council, but it was not exhaustive in relation to the factors that might necessitate the stay of Indian troops in Bangladesh. I mentioned some of these considerations. One was the creation of conditions where the refugees could return to their homes and the other important consideration is that the West Pakistan troops in Bangladesh at the present moment face a danger of reprisals, and for their protection and for their repatriation also the presence of India troops in necessary. It is also necessary to ensure that the type of reprisals that are not unnatural in a situation where the entire people have suffered for over nine months in all manner of atrocities; it is to tide over these difficulties that the continued presence for some time of Indian troops in Bangladesh appears to be necessary.
Q. Can you make a guess about how long that will take?
A.- A great deal depends on the international community. The more rapid the recognition of the reality in Bangladesh by the international community the easier will it be for us to pull out our troops from Bangladesh. But if there is no response to the continued assertion by West Pakistan that they have the right to send troops to Bangladesh, that will be a negative factor and this will obviously delay the Indian troops leaving Bangladesh. The sooner the international community recognizes the reality that reality that Bangladesh has come to stay, the sooner will Bangladesh move towards stability, and thus enable India to pull out her troops.
Q. What is your assessment of the delay in action by the United Nations, particularly recalling that the Secretary-General asked the U.N. to take some action last summer?
A.- It is not for me to comment upon that. All of you are fully familiar with it. I think the main reason was that there was reluctance on the part of a number of countries to take some action for stopping the atrocities and stopping the movement of refugees from Bangladesh, treating this as an internal affairs of Pakistan. But in the context of what is any country’s internal affair, if it causes an external problem of the magnitude that India faced when India received ten million refugees, then obviously it ceases to be an internal matter and the reluctance of the international community to tackle this aspect is mainly responsible for inaction which ultimately resulted in encouraging the West Pakistan military regime to go on with the atrocities which were being committed, against the innocent and unarmed people of Bangla Desh.
