we do not express our feeling of sympathy and support to their cause. They have democratically shown that they have got a majority and they are fighting a battle in a non-violent manner. It will be a sorry day in India, to whom the whole world looks for guidance, falls to give encouragement and support to the people who are waging a non-violent struggle against a military dictatorship. That is the point that I would like to make before you. It is the duty of the people of India and the Government of India to help the oppressed people of East Bengal where the battle is going on. The Government has failed to express our sentiments adequately. This is an occasion when the support in every possible manner has got to be extended quickly to the people of East Bengal who are raising a battle for independence in a very dignified and nonviolent manner.
I support all the Members who have spoken of this. But I must say that the statement made by the External Affairs Minister is both insufficient and inadequate.
MR. SPEAKER: I have just received the news from the P. T. I., I think; it is coming from our own teleprompter. It says that the East Bengal leader Mujibur Rahman has been arrested. Radio Pakistan announced today (Interruptions).
SOME HON'BLE MEMBERS: Shame, Shame!
Mr. SPEAKER: The arrest was made after mid-night last night.
Shri P. K. Deo. SHRI P. K. DEO: Mr. Speaker, Sir, on behalf of the Swatantra Party. I associate myself with the spontaneous and popular upsurge of 75 million people of Bangladesh and support their aspirations for autonomy for which they got a clear mandate in elections of December. 1970.
When I speak of Bangladesh, I remember Pakistan which is a geographical absurdity and the partition of the country on the basis of religion which might have been accepted by the Congress to step into the shoes of the Government. But we who surrendered everything. Whatever our forc-father built, at the feet of the mother-land for the integration of the country cannot reconsider ourselves to that situation.
In this grave moment, I remind the Government of India to take a lesson from the follies they have made on the illegal occupation of Tibet by China or on the rape of Hungry or on the aggression of Czechoslovakia, and not to toe the wrongful line that they have taken in the past. They should rise to the occasion and they should fully support the aspirations of the people of Bangladesh.
At this moment, I request the Government on behalf of the Swatantra Party to take the earliest opportunity to raise the question in the Commission on Human Rights at the United Nations and in the Afro-Asian Conference and in all other international forums, and at the same time to send all sorts of relief and medical aid to the people there.
Lastly, I salute those brave martyrs who are laying their lives for their motherland. I have full sympathy with them.
THE PRIME MINSTER, MINISTER OF ATOMIC ENERGY, MINISTER OF HOME AFFAIRS, MINISTER OF INFORMATION AND BROADCASTING (SHRIMATI INDIRA
