By A. ULANSKY

It is clear to anyone who has
attentively followed the devel-
opments on the Indian subcon-
tinent that the whole thing
started at the end of March
when the military authorities
set out to crush by armed force
the East Pakistan population’s
urge to achieve broad regional
autonomy within the frame-
work of united Pakistan. On
March 25 the Awami League,
which had scored a sweeping
victory in the December 1970
election with its now well-
known six-point program, was
banned and Mujibur Rahman
and other League leaders were
arrested.

It was this action of the Pakis-
tani military administration that
created the problem of Bangla
Desh, as the Bengalese patriots
now call East Pakistan. In re-
ply to the savage reprisals,
some of them proclaimed their
homeland independent, although
prior to March 25 they had only
demanded autonomy. It was the
armed suppression of the East
Pakistanis by the government
army that forced many to take
up arms and join the Mukhti
Bahini — the liberation army.

According to the London Sun-
day Times (October 31), some
100,000 Mukhti Bahini guerril-
las were believed to be in ac-
tion. An Associated Press cor-
respondent, quoting | “informed
diplomatic sources,” reported
from Dacca on November 3 that
fighting between the Pakistani
army and the Mukhti Bahini
units was raging on a third of
the territory of East Pakistan.
Explosions and fires occurred
almost. daily in Dacca and other
cities, and traffic was disrupted
on a number of highways.

= * *

Having created the Bangla
Desh problem themselves, the
Pakistani authorities undertook
no effective steps to settle it by
political means but are banking
instead on a military solution.
The Pakistani government was
the first to deploy troops on its

Ten million refugees have fled
East Pakistan into India to es-
cape the campaign of terror.

frontier and thus forced India
to take measures to safeguard
her security.

And so what has happened
and’is happening in East Pakis-
tan is by no means the result of
any conflict between India and
Pakistan. On the contrary, it is
the developments in East Pakis-
tan, the procrastination by the
Islamabad authorities in achiev-
ing a solution of the East Pakis-
tani problem that would take
into account the aspirations and
interests of the population of
this eastern province and allow
millions’ of refugees to return
home that is the main source of
the growing tension on the In-
dian subcontinent.

The refugees cannot be ex-
pected to return home until
they have been assured of per-
sonal safety. In the meantime
their number continues to grow.
According to Indian sources, it
had reached 9,588,000 at the
end of October. What is this if
not eloquent proof of the con-
tinued suppression of dissenters

zy

CORRS TT

_, MARX . MONUMENT IN GDR

250,00 citizens of the
old industrial town of
Karl-Marx-Stadt (form-
erly Chemnitz) met in
the newly-built centre of
the town to attend the
festive unveiling of the
Karl Marx monument.
Soviet sculptor and Len-
in Prize holder Lev Ker-
bel created the monu-
ment.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1971—PAGE 8

by the Pakistani army and the
Razakars (so-called volunteers)
recruited chiefly from among
the non-Bengalese population.

* Bo oe

In its attempts to clear the
authorities of the responsibility
for the difficulties the country
was going through, official .Pakis-
tani propaganda sought to create
an impression that they were
taking steps to normalize the
situation in East Pakistan.

Among these steps it listed the
replacement of the military gov-
ernor of the province by a ci-
vilian, the formation of a pro-
vincial government, and _ the
planned by-elections. Frankly
speaking, it is difficult to regard
these steps as anything but half-
measures or rather a smoke
screen for the authorities’ un-
willingness to work. for a real
political settlement that would
take account of the rights- and
interests of the East Pakistan
population.

The Dacca Cabinet, for in-
stance, consists chiefly of mem-
bers of the parties which suf-
fered a crushing defeat in the
last general election. So it is not
at all surprising that it enjoys
neither authority nor support
among the population of East
Pakistan. The amnesty pro-
claimed by the Islamabad ad-
ministration extended by far not
to all the persecuted persons. It
did not extend, for instance, to
the 78 Awami League deputies
of the National Assembly and
193 Awami League deputies of
the Provincial Assembly

The six parties which suffer-
ed a complete fiasco in the De-
cember 1970 general election
have formed an election coali-
tion. Rejected by the people a
year ago, these Rightist parties
have simply distributed Assem-
bly seats among themselves
while outright terror was un-
leashed against the followers of
the Awami League.

Not only the military moves
by Pakistan and India’s reply
measures make the armed con-
frontation between the two
neighboring countries danger-
ously explosive. Dangerous too
is the war psychosis and anti-

Indian hysteria that has been.

whipped up in Pakistan.

“The unprecedented flow of
destitute refugees,” the New
York Times wrote on Oct. 28,
“constitutes, in effect, a blood-
less aggression against India—
although the campaign of terror
in East Pakistan which precipi-
tates this flow is by no means
bloodiess.”

Having assumed perilous pro-
portions, the refugee problem
is no longer an “internal affair”
of Pakistan. And not only be-
cause of the huge financial bur-
den it imposed on the Indian
economy which is experiencing
difficulties as it is. This flow of
millions of refugees has also
created a tense political and so-
cial situation in India. Suffice it
to mention the growing unem-
ployment in her eastern states
and the rise of prices.

Indian statesmen have re-
peatedly declared that they will
do everything to prevent war
and safeguard peace. During her
recent tour of five European
countries and the United States,
Prime Minister Indira Gandhi

‘stressed in her speeches and

statements at press conferences

. that India “would not like to be

engaged in a war situation.”

But the danger of war, creat-
ed on the Indian-Pakistani fron-
tiers by the unsettled situation
in East Pakistan, remains,

Bengali cuentas in eaivien.

London rescues racists

The Rhodesian farce

By VALENTIN KUNIN

The agreement on the settle-
ment of the “constitutional con-
flict” between London and the
Rhodesian authorities was sign-
ed on Nov. 24 in Salisbury fol-
lowing the 10-day talks between
British Foreign Secretary Alec
Douglas Home and Prime Minis-
ter of Rhodesia Ian Smith. The
purpose of the agreement is to
recognize Rhodesia’s independ-
ence which in this case means
a consolidation of racist arbi-
trary rule in the country.

Representatives of Rhodesian
liberation movements, now
meeting in Lusaka, have strong-
ly condemned the collusion be-
tween British monopolies and
Rhodesian landlords. This con-
stitutional swindle,
statement of the Zimbabwe
African People’s Union, is un-
able to solve the problem of the
African population and is direct-
ed above all strengthening the
positions of the racists. The
Anglo-Rhodesian collusion actu-
ally leaves unchanged the racist
“constitution” adopted in 1969
which perpetuates the present
colonial order in the country.

Speaking in the British par-
liament, Douglas Home said
that the Anglo-Rhodesian Agree-
ment, allegedly, switched Rho-
desia onto a new path, “saving”
it from the establishment of the
apartheid system practiced in
South Africa. However, facts
prove that apartheid struck deep
roots in Rhodesia long ago.

The political and economic
power in the country belongs to
the 250,000 white settlers. The
area of land they possess equals
that owned by five million Afri-
cans who are deprived of basic
human rights. As a result of the
extremely severe conditions of
life in the countryside, and
mostly because of land short-

age,. some 500,000 Africans
search for jobs in the cities
every year. :

In Rhodesia a person with
dark skin is not allowed to en-
ter a hotel, a restaurant, a cine-
ma or a cafe meant for whites
only. Africans are forbidden to
travel in the same bus with
whites. If they happen to be in
the European part of the city
after a fixed hour, they are
arrested on the spot. The Rho-
desian c6nstitution practically
denies the native population ail
political rights. Of the 66 mem-
bers of Rhodesian parliament,
50 deputies represented the
white population and a mere 16
handpicked by the authorities,
represent five million Africans.

Any attempt to protest apar-
theid in the country is cruelly
suppressed. The prisons of Salis-
bury, Bulawayo and other large

says the.

cities are packed with political
prisoners. inte
Such is Rhodesian reality
which is to be consolidated BY
the Salisbury Agreement ike
is not the interests of
African population in Rhode a ‘
that Douglas Home car
when he was_ signing ef
document. Revealing the "U")
reasons for London’s wis ;
strike a deal with the racer
Financial Times wrote that :
true interests of Britaim’ ae
Rhodesia were economic and
strategic. It is not for nO o
004

that Rhodesia is called the OV
economic appendage 4)

seas

Great Britain. Nearly 180
branches of -more than del
British industrial and 4°")

try. The 200. million pounds
sterling invested by the de-
City businessmen in the Rho p
sian economy bring the
20 million pounds of net P
There is hardly any sec
the Rhodesian economy
British. companies
operate. Thus, the anaes a
processing of tobacco, the chile’
export product of Rhodesia alle
controlled by the Imp i ish}
Tobacco Company. Four Bi ng
companies control gold 2
in the country. The two lead Ae
banks of the City — Barely
Bank and. the Nationa) neil
Grindlay’s Bank — have * the eps
branches in Rhodesia where —:.13
bulk of monetary operat ons * i
made. ‘th oh,
It is no wonder then tha ime
City was pressing for 4
with Salisbury from th bern
beginning of the “conflict de- ty
tween London and the RhOl i
sian racists. The signing ® evo Mh
Salisbury Agreement has ONO
ed open exulation at the LO? the 4 :
Stock Exchange and caused Fy
shares of the mining and ROO
co companies operating 1” ‘
desia to soar. ith
Trying to bring the saith
regime out of its economic
political isolation, the
pursue strategic aims,
from meeting the interest®
big business in Britain.
Heath government is pla” ploc
to form a military-politic@ at r
in the South of Africa ¥ of ‘
would include the Republic
South Africa, Rhodesia a? od

: . ne)
companies operate in the co¥ :

Portuguese colonialists.
reaching plan of Whitehal:
ticians is to use that bloc # fe
instrument of exerting pr ess of
on the independent count tries
Africa and hamper the PF PA
of socio-economic transf0% ,;
tions in the young states yer”)
decision of the British 20% of
ment to resume the sup a
arms to Pretoria also §
those aims. |