BANGLA FOREIGN MINISTER WARNS

 

Comments of Bangla Desh Foreign Minister Khandaker Moshtaque Ahmed,

on July 31, 1971, regarding the UN move to station observers on either side of the Bangla Desh border with India.

 

Bangla Desh Foreign Minister Khandaker Moshtaque Ahmed said today that attempts to make "Bangla Desh" an India-Pakistan issue was a "wrong attitude and cannot bring peace in this part of the world".

 

Commenting on the U.N. move to station observers on either side of the Bangla Desh border with India, Mr. Ahmed said: "indications are too obvious that Pakistan as last-minute efforts to polish her already tarnished image has geared up activities in and around the U.N. to save itself from certain defeat at the hands of Bangla Desh liberation forces.

 

“We want to make it very clear that any attempt to sidetrack the Bangla Desh Government on Bangla Desh issue is fraught with grave danger. Any attempt to ignore the fighting people of Bangla Desh will lead to nowhere."

 

 

U.N. Envoy

 

Mr. Ahmed accused the U.N. High Commissioner for Relief and Rehabili­tation with having taken a partisan view of the refugee situation.

 

"He wants to administer a palliative when it requires a severe surgery. By now he should be in a better position to say whether or not his personal presence and assurance could inspire any refugee to go back home or cause still larger overflow to India. We feel no further experiments on this line should be undertaken. We, therefore, call upon the U.N. to put off this vain attempt to tackle the refugee problem."

 

Only the Government formed by the duly elected representatives of the people of Bangla Desh could take the refugees back to their homes. "The rational approach would be to recognise the Bangla Desh Government which alone can speak on behalf of the people of Bangla Desh as the sole arbiter of their destiny."

 

(PATRIOT, New Delhi-August 1, 1971)

 

 

Source: Bangladesh Documents, Vol – 1, Page no – 338 - 339.