EDITORIAL : MRS. GANDHI IN RUSSIA
THE GLASGOW HERALD (Glasgow) September 13, 1971
The outcome of Mrs. Gandhi’s three day visit to Moscow must give some welcome reassurance to the Indian Govern¬ment confronted with the immense problem posed by the invasion of millions of refugees from East Pakistan. Soviet denunciation—notably by Mr. Kosygin—of the Pakistan Government’s complicity in the exodus of mainly Hindus from Bangladesh is the strongest indication yet of Russian concern at the turn of events in the Ind-Pakistan sub-continent.
This would be prompted not just by Mrs. Gandhi’s presence in the Russian capital. Russia certainly fears the repercussions of an outbreak of hostilities between India and Pakistan. A war between the two countries is still very much on the cards if India were to abandon her present policy of restraint, and Mrs. Gandhi has claimed with truth and feeling that many countries have not given India enough credit for keeping the situation below boiling point. After all, nothing suits President Yahya Khan better than to shift the blame for the refugee crisis on to provocation by India, conveniently overlooking the increasingly well documented ferocity of the Pakistan Army that terrorized millions into flight. India has so far ignored the wild propaganda from Karachi: she cannot be expected to do so for even if no progress is forth¬coming—either from Pakistan or international quarters—on- the refugees question, which must be putting untold pressure on Indian resources.
Russia knows only too well that war between India and Pakistan would inevitably bring Pakistan’s now traditional find solo ally into the reckoning. There are few things that the Soviet Union would wish to avoid more than a fresh confrontation with the Chinese People’s Republic whatever the present political malaise in Peking. This explains the Russian emphasis upon a political settlement to Bangladesh and the call upon the Pakistan Government to restore the country to a state where refugees can feel free and unafraid to return. Mrs. Gandhi may have hoped for more from the Russians.
The outcome of Mrs. Gandhi’s three day visit to Moscow must give some welcome reassurance to the Indian Govern¬ment confronted with the immense problem posed by the invasion of millions of refugees from East Pakistan. Soviet denunciation—notably by Mr. Kosygin—of the Pakistan Government’s complicity in the exodus of mainly Hindus from Bangladesh is the strongest indication yet of Russian concern at the turn of events in the Ind-Pakistan sub-continent.
This would be prompted not just by Mrs. Gandhi’s presence in the Russian capital. Russia certainly fears the repercussions of an outbreak of hostilities between India and Pakistan. A war between the two countries is still very much on the cards if India were to abandon her present policy of restraint, and Mrs. Gandhi has claimed with truth and feeling that many countries have not given India enough credit for keeping the situation below boiling point. After all, nothing suits President Yahya Khan better than to shift the blame for the refugee crisis on to provocation by India, conveniently overlooking the increasingly well documented ferocity of the Pakistan Army that terrorized millions into flight. India has so far ignored the wild propaganda from Karachi: she cannot be expected to do so for even if no progress is forth¬coming—either from Pakistan or international quarters—on- the refugees question, which must be putting untold pressure on Indian resources.
Russia knows only too well that war between India and Pakistan would inevitably bring Pakistan’s now traditional find solo ally into the reckoning. There are few things that the Soviet Union would wish to avoid more than a fresh confrontation with the Chinese People’s Republic whatever the present political malaise in Peking. This explains the Russian emphasis upon a political settlement to Bangladesh and the call upon the Pakistan Government to restore the country to a state where refugees can feel free and unafraid to return. Mrs. Gandhi may have hoped for more from the Russians.
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