Home Rule for Bengal

To the Editor:
As West Pakistanis, we are shocked and shamed by the recent developments in our country. We decry the denial by West Pakistani leaders of East Pakistan's right to self-determination. We condemn the current policy of brutally suppressing the home-rule movement in Bengal.

West Pakistan's military and civilian leaders must be held responsible for the crisis which culminated in the declaration of East Pakistan's independence. The vested interests in West Pakistan never accepted East Pakistan's electoral verdict in favor of regional autonomy. 

During the 23 years of Pakistan's existence, the economic, military and bureaucratic interests of West Pakistan sought to maintain unity by subordination instead of partnership, by coercion instead of cooperation and by force instead of agreement. The overwhelming vote for the Awami League's six-point program reflected the desire of the Bengali people to redefine the relationship between the two wings of the country and to end their colonial status. 

If the leaders of West Pakistan were sincere in their pursuit of national unity, they should have read the writing on the wall and accepted the demands of the majority party. Instead, West Pakistani leaders chose the road of confrontation and left East Pakistanis no alternative except that of secession. 

The systematic killing of civilians and the wanton destruction of property by the West Pakistani Army cannot be justified as a necessary measure. It is a violent expression of the contempt in which West Pakistani rulers hold the Bengali people. The ruthlessness with which the army has intervened is an admission by West Pakistani rulers that they view themselves as colonial conquerers. 

Indeed, Bengali resistance to the occupation is so total that it is not possible to find a quisling in East Pakistan.

We urge our compatriots from West Pakistan not to be carried away by the chauvinistic slogans of "unity" and "integrity," for unity cannot be achieved by bullets and bombs, and integrity cannot be maintained by coercing a people into submission. 

If we cherish freedom for ourselves, we must respect the freedom for others.

We appeal to the United Nations and world public opinion to adopt measures to terminate speedily the current massacre of the Bengali people. A U.N. fact-finding mission and dispatch of International Red Cross teams ought to be the immediate steps in the direction. 

EQBAL AHMAD, AIJAZ AHMAD, FEROZ AHMED, SAGHIR AHMAD 

Chicago, April 1, 1971

The writers, citizens of West Pakistan, hold academic posts at various institutions in the United States and Canada.