With the United States and other friends of Pakistan in the Security Council at last coming down to earth and not continuing to attempt to use that forum to blackguard India, the deadlock in the Council over Bangla Desh was broken yesterday and a resolution has been adopted calling for a “durable cease-fire” and for troop withdrawals “as soon as practicable”. Earlier, American-sponsored resolutions had failed to run the gauntlet of the Soviet veto and Indian objections because they had called for immediate troop withdrawals that would have left the people of Bangla Desh once again to the tender mercies of the West Pakistani Army with its terrible record of savagery. Though the present Council resolution too has not said anything about the basic issue in Bangla Desh, namely the desire of its people to be independent, it has the merit of being an effort to create a hostilities-free climate for working out the future of not only Bangla Desh but of divided Kashmir too. The success of this effort of course depends on how Pakistan is going to honour the Council’s resolution. For while India has categorically declared it has no intention to hold on to any real estate outside its territory, President Bhutto is talking about avenging his country’s ignominious defeat and re-annexing the lost East Bengal.
https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-opinion/the-next-step-from-an-editorial/article38016610.ece