BY A CORRESPONDENT

Calcutta: The first days of post-liberation Bangla Desh
have brought the expected quota of confusion in Dacca
and an unexpected air of mystery about the new
government. But hope was still high that everything
would be sorted out before the new year dawned.

The inevitable confusion before a new administration
could take effect in Dacca was increased by the vengeful
mood of the Mukti Bahini guerrillas. Their tendency to
seek out "collaborators" and deal with them summarily
finally forced a reluctant Indian Army to take measures
to restrain them. But the army was hardly in a position
to stop backyard killings unless it was ready to impose
martial law-which it clearly was not, for obvious
political reasons.

There is no evidence yet that the revenge killings have
been numerous. But they have been barbarous enough to
attract wide publicity. Bangla Desh leaders were worried
that if the killings continued, their fledgling country
could lose the international sympathy it had gained
during the months of Pakistani Army repression.

But why were these leaders not in Dacca? A week after
the surrender of the Pakistani Army, the five-man
Cabinet of Bangla Desh was still in Calcutta. Its
members had ceremoniously entered the Bangla Desh city
of Jessore soon after it was captured by the Indian
troops. After that they had returned to Calcutta.

One explanation given for the inordinate delay in the
government leaders' journey to Dacca is that they wanted
to avoid being associated with tough measures which were
expected to become necessary to keep the guerillas in
check. Perhaps it was also thought fit to keep them out
during the transitional period when the Indian Army was
bound to seem an occupation force in Bangla Desh.

But another possible explanation is that some sort of
political controversy might already have surfaced. The
present Cabinet is an Awami League cabinet. Important
sections of the Bangla Desh leadership are clamouring
for a "National Government" and India is believed to
support this move. It may be that this point has to be
settled before the new government assumes office in
Dacca.

A National Government would mean a coalition of the
Awami League plus at least two leftwing organisations-
the Communist Party led by pro-Moscow Muzaffar Ahmed and
the National Awami Party led by Maulana Bashani. The
political implications of such a combination are
obvious.

The only leader whose very presence, will make all
controversies of this nature, irrelevant is Sheikh
Mujibur Rahman. If he is released by Pakistan - and the
chances of his release are much better now than they
were two weeks ago there would be no such thing as a
leadership problem or power struggle in Bangla Desh. But
Bangla Desh cannot indefinitely wait for the Sheikh's
release. The administrative problems facing the new
country are not of a kind that can be postponed even for
a few weeks. Disarming and restraining the Mukti Bahini
is only part of the job of restoring law and order. Even
more important is that of weeding out the antisocial
elements who have jumped in to take advantage of the
power vacuum. The longer this goes on, the more
difficult it will be to check. The present leaders will
have to take office in Dacca with no further delay if
only to avoid a major setback even before they have
started.

Some moves already have been made to organise the
administrative machinery. District officials and
policemen have been returning to work and about half a
dozen top administrators have been busy organising them
into the familiar routine. Senior Indian civil servants
and engineers have been deputed to assist them. But the
whole process will suffer if the top political
leadership continues to be absent.