The birth of a nation could hardly be less auspicious than the emergence of Bangladesh as the third major independent state of the Indian subcontinent.

Conceived in civil strife that produced scenes of appalling barbarity, Bangladesh was delivered by an Indian, intervention that shook the entire subcontinent and the world beyond. The whole operation bears. a legacy of blood and bitterness—internal and external—that may long plague the new Bengali nation and its neighbors. The revenge‐slaughter of unknown numbers of Pakistani collaborators and suspected collaborators is a gruesome manifestation of the hatreds now rampant. Unless they can curb these hideous murders, the Bengalis will forfeit all foreign sympathy and respect and will destroy in advance what they have only begun to build in “Golden Bengal.”

Overcrowded and under‐endowed, storm plagued and famine‐prone, Bangladesh is only marginally less viable than the hopelessly bifurcated state from which it has seceded. Complete independence is a vain myth for any nation today, but especially for a state so precariously placed—geographically, economically and politically—as Bangladesh.

To survive with dignity and some hope, the new leaders in Dacca would be well advised promptly to seek ties of friendship and cooperation not only with New Delhi but with Islamabad as well. Whatever their grievances and differences—and they are many and vast the fate of the peoples and the states of the subcontinent are irrevocably bound together.

Recognizing this reality, as he must, Pakistan's new President, Zulfikar All Bhutto, could begin the painful process of reconciliation by promptly releasing ‘the East Bengali leader, Sheik Mujibur Rahman, and discussing with ‘him, as.an equal, the future relations, of their two countries.