1971-07-06
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NEW DELHI. - Prime Minister Indira Gandhi appealed today to other leaders of her Congress Party to stop pressuring her to recognize the rebel Bangla Desh republic in East Pakistan or to go to war with Pakistan over Bangla Desh.
"It is not right for the government to be pushed into a position regarding the recognition of Bangla Desh until it is convinced on its own," the prime minister told the 25-member executive committee of Congress Party members in parliament.
For the second time in a week, Mrs. Gandhi also rejected a suggestion from some party members that India should go to war with Pakistan to help an estimated 7 million East Pakistan refugees return home.
The prime minister also said she had no information that the Soviet Union had supplied arms to Pakistan following the outbreak of civil strife in East Pakistan on March 25.
The right-wing Hindu nationalist Jana Sangh Party announced Sunday night that it would launch a mass civil disobedience campaign in New Delhi Aug. I if the government had not recognized Bangla Desh by then.
Meanwhile, U.S. Ambassador Kenneth B. Keating returned to New Delhi from Washington today and said his "present plans" are to remain in his present diplomatic post.