International response to the plight of East Pakistan’s wretched millions has come far too late. Politics, bureaucracy, and inertia have produced the pathetic scene of India - as if it did not have enough such problems of its own - having to deal almost single-handed with an influx of four million refugees. For many, cholera is just the fourth round of s succession of disasters - following last November’s cyclone, Yahya Khan’s military suppression, and flight as refugees. The problem is now to ensure that the people in West Bengal and East Pakistan who need help must get it as soon as possible.

The situations in the two areas are totally different. The problem in West Bengal is not one of accessibility, as it is in East Pakistan, India has been quick to point out the obvious - that it has no hope of coping with the refugees single-handed. It has welcomed assistance. Supply of aid never stood a chance of matching demand, but the effect of aid which has arrived has been dulled by the sad but inevitable necessity of the Indian Government having to address its aid demands to the United Nations. This created more bureaucratic barriers to be hurdled before East Pakistan’s refugees could receive any benefit.

Those left hungry but unmassacred in East Pakistan must receive help just as quickly. But how are they to be helped out of their plight without in turn helping Yahya Khan directly out of the cul-de-sac he has created for himself? The parallels must not be pushed too far, but General Gowon reacted stubbornly against international aid for Biafra on the grounds that the way it was being proffered amounted to unjustifiable interference in his way of running Nigeria. Yahya Khan has shown symptoms of this - by insisting that Pakistan’s own agencies handle aid. But he knows as well as the donors that aid given this way presents his own army with the political weapon of appearing as saviours in the areas where only shortly before they were murderers.

Aid donors can avoid abetting Yahya Khan’s pretensions towards generosity if the world financial community steers clear of balling him out unconditionally. Pakistan’s economy is in bad shape and devaluation is believed to be imminent. A plea has been sent out to the IMF, the World Bank, and creditors generally to be indulgent. The United States and Britain must take the lead in ensuring that, at least, Yahya Khan does not receive the standby credits he is asking for. ECGD’s example of refusing to underwrite firms dealing with Pakistan should be followed. It must be made clear to Yahya Khan that no one is prepared to provide a subsidy for him to continue his repression of the East. The tragedy is that while these political pressures are being applied, as they must be, more refugees will flee and more die from hunger.