SEATO Without a Soul:
BHARGAVA, G. S.
SEATO WITHOUT A SOUL By G. S. Bhargava Lack of support from Asia points up the pact's weakness New Delhi IT WAS IN 1942 that Mahadev Desai, the private secretary and disciple of Mahatma Gandhi,...
...Without gauging the mood of Asia, it is risky to evolve policies for the region...
...SEATO WITHOUT A SOUL By G. S. Bhargava Lack of support from Asia points up the pact's weakness New Delhi IT WAS IN 1942 that Mahadev Desai, the private secretary and disciple of Mahatma Gandhi, declared that "spirit can often be weighed against planes...
...arms aid, the Pakistani leaders stated that they feared the Communist threat to East Bengal and that American military assistance was meant to counteract it...
...policy of "containing Communism...
...Finally, in the light of the recent East Bengal experience, is it politically wise to pin faith on Islam as a bulwark against Communism...
...In return for its signature, Pakistan won its argument that Communist aggression should not be singled out but should be bracketed with other (by inference, Indian) "aggressions...
...At the time they replied to Nehru's criticisms of their acceptance of U.S...
...Whether it be in Pakistan or elsewhere, America is repeating its postwar mistake in Western Europe, namely bolstering up unpopular regimes and obsolete economies with a flood of dollars, thus enabling the Communists to parade as economic emancipators...
...Though megalomania is Nehru's weakness, many of us in this country have no illusions of Asian leadership...
...however, has sealed the fate of Asian solidarity against the Communist threat...
...But the fact that of the five Colombo Powers only Pakistan was present at Manila—that, too, not out of an innate love for democracy and freedom—reveals how widely shared are India's fears about SEATO...
...How long can the present abridgement of civil liberties keep the volcano of popular unrest from erupting...
...Burma, which has first-hand experience of Communist insurrectionary tactics and has all along been trying to forge an Asian bloc to stem the tide of Communism, is as hostile to SEATO as Nehru...
...It is true that Nehru has steadily opposed the idea of an Asian bloc, including India, Burma and Indonesia to start with, for the common defense and progress of the region...
...Some time ago, Senator Knowland declared that India and Nehru did not represent the whole of Asia...
...What better ammunition can the Communists find than a large mass of discontented humanity at a subhuman level of existence...
...Furthermore, there was disagreement even on the central aim of the conference, namely counter-measures against Communist aggression...
...The fact is that Pakistan's economy is still in a semi-feudal and semi-colonial stage today...
...the recent Colombo Conference of five South Asian Prime Ministers lost a golden opportunity to forge such unity...
...Thanks to him...
...Far more than their military strength and superior manpower, it is the Communists' capacity to capture the hearts of exploited people which has paid them rich dividends in territory and prestige...
...But, without basic changes in the economies of the Asian countries, no amount of foreign assistance will trickle down to the seething mass of discontented humanity...
...Yet, the democracies shun this aspiration as if it were sinful and let the Communists cash in on it with their false slogans...
...This backdrop makes glaringly evident the failures of the recent Manila Conference on Southeast Asian defense and the unlikelihood that its Pacific Charter will impress, much less influence, independent Asian opinion...
...The Manila Treaty has economic clauses, too, no doubt, though it remains to be seen what such phrases as "effective self-help and mutual aid" mean...
...Today, America is again underrating the psychological aspects of politics, but the situation is not the same as during World War II...
...It is easy for politicians and publicists to condemn or ridicule what is called Asian neutralism...
...Does this not lend credence to Indian suspicions that, while raising the Communist bogey for the benefit of the State Department, Pakistan has all along been preparing for a holy war against India...
...To the Western powers, then engaged in a titanic struggle with Hitler, this emphasis on the psychological aspect of war had little impact...
...From such a positive assertion of the Communist danger, Pakistan has today reached a position where it considers the Red threat to be one of many...
...But circumstances would very soon have forced Nehru to change his stand...
...Notwithstanding the U.S.-appended "understanding" that only the Communist variety was to be provided against and the clarification that, in the event of non-Communist aggression, there would be prior consultation among the signatories, the average Indian could not help feeling that Pakistan had succeeded in identifying her hostility to India with the U.S...
...But behind this neutralism is Asia's desire to live its life, not to be wiped off the map in an atomic holocaust...
...Quite obviously, Asian representation at Manila, as provided by Pakistan and Thailand, was far too slender...
...The example of Kuomintang China has, Unfortunately, had no effect on Washington...
...Even Ceylon, which does not believe in coexistence with Communism, has chosen to keep aloof from it...
Vol. 37 • September 1954 • No. 39
