Outrages in Bengal
The effective suppression by the Pakistani authorities in East Bengal of the communal disturbances which flared up in February contrasts unfavourably with the failure of their Indian opposite numbers to keep the peace in West Bengal. Here violence and terrorism have raged unchecked for the best part of two months, and the brutal murder of Mr. Cameron, a much-respected leader of the British community in Calcutta, by a Hindu mob from whose fury he was trying to save his Moslem bearer is tragically illustra- tive of the state of near-anarchy in the face of which the West Bengal Government appears to be virtually powerless. Communal outrages are of daily occurrence, and fear of them has set in motion a mass movement of refugees, hundreds of thousands of Hindus moving into Indian territory while a corresponding exodus of Moslems into Pakistan takes place. This crisis is probably being exploited by the Communists, who have long been firmly established in Bengal ; and it is certainly being inflamed by the newspapers in Calcutta. The Hindu Press, before India gained her independence, had earned the reputation of being the most irrespon- sible and unscrupulous in the world, a primacy which it seems bent on retaining. One paper claims to have discovered that an over- whelming majority of the population are in favour of war with Pakistan, and if this is not a fact, most of the Indian editors are doing their level best to make it one. The Indian Government do not countenance a campaign which they seem, nevertheless, quite unable to curb, and Pandit Nehru's attitude of moderation is so obnoxious to the extremists in West Bengal that his life is said to be in danger. The fact that he and -Mr. Liaquat Ali Khan, the Prime Minister of Pakistan, are to meet in Delhi is the one gleam of light on a black horizon.
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