Historical: Bloody strife between Moslems and Hindus had racked the Indian subcontinent for centuries before 1947, when India achieved independence from Britain and a separate Moslem state, Pakistan, was created in two parts, East and West, separated by more than 1,000 miles of Indian territory. India is predominantly Hindu, but has no state religion. Partition was followed by widespread Moslem‐Hindu fighting.

Issues: Disputes over Kashmir and other territories, with the added element of religious persecution, led to armed conflict between India and Pakistan in 1948–49 and in 1965.

Relations between the two parts of Pakistan—the prosperous, Punjabi‐dominated West and the largely Bengali, less‐developed East — became increasingly strained. Demands for autonomy in the East culminated in the campaign of the Awami League, headed by Sheik Mujibur Rahman, for a loose federation amounting to virtual self‐government for the East.

Governmental Developments: India has retained an electoral form of government. Under Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, the New Congress party won a landslide victory in the last election. After continued turmoil in both parts of Pakistan, military rule has prevailed. Field Marshal Mohammad Ayub Khan resigned; under Gen. Agha Mohammad Yahya Khan, his successor and President, martial law was proclaimed.

Major Power Interests: India and the Soviet Union signed a 20‐year friendship treaty in August, 1971. Pakistan has had backing from China. The United States, after the recent visit by Mrs. Gandhi, announced a suspension of arms shipments to Pakistan; last Friday, with the outbreak of open hostilities, a similar ban was placed on arms shipments to India.

The Present Crisis: In December, 1970, when Pakistan held her first national election in 23 years on the basis of a promised return to civilian rule, the Awami League won 167 of the 313 National Assembly seats. When President Yahya Khan postponed the convening of the Assembly March 1, widespread rioting and strikes broke out in the East.

On March 25, the national army moved to crush the East Pakistani separatist movement to set up an independent state known as Bangla Desh. The result, according to some observers, was hundreds of thousands of deaths; millions of Bengalis fled into India, which supports the rebels.

Military builds‐up by both India and Pakistan along the East Pakistani border led to a series of infiltration and reprisal skirmishes and, on Friday, to what both India and Pakistan described as a full‐scale war.

Although reports were fragmentary and contradictory, by yesterday it was clear that India's strategy was aimed principally at the conquest of East Pakistan and its political severance from the West. This morning India announced recognition of Bangla Desh. The Pakistanis were concentrating on attacks into Kashmir and western India.