To the Editor: The Administration has announced a policy of strict neutrality in the India‐Pakistan conflict and there must be many others who will join me in wishing that it would observe it—and in speech as well as in deed. I am sufficiently on record in my opposition to appeal to military force, whether by India or anyone else (I even opposed its use against Portugal in Goa).

But the history of this conflict did not begin when the Indian Army, moved against East Bengal or (for that matter) when Pakistan bombed the Indian, airfields last Saturday it began last spring when the Awami League and the movement for autonomy it represented (and which had the overwhelming support of the people of East Bengal) were brutally crushed by the Pakistan military forces and when in consequence ten million people left their homes to find safety and temporary shelter in India.

To single out the Indians for special blame in a conflict that so began and so continued is outrageous. There has been much talk of late about avoiding the role of world policeman. Let the Administration also avoid the role of judge and juror, especially if its judgements are to be as here. [Editorial. Dec. 8.]

JOHN KENNETH GALBRAITH

Cambridge, Mass., Dec: 7, 1971

An editorial on this subject appears today.