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Background: In the complex and contradictory situation in Pakistan, where it is believed that a state of civil war still exists in the Eastern half of the country which has declared itself independent, strong reaction from neighbouring India is inevitable and predictable. While in New York, India asked the United Nations Secretary-General U Thant to step in and stop "the massacre of unarmed people", Parliamentarians in New Delhi were taking part in protest marches against Pakistan Government action in East pakistan.

SYNOPSIS: In India, demonstrations against the Pakistan Government's handling of the situation in East Pakistan continues. The leader of the Hindu Nationalist Jan Sangh Party, Mr. Atal Vajpayee, led one such demonstration in New Delhi on Monday (March 29) when five thousand marchers protested outside the embassy of the People's Republic of China, and the Pakistan and Ceylon High Commissions.

The Chinese Embassy was a target for the demonstrators because Pakistan Government aircraft have been allowed to fly troops over Tibet. India has banned all flights between West and East Pakistan across the thousand-mile (1,600-kilometre) strip of India that divides the two. During the scene, a memorandum registering a formal protest was stuck on the Embassy gates. A similar protest took place at the High Commission for Ceylon -- which has also allowed facilities to West Pakistan military flights en route to East Pakistan.

MAIN TARGET OF THE DAY, HOWEVER, WAS THE PAKISTAN HIGH COMMISSION. AMONG THE MARCHERS WERE OVER 200 MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT FROM THE RULING CONGRESS PARTY AND THE OPPOSITION, WHO DROVE STRAIGHT FROM PARLIAMENT TO TAKE PART IN THE EVENT. EARLIER, IN PARLIAMENT, SEVERAL MEMBERS HAD CALLED FOR THE ADOPTION OF A RESOLUTION OF SOLIDARITY WITH THE EAST PAKISTAN PEOPLE. THE PRIME MINISTER, MRS INDIRA GANDHI, SAID SHE HAD NO OBJECTION TO THE RESOLUTION, AND SHE WOULD DISCUSS DETAILS WITH OPPOSITION LEADERS THE FOLLOWING DAY.

THIS TIME, THE MEMORANDUM PINNED TO THE HIGH COMMISSION GATES WAS MORE DETAILED -- AND STRONGER. IT READ, IN PART, "WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, CANNOT REMAIN SILENT SPECTATORS OF THE SLAUGHTER OF EAST BENGALI CIVILIANS BY WEST PAKISTANI SOLDIERS. THOUGH INDIA AND PAKISTAN ARE SEPARATE STATES, WE ARE ALL ONE PEOPLE. ON SIMPLE HUMANITARIAN GROUNDS ALONE, THEREFORE, WE CANNOT SUFFER IN SILENCE THE GENOCIDE OF OUR BRETHEREN ACROSS THE BORDER."