JESSORE, PAKISTAN.-Bangla Desh-the new Bengali nation in
what has been up to now East Pakistan-is beginning to
take shape as an operating entity.

The first steps of stirring this new nation into
existence are fascinating to watch.

Looking beyond the present joyous liberation, one sees
more serious aspects looming for India and Bangla Desh.
Some see a painful day of reckoning ahead for the two as
their motives begin to diverge.

As the new nation emerges, its common cause with India
may begin to fray, no matter how hard leaders on both
sides attempt to patch it.

The birth process is visible as Bangla Desh leaders
begin to pay their first official public visits to their
country, newly born out of the chaos and trouble that
has marked East Pakistan for so long, and out of the war
between India and Pakistan which is rapidly "liberating"
the world's youngest people's republic.

Slow, awkward, controversial the emergence may be. But
it also is being received with enthusiasm at the grass-
roots level. Popular enthusiasm seemed evident enough in
the shouts and intent faces of villagers at an impromptu
town meeting held Saturday at Jhinkargacha in conquered
territory, 10 miles west of Jessore. There, acting
Bangla Desh President Syed Nazrul Islam and Prime
Minister Tajuddin Ahmed paused at a little rotunda on
the far side of town to give speeches while en route to
their first official appearance at Jessore.

The emergence also can be seen in the more open
appearances of Mukti Bahini freedom fighters. A jeepload
of young armed Mukti guerrillas led an official caravan
of cars along the 25-mile drive to Jessore. Close behind
came an Indian Army military police jeep, perhaps as a
reminder to those along the wayside that Indian forces
also have had something to do with this liberation.

On every road and by-path one sees refugees trickling
back from outlying villages, where they have been
hiding, to larger towns and cities. Their appearance
seems an informal vote of confidence that at least some
stability will return to their disordered lives.

Whether that vote in the long run will prove to be for
the present generation of Bangla Desh leaders remains
unknown. It may even be only a tribute to the Indian
Army's present military victories in this area .

Some expect the new nation's birth pangs may include the
reopening of conflicts and rivalries between various
East Bengali racial, political, and religious groans or
even between Bangla Desh and its Indian mentor.

But meanwhile, shops are reopening along the main roads
with their carefully preserved hoards of basic living
essentials. And workers in fields of rice, jute, and
mustard once more are to be seen working far into the
dusk hours.

QUESTION OF CONTROL

At political levels, however, the problem now is whether
or not power in the Bengali independence movement shall
remain with the present government group that shepherded
Bangla Desh through its difficult "go-it-alone" rebel
phase, or be transferred to a new group to take up the
reins of control.

One hears that some of Mukti Bahinis who did the
fighting against East Pakistan's military regime since
last March may prove reluctant to turn in their weapons
and revert to passive role while leaders who spent much
of their time in Calcutta or New Delhi take over
everything.

Calcutta reports say some Bangla Desh leaders here
hastily beat it into the field to join the Mukti Bahini
when war started. They felt this was the only proper way
to become part of the nation's emergence.

CRACKDOWN ON EXECUTIONS

Another key factor in the emergence is India's role. In
addition to its military operations against Pakistan,
India seems determined to keep considerable measure of
control over the Bengali take-over of East Pakistan. The
Indians appear to be quietly moving in numbers of Indian
police and border security force personnel in the wake
of their military machine to keep an eye on civilian
developments.

The Indian general who captured Jessore told
correspondents he cracked down hard on the Mukti Bahini
when they summarily executed two men immediately after
the town was taken. When Bangla Desh is in control here,
he said in effect, it can do as it chooses, but while I
am in control of Jessore there will be no more of that.

Without Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the jailed Awami League
leader, the political appeal of the present Bangla Desh
government seems limited; Some in the audience did not
know the names of the leaders speaking to them.

CONCERN OVER THE FUTURE

The situation at the moment seems to be that the Indians
have military control and Bangla Desh has civil control
in some liberated areas, but there is much overlapping.
The Mukti Bahini liberation forces have a certain amount
of military control, too, in areas not yet reached by
Indian forces

Even where Indians are present, a joint command with the
Muktis is said to exist.

Similarly, where territory has not yet been handed over
to civilian administration, so at Jessore on Saturday,
Indians are in civilian control, too, as U.K. Gupta's
presence appeared to testify.

Some of the younger Bengali freedom fighters and
intellectuals are known to harbor deep concern over the
future relationship between Indian and Bangla Desh once
the military phase is over.

"India was useful for the Bangla Desh Independence
movement, and we are grateful," one told me in Calcutta
before war broke out. "But this is Bengali's first
chance for real independence and I don't want to see it
lost-or changed into something else.

"The ultimate objective is full Bengali Independence,
not an Indian-controlled East Bengal. We don't want to
exchange Pakistani domination for Indian."