Bangladesh: Death of the Children at refugee camps in 1971 was worse than Hiroshima

What is their statistics and how many Bengali people did go to India as a refugee? According to the statistics of the Indian government, 9,899,305 refugees lived at camps in India and 60,000 stayed with their relatives. The Bengali refugees in 1971 lived in the seven states of India; the states were- West Bengal, Tripura, Meghalaya, Assam, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh.

by Swadesh Roy writes from Dhaka-Dec 16, 2017

( December 16, 2017, Dhaka, Sri Lanka Guardian) The last batch of 3,869 refugees in camps left India for Bangladesh on March 25, 1972, exactly after one year of the Pakistan army crackdown on the people of Bangladesh. With the return of these refugees Indian central and state government closed all the refugee’s camps, and from that moment one of the historical events of politics and the refugees had ended up. Refugees are a common phenomenon in the world, and in every moment there exist some refugees in some corner in the world, regarding the refugees, Arundhati Roy wrote, “The millions of displaced people do not exist anymore. When history is written they would not be in statistics.” Yes, Miss Roy is right partially; thousand hundreds of people are missing every moment from the statistics and from the history. In contrary, the refugees left India for Bangladesh from last of the December 1971 and up to 25 March of 1972 are not missing from the history rather they created a history and their statistics is a glorious part of the history and the bloody birth of Bangladesh.

What is their statistics and how many Bengali people did go to India as a refugee? According to the statistics of the Indian government, 9,899,305 refugees lived at camps in India and 60,000 stayed with their relatives. The Bengali refugees in 1971 lived in the seven states of India; the states were- West Bengal, Tripura, Meghalaya, Assam, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh. In West Bengal, number of camps were 492 and the refugees were 7,2 35,916, in Tripura, number of camps were 276 and the total refugees were 1,381,649, in Meghalaya, number of camps were 17 and the total refugees were 667,986, in Assam, number of the camps were 28 and total refugees were 347,555, in Bihar, number of camps were 8 and the total refuges were 36,732, in Madhya Pradesh, number of the camps of 3 and the total refuges were 219,298, in Uttar Pradesh, number of the camps was 1 and refuges were 10, 169.

When these ten million refugees were in India, India itself was a poor country and among the seven states of India where the refugees stayed five were extremely poor. On the other hand, the number of the refugees in Tripura and Meghalaya were more comparing their own population. So what was the condition of the Bengali refugees in 1971 in India and how did they sacrifice for their liberation war is not possible to describe in words. How pathetic was the descriptions of that tragedy and how the world conscience was shaken we get some of it now through the news, editorial, article of the newspaper, and the video footage of the then time. On October 8, La FIGARO of Paris distinct that it was a tragedy that worse than Hiroshima rather on the scale of that tragedy was as in the concentration camp of Nazi. In an editorial, they wrote, “Hiroshima was a shock.

In a fraction of a second, nearly a hundred thousand human beings ceased to exist. A shock which roused our consciences, which made us aware, that we live in a world where one of the greatest discoveries of human genius is diverted towards accomplishing death before having been used for achievements towards preserving life, which also taught us that men living in the antipodes, although our enemies are human beings all the same.

But Hiroshima was not in its time a tragedy of exceptional amplitude. Lucky were the victims of Hiroshima who did not realise that they were going to die. How much more appalling at the time was the tragedy of hundred thousand Dresden victims who lived through minutes of anguish and indescribable suffering under napalm fire. And what is to be imagined of the weeks of the anguish of millions of men, women and, children, alas! Who slowly made their way towards Auschwitz?

A tragedy on this scale is taking place at present beneath our eyes, and it is taking place in general indifference. A paragraph in the press, which passed almost unnoticed, informs us that the funds collected to come to the aid of the Pakistani refugees were insufficient and are now exhausted, that dispatches of food and equipment have been stopped, that right now is certain that within a few days a hundred thousand children are going to die, and if the dispatches are not resumed on a massive scale and immediately, 300,000 to 500,000 more children will die during the next few months.

Is it possible that tragedy can pass unobserved, in complete indifference, that we cannot feel the suffering of these children that we remain insensible to the despair of mothers?

Can a synod which is a meeting in Rome for the salvation of mankind continue its work in all serenity? Can the United Nations continue their palavers without taking into account, as absolute priority, this tragedy which concerns each and every one of us?

Ought we to be surprised at the angry gesture of a youth claims to prove to us that faced with this scandal love is only derisory? Ought we to be amazed by the judgement of youth which considers that a society in which such a tragedy is not only possible but is, in fact, taking place under our eyes, is a no longer worthy of survival?

Will no shock occur to rouse consciences, to assert human solidarity on our planet?

If humanity witnesses this tragedy unmoved, is it not ripe to destroy itself.”

The editorial is coating after forty-seven years, in addition only a few numbers of witnesses are alive now. So, after reading this editorial the new generation of Bengali has to see the picture of the refugee camps and the situation of the refugees by their thoughtful mind. Moreover, they have to think about the sacrifice done by the hundred thousand of children in the refugee camps in 1971 for our liberation war. In the editorial of La Figaro on 8th October 1971, it was mentioned that three hundred thousand to five hundred thousand children would die during the next few months. But what had happened before the October 1971? According to the UNICEF report, at least five hundred thousand children died from June to October in the refugee camps in India in 1971. The condition of the refugees was the same so in that circumstance, could those five hundred thousand children mentioned in La Figaro survive? Reality said they didn’t survive because of not having the necessary aid from the world at that time. Washington Daily News mentioned on 2nd October in their editorial that, “A recent study by the World Bank says the refugees will cost India $700 million in its 1971 -72 fiscal year. Foreign nations have proposed $200 million in relief aid. Even if all is delivered- India, the innocent bystander – will be out of $500 million this year and more in the future.”

At that time India did not get this proposed aid. Before going to the then statistics or facts regarding the refugee of 1971, we can see regarding Rohingya refugees’ aid situation which will help us to understand the then scenario. Did we get a few percent of aid the proposed commitment that we have got in the meantime? The country director of the World Food Program of United nation said a few days ago that “We are knocking at the donor’s doors on a daily basis. But there are so many emergencies in the world now. But still, we hope towards the end of this year, some donors will commit some money for the Rohingya, if some money is left over.” What is his comment expressing? He is voicing an uncertainty. Not only an uncertainty, it is clear that if Bangladesh gets some aid for the Rohingya, it will be very much inadequate.

The same scenario will be found if we go through the discussions on the report submitted by UNHCR as UN focal point for relief sustenance to East Bengal refugees in India, in the third committee of the general assembly on November 18 and 19, 1971. In that general assembly, American Ambassador W. Tapley Bennett said, “President Nixon has asked Congress to appropriate another $ 250 million for assistant to refugees in India and for relief assistance in East Pakistan. In the face of this unparalleled human emergency, my country will not be found wanting. We agree that the total contributions as compared with the need are disappointing.” United Kingdom’s representative said, “Misery fell in innocent people and the committee faced the responsibility of caring for those people. The United Kingdom had given a total of pound 14.75 million to assist East Pakistani refugees in India.”

In that way, going through the entire report, we will see that on that time India got a poor amount of aid comparing its requirement, which was estimated by the World Bank $700 million to maintain the Bengali refugees at the camps in India. They had to cut down their development budget and it was a huge setback to Indian economy. In fact, Indian economy then was a poor economy so, despite all the efforts, Bengali refugees had to live in a miserable situation. At that time the visit of Kennedy was one of the breakthroughs to the world people to catch the cry of the Bengali refugees in 1971. Regarding his visit, on 30 August Indonesian Observer wrote, “Senator Edward Kennedy, after an extensive tour of the refugee camps in India’s West Bengal in his capacity as Chairman of the US Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on refugees, confirmed that five –month old conflict between East Pakistan and West Pakistan had driven over seven and a half million Bengalis to take refuge in India. In his visit to some of the refugee centers inside India, Kennedy said he saw, “A scene which only can be described as the most appalling tide of human misery in modern times.” Like Kennedy, Andre Malraux also visited the refugee camp. In an editorial, one of the leading daily of Mauritius, Advance wrote, “Despite his age, Andre Malraux has offered to go and fight for them. Like him, writers and artists all over the world have called for a humanitarian approach to the problem of those millions dying of hunger and cold. Senator Edward Kennedy broke down in tears when visiting the camps of refugees near Calcutta. The press in each and every country is calling for more international aid to be sent.”

The Advance wrote, “Those millions dying of hunger and cold.” In fact, more than one million children died in the refugee camps in India, and in the rainy season and in the winter hundred thousand senior citizens died too. In this manner, it is to be said that at least one and a half million people died in the refugee camps in 1971.

Why did people become the refugee in 1971? Is it only for the torture, killing, and rape by the Pakistani army? We did not research in that way or we did not get those circumstances for researching regarding our liberation war. So, we have lost most of the first-hand evidences, besides we forgot the history. Now a huge number of new generation people believe that only Pakistani army committed that crime, but they disbelieve that Bengali collaborators of the Pakistani army committed the same crime, moreover they think that those people who are saying regarding the role of the collaborators, they are political biased. In fact, we get the truth in a report of the renowned journalist, Sydney H Schanberg -which was published in New York Times on 23 September. The first two lines of the report are, “The latest refugees from East Pakistan report that the Pakistani army and its civilian collaborators are continuing to kill, loot, and burn …..” in this report it is also mentioned that, ” The military regime was still making the Hindu minority is a particular target.”

That is why, in those ten million refugees, more than eight million were Hindu in religion. But in 1971, those people fighting to liberate the country never thought regarding their religion. They all were Bengali as a nation. In spite of that, after 47 years, if we give a bird look in our national lives and over the history, we can see that we have lost many things. We have forgotten many things as well. In the same way, we have forgotten our history of the refugees of 1971. Even, you will not get that refugee life in our history and in the literature. In conclusion, world media said then, it was worse than Hiroshima. Besides that, Hiroshima is a symbol of defeat, but the refugees of Bangladesh whose sacrifices were worse than Hiroshima, their last batch came back on 25 March, a symbolic day of our nation, and they came back with a victory, sacrificing the lives of their children, fathers, and mothers. So, it is the obligation of the new generation to dig out the history of the refugees of 1971.

Swadesh Roy, Executive Editor of The Daily Janakantha, Dhaka, Bangladesh. He is a highest state award winning journalist and can be reached at swadeshroy@gmail.com