পাতা:বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্র (চতুর্থ খণ্ড).pdf/৬৭০

640 বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিল : চতুর্থ খন্ড শিরোনাম সূত্র তারিখ বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা সংগ্রামকে সমর্থন এবং ইউনাইটেড এ্যাকশন, ১২ অক্টোবর, ‘বাংলাদেশ রিলিফ ফান্ডে চাঁদা প্রদানের জন্য ছাত্র বাংলাদেশের দলিলপত্র Ֆի, ԳՏ শিক্ষা প্রতিষ্ঠানের প্রধানদের উদ্দেশ্যে লিখিত চিঠি MUST A MILLION CHILDREN DIE? The Road From Bangladesh The President 12 October 1971 AN APPEAL Dear Sir, 1. In East Bengal, the world is witnessing a holocaust unmatched since Hitler-and 'witnessing' is the operative word. While a million or more of innocent men. women and children have been killed as a result of the Army action, and millions have fled, and world has done little but to look on in paralyzed horror, sighing for the victims and offering the survivors among them alms but taking no effective measures to ameliorate even the incontrovertibly international aspect of the tragedy: the forced flight of over 9, 000.000 (the equivalent of the combined populations of Sweden and New Zealand or the equivalent of the population of London!) terrorized Bengali refugees to India. There is no end to the terror, there is no end to the human trail, and this situation has been going on since March when the Army action began. The latest figures are that at least 40,000 refugees a week are still crossing the borders. The tragedy is appalling and indescribable, so we have had to seek the help of the "Sunday Times" and the "Daily Telegraph" and enclose some pictures of the human miseries as seen, by their own reporters in June and, as recently as, in September. Multiply these pictures a million fold and try to imagine the sheer size of the tragedy in West Bengal refugee camps and on the roads from Bangladesh. 2. The situation inside East Bengal is worse. Army action still continues; villages are still being burned: thousands are still leaving. We have now a civil war in Bangladesh which is reminiscent of the early stages of the Vietnam War. The war has prevented sowing or rice seeds in many areas; the food-distribution and the communication systems remain disrupted which, faced with guerilla action, the Pakistan Army is unable to restore. The fateful result of this is that there is now a very real threat of a famine which unless some action is taken in time, could become the greatest human disaster yet in the history of mankind. Experts are predicting up to 40,000,000 people could perish starting this November unless something is done swiftly by the world community. 3.We write to you now urging you to do something to help the people who face a famine before it is too late. British people have done a great deal for the suffering