বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্রঃ ত্রয়োদশ খণ্ড
shortage of doctors and nurses. Refugees waited patiently in line for many hours for their meager daily rations, often in pouring rain.
Since June conditions have worsened in many camps, and unless a concerted global effort is mounted, thousands more will die.
Thomas Jamieson, Unher
After three prolonged visits to India and to all of the refugee areas, 1 have the following vivid reactions. The Government of India has been faced with one of the greatest exoduses in history. The refugees are to be found not only on the Calcutta area, but also in Tripura, Assam and Megalaya. The Government of India has made a magnificent effort against all odds, including the worst monsoon in recent history.
To get the impact of the problem, one could mention that Tripura, which before March of this year had a population of 1,400,000, now has in addition 1,500,000 refugees. It was fortunate indeed that in all the affected areas the Government had buffer stocks in store which they normally have against the monsoon period. Thus from the first day, refugees were able to receive a modest ration. Whilst much of the problem beggars description, it is stimulating to see the local workers and volunteers, sometimes in a sea of mud, continuing the ration distribution and completing the rather flimsy but important shelter arrangements. Medical clinics have also been established. The containment of the cholera epidemic was little short of a miracle.
One of the great problems concerning this particular refugee situation has been that it has changed in magnitude almost every day, and so far no-one clearly sees the end and how- it will be possible for the people to return home. We therefore have merely a massive relief operation without any aspect of solution whatsoever."
James Cameron, Journalist
For six months we have stood by in shocked surprise and watched disaster grow into catastrophe and hourly nearer to tragedy-and we still stand by and watch. I just cannot understand how rich and powerful nations, who interfere so readily with poor ones when they are not wanted, can look straight through them when the want is so desperate-and the time so short. Twenty-four years ago Britain drew that Bengal frontier in blood and pain. Did that let us out politically forever?
The Reverend Alan Stephens, Methodist Missionary
HOPE? A crowd gathers to watch a group of young girls, members of a volunteer corps, perform a stick dance. The “stage" is a dry open space in a camp-very difficult to find in the heavy monsoon. The “costumes" are dull and drab and some of the girls are embarrassed because they have no blouse to wear under their saris. But there is strength in their voices as they sing and firmness in their step as they dance and innate grace in every movement they make. They give pleasure to those who watch, and help them to forget for a time the emptiness and weariness of their day to day subsistence.
