পাতা:বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্র (ত্রয়োদশ খণ্ড).pdf/৭২০

692 ংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্রঃ ত্রয়োদশ খন্ড শিরোনাম সূত্র তারিখ স্বেচ্ছাসেবী প্রতিষ্ঠানসমূহের ইন্টারন্যাশনাল আই.সি.ভি.ত্রর প্রেস বিজ্ঞপ্তি__১১ অক্টোবর, ১৯৭১ কাউন্সিল প্রধানের আবেদন INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL OF VOLUNTARY AGENCIES 11" October, 1971 To member agencies of ICVA Dear Colleagues, Through the mass media and through your own constituency and field workers you will have followed with the greatest attention and concern the dramatic and catastrophic situations in East Pakistan and in India that have developed in recent months. On the one hand succeeding natural and man-made disasters in East Pakistan have devastated the country-side, and uprooted and impoverished whole populations. On the other hand India has had to cope with an influx of refugees now totaling 9 million, a predicament leading to health, nutrition, population, social and other problems of a magnitude unprecedented in our history. The fabric of society in East Pakistan may run the risk of collapse while at the same time its neighbor, the second most-populous country in the world, is having its forward movement in the fields of economic and social development jeopardized by the enormous burdens the country has to bear in caring for these refugees. Men of goodwill everywhere have risen to this challenge. The United Nations and other multilateral governmental institutions have reacted, notably through the establishment, on the one hand, of the United Nations East Pakistan relief operation, and on the other hand by the coordinated efforts of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees as the Focal Point for assistance to the refugees in India. For both categories of need a number of governments have been extremely generous either through multilateral channels or through bilateral activities. The voluntary agencies for their apart, many of whom have worked in these countries for many years, have redoubled their efforts and have contributed exceptional amounts of aid in cash and in kind. Governmental and voluntary bodies have also appealed to the conscience of the world to respond to the needs. And yet we all know that in this situation of unprecedented deprivation, the amount remaining to be done in the humanitarian field surpasses what has already been achieved. Both in East Pakistan and in India the extent of the needs by far outstrips what the voluntary sector can do, and yet we must do more. I therefore appeal to you all both as international and national agencies to once more examine your resources and appeal to your constituencies for further humanitarian assistance in favor of the population of East Pakistan and the refugees in India. I further suggest that we all use every avenue open to us to influence governments to be much more generous than, they have yet been in