পাতা:বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্র (ত্রয়োদশ খণ্ড).pdf/৮০৮

780 ংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্রঃ ত্রয়োদশ খন্ড শিরোনাম সূত্র তারিখ জাতিসংঘ সাধারণ পরিষদের তৃতীয় কমিটিতে প্রিন্স | জাতিসংঘ ডকুমেন্টস | ১৮ নভেম্বর, ১৯৭১ সদরুদ্দীন আগা খানের বিবৃতি PRINCE SADRUDDIN AGHA KHAN'S STATEMENT IN THE THIRD COMMITTEE OF THE U. N. GENERAL ASSEMBLY November 18,1971 Madam Chairman, when I spoke to this committee earlier, it was the sixth report that I presented to this distinguished form on the regular work of my office since my election as High Commissioner for Refugees. Each year, I have pointed to the changes in the refugee situation and our efforts to deal with them. Whilst new and serious problems have arisen in the course of these years, I have been immensely grateful for the growing support and understanding of the international community. It has helped immeasurably in facing the situation effectively and with courage, and in fostering permanent solutions which remain the constant objective of my office. Today, unfortunately, I speak with urgency of an overwhelming problem. A problem that has grown in dimension and anguish, almost beyond comprehension and endurance. That this should coincide with the Twentieth Anniversary of UNHCR, when we had been appealing for, and working towards, an end to the refugee problem, is the starkest commentary on the times in which we live. Four months ago, on July 16, informed the Economic and Social Council of the humanitarian efforts of the U. N. system to alleviate the suffering of East Pakistani refugees in India. Early in October, I spoke to the Executive Committee of my regular programme of the situation as it then existed. But this is a situation that has relentlessly grown more tragic from day to day. The suffering is not over, but continues; the number has not lessened, but has increased; the gap between needs and resources, which has consistently been adverse, threatens catastrophically to become a chasm. And all this, despite a truly remarkable relief effort being made the Government and people of India and an unparalleled response by the international community. Where will this deteriorating spiral end? If I have, at the very outset of my statement, shoulded a voice of deepest concern, it is because that indeed is what the situation demands. It is not for me; today, to analyze the complexities of the political, economic and social factors that are responsible for this situation. The analysis of the United Nations is clearly expressed by the Secretary- General in the introduction to his report on the work of the organisation (document A/8401/Add. 1 of 17 September, 1971). What I shall speak of is the purely humanitarian task entrusted to me on behalf of the United Nations. It is a task in which I seek your assistance as never before, for it touches the life of many millions of refugees-upon the fate of whom depends the restoration of tranquility in a sub-continent. I could do no less for the refugees. They would expect no less from us, here in the United Nations. It has been quite evident since April 23, when the Government of India requested the Secretary-General for assistance from the United Nations, to alleviate the suffering of the