পাতা:বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্র (ত্রয়োদশ খণ্ড).pdf/৮৯৭

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869 ংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্রঃ ত্রয়োদশ খন্ড The consequences of this massive influx-some have called it a civilian invasion-of refugees into India cannot be determined in terms of money alone. We are facing grave social, economic and political consequences. In the areas where the refugees are now living in difficult conditions in camps, all of our schools have had to be closed find shelter for them. All of our hospitals in these areas have had to tend to the urgent needs of the refugees, rather than to the normal needs of the local inhabitants. Prices are rising as a result of a higher demand for essential commodities. Wages are falling. Crimes of various kinds are on the increase. Local friction and tensions are not unknown. Our local administration has had to be diverted, to the work of looking after the refugees and that in turn has further affected adversely all our development projects. The fear of epidemics is ever present, even though the outbreak of cholera has been controlled. The refugees must go back. The question simply is : How? Can anyone reasonably expect them to go back when thousands and thousands are daily fleeing from the same area? Pointless declarations and exhortations will not make them go back. On 21st May, President Yahya Khan called upon the refugees to go back, and yet, since then, more than 5 million have come into India. They will go back only when they are sure themselves that they can live in their own homeland in safety and freedom, when they are allowed to work as they wish, and when they are assured that their properties will be returned, their jobs recorded and their daily lives not interfered with. To appreciate and understand the background to this unprecedented influx, it is necessary to recall the conditions prevailing in East Pakistan throughout Pakistan's existence. Pakistan is a unique country, in the sense that two parts of it the separated by distance of 1,000 miles of Indian territory. The majority of the people-75 millionlive in the East and the West has a total population of less than 60 million. Nonetheless, political, military and economic power was concentrated in the West, while the East continued to produce basic raw materials such as jute and tea, and provided the largest source of foreign exchange for Pakistan. Even the Government of Pakistan has acknowledged that persistent discrimination and exploitation of East Pakistan by West Pakistan has taken place ever since the country became independent. Just to give one example, in the entire civil service and in the armed forces of Pakistan, the Bengalis did not have a share exceeding 10 per cent. The East Pakistanis continued to protest and agitate against that discrimination and exploitation, and, for want of any effective remedy, their grievances accumulated. However, after the fall of President Ayub Khan in the middle of 1969, a new situation arose. Another General-President Yahya Khan-took over, and declared that he would hold general elections for first time, on adult franchise with representation to both wings, proportionate to their population. For the first time, the people of Pakistan saw in that democratic process a possible rectification of the injustices from which East Pakistan had suffered all those years. The elections were held in December, 1970, after being postponed twice. The results of the elections were greeted in Pakistan as a success of democracy as indeed it was, The