বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্র (দ্বাদশ খণ্ড)/৩১
| শিরোনাম | সূত্র | তারিখ |
|---|---|---|
| জাতিসংঘের মহাসচিবের সহকারীকে প্রদত্ত ভারতের জবাব | ভারত সরকারের পররাষ্ট্র মন্ত্রণালয় | ২ আগষ্ট, ১৯৭১ |
India’s Reply to U.N. Secretary-General’s Aide memoire
delivered on August 2, 1971
Government of India share the view of the Secretary-General that the repatriation of the refugees from East Pakistan, now in India, is a matter of utmost concern and urgency. Of even greater concern and urgency is the need to stop military atrocitics in East Pakistan and the consequent daily flow of refugees into India at the rate of 40,000 to 50,000 a day. The refugees already in India are unlikely to return as long as this further exodus continues. Government of India have noted with infinite dismay and grave concern that far from encouraging return of refugees or stopping or reducing the further flow of refugees from East Pakistan to India, their number has increased by nearly four million since President Yahya Khan made his statement on the 25th May that he would agree to allow these Pakistani citizens to return to their own country.
2. The root cause of the inflow of over seven million refugees into India and the daily exodus that still continues can only be explained by the total absence of such conditions in Last Pakistan as would encourage or enable the refugees to return to their homes. The chaos and the systematic military repression and the decimation of the Bengali-speaking people in East Pakistan continue unabated, as indeed is clear to any objective reader of the international Press. This has been further corroborated by the recent reports of the World Bank and the public statements made by independent foreign observers who have visited East Pakistan and heard the tables of woe from refugees themselves in their camps in India.
3. The burden on the Government of India in looking after millions of refugees, whose number is still increasing every day, has been recognized by all. It has equally been recognized that in Pakistan efforts to cope with the results of two successive disasters, one of them natural and the other manmade, are increasingly hampered by the lack of substantial progress towards political reconciliation and consequent effect on law and order and public administration in East Pakistan. An improved political atmosphere in Last Pakistan is an indispensable pre-requisite for the return of the refugees from India. The conflict between the principles of territorial integrity of States an self determination is particularly relevant in the situation prevailing in East Pakistan where the majority of the population is being suppressed by a minority military regime which has refused to recognize the results of the elections held by them only in December last year and had launched a campaign of massacre, genocide and cultural suppression of an ethnic group, comprising 75 million people. Unless this basic cause for the influx of refugees into India is removed all attempts to solve this problem by unrealistic experiments are bound to fail. Not only will they fail but they will tend to divert attention from the main issue and so encourage the continuation of military repression undertaken in so wide and horrifying a manner as in East Bengal.
4. Prince Sadruddin told the Prime Minister of India in New Delhi some time ago that the process and organization of repatriation would be hampered posting a number of personnel drawn from different parts of the world, speak various languages with diverse backgrounds and following an assortment of techniques. UNIICR made no suggestion in the ECOSOC meeting held in Geneva on 16th July that the establishment of a limited representation of High Commissioner for Refugees on both sides of the border would in any way encourage the return of refugees to their homes in East Pakistan.
5. In these circumstance, the Government of India are unable to understand what purpose the posting of a few men on the Indian side of the border will fulfill. Our conviction is that they can in no way help or encourage the refugees to return home and face indiscriminate and deliberate massacre by the west Pakistan military authorities. By attempting to subdue., through brute force, 75 million people of East Pakistan and by refusing to recognize political, economic, social and administrative realities of the situation prevailing there. Pakistan Government has not only made it impossible for the refugees already in India to return, but is deliberately forcing further inflow of refugees into India.
6. India has no desire to prevent the refugees from returning to their homeland indeed we are most anxious that they should go back as soon as possible and as a first step, conditions must be created in East Pakistan to prevent the further arrival of refugees into India. In this context, the Secretary-General must have seen the report and statement of 30th June by the UNHCR refuting Pakistani allegation that India is obstructing the return of refugees, Prince Sadruddin is further reported to have said there was absolutely no evidence for the host Government having obstructed the refugees if they wanted to go. Again in Paris on 10th July the Prince in reply to a question said that it would not be logical to say that India was in any way holding back their return. On July 19, at Kathmandu, two volunteers of the British organization “Worn Want” described as “rubbish” Pakistani allegation that India was holding refugees and preventing their return. At Calcutta on July 22, Mr. Manfred Cross, an Australian MP. described as “impossible” the Pakistani propaganda that refugees are being prevented in returning to Bangla Desh. Hon'ble Mr. Cornelius E. Gallagher member of the US IIouse of representatives, made a statement on the 10th of July in the House stating that “the response of the Indian Government to the crisis created by the action of the Government of Pakistan has been magnificent. They have demonstrated almost unbelievable restraint in view of the provocative effect of the arm's brutal sweep, and they have shown inspiring compassion to the refugees. If it can ever be said that any Government is truly moral and humanitarian, the Government of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi has earned that distinction in the weeks since the first refugee crossed her border. The sheer number of refugees is irrefutable evidence of the brutal policies pursued by the Government of Pakistan to crush the people who won the election. Based on interviews I conducted with a cross-section of the refugees, I now believe that a calculated attempt to crush the intellectual life of the Bengali community occurred because of mass killings of professors, students, and everyone of any distinction by the army. This, in my judgment, gives credence to the charge of genocide". Apart from these and many other statements of this nature, not even a single responsible and reputable report has ever indicated that the return of refugees or their continued inflow is due to any other cause except the intolerable and tragic conditions prevailing in East Bengal.
7. In this background, Government of India must express their total opposition to the suggestion for the induction of a “limited representation of the High Commissioner for Refugees on both sides” and must categorically state that they resent any insinuation that they are preventing the refugees from returning to East Bengal. They allowed them to enter India purely on humanitarian grounds in spite of the most serious impact on her social, political and economic structure. Government of India are anxious they return as soon as possible. The presence of the United Nations or UNHCR representatives cannot help in this. On the other hand, it would only provide a facade of action to divert world attention from the root cause of the problem which is the continuation of military atrocities, leading to further influx of refugees and absence of political settlement acceptable to the people of East Pakistan and their already elected leaders.
8. The UNHCR has a fairly strong team of senior officers located in Delhi and they have been given every facility to visit refugee camps. In fact Mr. Thomas Jaimcson. Director of Operations of the UNHCR who is the Chief Representative of the UNHCR’s office in India has recently returned from a second tour of the refugee camps. He was allowed access to all the refugee camps and was given facilities to visit these camps including those in the border areas. Apart from this, 1,000 foreign observers have visited these refugee camps and most of them have publicly stated that the refugees have taken shelter in India from the military operation in Bangla Desh and are not willing to return unless suitable conditions are created ensuring their safe return through a political statement with the Sheik Mujibur Rahman, the acknowledged leader of East Pakistan and his already elected colleagues. In the light of the information available to Government of India and to the interested Government add organization they have painfully come to the conclusion that the same is past when international community can continue to stand by, watching the situation deteriorate and merely hoping that the relief programmes, humanitarian efforts, posting of a few people here and there, and good intentions would be enough to turn the tide of human misery and potential disaster.
9. While therefore, the Government of India have no wish to lend their support to any proposal which will deflect attention from the basic problem or diffuse concern from the fate of the unfortunate refugees, they would welcome any action by the United Nations which would ensure and guarantee, under adequate international supervision, that the refugees lands, houses and property will be returned to them in Last Pakistan and that conditions are created there to ensure the safe return under credible international guarantees without threat of reprisal or other measures of repression from the military authorities of West Pakistan. It is painful to not that even the handful of refugees who ventured to return to East Bengal have not only been not allowed to go back to their homes and village but have been subjected to endless indignities and inequities and even made to do forced labor and face many other difficulties. Government of India should like to draw the Secretary-General’s attention in this context to the New York Times report and photographs published on the 27th July, 1971. In these circumstances it is unrealistic to hope that the circumstances will begin to be hanged by the posting of any personnel on the Indian side of the border. The Government of India cannot support such a facade of action in the full knowledge that it is unrealistic, helpful and even dangerous. They find, therefore, the proposal totally unacceptable.
10. The crux of the problem is the situation inside East Bengal where an army from a distant territory is exercising control by sheer force and brutality. If the international community is serious about the need for return of refugees to Last Bengal the first step that has to be taken is to restore conditions of normalcy inside East Pakistan through a political settlement acceptable to the people of East Bengal and their already elected leaders, and take such internationally credible measures as would assure the refugees their safe return without reprisals, etc.