SUNDAY POST. NAIROBI. NOVEMBER 22, 1971
SITUATION IN INDO-PAKISTAN SUB-CONTINENT
… India has become involved in this problem only to the extent of the influx of millions of refugees and the economic, social and communal consequences which are threatened by it.
If some of the propaganda talk were to be believed, it would appear as if the refugees are caged in concentration camps by India and arc not being allowed to return to their homes by force.
These camps are free and open. Any inmate who wants to quit is free to do so. There is no obstacle or hindrance.
One has been surfeited by the ploy which has been made over the number of such refugees.
After being told that a census had revealed that only about two-and -a-half million, people had left Hast Pakistan. President Yahya Khan admitted to a correspondent that the number could be three or four million. Or eight or nine million!
An illuminating commentary from the BBC” revealed that the incoming refugees are checked thrice to ensure that they are genuinely displaced persons and not imposters.
This commentary also said that the camps did not contain all the refugees, but only the poorest and the most helpless. Very many East Pakistanis had found shelter with hospitable friends and relatives in and around Calcutta.
Their number has never been recorded. But they all want to go back. But for the colossal tragedy which has evolved before the eyes of the world, one would have been amused by the statement that even nine million refugees could not pose any burden on a country whose population increases by 12 million annually.
These nine million arc a direct charge on the state.
Children who are born arc the responsibility of their parents and guardians.