Evacuee influx an unprecedented humanitarian problem
UNITED NATIONS, SEPT. 22. – Seventy four delegations of non-aligned countries have declared in a draft manifesto that the influx of East Bengal evacuees into India has created “a humanitarian problem of unprecedented dimension.” informed sources said yesterday. says Reuter.
The draft was completed by the Ambassadors of the member nations on Monday and will be submitted to their Foreign Ministers on September 30 at a conference.
Informants said the manifesto covers the West Asain situation, Vietnam, Cambodia, disarmament economic and social questions and problems of the Indian sub-continent in its entirety. The draft runs into 32 paragraphs.
It is the first such wide ranging document to come out of the group in 10 years, the sources said.
The Zambian Ambassador Mr. Vernon Maanga, presided over the drafting sessions.
Informed sources said a move was made in the group to raise the question of East Bengal in a broader political context. But this was blocked by Morocco and some other members who objected that Pakistan’s exclusion made it inappropriate.
The sources said the manifesto calls for the promotion of conditions necessary to create confidence among refugees and also to assure them of their inalienable rights and their speedy and safe return to their homeland.
Reference: Hindustan Standard, 23.09.1971