THE SUNDAY AUSTRALIAN, JUNE 6. 1971
Editorial
BENGAL AGONY AND RESPONSE
In West Bengal today we are witnessing a human catastrophe for which even the tormented history of the twentieth century can offer few parallels. In the awesome scale of the disaster, in the uniquely harrowing quality of its suffering, there has been little to compare with what is happening at this moment to the refugees of East Pakistan. The known statistics of death and dislocation are appalling enough: the prospects are even more terrifying. They have already produced in some of us a paralysis of the will, and anesthesia of the mind, blinding up to the urgency of the crisis. Let us imagine, if we can, the combined populations of Melbourne and Sydney driven in terror from their homes by a marauding army, cast adrift in a wilderness without food or shelter, to face the imminent prospect of extermination from starvation or rampant disease.
East Pakistan has had more than its share of disaster. It now ranks with Poland or Vietnam as the unluckiest country of modern times. It is barely six months since the cyclone devastated vast tracts of the countryside and left thousands of people dead or homeless. It is two months since the vengeful army of West Pakistan moved in to crush the local secessionist forces and begin their ritual campaign of killing and destruction. History can offer no crueler irony than the spectacle of millions of impoverished, frightened and desperate people fleeing for succor to a land almost as poor, as overcrowded, as ridden by disease and as prone to crisis as the country from which they have fled.
It has taken the world too long to grasp the scale of this tragedy. The response in aid from foreign governments has been pitifully slow and scarcely a word has been offered in warning or condemnation to President Yahya Khan’s Government, which persists in the callous pretence that the refugee problem has been exaggerated by the foreign Press. The first hand evidence of the Red Cross and international relief organizations can leave us in no doubt that the influx of refugees into West Bengal is placing an intolerable burden on the Indian authorities. They cannot be left to shoulder it alone. The Indians estimate that to keep the current numbers of refugees alive for six months will cost more than S 200 million. Faced with this sort of expenditure-willingly undertaken by India in the name of humanity-the economy of West Bengal will soon collapse. Already Mrs. Gandhi has warned that India may be “forced to act” to ensure the repatriation of the refugees. Thus, to the prospect of social disintegration and pandemic cholera in West Bengal has been added a new threat to peace throughout the Indian sub-continent.
There has as yet been no sign of any effective steps to reconcile the two halves of Pakistan and ensure a return to political stability in the Hast. The refugees are unlikely return to their homes while the threat of terror persists and some measure of political autonomy is denied them. The responsibility for ensuring this rests squarely with President Yahya. There can be no solution to the present appalling suffering until the refugees are removed from their squalid camps and repatriated to their homes-or whatever is left of them.
But the immediate need is to prevent the imminent deaths of five million or more human beings. Here, surely, is an inescapable challenge to the conscience and resourcefulness of the rest of the world. Australia has promised aid worth $ 500,000enough to keep the refugees alive for one day, assuming they can be fed and inoculated in time. This is not enough. We believed the Government should give its full and urgent support to the appeal planned by Austcare, the agency that has already done most to bring the scale of the disaster to the attention of Australians. But relief, if it is to have any real effect, must be planned and coordinated on a world scale. It must not be directed through the Pakistan Government, who may be tempted to use it to bolster their own army and prolong their campaign of repression. At one time, the obvious agency to administer relief would have been the United Nations. So far it has shown little sign of urgency. In the absence of prompt U. N. action there is much that Australia can do on its own: one pressing need is for vaccine, saline solution and mass-inoculation machines to check the spread of cholera; this is not a time to dose our minds or take comfort in isolation. Here is a chance for Australians to prove the reality of our pity and compassion. We must give all we can, knowing that every dollar we withhold, and every day we delay our response, will be paid for in human lives.