Kennedy goes round camps braving rain
By A Staff Reporter, The Senator from Massachusetis could not speak. The tiny, emaciated boy died before his eyes and a tired, hungry mother could only look on with tearless eyes.
It happened at a Barasat evacuee camp on Wednesday during Mr. Kennedy’s visit to the site. The Senator moved on as it appeared he had no words for the hapless mother. Pramila Mondal of Khulna, who only last week saw her husband die in the same camp.
Braving heavy rain, the Senator on the second day of his fact-finding-mission in the evacuee camps visited four medical centers and three camps in North 24-Parganas and Nadia. Drenched in rain, he trekked through mud and slush and at times he had to jump across ditches. At the camp at Kalyani in Nadia district at least once he lost his balance and slipped into a pool of mud. He stood up, soaked in mud and dirt.
The Senator refused to tell newsmen anything all through. But while returning to the city, when he hastily decided to visit the Salt Lake area for once he changed his mind. Reporters clustered around him and asked him to say something about Yahya’s sudden refusal to allow him to visit Dacca and West Pakistan.
Curby he remarked “It is unfortunate” He had nothing more to add.
Accompanied by Dr. Navin S. Scrimshaw an US expert on nutrition and Dr. John P. Lewis of the US Aid Mission in India the Senator drove straight to a medical camp of the “War on Want ” near Dum Dum Airport. He went round the camp, talked to the patients and tried to understand their problems. Mother Teresa who was there explained to him the measures taken to save the ailling evacuees. She said that altogether 44 evacuees, whom she described as ‘very seriously ill’ could be accommodated in the center and hundreds of others had to be shifted elsewhere. The common questions which the senator asked the evacuees were “when and why did they come ” And the reply was the same in almost all the cases. They said they had to come because of the genocide. Some refugees mostly ‘Hindus’ however, told the senator that they were shoved into Indian territory by the Muslim Leagues and the troops.
The Senator’s convoy passed through milling crowds. People cheered and threw flowers at the vehicle. From Barasat refugee camp, where he spent about 15 minutes, the senator drove to Kalyani in Nadia district. It was raining heavily when the convoy reached the refugee-dominated areas at Kalyani. The rain was so heavy that nothing could be seen even at a little distance. The impression one gathered was that the senator would not get down and he was so advised. But he suddenly opened the door of the car and started walking. An officer tried to open an umbrella over his head. But he did not bother.
It was not however an easy task for him to go inside the camps ignoring the rain, the mud and the splash. He tried to balance himself and went on trekking. He visited the tents, the story and the medical unit. He talked to the evacuees and wanted to know their requirements. On one occasion, while going round the camp in incessant rain, he lost balance and fell down. Soon he, however, got up. To his secretary Mr. Jerry Tinker and others he said “Oh don’t worry, it’s all right” and began walking.
The evacuees all along during his 80-minute stay there, raised slogans against ‘Yahya’ and the US shipment of arms to Pakistan. They demand immediate recognition of Bangladesh. He then visited Kalyani hospital and saw the condition of the Bangladesh evacuee patients there.
At Kalyani he told reporters that he will do his best to help the evacuees.
Mr. Kennedy had a 55-minute tete-a-tete with Mr. Siddhartha Sankar Ray, Union Minister at Writer’s Buildings on Wednesday afternoon.
Later pressed by journalists to tell them of the outcome of the conference Mr. Kennedy said : “I am very glad of my discussion with the Minister, He helped me a lot in understanding the situation.”
The senator parried political questions with a diplomatic finesse. For instance, the question whether the Minister had helped him in understanding Pakistan as well as his reply was cryptic: “I know so little.”
Mr. Ray was also reticent to reveal what transpired when the two had been closeted for the best part of an hour. He merely said: “We had a very frank and full discussion.”
It was, however, learnt from reliable sources that the US Senator had expressed the view that the situation was very depressing after what he had seen of the refugees.
Mr. Ray said, Mr. Kennedy would leave for Agartala by air this morning (Thursday) and might visit refugee camps in West Dinajpur if refueling facilities were possible for his helicopter.
Reference: Hindustan Standard, 18.08.1971