Indians See Only One Answer
To Refugee Problem
Lee Lescaze
Calcutta, June 4. Indian officials believe the only solution to the Pakistani refugee problem is for refugees to return home. But hopes that they would do so have been crushed by the continuing terrorism of the Pakistani army in East Pakistan. The Indian Government is planning relief for six months. But the official policy is that India will not be able to care for the new arrivals indefinitely, or absorb them into the crowded Indian countryside.
East Pakistani refugees hopefully brought members of their families on a handcart into Karimpur to be treated for Cholera, but at the first-aid center all were found to be dead.
Other observers do not think that the millions driven from home will ever be willing to return. They argue that up to 90 per cent of those arriving now are from East Pakistan’s minority of 10 million Hindus, and that Hindus are unlikely to try to live again in Moslem Pakistan. The accounts of many refugees of their treatment inside East Pakistan also seem to indicate that they were targets of the Pakistani army solely because of their religion.
Colonel P. N. Luthra, who is in charge of coordinating relief here and other officials believe that foreign powers must put pressure on Pakistan to end violence and allow refugees to return. “It all depends on the foreign community.” Colonel Luthra said. “The attention of the world must be focused on the problem.” One irony. officials think that the better India handles problems caused by refugees, the less the world is likely to concern itself. One official said: “Because hundreds aren’t dying of starvation, there seems to be a tendency to ignore the long range problems.” He believes that Eastern India will suffer outbreaks of violence and economic disruption if the refugees do not return, or if they are nor carefully controlled. “About three quarters of India lives near the subsistence level,” he said. “We cannot spend all our money, and concentrate all our attention on the refugees. There must be general economic improvements.”
The Central Government and the State Government of West Bengal are beginning to plan transit camps to provide better and more permanent shelter than that available near the border. However, planning, let alone construction, has not been able to keep up with the flow of refugees. Political control also troubles Indian officials. Most of those who have fled are farmers and would be likely recruits for the Marxist Communists. West Bengal’s largest party. The Non-Communist State coalition Government and New Delhi are eager to see that Communist political organizers are kept out of refugee camps.
There have been reports of Pakistani agitators mingling with refugees and trying to exacerbate Hindu-Moslem resentments. Police found a collection of spears, axes, and knives in a mosque recently. They were apparently stored for self-defense by the Moslem community. – The Washington post
Reference: The Guardian, 5 June, 1971