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FREEDOMWAYS     THIRD QUARTER 1972

women were raped, food, grain and cattle were taken away and finally the houses were set on fire. This day will be recorded in history as a day of "infamy." Preceding this attack, Sheik Mujibur Rahman was arrested on March 24, 1971. The attack on Dacca was led by American supplied M-24 World War II tanks. When the Pakistan soldiers discovered that they could not win the war against the East, they began a systematic political assassination campaign against the intelligentsia which included poets, students and one of the East Pakistan's leading film producers. In addition to the destruction of this vital labor force essential to the building of a new nation, 40% of the film theaters were also destroyed. The total number of persons who became victims of the civil war was approximately three million. Many of these persons were victims of cholera epidemics which spread from water-borne bacteria. Nearly 9.8 million human being fled from a reign of terror and came to India, which is one of the poorest countries in the world-refugees who were wounded, ill from disease, hungry and exhausted. The refugees represented a tremendous burden on the Indian economy. India fed over two and a half million refugees a day in a camp in Calcutta, yet India did not force the refugees to go back home to be butchered.

To give you some indication of the burden on the Indian economy: by February 29, the Indian government had spent 367 million dollars on refugees since they began flooding into India whereas foreign assistance totaled only 170 million dollars. In the light of the above fact the people of India were forces to make grave sacrifices and joined with the people of East Pakistan to fight for basic human democratic rights.

At the end of the 14-day war between India and Pakistan, an independent Bangladesh emerges; a country which to date has been recognized by all the major countries of the world except China. For India an independent Bangladesh immediately means the repatriation of many of the 9.8 million refugees and in the long run the re-establishment of traditional trading patterns between East and West Bengal. The break-up of Pakistan would assure India's undisputed supremacy on the subcontinent which would be very important in view of present encroachments upon Asia from both the United States and China. For with the loss of an estimated 60% of its population, 50% of its foreign exchange and 20% of its tax revenue, Pakistan's ability to sustain a military attack against India is reduced substantially. After the 14-day war, India emerged victorious, which cost India 2,307 soldiers dead and 6,163 wounded.

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BANGLADESH     TERRELL

In March, 1972, memorial services were held for Indian soldiers killed in the war and over two million persons came out to honor those soldiers.

While engaging in this war against exploitations and oppression, they became an example to oppressed people all over the world, proving once more that struggle is the only weapon that can effectively eliminate oppression.

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THAP BA

The old Cham temple of Thap Ba,
the locals say it's a thousand years
old,
older than this stilted Anglo-
Saxon language I use
Older they say than the use
of bullets, ballots, and the printing
press
older than the airplane and the bomb
older than napalm

was hit yesterday by a twenty-year-old
helicopter pilot
fresh from the states
Who found it more ecstatic than
the firing range
for testing his guns

Jan Barry

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Transcription Notes:
---------- Reopened for Editing 2024-02-19 19:43:21