Mr. President. reports from India continue to tell of a stream of human misery flowing from East Pakistan. In fact. in the month since I returned from visiting scores of refugee camps all along the border of East Pakistan in India. nearly a million more East Bengalis has found it necessary to flee inhuman conditions and truly genocidal acts of their government. The story of East Bengal will surely be written as one of the greatest nightmares of modern times. The situation. as I saw it for myself. defies description. And each day the misery grows. A report in the New York Times this morning. as well as other information available to the subcommittee on refugees. which I serve as chairman. saysThat the Pakistani army and its civilian collaborators are continuing to kill. loot. and burn despite the central governments public avowals that it is bent on restoring normalcy and winning the confidence of the Bengali people. Mr. President. there is nothing new in such reports. I heard them from countless refugees during my interviews in India. How much longer will our Governmentand the President himselfsweep this issue under the rug. with the justification that our silence affords leverage. Where is our leverage? Where are the results of our leverage? Bu more importantly. where is our sense of values? Where is our compassion ofor millions of suffering refugees? When will our Government finally choose leadership over silence. in helping to ameliorate a situation which is fast pushing South Asia over the brink of disaster? When will we cease the shipment of arms to an inflamed area and provide instead the humanitarian relief urgently needed?
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