Following discussions with foreign ministry officials in New Delhi about the U.N. conference and the plight of the 9 million East Pakistanis who fled their country to seek sanctuary on the Indian border. I decided to travel to Calcutta and see firsthand one of the several hundred camps hastily set up along the border following the outbreak of violence last March 25. Although I had read a great deal in the American press about the magnitude of the refugee problem. and although I had seen a number of televised reports from the refugee camps. I will readily confess that I was not prepared for the kind of human suffering that I found. Other Members of the Congress have visited these camps. I wish that each Member of both bodies could do so. I know of no words or pictures that could adequately convey the sense of immediacy that one feels during a personal visit. In spite of an extraordinary effort that has been made by the Government of India to provide shelter. nourishment. and medical care for the Pakistani refugees. conditions in the camps remain bleak indeed. Although a cholera epidemic that claimed some 10.000 lives during the early days of the massive imigration has been effectively controlled. the health of the refugees--and especially that of the childrenis precarious. Many of the refugees traveled for distances as great as 100 miles to reach the Indian border. and many arrived suffering from severe malnutrition and respiratory diseases. such as pneumonia. Most immediately threatening is the lack of sufficient nourishment for the children in the camps. Gross protein deficiency is commonplace.
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refugee refugees