Dacca Universitya primary target in the early days of the repressionreopened its doors just 3 weeks ago. More than 10.000 students are registered. The vice chancellor and many of the students were among the refugees I visited in eastern India last August. In devastated Kushtia townsome 90 miles northwest of Dacca near the Indian borderthe rubble is being cleared. And even though the local resources are meagre and the food stocks very low. returning refugees have started to rebuild their shops and homes and lives. What is happening in Kushtia is fairly typical of what is happening all over Bangladesh. And if one doubts the remarkably fast and smooth return of the refugees. you need only visit the Salt Lake refugee camp outside Calcutta. which I did on the day following my visit to Bangladesh. Last August this largest camp in India was filled with a teeming mass of humanitysome 300.000 Bengali refugees. Last week. Salt Lake was a ghost town. with little more than 10.000 people remainingand they were preparing to leave. I spoke with an Indian priest who succeeded reasonably well in running a medical center during the refugee influx. But he spoke of how only a few months ago he thought that the refugees would never return. He spoke of the despair that he and the other voluntary agency personnel felt in trying to battle an unending tide of refugees. disease. and squalor. Last week. he was also preparing to leave. His work done.
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refugee refugees