Dramatic and clear memories of December 1971

As coordinator of Oxfam's refugee relief programme in India which cared for 600,000 women, men and children, I was worried about many things in December 1971. The roads to the refugee camps we were supporting were choked with military vehicles and hardware and it was difficult to reach supplies to places as far as Tripura, Meghalaya, Assam and Cooch Behar. Thousands of blankets and woolen clothing had been donated by the British people following campaigns of Oxfam, "Take a blanket off your bed" and "Send us your sweater: It can save someone's life". The advertisement in the British newspapers said, "Refugees in India are facing a new horror: death from exposure. Nighttime temperatures in winter can fall below freezing. Children and old people are being killed by the cold now. Healthy adults will not last the winter. Warm clothes are needed with desperate urgency – shawls, sweaters, cardigans – anything woolen."

The British Post Office, in a rare gesture, did not charge postage for parcels of blankets and warm clothing sent to Oxfam.

We needed to deliver these warm clothes and blankets very quickly, but trucks, for instance, could take 10 days to reach Agartala from Kolkata. So, we chartered old Dakota aircraft (DC-3 and DC-6) to reach the north of West Bengal and the airstrip of the Maharajah of Cooch Behar.

After a few days of war, I remember sitting one evening on the lawn of the New Kenilworth Hotel, relaxing after a long day's work and managed to get the Pakistan Radio's English News and the propaganda machine said that the Pakistan Air Force had scored a direct hit on the Kolkata telephone exchange and that the Howrah Bridge was floating down the Hooghly! I remember that it was on 7th December 1971 that we learnt with horror that President Nixon had ordered the US 7th Fleet to the Bay of Bengal in an effort to prevent the Indian and Mukti Bahini forces from defeating the Pakistanis. Officially, this super flotilla – 'the most powerful force in the world' – was said to be going to evacuate a few American citizens from Dhaka, but the intention was clear. I remember how a well-known American doctor, working closely with us in the refugee camps, broke down in tears when he heard the reports about the 7th Fleet coming to the Bay of Bengal.

I was also worried about the aircraft which Oxfam had chartered bringing 27 tons of urgently needed supplies. This cargo included $500,000 worth of medicine donated by American companies, 3 million water purifying tablets and blankets. Because of the war, the aircraft was not allowed to land in Kolkata and was diverted to Madras (now Chennai), so our staff had to go there for clearing Customs and arranging transport to Kolkata. At the same time I was busy sending relief supplies to people in Orissa who had been affected by a devastating cyclone the previous month when over 9,000 people perished.

In a way, it did not feel as if India was at war. Although in Kolkata there was a blackout, strictly observed, those of us working with the Bangladesh refugees were looking forward to the massive rehabilitation problems and did not feel in danger at all. From my archives of treasured papers, I see that on the day before Victory Day, December 15th, 1971, I attended a meeting called by Bangladesh government officials to discuss the future needs of Bangladesh. The telex that I sent to Oxfam that day said:

"BDG (Bangladesh Government) EXPECTS AND HOPES MAJORITY REFUGEES IN INDIA RETURN BY END JAN. ESTIMATE IN ADDITION TO THESE 10 MILLION, THERE ARE A FURTHER 20 MILLION HOMELESS IN BANGLADESH. FOR ALL THESE PEOPLE FOODGRAIN REQUIREMENT ESTIMATE HALF MILLION TONS PER MONTH. IMMEDIATE REQUIREMENT VEHICLES, 1,000 TRUCKS, 500 BUSES. MOST SHELTER MATERIALS SUCH AS BAMBOOS REPORTED DESTROYED BY PAKISTAN ARMY."

I remember that a few days before Victory Day, the British Royal Air Force (RAF) was given permission by the Indian authorities to send in three Hercules cargo planes to Dhaka to evacuate diplomats of many different countries.  The aircraft came from Singapore and the Indian Air Force (IAF) gave the RAF a 2 hour "window" during which no bombing runs would be made on Dhaka by the IAF. When the RAF arrived over Dhaka, the leader of the mission flew low to see if the runway was in good shape. He saw that there were many dangerous potholes and was able to get a message down to the control tower that they would not land until the holes were filled up. Many of the waiting diplomats rolled up their sleeves and filled in the holes. With the 2 hour time slot running out, the IAF put a lot of pressure on the RAF, so that when, eventually, the planes landed, the engines were kept running and the diplomats and their families quickly climbed aboard for the short journey to Kolkata. One ambassador wanted to take a filing cabinet with him, but this was not allowed. I learnt of this remarkable drama when I met the pilots in the Grand Hotel in Kolkata after their arrival from Dhaka.

There are so many sad and painful memories of 1971 and, of course, memories of December 1971 are still very clearly etched on my mind. When we heard the news that the Pakistan forces had surrendered, there was both relief and joy among my staff numbering 36, most of who had come over the border as refugees. As a team, we had often worked 18 hours a day, so, when we heard that the war was over, there were many tears of exhaustion as well as happiness. As soon as we heard the news of the surrender, I gave my staff a day's holiday, many sweets were distributed and there was much singing. On the one day special Victory Day holiday, I went to my office and sat alone, deep in thought, remembering the previous tumultuous months that ended with the birth of Bangladesh.

– I remembered digging graves in May and June for cholera victims in Dangi and Sakati refugee camps in Jalpaiguri, North Bengal.

– I remembered how the final year medical students and doctors of the Nil Ratan Sarkar Medical College, Kolkata led the way working with Oxfam by rotation in the refugee camps. The other medical colleges of Kolkata joined in too and the Kolkata University authorities officially decided that the work done by the medical students and doctors would be recognised as the 'social & preventative medicine' part of the MBBS. News of this spread fast and teams of medical students and doctors from the Bombay Medical Colleges joined Oxfam's work, again on rotation. Doctors also came from Punjab, Gujarat and Orissa.

– I remembered the pride with which many of the refugees kept their camps neat and clean despite the very heavy monsoon of that year which flooded many areas and forced Oxfam to use amphibious vehicles.

– I remembered how a medical professor had urged me to provide harmoniums and tablas in all Oxfam supported camps. He said it would remove depression and improve the overall health of the people and he was proved to be correct.

– I remembered that most of the 36 staff I had at that time were refugees who had come across the border, some losing family members with heart attacks etc. on the way. Other members of my staff were West Bengalis with Bangladeshi family links.

– I remembered buying 100,000 sarees, 100,000 lungis and ganjis and 400,000 sets of children's clothing of various sizes. It was a commercial nightmare but it was achieved!

– I remembered the visit of Edward Kennedy to the camps where Oxfam was working and what an impact his visit had.

– And then, sitting alone, in my Park Circus office, I knew that I would never forget the babies with their skin hanging loosely in folds from their tiny bones-lacking the strength even to lift their heads. The children with legs and feet swollen with oedema and malnutrition limp in the arms of their mothers. The babies going blind for lack of vitamins, or covered with sores that will not heal. Seeing in the eyes of their parents the despair of ever having their children well again. Seeing the corpse of the child who died the night before.

Now, 48 years on I still have nightmares about those days of 1971. In my nightmares I imagine myself in a large refugee camp. I see that regularly each hut disgorges a hundred refugees or more who form queues for their government rations, queues for the wells, and queues for a place at the trench latrines. Those with dysentery seldom make it to the queue. The children form lines for their daily dollop of special nutritious food provided by Oxfam. I usually awake covered in perspiration and in tears.

I will never forget what I saw in 1971 and everyone in Bangladesh should remember and those too young must learn about that time.