পাতা:বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্র (ত্রয়োদশ খণ্ড).pdf/৮১৬

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এই পাতাটির মুদ্রণ সংশোধন করা প্রয়োজন।

788 ংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্রঃ ত্রয়োদশ খন্ড It should be dear to all, who rave any feelings or objectivity, that never before have so many people fled across an international frontier in such a short period or in such distressing conditions. When we first approached the United Nations on April 23, 1971, for assistance to meet die needs of the refugees, they already totaled half a million. This number continued to increase as Pakistani military regime carried on with murder, loot, rape and other unspeakable atrocities. On October 26, the Special Consortium of the World Bank meeting in Paris announced that "more than 9.5 million refugees have entered India by now and the influx is continuing". The latest figure is 9,608,901 on November 5, the daily average influx in September was 27,000 and in October 17,000. This meeting in Paris was held to discuss the impact on the Indian economy of this large and continuing influx of refugees from East Pakistan. With your permission, I should like to read the communiqué issued, it is not long. "A special meeting of the consortium of Governments and institutions interested in India's economic development was held in Paris on October 26, 1971, under the Chairmanship of the World Bank. It discussed the impact on the Indian economy of the recent large and continuing influx of refugees from East Pakistan, and assessed the cost of relief at dollars, 700 million in the financial year ending March, 1972. The meeting was attended by representatives of the Governments of Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Federal Republic of Germany, India, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands. Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States, and by representatives of the International Monetary Fund (IFM), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Representatives of the Governments of Australia and New Zealand attended the meeting as observers. The meeting heard statements by I. G. Patel, Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Government of India, and by Charies Mace, Deputy United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and considered a report on the cost of refugee relief prepared by the World Bank. More than 9.5 million refugees have entered India by now, and the influx is continuing. Delegates expressed deep concern about the situation and its serious consequences for the economic development of India and unanimously recognized the need for special assistance to offset the burden of refugee relief. Members emphasized that assistance for refugee relief should be additional to normal development assistance. Considering the nature of the problem, this assistance should preferably be in the form of grants. To prevent drastic cutbacks of development expenditures in India, commitments of special assistance arc required urgently and should be in a form which would provide immediate support to the budget of the Indian Government and the Indian economy generally. It was the sense of the meeting that the problem of refugees in India was an international responsibility. The meeting noted that world-wide contributions pledged to date came to over dollars 2(H) million. Delegations urged the UNHCR as the Focal Point