541 বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্রঃ ষষ্ঠ খণ্ড শিরোনাম ংবাদপত্র তারিখ Frankly Speaking The Nation 8 October, 1971 Vol. 1 : No. 2 FRANKLY SPEAKING The human tragedy that occurred in a small hamlet known as My Lai in South Vietnam is now being repeated in thousand of villages of Bangladesh by the marauding Pat Army. This is not only the observation of those far and near deeply experienced in the study of the political upheavals in various parts of the globe. This also the observation of the economic experts associated with the World Bank. The World Bank, which extended a big loan to Pakistan to finance numerous development projects, had sent a study team to verify facts and on return to Washington ten representatives jointly submitted a report asking for immediate suspension of aid to West Pakistan. The document helps to give a complete and faithful picture of the My Lais perpetrated by the trigger-happy occupation Army. These reports are so graphic and authoritative that they need no preface or comments. The foreword of the report says: The information for this report was obtained, though not in normal circumstances, in more or less the normal way-that is by traveling, observing, asking questions, filtering as answers and figures obtained and evaluating the information obtained for accuracy and consistency. This was, of course, a more difficult task than is confronted by most Bank missions and it should be said that, in the absence of hard facts, we have had to draw frequently upon general impressions of the situation. Some information, (for instance, that concerning actions by the Army and the extent of rebel activity is technically heresay in that it was not contained in official statements or reports made available to us) however, some treatment of these matters is necessary in order to round out a description of the situation in East Bengal, and we have included only information that we have seen (or heard) for ourselves or which has come from normally reliable sources and with appears consistent with the effects we have noted and observed ourselves. "The situation," to quote the World Bank report, "is very far indeed from normal; nor are there any signs that normality is being approached or that matters are even moving in that direction". For this picture to be changed, it appears that, as a minimum two formidable constraints must be removed or overcome: (i) The general sense of fear and lack of confidence on the part of the-most of the population. (ii) The complete dislocation of the communication system: Its major manifestation is the almost complete absence of movement of people (except within towns) and of the exchange of goods between regions and sectors anywhere within the province.
