EDITORIAL: VOLUNTEERS WHO RISK ALL TO SAVE LIVES IN BANGLA DESH
THE HAMPSTEAD AND HIGHGATE EXPRESS (London) October 1, 1971
The death toll in Bangla Desh is steadily climbing. Some say it may reach many millions. Crops are lying rotting in the fields with no one to gather them. Disease and malnutri¬tion are crushing a people who once stood up and demanded their freedom. No government will risk political and diplo¬matic repercussions to save a country from dying on its knees, but a handful of young people are risking arrest, imprison¬ment and perhaps even their lives to help. Operation Omega, a volunteer organisation working from shabby offices in Kings Cross, is the only group in the world bringing relief direct to the people inside Bangla Desh.
One of the members, Ben Crow, a 23 year old former Camden traffic engineer, arrived back in London last week after spending 11 days in a West Pakistan jail. He and three others. Miss Joyce Keniwell, Miss Chris Pratt and Mr. Dan Due, the only American volunteer, were arrested while trying to distribute supplies in Bangla Desh. Ben said he was told in prison that two million people had been killed. There werfe women and children in prison whose husbands and fathers had been shot for supporting Bangla Desh. Other prisoners included magistrates, police chiefs and other officials who had been there since March. He said he could gee ho sign of Pakistan President Yahya Khan’s promised amnesty.
On the journey to the prison in Jessore, Ben said he passed many villages, all empty, with houses locked and bar¬red or demolished and burnt. He saw very few people on the road. The paddy fields had not been harvested and the rice was rotting where it stood. In Jessore a lot of rebuild¬ing was in progress, but he saw signs of past fighting. On the plane back to London after his release, he met a represen¬tative of the Aid Consortium of British Charities who, said Ben, had predicted a famine as bad as that in Bengal in 1943 when many millions died of starvation. The representative also stated that 153 United Nations staff had been in Dacca for three month without distributing any significant amounts of food all though there were large stocks in Chittagong from the cyclone disaster. He added that the UN plan was to distribute relief supplies through the local civil authorities, which meant control by the Pakistan army. It could be a '“devastating political weapon” in their hands.
Miss Pratt said she saw thousands of refugees massed on the border with India, waiting to cross the swollen rivers. Many had been on the road for 15 days without food. They hod no money and some of the boatmen were charging to take them across. They usually had to wait three days to get over. Once in India, she said, those with money could travel by lorry or rickshaw. But most didn’t and had to car¬ry on walking. Refugees who did not get into camps, or were afraid of them, built straw huts at the side of the road. They drunk from the ditches—the same ditches they were urinating in. "The children were suffering from acute malnutrition. They had large swollen bellies and tiny arms and legs. Some of the people I thought were 70 years of age. I found they were only in their 40s or 50s. All the reports of the suffering out there are true. I have seen them myself”, She said. While in jail, she said, she met women and children suffering from malnutrition and whose prison diet of carbohydrates doing nothing to help. She later discovered that they had been jailed for attempting to cross into India.
The Omega volunteers were treated quite well in jail. They were given beds and blankets for nearly all their stay. They were given banana curry with a boiled egg added because they were British. Ben said the prison guards, mostly local men, were friendly. “If it had been run by the military It may have been very different. The four were Charged with illegal entry and possessing documents prejudicial to the peace of the country namely their Omega contracts, which contained a condemnation of Pakistan’s activities- The charge was later cut to just “possession”. Ben said he thought the illegal entry charge was dropped because the authorities wanted the trial to look like civil proceedings. Illegal entry charges are tried under martial law.
The volunteers went on hunger strike for five days, until, they were told of the date of the trial. They were advised by the Second Secretary of the British Deputy High Commission to plead guilty, apologie and promise not to repeat the act. They refused to do so, maintaining that they had done nothing morally wrong and that they did not recognize the regime. At the trial, in Jessore, the court was packed with officials;, and onlookers. The prosecution’s evidence was lies, said Ben. One man testified to arresting them. They had never seen him before.
Earlier, they had been warned that if they stood up in court and attacked Pakistan, they could get three years for contempt. “This scared me quite a lot” said Ben. After the first day of the trial, 'we were taken to see the Second Secretary. He said he had some interesting news. The maximum sentence for the charge was five years and not six months as we had earlier thought. We went back into the court and the prosecution completed its case. We were asked how we pleaded and Chris got up and said we would like to make a statement about why we would not plead, and why we had some. But we would not contest the charges as we did not recognise the court. We could not accept the court or any martial authority. We said we could not deny we had the documents. The magistrate took this as a plea of guilty. He said he would be lenient with us and sentenced us to deten¬tion until the court rose, which was about two hours. We also had to leave the country and not pass through India. Asr we left the court several people whispered ‘Jai Bangla’ (Long live Bangla Desh). Had they been heard saying it,, they would h”ave been shot . While the four were held, another Omega team made two successful crossing into Bangla Desh, and distributed lentils, high protein biscuits and rice substitute—enough to feed 1,000 for three days, They also gave clothes to 700.
One team member was Mr. Gordon Slaven, 20, a former accounts clerk, of Belisize Park Gardens, Hampstead, who sent a report of the second journey to Omega’s headquarters. Although the monsoon was drawing to a close, he said, the' area was still severely flooded. The team crossed the border in three small punts. Using one village as a base, they spent two days going to outlying villages and distributed supplies •through the village leaders, who chose those in greatest need. All the villages, four in all, could only be reached by boat. During their stay they met no Pakistani troops, but saw some men of the Mukti Fouj, the Bangla Desh army, carrying 303 rifles. There are plans to go across the border again this time with a Bengali doctor. The main aim will be to assess the medical needs of the people, especially the children.
Miss Pratt said that 30 to 40 people would be needed for attempted crossing at army controlled points on the border. She added she would be prepared to return in such a group, even though it would mean a fairly long term of imprisonment if she were caught. Ben is also prepared to return. Another Omega team recently went to Europe to enlist help. They received an enthusiastic response from Holland and West Berlin. The Germans said they would send a team of their own as soon as possible. Omega started in June with a few London members. Now they have premises in Manchester os well and a mailing list of over a thousand people, who help with petitions, finance and by extending the Omega network, The organisation desperately need cash for more supplies for Bangln Desh. Most of the donations it receives are under £20. But one cheque for 5,000 dollars has arrived from a man in prison in the United States for refusing to fight in Vietnam. Money and administrative help has come from Bengalis in Britain, who, said an Omega spokesman, were extremely generous.
The death toll in Bangla Desh is steadily climbing. Some say it may reach many millions. Crops are lying rotting in the fields with no one to gather them. Disease and malnutri¬tion are crushing a people who once stood up and demanded their freedom. No government will risk political and diplo¬matic repercussions to save a country from dying on its knees, but a handful of young people are risking arrest, imprison¬ment and perhaps even their lives to help. Operation Omega, a volunteer organisation working from shabby offices in Kings Cross, is the only group in the world bringing relief direct to the people inside Bangla Desh.
One of the members, Ben Crow, a 23 year old former Camden traffic engineer, arrived back in London last week after spending 11 days in a West Pakistan jail. He and three others. Miss Joyce Keniwell, Miss Chris Pratt and Mr. Dan Due, the only American volunteer, were arrested while trying to distribute supplies in Bangla Desh. Ben said he was told in prison that two million people had been killed. There werfe women and children in prison whose husbands and fathers had been shot for supporting Bangla Desh. Other prisoners included magistrates, police chiefs and other officials who had been there since March. He said he could gee ho sign of Pakistan President Yahya Khan’s promised amnesty.
On the journey to the prison in Jessore, Ben said he passed many villages, all empty, with houses locked and bar¬red or demolished and burnt. He saw very few people on the road. The paddy fields had not been harvested and the rice was rotting where it stood. In Jessore a lot of rebuild¬ing was in progress, but he saw signs of past fighting. On the plane back to London after his release, he met a represen¬tative of the Aid Consortium of British Charities who, said Ben, had predicted a famine as bad as that in Bengal in 1943 when many millions died of starvation. The representative also stated that 153 United Nations staff had been in Dacca for three month without distributing any significant amounts of food all though there were large stocks in Chittagong from the cyclone disaster. He added that the UN plan was to distribute relief supplies through the local civil authorities, which meant control by the Pakistan army. It could be a '“devastating political weapon” in their hands.
Miss Pratt said she saw thousands of refugees massed on the border with India, waiting to cross the swollen rivers. Many had been on the road for 15 days without food. They hod no money and some of the boatmen were charging to take them across. They usually had to wait three days to get over. Once in India, she said, those with money could travel by lorry or rickshaw. But most didn’t and had to car¬ry on walking. Refugees who did not get into camps, or were afraid of them, built straw huts at the side of the road. They drunk from the ditches—the same ditches they were urinating in. "The children were suffering from acute malnutrition. They had large swollen bellies and tiny arms and legs. Some of the people I thought were 70 years of age. I found they were only in their 40s or 50s. All the reports of the suffering out there are true. I have seen them myself”, She said. While in jail, she said, she met women and children suffering from malnutrition and whose prison diet of carbohydrates doing nothing to help. She later discovered that they had been jailed for attempting to cross into India.
The Omega volunteers were treated quite well in jail. They were given beds and blankets for nearly all their stay. They were given banana curry with a boiled egg added because they were British. Ben said the prison guards, mostly local men, were friendly. “If it had been run by the military It may have been very different. The four were Charged with illegal entry and possessing documents prejudicial to the peace of the country namely their Omega contracts, which contained a condemnation of Pakistan’s activities- The charge was later cut to just “possession”. Ben said he thought the illegal entry charge was dropped because the authorities wanted the trial to look like civil proceedings. Illegal entry charges are tried under martial law.
The volunteers went on hunger strike for five days, until, they were told of the date of the trial. They were advised by the Second Secretary of the British Deputy High Commission to plead guilty, apologie and promise not to repeat the act. They refused to do so, maintaining that they had done nothing morally wrong and that they did not recognize the regime. At the trial, in Jessore, the court was packed with officials;, and onlookers. The prosecution’s evidence was lies, said Ben. One man testified to arresting them. They had never seen him before.
Earlier, they had been warned that if they stood up in court and attacked Pakistan, they could get three years for contempt. “This scared me quite a lot” said Ben. After the first day of the trial, 'we were taken to see the Second Secretary. He said he had some interesting news. The maximum sentence for the charge was five years and not six months as we had earlier thought. We went back into the court and the prosecution completed its case. We were asked how we pleaded and Chris got up and said we would like to make a statement about why we would not plead, and why we had some. But we would not contest the charges as we did not recognise the court. We could not accept the court or any martial authority. We said we could not deny we had the documents. The magistrate took this as a plea of guilty. He said he would be lenient with us and sentenced us to deten¬tion until the court rose, which was about two hours. We also had to leave the country and not pass through India. Asr we left the court several people whispered ‘Jai Bangla’ (Long live Bangla Desh). Had they been heard saying it,, they would h”ave been shot . While the four were held, another Omega team made two successful crossing into Bangla Desh, and distributed lentils, high protein biscuits and rice substitute—enough to feed 1,000 for three days, They also gave clothes to 700.
One team member was Mr. Gordon Slaven, 20, a former accounts clerk, of Belisize Park Gardens, Hampstead, who sent a report of the second journey to Omega’s headquarters. Although the monsoon was drawing to a close, he said, the' area was still severely flooded. The team crossed the border in three small punts. Using one village as a base, they spent two days going to outlying villages and distributed supplies •through the village leaders, who chose those in greatest need. All the villages, four in all, could only be reached by boat. During their stay they met no Pakistani troops, but saw some men of the Mukti Fouj, the Bangla Desh army, carrying 303 rifles. There are plans to go across the border again this time with a Bengali doctor. The main aim will be to assess the medical needs of the people, especially the children.
Miss Pratt said that 30 to 40 people would be needed for attempted crossing at army controlled points on the border. She added she would be prepared to return in such a group, even though it would mean a fairly long term of imprisonment if she were caught. Ben is also prepared to return. Another Omega team recently went to Europe to enlist help. They received an enthusiastic response from Holland and West Berlin. The Germans said they would send a team of their own as soon as possible. Omega started in June with a few London members. Now they have premises in Manchester os well and a mailing list of over a thousand people, who help with petitions, finance and by extending the Omega network, The organisation desperately need cash for more supplies for Bangln Desh. Most of the donations it receives are under £20. But one cheque for 5,000 dollars has arrived from a man in prison in the United States for refusing to fight in Vietnam. Money and administrative help has come from Bengalis in Britain, who, said an Omega spokesman, were extremely generous.
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