From: banerjee@hsc.usc.edu (Samit Banerjee)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.bangladesh,soc.culture.indian
Subject: Re: Victory Day in Bangladesh (what about India?)
Date: 21 Dec 1992 00:59:11 -0800
Organization: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
NNTP-Posting-Host: hsc.usc.edu

In article <BzL183.E3G@news.udel.edu> khaleq@brahms.udel.edu (Mohame Khalequzzaman) writes:

>First of all we Bangladeshis have never forgotten the help
>India rendered during our Liberation War.  We are indeed greatful to the India
>people and the then Government.  We do salute India for their moral, logistic,>and military support during our Liberation War.  

While we are on the subject, it might be worthwhile to add some figures
so that the nature of the help rendered can be put in perspective:

1. 10,000 Indian soldiers were killed and more than twice that many injured.

2. The GOI spent close to a million dollars on the war effort alone, without
taking into account the money needed to run the refugee camps. Even considering
a modest 7% inflation rate over a period of 20 years, the figure comes
close to 150 million dollars, by today's standards.

3.  Money spent on housing refugees, most of whom went onto become
de-facto Indian citizens. Conservative estimates put this figure at around
100 million dollars ( 1984 GOI Report on the Dandakaryanya project presented
to the Lok Sabha).

Now lets see what the payback on our "investment" was in chronological order:

1.  Mujibur Rahaman and his family killed on Independence Day, August 15,
1974 by Major Dalim using a Indian built Vijayantha tank (T-55 series) and 
Indian Army issued machine guns.

2.  Tribal insurgencies in Assam, Tripura and Nagaland and complaints of
training camps within BD to train terrorists. Zia-ur-Rahaman acknowledges
presence of training camps but claims they are used to train Chakmas to
resist the onslaught from Bagha Siddique's Santi Bahini. However terrorists 
captured by the Indian Army in the North East speak of elaborate training 
facilities and weapons and supplies given to them by the BD Rifles.

3.  Continued across the border immigration that has changed the 
demographics rather dramatically in the border districts of Assam, West Bengal
and Tripura. I understand that this is a sensitive issue and I will
quote the GOI figures which mentions that over 10 million refugees have
crossed over to India in the last ten years ( Home Minister Arjun Singh
in the Lok Sabha justifying the deportation of illegal BD in Delhi, 1992).
While, it is not my intention to take sides on this issue, it nonetheless
remains a constant source of friction between the two countries.

4.   River water's dispute and BD insistence on involving Nepal in an 
essentially bilateral dispute. GOB refuses to negotiate the extra water
needed by the Calcutta port to prevent it from being silted over and Indian
suggestions for a canal linking the Brahmaputra with the Ganges is turned
down. Instead a reservoir is sought to be created in Nepal (place?) which
will essentially make the Farakka barrage nonfunctional and give control
of the water to a third, possibly more pliant and less innimical country.


Some thank you that. 

Samit