Thousand of My Lais - World Bank Report
Preface
The human tragedy that occurred in a small hamlet known as My Lai in South Vietnam is now being repeated in a whole country and upon a whole nation. A thousand My Lais are being perpetrated in Bangladesh every day, by the marauding trigger-happy gunmen from West Pakistan.
On the conclusion of an extensive study tour of Bangladesh, ten representatives of the World Bank submitted a joint report recommending an immediate suspension of aid to West Pakistan. Before dealing with the official report of the World Bank mission, the reader may find great interest in the observations of Mr. Hendrik Van Heijden, Economist, Pakistan Division, IBRD.
Insertion of individual reports of the other members of the World Bank team would have been of great value. Nonetheless this documents helps to give a complete and faithful picture, We regret our inability to process the remaining individual reports.
These reports are so graphic and authoritative that they need no preface or comments, would it be possible for example, to surpass the following excerpts?
“When we moved around (Kushtia), everyone fled. It was like the morning after a nuclear attack. The people were terrified and still shocked and dazed.” “It is at the Thana (village community) level where the shock waves of the army action hit the hardest. It was at this level where the hope for agricultural development was. It has been set back by at least five years.”
The purpose of this preface is to request you to give this brief document your time and attention. After you have read it through, would you not to something to stop the genocide? A million people have already been bombed, bayoneted or machine gunned . Thousands of women have been raped to death and about eight million refugees have fled to India.
Would you awaken the United Nations from its indifference and apathy?
Could we count on your help, material and moral?