Word: bengalis
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Rigid restrictions on news coverage by both governments made the exact shape of the conflict murky, but it was clear that battles had occurred at roughly half a dozen sites along the border (see map, page 31). At week's end, a combination of Indian regulars and Bengali Mukti Bahini (the East Pakistani liberation forces, which oppose West Pakistan's rule over the East) had captured portions of five areas, totaling perhaps 60 sq. mi. of real estate. All along the border, artillery exchanges and firefights kept the situation tense and dangerous through the week. Scene of the biggest battle...
...ruthless crackdown by Ya+hya's tough West Pakistani troops last March and a resulting exodus that sent nearly 10 million Bengali refugees flooding into India...
...estimate has claimed a million lives and has sent nearly 10 million refugees flooding into India, most of them into the state of West Bengal. Awami League leaders who escaped to India promptly set up the Bangla Desh government in exile with headquarters in Calcutta, and some 130 Bengali diplomats subsequently defected from Pakistani missions around the world. The rebels immediately began raising and training a guerrilla force that, by some estimates, now numbers...
...widely read as a last-ditch attempt by the Islamabad military regime to bring about international intervention. Should a U.N. peace-keeping mission be sent in, for example, pressures from the Indian side of the border would be greatly alleviated, allowing the Pakistani troops to concentrate on subduing the Bengali rebels. For precisely the same reasons, India is seeking to avoid intervention?on the theory that such relief would enable Yahya to avoid a political settlement and thus prolong the refugee burden...
Though Indira's Western trip is credited with bringing in several sizable do nations from abroad for Bengali refugee relief (see chart), India is still faced with a financial burden that is expected to reach $830 million by the end of the fiscal year next March. With a 1970 gross national product of only $50 billion and a population of 560 million, India can scarcely afford such a drain on its economy...