For India, the situation became serious when nearly 10 million Bengali refugees crossed the border into its territory. There was a massive humanitarian crisis, but also an opportunity to engage Pakistan into surrender.
A colossal influx of refugees had been a burden on Indian economy and took India few months to give refugees logistic support in makeshift refugee camps.
Extracts from Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s address at the Moscow University:
“We were about to embark upon a new programme of economic advance, when from across our frontiers we had a new kind of invasion: not of armed men, but of a vast influx of helpless terror-stricken men, women and children from East Bengal-some wounded, some ill and all hungry. More than 9 million people have come in the last six months, and they continue to pour in. Has there been a greater migration in history?
