Pakistan and The Bangladesh War
By: Shelby Adler
The Bangladesh War and Its Affects
This war affected people in many ways, for example many individuals lost their family. Over three million people were left dead as a result of the war. Many including women died fighting in the war. I can only imagine how many family members were left heart broken due to this. Some other affects of the war are living in constant fear and poverty. One of the most tragic of all the affects in my opinion is genocidal rape. As part of a political campaign over four thousand women were raped by members of the Pakistani military.
People were even forced to flee their homes and become refugees in India. Over eight million people took shelter in refugee camps. As a result of so many people fleeing Pakistan there were around 829 refugee camps in India. In fact the population of refugees out numbered the local inhabitants. The living conditions of the camps were not very good, due to this many people died of sickness. Although this did not stop more refugees from flowing into India everyday.
In order to escape getting killed or raped many children joined the freedom fighters. The freedom fighters were a guerilla force who fought against the Pakistan Army. This would greatly affect the children as a whole because they would be forced to mature very quick, while their family members would live in constant agony wondering whether their children were dead or alive.