The 1971 Refugee Crisis: 10 Million Came to India

11/4/26

The 1971 Bangladesh Refugee Crisis in India

In 1971, the Pakistani army's crackdown in East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, drove about 10 million refugees into India, mostly into West Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya and Tripura. It was one of the largest refugee crises of the 20th century, and most of the refugees were Bengali Hindus. The United States and China backed Pakistan, and much of the world looked away.

This documentary covers the crackdown that began with Operation Searchlight in March 1971, the refugee crisis India faced, and how the Concert for Bangladesh at Madison Square Garden on 1 August 1971 made the world pay attention.