On the way we saw many bodies of Pakistani soldiers. Passing by were vehicles carrying Indian soldiers being wildly cheered by the Bangladeshis. I also saw local people carrying the heads of Pakistanis on rickshaws. We got ourselves photographed atop a T-72 Indian tank that was the mainstay of India’s artillery in the Indo-Pak war of 1971.
The troubling question which rankles till today is why wasn’t anything done to prevent the tragedy? No country other than India really played any role to intervene to prevent the tragedy at any stage, although Soviet help to India in discharging this role should certainly be remembered. The United Nations also failed to safeguard human rights and democracy, and to prevent massacres.
Rai worked at a furious pace sending back images after images which the newspaper faithfully carried, making him a household name in India and unfolding the horrors that marked the liberation struggle.
