In early 1971, when negotiations for an autonomous East Bengalbroke down, brutalities against the citizens of erstwhile EastPakistan led to a mass exodus of refugees into India. Despite aninternational outcry, the assaults and rapes continued. With theintervention of the Indian Armed Forces in December 1971, afternine months of violence and uncertainty and a twelve-day warbetween India and Pakistan, the independent nation of Bangladeshwas born.
Ace photographer Ragu Rai documented the plight of the refugees,the action during the war and the jubilant scenes of victory andIndependence. His treasure trove of photographs, which for overfour decades he thought had been lost, was recently rediscovered.The stories are perhaps not unknown, but have been retold by amaster storyteller-the refugee camps, the exodus, the never-endingjourney, a whirlwind of poignant, tormented history. And finally, anew nation, a new tomorrow.
Bangladesh: The Price of Freedom are never before seenphotographs which comprise a significant body of work documenting aturning point in the history of South Asia. |
