In April 1971, twenty-two-year-old Alak Chandra was dismissed from work in the Karachi Textile Mills and his residence, along with ten other Bengali employees who were domiciles of Faridpur district of East Pakistan. His luggage and cash, totalling Rs 900 – savings of his last five years – were snatched away. In desperation, he tried twice to cross from Sindh into Barmer (Rajasthan, India) and Indian border security forces sent him back to Pakistan. The third time he refused to budge, declaring that he would rather be shot dead in India than go back to Karachi. ‘If I am shot in India, at least my body will be burnt’, he told the Indian border authorities, ‘but if I am shot in Pakistan, they will leave my body for the dogs.’

This was the start of a trickle that by the summer of 1972 saw close to 20,000 Bengalis escape from Pakistan overcoming the hurdles of passport and foreign exchange controls.2 An editorial in the Dawn on 3 December 1972 underlined the hardships facing the ‘stranded Bengalis’ in Pakistan and their ceaseless attempts to escape thus:

Organised in three sections, this chapter starts with the anticipatory flight of wealthy families from West Pakistan before moving to the different ground and maritime routes of escape. It concludes with the state response to the Bengalis’ escape.