HQ, S.E.A.C.: One of the biggest problems that planners have been called upon to solve in this war is the relief and repatriation of the 100,000 Allied prisoners in the South-East Asia Command. Until a few days ago, little was known of the locations of the 150 prisoner of war camps, and the numbers of men in them, in Malaya or French Indo-China. … What little information did trickle through came from the International Red Cross and from Intelligence. …
In addition to the prisoners and internees, there are 200,000 displaced persons — slave workers the [Japanese] took away from their homes to work on fortifications and communications, writes an army observer. All these prisoners and displaced persons will have to be moved great distances in countries that have been denuded of transport ...
Specially devised for British and Indian prisoners of war awaiting release in the Far East a nightly programme is now being broadcast by the All-India Radio. The first object of the programme is to put prisoners abreast of world events in the past three years, but the entertainment aspect … has not been overlooked.
Published in Dawn, September 2nd, 2020
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