EDITORIAL: Four hundred refugees dead of cold in a Lahore camp [on Dec 22] is this the West Punjab Government and the Pakistan Refugee Administration`s birthday present to the Quaid-i-Azam? There is no explanation for such a shocking tragedy except that the Governments concerned and the people of Pakistan are not doingtheir duty.

The bitter cold of the Punjab is nothing new.

Ever since the refugee movement began, the possibility of such calamities happening ... had been foreseen. Appeals had been made to the public for warm clothing, blankets and other coverings. Government organisations dealing with this problem had given one the impression that they were forewarned and would therefore be fore-armed. It now appears that there was more talk and less action.

... A West Punjab communique announced ...

that 85,212 warm coverings, 36,376 cotton garments, 8,254 blankets and 14,084 razais and 5,923 beddings `have already been either made or purchased or despatched`. ... Statistics tell nothing, and in the present connection the tragic fact of death from cold in the very heart of Lahore tells its own tale. How much of this warm clothing has actually been distributed to refugees? How much has passed or is likely to pass into corrupt hands who would divert it to their own personal gain?