Two posters greet visitors at the ongoing photography exhibition titled Refugees: 1971 at the Liberation War Museum. The first one shows a young woman, seemingly optimistic. The poster reads: "Husband shot. Village burned. Hiding in the forest. Then rescue, shelter. A fresh start. And a widow at 17, the challenge of a new life... It takes courage to be a refugee."

The exhibition was inaugurated by Pia Prytz Phiri, representative of UNHCR in Bangladesh on the occasion of World Refugee Day and will continue till June 30.

The display includes photographs and news published on the plight of Bengali refugees from the then East Pakistan in Indian camps.

Images show Anjali Lahiri at a refugee camp. The lady with a heart of gold became a ray of hope to thousands of refugees at camps in Meghalaya; working tirelessly to provide medicine and clothes.

Children crying, serpentine queues of skeletal, half clad people waiting for meagre morsels of food -- highlighted in some of the photographs -- make for familiar images; images of people from a war-torn country, dying a hundred deaths a day, unimaginable destitution and helplessness.

Few images feature aid-work by 'Operation Omega' established by volunteers in 1971. The aim of the operation was to take food and medical supplies into East Pakistan and distribute it there. Two groups went to the border of East Pakistan. One was arrested by the Pakistani army; the other got through with its relief supplies.

A noteworthy photograph at the exhibition features Mother Teresa and Senator Edward Kennedy at a refugee camp.

There were 829 camps in West Bengal, Tripura, Meghalaya, Assam and surrounding areas, sheltering about 98,99,305 refugees from East Pakistan. Providing the necessities -- food, clothes and medicine -- for the migrants was a colossal task and naturally resources were often inadequate. Malnutrition, and diseases like cholera and dysentery were rampant.

In some photographs, refugee families are seen living in large sewage pipes. Headline of a write up by Colin Smith published in The Observer (June 27, 1971 issue) reads "East Pakistan gold rush of horror tales". Another story by Gavin Young published in the same newspaper (November 28, 1971 issue) reads "Bengal refugees won't budge".

Cover jackets of folk music albums by Deben Bhattacharjee are also on display. Bhattacharjee, a folk music researcher based in Paris went from one camp to another collecting Bangladeshi folk songs. The cassettes featured those songs.

Currently there are about 21,000 refugees in Bangladesh. Pia Prytz Phiri writes, "May the refugee experience of your people guide us to make sure it never happens again, but serve to set the standards of treatment of the refugees hosted by you."

One cannot agree more.