'Nothing is more clear, or more easily documented, than the systematic campaign of terror - and its genocidal consequences - launched by the Pakistani army on the night of march 25th,' Kennedy wrote.

'Hardest hit have been members of the Hindu community who have been robbed of their lands and shops, systematically slaughtered and, in some places, painted with yellow patches marked 'H'.

'All of this has been officially sanctioned, ordered and implemented under martial law from Islamabad.

'America's heavy support of Islamabad is nothing short of complicity in the human and political tragedy of East Bengal,' he concluded.

In the 200 days from April 1 to mid-October, he wrote, nearly 10 million refugees - 9,544,012 to be exact - had crossed over to India, a flow that he said was 'without parallel in modern history'.

When Bangladesh gained independence, Kennedy flew over Feb 14, 1972, and gave a speech at a rally at Dhaka University where thousands of students greeted him with cries of 'Joi Kennedy'.

It was an appropriate echo of the Bangladeshi independence slogan of 'Joi Bangla' - at a venue where the Pakistani army had begun its pogrom a year ago.