THE SUPREME SOVIET decree allowing the scat- tered remnants of
some of the Asian nations deported by Serov in 1943 and 1944 to return to their homelands induces some reflections on the attitude of the leaders of opinion in the free countries of Asia. Have they unceasingly protested about these crimes, which involved over a million people? Have they ever raised the issue in the United Nations, as they have the far less 'colonialist' activities of Britain and France? Have they excited public opinion in their countries against the perpetrators? The facts, after all, were widely known. And, even if the Asians find it impossible to get excited about the oppression of Hungarians or Lithuanians, there are plenty of outstanding offences against the liberty of Asians in the USSR. I hope Mr. Menon will find it in him to demand at least the repatriation of the Tatars of the Crimea, deported in the same circumstances but omitted from the rehabilitation.
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