JEDDAH, 3 March 2008 — An American print and broadcast journalist, who highlighted the miseries of stranded Pakistanis in Bangladesh through her book “Internment Camps of Bangladesh” died in the US.
Loraine Mirza, who died in California on Thursday, had visited the camps of stranded Pakistanis and subsequently wrote the book about the abandoned people who have been languishing in squalid camps for over three decades.
Loraine’s book became very popular and still remains a reliable document that details the plight of these hapless people. She investigated and observed extensively and first hand the ordeal of the camp inmates. She covered their stories with a great deal of empathy and sensitivity. She has told the stories of those whose voices have not been heard.
Loraine was born in Los Angeles in 1944 and became a Muslim prior to her marriage in 1965 with a Pakistani, Shahid Iqbal Mirza. She became a freelance journalist and a media moderator and also worked for the Islamic Media Association. A recipient of the Media Achievement Award, Loraine worked in the Pakistan Embassy in US between 1971 and 1974.
Moved by the suffering of those living in Bangladesh camps Loraine wrote the book, “Internment Camps of Bangladesh” which was published in Canada in 1998. The book was later translated in Urdu by the Pakistan Repatriation Council and distributed among concerned people and leaders who could help resolve the long-festering issue of stranded Pakistanis. Loraine had been suffering from cancer for quite sometime.
The PRC condoled her death yesterday and urged people to pray for the departed soul.
