the civil war continued for most of 1971. as well as the many deaths, the war forced over 5 million civilians to flee their homes, most crossing into india. the remaining 70 million people in east pakistan had little access to food, water and shelter, and the pakistani army controlled relief supplies as a method of subduing the rebellion. in particular, the urdu-speaking bihari muslims were forced from their homes in large numbers by bengali nationalists. the biharis in east pakistan had left the indian state of bihar at the partition of india. they had generally supported the west pakistan junta's rule in east pakistan, and many had fought in militias on the side of the government in the civil war. as a result, the bengali nationalist attempted to either kill the biharis or expel them from east pakistan. india would not allow them to cross the border into bihar state, so they were trapped in the border area of east pakistan.