Kolkata: Hillary Clinton meets sex trafficking victims

, May 6: US Secretary of State

today met victims of

who narrated their ordeal to her and the NGOs working for them in her first engagement after her arrival in Kolkata in the first leg of her visit to the country.

The 64-year-old US leader was also treated to a dance performance by survivors of sex trafficking.

After watching the performance of the troupe of seven girls from city-based NGO "Kolkata Sanved" at the ICCR (Indian Council for Cultural Relations) complex, she complimented them by saying, "I loved your breathing techniques...wonderful".

Inside the Bengal pavilion of the ICCR, she went through a collection of handicrafts and textiles from various parts of West Bengal. She also saw a short karate performance by a girl who lives in a red-light area of Bihar.

Uma Das, who works as a videographer in Khidirpur with the Delhi-based NGO "Apne Aap", gave her a wrist band which said - "Cool Men Don't Buy Sex". Clinton immediately wore it on her wrist and also asked her entire team to wear it.

She was also gifted with two black T-shirts which read - "Together we can end sex trade". Swarna Chitrakar, a traditional painter from Pingla village of West Midnapore district, sang along with a presentation of scroll paintings known famously as 'pata chitra'.

Carrying the message of anti-trafficking, the story in the scroll paintings was told in the form of a song. Later, she had a 30-minute discussion with nine NGO representatives, mostly from Bengal, on women trafficking.

PTI