Revenge fears by non-Bengali Muslims
From Peter Hazelhurst Calcutta, April 1
Reports from refugees and students fleeing from the hinterland of East Bengal indicate that indiscriminate killings by the Pakistan Army have not been confined to Dacca, Politicians, students and ordinary citizens are said to have been shot down in towns throughout the province.
Thousands of East Bengalis today began their flight from several cities to which the Army has withdrawn during the past few days.
Refugees from Comilla, on the eastern frontier, claim that at about midnight last Friday, the Army began systematically to shoot Awami League members of the provincial Assembly and other prominent political leaders, including Mr. Dhirendra Nath Dutta, aged 84, a former minister in the late Mr. Suhrawady’s Cabinet.
Mr. Dutta’s grandoun. Mr. Kalyan Chaudhari, a journalist on a Bengal newspaper, said: “Neighbors said that my grandfather was dragged out into the street and shot in public. The news spread, and as people began to move out into the street, the Army opened fire. They estimate that about 100 people were shot down.”
One finds the same story at Jessore near the western border.
Two weeping students said that Mr. Mashiur Rahman, one of the high ranking officials of the left-wing National Awani Party who declared that East Bengal was a sovereign state on Pakistan’s Republic Day. was pulled out of his bed and shot in front of his wife.
The students added: “The Army then drove through the streets with loud speakers announcing a list of wanted students. They warned people that anyone who gave shelter to the students would be shot and their houses would be demolished.”
Volunteers began to form up on the outskirts of the town the next morning and aircraft were used to strafe the moves. “When we left, about 100 people had died, but we have no idea of the death toll now,” said one of the students.
Stories told by other refugees arriving in India indicate that the Army hunted down most of the well-known politicians in East Pakistan and it is now likely that the Bengal nationalist leader, Shaikh Mujibur Rahman and the veteran leftist, Maulana Bashani are either in custody in the western wing or are dead.
As Resistance begins to peter out in the most important garrison towns, there are signs that another tragedy in the eastern wing is about to be revealed to the outside world.
Non-Bengali Muslims from Bihar province who fled to free Bengal when the subcontinent was partitioned on the basis of religion, are now beginning to return to India.
The millions of non-Bengali Muslims now trapped in the eastern wing have always felt the repercussions of East-West tensions and it is now feared that the Bengalis have turned on this vast minority community to take their revenge.
Several non-Bengali Muslin members of the Free Bengal Rifles who were reported to have been attacked by their colleagues and Bengali villagers. surrendered to the Indian authorities on the frontier today. They said that they wanted to be transported to West Pakistan.
Unconfirmed reports from across the border that many non-Bengalis have already lost their lives during the past week of murder and arson.
This question will place the Indian Government in a dilemma for these refugees would be identified as West Pakistanis by angry Hindus in West Bengal and it would seem, therefore, as if this large community of helpless Muslims have nowhere to turn to.
The West Pakistanis are attempting to evacuate as many non-Bengalis as possible by sea, but it seems that nothing can be done for the bulk of the estimated eight million Urdu-speaking people on the other side of the border.
And, as stories of atrocities spread, West Pakistanis are expected to take their revenge on the estimated 350,000 Bengali settlers in Karachi and Rawalpindi.
It is now clear that the Army is entrenched in most of the important towns of East Pakistan except for Comilla where fighting continues.
Radio reports monitored here indicate that the West Pakistan troops have withdrawn from the rural areas and small towns to consolidate their positions in the towns of Dacca, Khulna and in particular, Jessore and Rajshahi on the Indian border front.
Our Diplomatic Correspondent writes: The evacuation of all British subjects who wish to leave East Pakistan was actively being organized yesterday.
After a request from Mr. Frank Sargeant, the British Deputy High Commissioner in Dacca, the B.B.C were yesterday asked to make an announcement to all British subjects telling them that those who wished to return home should report to Mr. Sergeant in Dacca.
Our Defense Correspondent writes: Two R.A.F Britannias may fly to Dacca today to take out some of the 540 British citizens still in East Pakistan. The aircraft are already on stand-by at Singapore. The Britanniax can take 222 people.
Reference: The Times, 2 April 1971.