Dacca shooting goes on
By Martin Adeney
The Pakistan army, two weeks after its massacre began in East Bengal and crushed resistance in Dacca, is still systematically searching areas of the city, carrying out arrests, shooting, looting, and setting fire to buildings.
Food supplies have almost run out apart from a few vegetables grown within the city boundaries: most areas are without electricity and water; and all commercial and Government vehicles have been commandeered by the military.
The information comes from reliable witnesses who left Dacca this week. One of them reports that on Thursday morning, 13 days after the army first moved in, heavy smoke from new fires was rising over the old city.
The omnipresent army is carrying out the normal duties of the police, many of whom have been killed. The army gives all its instructions on the streets in Urdu-the language of West Pakistan which few Bengalis speak.
A full week after the army’s action, early in the morning of April 2 or 3, a brutal assault took place on the satellite township of Ginjira, largely a collection of tin shacks which lies across a river from Dacca University to which many university staff and students had fled.
According to one man who reached London, two or three aircraft were used in the attack, and people, including his relations, were machine gunned by troops.
Among those known to have died is Tofail Ahmed, the former student leader who has been given much of the credit for toppling President Ayub Khan. He was elected as an Awami League member of the National Assembly in December and had been used as a moderating go-between for the League and the Students’ League.
A reliable witness, himself being sought by the army, told me that every night areas are systematically cordoned off and searched. Some people are shot or taken away and some homes are set on fire and looted by troops and West Pakistanis.
One area not yet given this treatment is the middle-class Dhanmundi suburb and little had happened at Gulshan, another residential area close by.
Solidarity Sir,-We are sure that many West Pakistanis like ourselves are shocked at the inhuman and barbarous actions of the Pakistani army in East Bengal. We assure our East Bengali friends of our solidarity and support in their struggle for freedom.
We also wish to remind them that what is being done by the army in East Bengal is without the consent and support of West Pakistani masses. The military regime has imposed strict censorship and the news of its criminal actions has not reached the West Pakistani public, Yours faithfully. M. Arif, Chairman, M. E. Bhaiya, Ali Ahmed. Pakistan Students’ Socialias Society.
Reference: The Guardian, 10 April, 1971