India uses Airdrop to Press its Advance
From Harold Jackson : New Delhi, December 10
The Indian Army is continuing its advance on Dacca with as much speed as possible. An official spokesman said tonight that pockets of resistance by Pakistani troops were being by-passed and left to be dealt with later, so that the Indian forces could maintain their momentum.
Some columns had penetrated between 100 and 150 miles in the past five days and the troops were relying on the Muki Bahini guerrillas to preserve bridges and other vital communications from destruction by the retreating Pakistanis.
In the West, India said that it was still in a defensive posture, while Pakistan was continuing to try to break through into Kashmir. Fierce fighting was again reported from Chamb, but the Indians said that the attacking forces were continuing to bang their heads against a brick wall. A Pakistani division supported by two armored regiments was said to have been beaten off during the day and now to be withdrawing from the river Tawi, the main line of defense.
In the East the focal point of the Indian advance is at the Ashuganj bridge 40 miles northeast of Dacca. Two spans of the bridge have been destroyed and Indian forces were taken across the river Meghna by helicopter en masse for the final drive to the capital. The Indians say that many Pakistani troops are deserting the garrison, putting on civilian clothes, and trying to escape through the complex of rivers which bisect the province. The Indian Air Force has continued to carry out strikes against river craft and any concentrations of troops it finds.
According to India, the pockets are irresistible in various towns. Particularly to the north, they have been given instructions to fight on to delay the Indian advance. They are being surrounded and cut down by the Indians who claim that the delaying tactics are to enable Pakistani officers and other top people to get out before the final collapse, and reports are circulating here that the Pakistani commander and martial law administrator, Lieutenant General A.K. Niazi has already fled. There is no confirmation of these reports, however.
An “understanding” has now been reached between the Indian Prime Minister, Mrs Gandhi, and the Bangladesh acting Government, under which the Mukti Bahini comes under a unified command, taking orders from an Indian commander, and accepts the tasks of restoring normality to the province as soon as possible, resettling refugees and providing “protection to everyone In the area which is liberated.”
An Indians spokesman said that this last provision was designed to safeguard people from mob violence, and the point was underlined at a meeting of the Bangladesh consultative committee, which represented all the parties being part of the provisional Government in calcutta India. The committee urged the people of Bangladesh “to cooperate with the civil administration and not to take the law into their own hands.” The implication behind the understanding which was formally signed by both parties, seems to be that the Indian army will be around in Bangladesh for some time.
The involuntary involvement of third parties in the conflict is still very much an issue. The Indians today said that they had intercepted three merchant ships – one British, one Italian, and one Flying the Japanese flag. They were stopped on the high seas and asked to give details of their cargo and destination. The Italian and British ships were allowed to proceed. The Japanese vessel turned out to be a Pakistani ship, the Anwar Paksh, which had changed its name and was sailing under false colors.
The Indians said that there were about 500 Pakistani soldiers in civilian clothing on board, some of them wounded. An Indian medical team has been put on board and the ship is being escorted to Calcutta. • The official spokesmans expressed regret for the attacks on the British vessel in Karachi harbor and the deaths of seven of its crew. He stressed that India had warned neutral shipping to stay clear of the area of conflict and announced that neutral ships would be allowed to leave Karachi by 6 pm on Sunday.
Detailed arrangements have also been made for the evacuation by air of foreigners from both East and West Pakistan.
Six countries and the United Nations have now made arrangements with India for 27 aircraft to fly into Dacca, Islamabad, and Karachi to bring out civilians. Britans is bringing in 13 of the planes and others have been chartered by Canada. Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Russia. The Indians spokesman said that no requests had been received for people to be evacuated from India.
This general humanitarin approach, and the regrets for the deaths of the British seamen, were in sharp contrast to the strange reaction here to the reported bombing of the orphanage in Dacca. Neither the Indian newspapers, nor the radio carried any mention of the stories and the official spokesman made the bizarre allegation that the Pakistanis had murdered the children simply to pin the blame on India.
“All that I can say,” he said, “Is that our air force has very strict instructions not to hit any civilian target and it is quite unimaginable that they should have done so it was quite possible that this is a plan for us. The occupying forces in Bangladesh have not hesitated to kill women and children in the past. It is quite possible that they have done this. If we are given the precise position of the orphanage we are prepared to Investigate this incident.”
The first report of the bombing produced an almost historical reaction among officials here, who seemed to be accusing reporters of making the story up. Even overnight consideration has not produced any less historical response and certainly no hint of an expression of regret. It is a lamentable example of the astonishing over-reaction, here to anything remotely critical of India.
The Prime Minister made another of her go-it-alone speeches in Delhi today. telling a rally of students that India would not be prescribed by threats that might be cut off. She said the United Nations General Assembly resolution had been neither accepted nor rejected by India : It was still under consideration. The assumption here is that there will be no question of its serious consideration until the operation in the East has been concluded.
This may well lie behind the visit to Moscow tomorrow of MR. D. P. Dhar. the eminence grisp of the Foreign Ministry here. Officially he is going for “Continuing consultations” under the terms of the Indo-Soviet treaty, but it is widely believed that the Russians are interested in avoiding any extension of the war in the West.
Reference: The Guardian, 11 December, 1971