Bengal Guerrillas Step up Number
of Assassinations and Bombings
Malcolm W. Browne
Dacca Nov. 8, Terrorist bombs exploded in various parts of Dacca today, rocking three educational institutions and injuring six persons. one seriously. At least six other persons are known to have been assassinated by Bengali guerrillas during the past 24 hours. The guerrillas are trying to close down all higher education institutions in East Bengal on the grounds that they are controlled by the Pakistan Army. One of the explosions was at Iqbal Hall, Dacca University. It seriously wounded a member of the philosophy faculty and injured three students. Iqbal Hall is one of the two buildings at the university which were sacked by the Army last March with heavy loss of life. Most of the students who attended the university and other institutions of higher learning fled to the countryside after the Army raid, and many have since joined the guerrillas.
In another incident today, shots were fired when guerrillas tried to rob a bank in the center of Dacca. One guerrilla was killed and the bank manager was badly wounded. Guerrillas have successfully raided a number of banks in the past two weeks. The number of political assassinations has increased sharply in the last few days. Yesterday a right-wing politician appointed by the Pakistan Government to serve in the future provincial assembly was killed by submachine gun fire. Five other persons were also killed. Most were members of “peace committees,” civilian groups made up mainly of non-Bengalis who had been appointed by the Army to administer East Pakistan on behalf of the military authorities.
The guerrillas have threatened to kill members of the peace committees, all officials appointed by the martial law authorities, and anyone else actively cooperating with the occupation forces. Those Bengali civil servants who have stayed at their jobs have generally been warned that they are under close observation by the guerrillas and that more than token cooperation with the Government will be punishable by assassination. In some cases families have been killed as well as the officials themselves. Last week the four children of a retired naval officer were killed in an attempt on his life that failed.
Most non-Bengali residents of East Pakistan feel themselves dangerously threatened, and many talk of finding some way to emigrate before it is too late. The guerrillas operate more or less at will, despite constant search and destroy operations by the Army against suspected guerrilla strongholds. Military morale is understood to have declined as increasing numbers of officers and troops from West Pakistan come to realize that their assignment here is likely to last a long time. The increasing number of Army casualties has apparently made it impossible to continue a former policy of flying the bodies of officers back to West Pakistan for burial.
Police morale has also suffered. Last March the entire East Pakistan police force joined the Bengali rebels, and many former policemen now serve as weapons instructors for the growing ranks of guerilla recruits. In June the Government sent over a force of West Pakistani police officers and men to replace the defectors. The force was told that the assignment would be only for the duration of a brief emergency, but they are still here and the emergency appears more serious than ever. A highly placed source said some policemen staged a one-day strike last week in protest against their continued tour in East Pakistan. – New York Times News Service
Reference: The Times, 9 November, 1971