Pakistan Refuses Indian Proposal
Indian Personnel in Dacca Safe
The Pakistan Foreign Ministry in a statement issued here said the Indian proposal was not relevant and added that all Indian personnel in Dacca were safe and receiving all possible facillties.
The Indian proposal was in response to Pakistan’s suggestion that representatives of the Swiss Embassy in New Delhi should be present during meetings between Pakistan’s Deputy High Commissioner in Calcutta Mehadi Masud and East Pakistan staff who were reported to have renounced their loyalty to Pakistan.
Pakistan’s suggestion was that a Swiss representative be present while Mehadi Masud questioned members of the staff on whether or not they wished to be repatriated to Pakistan.
The statement said that the “deliberate attempt” by Indian authorities to deny Mehadi Mashud the right to meet all Pakistan personnel separately and to ascertain their wishes independently, confirmed the fears expressed by Pakistan earlier that the staff were being held in Calcutta against their wishes.
“This is a matter of serious concern to the government of Pakistan’, the statement added.
Sobhan : Mass massacres in east Pakistan
Meanwhile Reuter reported from Washington a spokesman for the Bangla Desh secessionist movement said Wednesday that at least a quarter of a million East Pakistanis have been killed by troops since civil strife broke out in the region in March.
Rahman Sobban, who said he was chief economic adviser to Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, head of the Awami League, told a press conference….
He said the Pakistan Army had destroyed villages as a matter of course during the action in East Pakistan.
In a prepared statement, Sobhan said Pakistani forces had used flame-throwers and napalm bombs extensively in their operations in East Pakistan.
Sobhan, an economics professor at Dacca University, said he arrived in Washington two weeks ago after having fled East Pakistan early last month. He said he had talks with several senators.
He said the minimum estimate of death in Dacca alone was 50,000, with the death toll in Chittagong, up to 70,000.
“In Dacca the extremely crowded shanty slums were totally destroyed along with 25 blocks of the old town, which had population of 70,000 people,” Sobhan said.
He said 35 smaller towns and some 1,500 square milles of the countryside have been devastated the scorched-earth policy of the Pakistani forces.
“The minimum death toll for the smaller towns and affected villages will be about 100,000- this adds up to a conservative estimate of 225,000 persons killed by Pakistan Army in just 45 days” he said in his statement.
“These massacres have been carried out by a highly disciplined professional army
acting under the direct orderd of their Commander-in-Chief General Yahja Khan, President of Pakistan” he said.-Reuter.
Reference : The Djakarta Times, 22.05.1971