BANGLA DESH GOVERNMENT DISCUSSES SITUATION
Resistance Collapses in All Areas
The self-proclaimed government of Bangla Desh was meeting secretly in Calcutta Monday night to discuss the critical situation in East Pakistan, where resistance to the Pakistan Army has collapsed in all areas.
This and the presence of armed Bangla Desh (East Pakistan) troops on Indian soil at the Betai frontier post. 110 milles (175 kilometres) north of Calcutta, raises the question of the extent to which the Indian Government is involved…
Attempts have been made to push up the presence in Calcutta of the five members of the Awami League High Command who constitute the Bangla Desh government, which proclaimed itself nearly a mile (one kilometre) inside Pakistan territory last Saturday.
But a completely reliable source said Monday night he was present at meetings of the command, which have been going on during the last 24 hours, with a few hours off for sleep.
The source said that acting Bangla Desh President Nazrul Islam was not speaking the truth when he said the government would remain with the people in Bangla Desh.
After Saturday’s colorful proclamation ceremony the five men had driven into the forest and returned to Calcutta when the crowd had dispersed.
This would cause no surprise among foreign correspondents, who have found only empty, looted villages and towns in the southwestern sector.
The 400 Bangla Desh liberation men at Betai constitute the whole of the insurgent force from the southwestern sector.
If this seems a small number, it is because skirmishes have been magnified into major battles in Indian press reports, which have been widely published overseas.
Reference : The Djakarta Times, 21.04.1971